Letters (January 8, 2024)

• President Kill 'Em All
• Oswald Did It. But Who Knows?
• Soulless, Fully Complicit
• Fed Up
• Imagine…
• Here We Go Again
• Win Win
• Pass An Immigration Bill Now

PRESIDENT KILL 'EM ALL

Editor: 

Since the Holocaust in World War II, when my life began and my father’s ended, I have been an Israel fan. I’m also a fan of President Joe Biden. Israelis have put together an impressive democracy, and Biden seems to have the gift of empathy — a gift we need more than ever in these fractured political times.

The war in Gaza is terrorism by definition. Killing thousands of men, women and children who had nothing to do with the horrendous Hamas attack on Israel is evil. Nearly 20,000 dead and thousands more whose homes are destroyed will never be the same. Revenge is a human desire, but it needs to stop now.

Our president’s empathy is in serious question since he wants to send more money to continue the killing. 

Not my money, Mr. President.

Peter Henriksen

Occidental

OSWALD DID IT. BUT WHO KNOWS?

Editor,

I've read your newspaper for about 25 years. You have never been “back and forth” on the Kennedy assassination! You have always said Oswald did it alone and now you suddenly change your tune? And now you tell us you were in the Marines at the same time and place as Oswald! I think maybe you were involved, and I intend to prove you were on the Grassy Knoll!

So you now have Doug Holland writing for you? And you've had Aaron Cometbus writing for you in the past. Well, don't you know all the zine luminaries? Suggestion: Why not serialize Holland's great zine from the early 90s called ‘Pathetic Life’?

Regards, 

Ralph Coon 

Pasadena 

PS. Whatever happened to the guy who was riding around Boonville with the corpse of his dead mother in his mini-van?

ED REPLY: Last I heard Mom came back to life and is working for our supervisors as an at-large cemetery consultant. As for Lee Harvey and I, I mentioned he and I were in the Marines at Camp Pendleton at the same time — '57-'59 — simply to point out how improbable it was for a guy from our prole backgrounds to have ambitions aimed at defecting to Russia, a desire at the time beyond unthinkable. I think Oswald was the lone shooter; maybe there was a second hitman but I've never been able to suss out where that second shooter could have been firing from. The Grassy Knoll? Not likely with a ton of spectators milling around a guy who suddenly appears with a spiffy sniper rifle, takes a hurry-up position, shoots, breaks his gun down and runs off unmolested? No way. I think, though, the reason so many documents related to the case are still unavailable is because Oswald was funded and controlled by agents of our government, meaning Kennedy was killed by American taxpayers. Sleepy Joe promised to release all the docs, but that was before he became totally ga-ga. PS. We agree that Big Doug's zine was among the best ever, and we revere his every contribution.

SOULLESS, FULLY COMPLICIT

Editor: 

Scream bloody murder. Has the U.S. lost its moral compass? Did it ever really have one? By unconditionally providing Israel with a deadly potpourri of Hellfire missiles, so-called smart bombs and over 57,000 155mm artillery shells to turn Gaza into a modern-day Guernica while simultaneously vetoing U.N. resolutions calling for a ceasefire, the U.S. is fully complicit in the deaths of thousands of innocent men, women and children.

From sea to shining sea, America ― working in tandem with Israel ― has always brought misery, suffering and death to the entire region. Human rights, freedom and democracy are now merely cheap, garbage words used by the U.S. to placate the masses. Christopher Le Mon, a senior State Department official, once said the following: “It is not in the U.S. national interest to engage in arms transfers where we assess that they are likely to be used in human rights violations.” Indeed. This casual, chilling observation shows that America has not only lost its moral compass, it also has lost its soul.

Steve Baker

Santa Rosa

FED UP

Editor: 

Am I the only one left with any observation skills, or has most people’s cellphone addictions turned them into full-fledged zombies? This country is in big trouble for the so-called middle class. The taxpayers are funding two foreign wars at a cost of several billion dollars so far. Living in California, there seems to be a new tax every day — or a new bond, just a tax extended over many years.

Let’s not forget how many companies seem to love adding on fees. Here a fee, there a fee, everywhere a fee. Did I mention all the socialized housing popping up everywhere? Let’s not forget, when someone gets something for free, someone else usually has to pay for it. People who get a paycheck have to live for 365 days per year. But when a giant amount of their check is deducted for taxes, obviously they’re going to be in the red.

Income tax and property tax ought to be dissolved immediately. What’s next? A toilet paper tax, where users must document their usage for Uncle Sam?

Jim Owen Jr.

Santa Rosa

IMAGINE…

Editor: 

As we watch on the nightly news the devastation in Gaza we would think Gaza must be a large country. But it really isn't.

Gaza is 140 square miles. It is approximately 5 miles from the sea on the west to the Israeli wall on the east. About 28 miles from the border with Egypt in the south to the Israeli wall in the north. Think a 5-mile strip of land along the Highway 101 corridor from Novato to Windsor. Now, populate that strip with 2.2 million people. Over 1 million people under the age of 18. Imagine 80% of their homes destroyed. All their belongings gone. No place to go. No place to hide. No food to eat or water to drink. No shelter from the coming winter weather.

Wherever you place blame, the humanitarian crisis is real. And, as the world watches, we offer to send military aid to Israel. To disagree with that is not being antisemitic, it is recognizing that we are all human beings, some by birth being luckier than others.

Lew Larson

Sebastopol

HERE WE GO AGAIN

Editor: 

Nobody was worried in 1927. The Dow hit 200, and to a foreign visitor visiting America for the first time, the most striking thing was how staggeringly well off it was. The book “One Summer in 1927” describes America’s bounty: “Of the 26.8 million households 10 million had cars, America added more new phones (781,000) than Briton possessed in total.”

Bill Bryson wrote that 42% of all that was produced in the world was produced in America. Kansas alone had more cars than France. America owned half of the world’s gold.

The stock market already booming, would rise by another third then crash. Our debt today stands at $32 trillion, and interest alone is $669 billion annually. Many Americans can’t afford to buy a home. Women are second-class citizens, and a wannabe dictator is threatening revenge on his political critics if elected.

Insultingly, our top 1% earn more wealth than the nation’s entire middle class. The S&P 500 hits another high, led by seven tech stocks holding 30% of the capitalization. History may not repeat, but it can rhyme.

Dave Heventhal

Windsor

WIN WIN

Dear Editor,

Readers this morning as I do most (try) I must to gain abundance and prosperity through the rare art of lottery tickets.

Today’s efforts were driving through the bypass bridge and offers a money clip to enhance my chances. Lol. 

I would rather have stopped and set it aside to let go of my past exploits to win but there are no places on a bridge. 

I hope your are well and content. I plan to walk since the sun has come out. 

Sincerely yours 

Greg Crawford 

Fort Bragg

PASS AN IMMIGRATION BILL NOW

Dear Editor,

We are at a crucial crossroad in more than our border/foreign policy. The crisis on our entire southern border with Mexico has become critically sad due to a sudden rise in number of immigrants, in probable excess of 12,000. The Border Patrol and immigrant courts are seriously undermanned. Only our politically split Congress has sufficient authority to act due to the facts and the Constitution giving it the control of the purse strings. There is even a great caravan made up of many more from Venezuela, Columbia and elsewhere walking north from the Guatemala/southern Mexico border.

The Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, lacks the votes or apparently the will to lead the House to pass a large enough bill. A stalemate he created has blocked everything including critical essential military aid to our allies, Israel, Taiwan and Ukraine. The Biden Administration cannot solve this overwhelming issue alone.

Very few of these immigrants will cause harm. Most want only asylum and a shot at working to be out of poverty. President Biden needs your vote in November and your support for a better Immigration bill.

Frank H. Baumgardner, III 

Santa Rosa