Corvallis Gazette-Times, Friday, Sept. 5, 2008

Former contenders parade hypocrisy

What a dazzling display of hypocrisy and mendacity is being paraded ad nauseum on the podium of the GOP convention hall. Former presidential hopefuls, who had been touted as close contenders for the VP position, smiled at cameras and the audience and declared what a wonderful choice McCain had made in putting Palin on the ticket. Really?

My fellow Americans, they lied to us - and to themselves. Given the lessons in prevarication they have been receiving since Bush took office, it is no surprise that they did so with aplomb. We saw Lieberman, Giuliani and Thompson swallow their pride and give no visible signs of chagrin at being passed over in favor of an almost-unknown governor from Alaska. How they must have been seething inside, but it was not apparent.

Don't they realize they were dropped to the bottom of the barrel?

Rest assured that we will hear more lies from the podium before this convention and election are over. Karl Rove knows well that "if you lie often enough, your audience will think it's the truth," and Bush and his cohort follow the maxim to the letter. The true tragedy is that too many voters believe them and seem to have forgotten what a calamity the Bush administration has been for this country and may even vote to continue its disastrous policies by electing McCain. Let's not allow this to happen.

Come November, vote for Obama and put this runaway train back on track.

Ron Maclean

Corvallis

Police employ brutal tactics in St. Paul

An open letter to the mayor of St. Paul, Minn.:

I understand that you must have a lot on your mind these days, but the news coming out of your city is terribly disturbing to the rest of the country.

I have been hearing firsthand reports from pacifists - people like myself who are strongly committed to never using violence - about the dangerous and brutal assaults by police on people who are doing nothing other than using their Bill of Rights: freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, freedom of religion.

Have we become a police state like those with the worst dictators that we say we oppose?

The use of Tasers and billy clubs on people who are simply standing or bicycling is unconscionable. Tear-gassing large crowds who are simply marching and chanting is inexcusable. It is crucial that police violence be curtailed. It is highly likely that it is the only violence happening, and it is intended to discredit the many thousands who peacefully march to oppose U.S. policies that promote war and poverty for the profit of a few.

Laurie Childers

Corvallis

G-T's gun raspberry

is an asinine opinion

Now you have done it.

The raspberry given by the G-T on Aug. 29 to the school officials in Harrold, Texas, sounds like a foregone conclusion but is really a very asinine opinion.

The first asinine statement is this one: "No good can come from it." I would think if an armed teacher could stop some crazy from killing one or a bunch of students and teachers. That would be good.

The second: "Ask any professional corrections officer why they don't bring weapons into the inmate population." Don't you really know the difference between convicted criminals and students? Officers are at the corrections facilities to protect the public from the inmates. (That is why they are locked up under armed guard.)

The third: "Security cameras would have been a much better investment." That makes a lot of sense. That would give all the parents a chance to see their kids and teachers being killed by some crazy before he kills himself. Maybe if some of the teachers were armed it would show some teacher taking the crazy out as he was going to kill some child.

The fourth: "… the same as supplying young toughs with guns." Those young toughs can get guns off of the street and from other gang members a lot easier than they can from a teacher who has had to go through self-defense and gun-safety courses, be finger-printed and have their background checked before being issued a concealed-weapon permit.

Marvin Martin

Corvallis

McCain caved in

with Palin choice

The Sept. 2 opinion column "Palin is the new deerslayer" shows clearly that McCain's pick for a running mate was all about winning votes in the election rather than about choosing a person well-qualified to govern the nation. According to advisers, he preferred Joe Lieberman, who is pro-choice. At the last minute, McCain caved in to the right-wing faction of his party and settled for Palin, a religious fundamentalist with a thin political resume whom he had only briefly met. This decision is not that of a maverick determined to change direction in D.C., but of a politician in the pocket of the Bush/Cheney backers.

Evelyn B. Sherr

Corvallis

Hillary supporters,

be wary of McCain

To Hillary Clinton supporters angry about the primaries: Driving full throttle off the cliff like Thelma and Louise is one thing. Driving off the cliff with your granddaughters in the back seat is another thing entirely: That's voting for John McCain and his Supreme Court.

Will Fulton

Corvallis

Palin won't attract

fans of Hillary

According to the comments by Nanette Everson (Sept. 2), Palin is the perfect complement to McCain. This could very well be true; however, she's not going to attract people who were going to vote for Hillary Clinton. Those people did not just want a woman - any woman. They will not accept a woman who is seemingly ready to throw womankind back into the dark ages! She does not believe in sex education, and her 17-year old daughter is pregnant. She does not believe in birth control, and has had her fifth child (in a world with too many people vying for food and resources). If any woman or girl is the victim of rape or incest, Palin does not believe that an abortion should be available.

Nanette Everson thinks that Palin is the answer to all of the country's problems. If only shooting a gun and having many children could make someone qualified to run our country. In reality, her five kids do not "show that she's for real and can actually relate to the lives of real voters … ." It shows that she's too stubborn to make wise decisions. Everson goes on to say that Palin could hunt down bin Laden, skin a deer in under 10 minutes, and comes from the West! How does this make her qualified for anything, other than being a hunting guide?

Rebecca Stillwell

Albany

McCain follows

a Bush tradition

Mr. McCain has proven to me that he is continuing George Bush's tendency to choose an unqualified person for high office. Does choosing Sarah Palin remind you of "Good job Brownie," Harriet Miers or Alberto Gonzalez?

Shirley Hazleton

Corvallis

Obama won't end

either 'forever' war

Obama, like most Democrats, makes a great deal of noise about "fighting the good war" - as opposed to the wars fought by the GOP. We should be out of Iraq and putting more resources into Afghanistan - the "good" war. What's so good and noble about taking over that country and killing or detaining a great number of its citizenry? We justified our intervention and occupation because the Taliban did not attack Osama in the mountains. We have since discovered that the Taliban are easier to dislodge from Kabul than those mountains.

We could suggest offering the Pashtun a greater degree of political autonomy if they ceased hostilities and bid Osama farewell. But that's not tough enough for Obama or McCain. Besides, it's easier to expand big government when enemies abound.

In the other forever war, Obama would prefer mandatory drug treatment in lieu of prison time. It may not be very effective - but even with abysmal success ratios it's cheaper than prison. I just can't see spending taxpayer dollars to treat someone who definitely doesn't want treatment and may not need treatment. Success happens with motivated patients. Otherwise we're wasting taxpayer money. Our current policy of blaming drugs for personal problems guarantees failure - because real problems are ignored in treatment.

Obama won't end either forever war. He will just shift fronts and waste our money - just like Bush and McCain. He'll then take the savings and have taxpayers fund the current dysfunctional health care system for everyone. That's not reform!

J.T. Barrie

Philomath