I have been working with fish since 1957. I am often either amused or confused by what experts say.

If there is a smaller run of salmon up the Columbia, the dams are the cause. But if the run is the largest ever recorded, there is silence.

The ice in Iceland has been retreating since 1900. Must have been all of the auto emissions in the early 1900s? Global warming has raised the temperature 2 degrees. Yet there is debate over the cause of the ice age. We can't blame Exxon on the demise of the dinosaur. Nature has ebbed and flowed by itself forever. Hot deserts were once lush tropical forests. Must have been emissions from aerosol cans cavemen used?

It has become rampant to find blame. Mrs. Christopher Reeve was diagnosed with breast cancer. A huge search evolved to discover where she was exposed to cigarette smoke. None could be found. But if it could be shown a person near her smoked, her cancer came from secondhand smoke?

Taxes from logging gave a lot of funding for roads and schools. Then many teachers said logging was bad. But I have not heard one say that the drop in logging has contributed to inadequate funding of schools.

Maybe every action has countless reactions. Maybe the deeper we delve into things, the more complicated and debatable they become. Maybe man alone is not the only cause. Maybe nature has been changing things all along.

Roger Hawthorne

Albany

A draft might have helped

I believe that Charlie Rangel is correct. I believe that we should have the "draft" or some kind of public service (with no deferments).

If there had been a draft, I seriously doubt that Bush would have gotten enough votes to invade Iraq. If the Congress people thought that there was a chance that their sons and/or daughters would be sent to fight, they would not have agreed to invade a country that had not attacked us. If the fat cat Republicans who are getting rich off this war thought that their sons and/or daughters would be sent to Iraq, I suspect that their greed would have been tempered.

This war is in no way a "shared sacrifice" as prior wars have been. The sacrifice has been with the lives of young men and women who went into the service because there were no jobs for them (their jobs went to India) and they were seduced by the offer of a $40,000 signing bonus and college tuition.

Stop this madness now and bring our young men and women home. Send the billions of dollars we are spending to kill people to the citizens of Iraq so that they can have jobs and rebuild their country, a country that we have destroyed.

Kate Henry

Corvallis

A chance to cut waste

Hasso Hering's recent editorial about the war on waste raised some good points: We Americans do generate too much garbage. While some companies are beginning to reduce packaging, I feel that most change begins with choices made by the individual every day.

I am grateful that we have some wonderful opportunities in Corvallis to practice healthy models of consumerism and to reduce conspicuous consumption.

First Alternative Food Co-op in particular makes it easy to shop consciously and with voluntary simplicity. I am able to bring my own jars, cloth bags and containers to the co-op, and I can buy most everything in bulk (no packaging at all), including laundry detergent, dish soap, shampoo, salsa, even catsup and freshly ground almond butter.

I also can drop off my unused jars and containers for others to use, and it is satisfying to know that the co-op very intentionally channels financial and educational support into our schools and the community in various ways. Even their pens and "to go" containers are recycled and recyclable, which I think is pretty nifty!

I feel that every dollar I spend is a vote for what kind of community I want to create. I am pleased that the co-op and other local businesses give me an opportunity to support conscious use of resources and compassionate community-building by helping us be mindful of how we shop, how we use what we buy, and how we take good care of ourselves, our friends and our neighbors in the process.

Thanks, Corvallis, for being a place that supports such opportunities for mindfulness.

Suzannah Doyle

Corvallis

Draft the rich and deter war

For the purpose of spreading the responsibility for fighting wars of choice from a small group of volunteers to the population as a whole, Rep. Charles Rangel

(D-N.Y.) intends to introduce a bill to re-establish the draft.

Even if a draft were reinstated, it would do little to deter war because the people who will be called upon to do the fighting and dying do not start wars. The 18- to 20-year-olds do not have the power to effect the decision to go to war. That power resides in the wealthy, who influence the actions of the government.

Only a draft that threatens that power will be able to prevent war. Instead of drafting 18- to 20-year-olds, why not draft wealth instead? Start by requiring all those persons with over $18 million in net worth to register for the draft; everyone with less would be exempt.

When the president or Congress decides to embark on a war of choice, the draft would begin. For the first year of war, 10 percent of net worth would be called up; 20 percent the second year and so on until peace was declared.

The 18- to 20-year-olds still could volunteer to do the fighting and dying, since you can't have a war without that. A system that would spread the pain might even lead to fewer and shorter wars.

George Novak

Corvallis

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