Letters to the Editor Letters to the Editor (November 19, 2004)

Thoughts on Kasperzak, and the election

Editor:

I was surprised to read in your Nov. 12 article titled "Chamber to celebrate local leaders" that Republican city council member Michael Kasperzak "has been active" itten organizations including "BAYMEC, a gay/lesbian political action commie."

My surprise was not that the Mountain View Chamber of Commerce would give a "leadership" award to Kasperzak (its former board chair) or that Kasperzak would join any group that might enhance his political future. I just thought that it was a closely held secret that BAYMEC was a gay/lesbian political action committee. Voters not "in the know" must have wondered what a BAYMEC endorsement on campaign literature meant.

Some say that the effort to establish gay and lesbian marriage led to the defeat of many Democrats across the country. Certainly, it will now prove smarter for gays, lesbians and, let us not forget bisexuals, to pursue civil unions instead of marriage in the near-term. But in my view the real reason Kerry/Edwards lost (apart from the very real possibility that votes were switched by Diebold computer programs in Ohio) may be that nearly half of adult citizens failed to vote at all. A third of adult citizens are not registered to vote and a third of those registered do not vote. The result is that 25 percent can carry the day.

To alter the course of America, the Democratic party -- and some other parties or groups -- must get more people involved in the political process, at least in voting. Otherwise, our country will continue to be run for the benefit of the rich and entrenched special interests and by appealing, at election time, to only 25 percent of our adult citizens. Gary Wesley Continental Circle
Accounting for the human suffering in Iraq

Editor:

I would like to respond to the letter entitled "A Different View Of Iraq," which was in response to my guest column appearing in a previous issue. The main point I wanted to get across was to hold the previous Iraqi government under Saddam's rule and the U.S. foreign policy in Iraq accountable for the human atrocities that have been going on there for over 30 years.

The sanctions were imposed by the U.N., but the U.N. is undeniably led by the U.S., which has unrefuted power in the U.N. body. In fact France, Germany and other countries had urged the U.S. to lift the Iraqi sanctions several times, but the U.S. repeatedly refused.

And the fact that the U.S. knew that Saddam was violating the rules by taking money from the "oil for food" program during the sanctions, while continuing to support them, means the U.S. is just as responsible as Saddam for the half-million Iraqi children who died of malnutrition.

As for the looting, Iraqi people are no exception of what humans will do when there is no law or civic code upheld. This has been seen in short black-out periods that occur in cities right here in the U.S. such as New York or Los Angeles.

And finally, who is benefiting from the production of Iraqi oil? Most certainly not the Iraqis. It is Halliburton, Bechtel and other U.S. allied companies who are "rebuilding Iraq." Hala Alshahwany Milton Court

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