First-run films should be OK at Whiteside

The aspect of the Whiteside Theatre saga that has always frustrated me is the condition by Regal Cinemas that the new owner cannot use the space as first-run movie theater.

How can they get away with that so easily?

That's like selling a hospital building under the condition that you can't treat sick people in it. It's a movie theater!

It seems like there should be a hellish tax bracket for businesses that waste prime downtown real estate with such obvious civic disregard.

Jay Holavarri, Corvallis

Kindness steadied driver's frayed nerves

On my way back to Corvallis on Jan. 24, through heavy commuter traffic, an accident ahead prompted police car lights and abrupt stopping in my lane.

As I attempted to stop, I hit some of the copious, unsanded ice, and my car skidded across all four lanes into oncoming traffic.

I was able to wrestle the car as it bucked and fish-tailed over the ice, through the snow and freezing rain to the shoulder on the side where I started out. I stopped to let my heart rate normalize.

A large black truck pulled in front of me onto the shoulder and a young man got out. I rolled down my window, and he asked me if I was all right, and if there was anything I needed. I would like to thank that young man for his kindness.

Just a little human contact steadied me enough to continue my harrowing drive home.

Thank you for caring enough to stop.

Natalie Daley, Corvallis

OHSU case reminds of health-care ills

In 2006 a child suffered irreversible brain damage following heart surgery at Oregon Health and Science University after the child's breathing tube became disconnected in the intensive care unit. OHSU faces a $17 million settlement.

People initiate malpractice lawsuits for a variety of reasons. One is fear of future medical costs after a serious complication of treatment.

What would be the best possible outcomes from this awful event?

1. Measures will be enacted at OHSU and other hospitals to greatly reduce the chance of this accident happening to another patient.

2. The child's future medical expenses will be paid for by the settlement.

What are the worst possible outcomes from this awful event?

1. OHSU's ability to provide the needed training for current and future caregivers will be significantly impaired by a $17 million dollar settlement.

2. The likelihood of a similar accident will increase instead of decrease.

This child's case reminds us that we must develop a sustainable system to provide health for our citizens, a non-adversarial system that balances the individual good with the common good.

We expect the very best results of medical care for each of us as individuals, but we have been reluctant to provide equitable and preventative care for all.

We all pay dearly for this underachievement.

You have an opportunity to help design a much better health care system. Please read the Physicians for a National Health Plan, www.pnhp.org, the Archimedes Movement, www.archimedes movement.org.

Mike Huntington, M.D., Corvallis

Immigration has big impact on economy

The economic argument against mass immigration is much stronger than the cultural one - even though culture and race get most of the attention.

Paul deLespinasse ("Immigration is new front is quest for civil rights," As I See It, Jan. 24) stooped to play the race card in his attempt to portray immigration as a basic human right. But it's not. That's why migration is not in the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights.

In a society built around the myth of continual growth, mass immigration is essential to perpetuating that myth. Capitalism is an economic system that must have continually increasing production and consumption to satisfy its investors.

Immigration provides necessary growth in population, production and consumption, as migrants seek to match the gluttonous affluence here.

The work ethic of immigrants is generally unsurpassed, and their fertility rates are nearly double those of native-born Americans.

The modern industrial world seeks to tear down all boundaries, even as its fateful encounter with limits has begun. So corporations seek to tear down the concepts of nation and citizenship and progressives tell us to feel guilty if we don't acquiesce.

Capitalists are quite willing to exploit migrants by using their desperate plight as a stalking horse. NAFTA created a free flow of capital, and mass immigration creates a free flow of labor - thereby giving the capitalist greater power over the state and its people.

The irony of Marxists demonstrating in the streets to tear down borders could not be more profound.

Mark Knapp, Corvallis

Government keeps us on narrow path

Thanks to the government, in all its infinite wisdom, for saving me from myself.

Without the government, I would have a tendency to endanger myself by doing things like riding a motorcycle without a helmet, smoking in bars, and driving in my car without wearing safety restraint.

Without the government's enforced moral code I might have a tendency to recall what my parents taught me and be less likely to be allowed entry though the pearly gates.

Mom and Dad always said killing unborn babies was wrong, but thanks to you I can now do it with a clean conscience.

They also said I should give to the less fortunate. Now, thanks to your taxes, Social Security and welfare programs it is automatically deducted from my paycheck.

The definition of freedom was so unclear to me until more and more of these superfluous laws were made to help me understand my social liberties as an American.

I can't wait for this next election to see what new laws the government can come up with, in order to let freedom reign.

Matt Jones, Corvallis

Media should report Iraqi civilian deaths

On Jan. 24, 14 Iraqi civilians were killed. Estimates for civilian deaths in Iraq since our invasion and occupation of their country, range from 80,000 to 150,000 depending on the source.

Although monthly deaths in Iraq are thankfully down from 1,683 in January 2007 to 246 in December, 246 in a month is an unforgivable number. In addition, an estimated 4.2 million Iraqis are refugees, either within Iraq or in neighboring countries.

If we were living in a moral country and were a moral people, we would be as scrupulous about reporting these numbers as we are about tallying the tragic deaths of our own servicemen and servicewomen.

I believe these numbers should be forefront in our media and our consciousness, and we should daily grieve for all the senseless dying brought on by our actions.

Lois Courtney, Corvallis