(Nov. 25)

10-year-old to thief: Bring my bike back!

Last week, my bike was stolen from the bike rack at my school. If you are the person who stole it, this letter is to you (and anybody else thinking about stealing a bike). That bike — you might think of it as a piece of junk — was my transportation. It was my way of getting back and forth to school, my way of getting around town to the library, the grocery store, to basketball practice, to my friends’ houses.

Whoever you are and wherever you are, you had no reason at all to take my bike. I don’t know you. I have never done anything to hurt you.

So now I’d like to ask you: What in your mind told you, “Hey, let’s steal that bike!”? What kind of thinking is that? As you can tell, I was very attached to my bike, and I’d like it back.

Ellie VanDevelder, 10, Corvallis

Maybe Lincoln was cunning with rivals

Edgar Lee Masters, in his book “Lincoln: The man,” discusses the influence of the legal book “Chitty on Pleading” on Abraham Lincoln. Masters describes “Chitty on Pleading” as a book that is “full of intellectual cunning.”

Matthew Pinsker’s article, “Lincoln rued ‘rival’ teams,” is interesting (Commentary, Nov. 19 Gazette-Times, page A11). Perhaps President Lincoln brought his chief rivals into his Cabinet by Chitty-style cunning.

Lincoln could by this means publicly embrace his rivals — thus making a show of harmony — and at the same time have them in a situation in which he could rule them with “tyrannous authority,” as Lincoln aide John Hay said Lincoln did.

David R. Prichard, Corvallis

Bailout is typical Bush, to the end

President Bush did it to us again. One more time he lied, said there was an emergency and we had to act now, RIGHT NOW! No time to think, to let the legislative process deliberate cures and problems in a fully debated manner. No, we had to give him $700 billion to play with, immediately. He knew the problem and the cure. Oops, wrong again. Now he and his minions are partying with the money; million dollar bonuses to magnates who eat steak and lobster while their laid-off staff stand in food bank lines. Bush pours $500-a-bottle wine while our savings accounts drop through the floor. He seems to think he has to rush as much money into his friends’ hands as he can before he leaves office. Nixon said he wasn’t a crook; Bush has not bothered to deny it.

Next Bush is trying to gut as many areas of public safety as he can before he leaves office. Such as a rule announced Nov. 16 will allow trucking companies to require drivers to spend 11 consecutive hours behind the wheel. Do you want to be on the road with uninspected 18-wheelers whose driver has not had break in 11 hours? Bush wants you to. He is trying to undermine environmental safeguards all over the place with last minute rules. All I can say is, “I’ll be glad to see the back of him.”

Jim Birken, Corvallis

Distributing wealth OK, when rich got it

Republicans are worried that a President Obama is going to redistribute the wealth. John McCain, in his campaign propagated that fear. Just like Obama did during the campaign, we must refute these misleads every time they are uttered. Especially when the truth is so completely opposite.

Richard Creaser in his “socialism is stealing” letter (Nov. 18, “Each is responsible for realizing dreams”) and then John Brenan (Nov. 20 “‘Tax breaks for rich’ mantra is wrong”) try to fuel this fear. Brenan wants us to consider the richest 5 percent and all the taxes they pay. He notes that the top 5 percent accounted for more than half of taxes collected in 1999 and over 60 percent in 2006.

Well, consider them. Consider a Joe Barron and his wealthy friends, who percentage-wise pay less taxes per dollar earned than the rest of us do (after all the loopholes their accountants find), and still contribute more to the government than all the rest of us combined. What does that tell you about how wealthy Mr. Barron is? Or how powerful?

According to Edward Wolff, professor of economics at New York University, the top 5 percent in 1998 owned 59 percent of all wealth. Furthermore, the top 1 percent of families hold half of all non-home wealth!

I don’t think this kind of redistribution of wealth is what the United States of America should stand for.

Tracy Rupp, Corvallis

LDS church’s tax status in question

Attention in the news has been drawn to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as gays storm Mormon temples across the United States because of the actions taken by this church to defeat Prop 8 in California.

Mormons also played a major role in defeating the equal rights amendment to the Constitution for women, while every day women and young girls are abused in Utah by polygamous marriage.

Maybe someone should question the tax-exempt status of this church since they can’t seem to respect the constitutional amendment that is supposed to separate church and state.

Blacks, gays, and women have all been discriminated against by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at different times. So have intellectuals who dare to question leaders and their doctrine that changes as time passes.

I thought God loves everybody and wants everyone to shine.

Wendy Marie Haber, Alsea

Hey, Ducks: What’s with all the black?

Well, it’s that time again for us; the Ducks will blow into town to play a football game with the Beavs. They’ll come in all their finery, over 300 uniform combinations including, I suppose, “Lightening Black.”

Is it time to play that song that says something like, “Bring in the Clowns”?

Chuck Wenstrom, Corvallis