Posted: Friday, January 9, 2009 12:00 am
There's no comparing Gaza to the Holocaust
For anyone to think that the conditions for the people living in Gaza are the same as people living under the Holocaust, is nothing but ignorance.
We have a wonderful library in Corvallis, and people should go and look up the history of this region, and also read up on the history of the Holocaust. It is true that living conditions in Gaza deteriorated when sanctions were enforced after the election victory for Hamas.
Even before Hamas abandoned the cease-fire, the rockets started to rain down again on Israel. In the Holocaust, people were sent to death camps, where they were either killed immediately upon arrival, or they were worked and starved to death. There were no medicines, very little food, no hygiene and people did not know if they would live out the next hour, much less the next day. Millions of people died in these camps.
Gaza has for years been firing upon Israeli citizens. There have been suicide bombers who have been glorified. Israelis have seconds from the time an alarm sounds to find shelter from the rockets fired upon them from Gaza. What saddens me is that with peace in this region instead of hatred, people would benefit from what they would give each other as far as knowledge, medicines, art and education. Someday, I hope, it will happen.
Regina Berman
Corvallis
In Gaza, Israel is justified in its defense of itself
In her Dec. 30 letter, "In dealings with Gaza, Israel guilty of war crimes," Virginia Fast calls my letter "deceptive" without disputing particulars. I can only assume she can't, and is changing the subject in an attempt to divert the reader's attention.
She can't dispute that borders were open until Gazan terrorism against Israel began. She can't dispute that Israel allows humanitarian supplies into Gaza to ease the lives of citizens, despite their government's actions, the exact opposite of the "collective punishment" she decries. So let's change the subject.
Ms. Fast states the Palestinians "are digging tunnels into Egypt "; then says Israel "controls Gazan borders, airspace and access to crucial resources " How can Israel control all Gaza borders if one is with Egypt? Does Egypt not allow humanitarian supplies through its international crossing?
If yes, why are Gazans digging tunnels, unless to bring in rockets that can't come through the Egyptian-controlled checkpoint? Which they do, and have been firing at Israel by the thousands since the 2005 withdrawal from Gaza, including during the so-called "truce."
They now use imported Katyushas as well as homemade Qassams.
Ms. Fast terms Palestinian rockets "feeble and largely harmless." Not so. They kill, maim, destroy houses and terrorize, causing widespread psychological trauma. By calling these rocket attacks "retaliation" for Israeli actions, she admits they are collective punishment and intentional war crimes.
Richard Falk also believes in U. S. government involvement in 9/11 and predicted the Iranian revolution would result in human rights there. Not a great record, judgment-wise.
Rachel Peck
Corvallis
Jefferson approved federal aid to religion
It is common for people who favor what I would describe as a total separation of church and state - no government aid to religion and no religious influence of any kind in government - to quote approvingly from Thomas Jefferson's 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptists, which included the phrase "a wall of separation between church and state."
Did President Jefferson do anything as commander-in-chief to implement his "wall of separation?" I have not been able to discover anything. However, I have found a number of things President Jefferson did that point in precisely the opposite direction.
In 1787, an act of Congress set aside special lands "for the sole use of Christian Indians" and reserved lands for the Moravian Brethren "for civilizing the Indians and promoting Christianity." This act was renewed in 1796. Congress extended the act three times during President Jefferson's administration, and each time he signed the extension into law.
In 1803, President Jefferson proposed - and Congress passed - a treaty with the Kaskaskia Indians that provided a salary of $100 annually for seven years from the federal treasury for the support of a Catholic priest to minister to the Kaskaskia Indians. Two similar treaties were enacted during Jefferson's administration - one with the Wyandotte Indians in 1806, and one with the Cherokees in 1807.
David R. Prichard
Corvallis
Hamas is cranking up
its propaganda machine
Propaganda is amazing. Hitler said that if you tell people a lie often enough, they will believe it. We are getting better at dissecting out the lies our politicians tell us, but not very good at spotting the lies of visual images. In horror, we watch videos of Palestinians running through the streets with stretchers.
We must remember that during the shelling of Israel from Lebanon, the leader of Hamas said "We will win because they love life; we love death." These are exactly the same words that Osama bin Laden used after 9/11. Hamas deliberately places rocket launchers in dense civilian areas in order to gain world sympathy when Israel tries to eliminate these launchers.
Remember that Islamic fundamentalists believe the greatest act one can commit is suicide during holy war. Please refer to page 76 of the year-end issue of U.S. News and World Report: the Palestinian Authority, now ruled by Hamas, programs their children via the "Palestinian Media Watch" to kill Jews for Allah; schools teach that "martyrdom is bliss." Educational video teaches children that Jews "did their own holocaust." Child martyrs are exalted as heroes.
Remember that the rockets of Hamas are supplied by Iran and other nations. The conflict is not simply Palestine vs. Israel.
One suspects that people who favor the cause of Hamas (the destruction of Israel) do not understand the absence of moral equivalency in the Middle East conflict or, indeed, do they really want to finish what Hitler started?
Ron Coffey
Corvallis
Social Security is not in crisis, despite 'Big Lie'
Sneaked into a Jan. 7 article about online registration for Social Security, the Associated Press writer threw in "Social Security already faces a crisis" in funding.
This is "The Big Lie." The only crisis that Social Security faces is that by shouting "crisis" at the people long enough, the people will stand by and let them cripple Social Security by cutting benefits below survival levels or increasing the retirement age so that you will have to work into deep old age, making money for your boss when you would rather retire and have already paid for your own retirement.
A careful, and honest, reading of the Trustees Report (by the actuaries, not the Summary by the political appointees) reveals that "the crisis" is that sometime in the next generation, if people are living longer then than we are now, those people will need to raise their payroll tax an average of $20 a week, when their incomes will by then have increased by at least $300 a week. This money will go not to a government black hole, but to pay for their own expected six years longer life expectancy in retirement.
No one who understands this would think it was anything but a good deal for them. Which is why the Big Liars work so hard to keep you from understanding it, and keep constantly telling you there is a crisis.
Dale Coberly
Corvallis