Sept. 3 Letters to the Editor

Our nation’s strength

Remember Sept. 11, 2001? Well, now al-Qaida in Pakistan and Afghanistan is salivating over the prospect of gaining control of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb to use against us.

Meanwhile, we in this country are weakened by terrible divisions. Hot heads have divided us by propagating the twin evils of hate and unfounded fear (based on lies), using the health-care reform effort as an excuse. I can imagine al-Qaida beaming gleefully over these divisions amongst us.

Health-care reform is an honest effort to strengthen a weak system. I can understand genuine fear over what might become of our health care, as well as our economy. But now that the hot heads have had their say, it’s time for cooler heads like Brian Baird (a true patriot) to analyze, deliberate and wring out possible pitfalls that may be present amongst the complex issues involved. Like Brian said, we need much more time (too hurried by the administration) for proper development of the health-care bill. It needs time for a majority of the general public (helped by an earnest media) to understand, make intelligent comments on, and show approval of.

Such a bill will add greatly to the strength of our nation. We need all the strength we can build to defeat our real enemy, al-Qaida.

Rex Carter

Castle Rock

Thanks for human interest stories

Thanks, Daily News, for human interest articles among depressing, unfixable politics.

Happy 18th birthday, Cory Kennedy, and congratulations on winning the Eagle Scouts Award on schedule, creating art and beauty, a Zen garden at Tam O’Shanter, accepting the challenge and honoring your grandmother. She is smiling down proudly on you. I’ve never met you, but I’m proud of you.

Thanks for humor from letter writers (sorry John Carstensen (Aug. 26 letter), but I laughed over your distress with a car computer). These old memories we laugh at now. My husband needed every new toy. Probably in late ‘50s, a hard-top convertible — push buttons, the top goes straight up in air and folds neatly in trunk. Ever try driving in California rain with the stuck car top straight up in the air, trunk open?

Then there was an Edsel — I believe a solenoid switch burned out, only had reverse. Backing up 20 miles at night, 15 miles on streets of greater Los Angeles, traffic light turns green, back through it. Very difficult to explain to an inebriated driver that he had to go around.

Buy an old fixable clunker. Stop to smell roses and enjoy the Zen garden.

Donna Karthauser

Kelso

It’s about control, power

I would like very much to respond to Daniel Stanley’s Aug. 28 letter titled, “Where’s the common sense?” There is none. This is about control and power.

I used to think all Democrats were alike when, in reality, they have one common thread and desire — power and control. Think of the Democratic Party as an octopus. The core, or “brain” if you will, of the Democratic Party is “control and power.” Now off of that you have many tentacles of (sometimes) unwittingly cooperative henchman (useful idiots, as Winston Churchill put it) that will bring them their plight. For example, the Granola eating ex-hippies. Sometimes I think these people would make better Quakers than hippies with the exception that Quakers bathe and don’t protest.

Then, the “brain” will take this plight and exploit it for control. The “brain” could care less about the marbled murrelet, spotted owl or water slug, but it is useful to them to create environmental laws which mean “control.” Another tentacle would be those who feel the plight of the undocumented illegals. The “brain” cares about votes; they could care less where the votes come from or their plight. Are you getting the picture?

Sadly, the “tentacle” aspect of this model will not wake up or become aware until it is too late. We have lost far too many liberties from this Democratic machine. The Republicans have simply been asleep all these years, but are now fighting back. Unfortunately, far too late.

John Wilson

Longview