What a great week for Bush

What a great week we had, June 4 through June 10. It started when al-Zarqawi joined Hitler, Nicolae Ceausescu, Genghis Khan, Jack the Ripper, etc., in hell, and ended with three suicides at Gitmo. In one short week, we got a long overdue taste of revenge by jellifying al-Zarqawi, and now there are three fewer guests at Gitmo to feed, clothe and house with our tax dollars.

But why let this opportunity be an exclusive one for just a select few? Why not give all of the guests at Gitmo sharp objects, ropes, poison, guns with one bullet, trapdoors in their cells that deliver them to shark/alligator tanks, whatever! I'm looking forward to balancing the federal budget, so let's get started.

JAMES STRONG

Escondido

Unnecessary noise in Poway

Regarding "Noise disturbs homeowners," Letters June 8:

I have spoken with Howard and other neighbors on several occasions about the speakers at the PNLL fields and the annoyance of the sound and blaring of the volume from them.

I am recently trying to relocate out of town, have already moved my family there and am currently trying to rent out my house. After several prospective renters came over to survey the house they heard the speakers and asked, "Does this happen all of the time?" I said, "Yes, about four months out of the year." On that, they quickly decided not to rent, although they did like the house.

Poway needs to be the City in the Country, which it boasts as its motto. But how can we with unnecessary noise? There is already enough from high traffic, boomboxes, etc.

JEFFERY SWARTZ

Poway

Bilbray found a soapbox

Listening to the news on my way to work, I heard that Brian Bilbray was being sworn in as my congressman. The report mentioned that Mr. Bilbray's stated priorities are stopping amnesty for illegal aliens and saving the Mount Soledad cross. Huh? Did I miss something? How does this connect with the interests or needs of our district?

First, the current proposal for reforming immigration policy is not amnesty, and government officials like Mr. Bilbray should avoid the term. Second, why the Mount Soledad cross deserves the focus of our North County congressman as a priority, I don't know.

I can think of dozens of more important issues for Mr. Bilbray, and I am sure that your readers from my district can as well. What about coastline protection, highway and road improvements, the ballooning federal deficit, nutrition standards for WIC, college affordability, Social Security reform, alternative energy research funding, the alternative minimum tax, or national defense?

This vacuum of insight comes from a man who received the lowest percentage of votes for a victorious candidate from the 50th District in decades. It seems like Mr. Bilbray found a platform and a soapbox instead of a district for himself.

DONALD MILLER

Carlsbad

Fire all FEMA employees

Regarding the mismanagement of hurricane aid by FEMA, there seems to be something amiss here. It has been my experience that when professionals handle money, every means of the money being stolen within the system has been recognized and identified. Flags pop up all over the place when an effort to steal is made. We are not talking about lunch money or petty cash here, we are talking about $1.4 billion.

Either someone has conjured up a great lie to get to FEMA, or FEMA needs to be dismantled and investigated. If dismantling is required it should be done in one great sweep; i.e., fire them all and then investigate. In that manner the incompetence stealing would be done away with in one quick move.

Yet here we are facing the next hurricane season with the first storm already into Florida. No matter how slight this storm season is, there will be a similar report as this concerning FEMA next year. Will we never learn?

RAMSEY MARCUS TUELL

San Marcos

People love attack ads

For all we hear, "I can't stand the attack ads," people really do love them.

Because they work. Our 50th District is another classic case. Even though I am a registered Democrat, I received daily recorded phone calls from the Republicans: GW Bush, Laura Bush, John McCain and a woman who would say the most hateful things about the Democrat candidate. Once again, the right has used our fears against us. I don't understand how the good people of this town, state and country can just keep falling for it. If it's not terrorists, then it's gays; then those two ran their course, so now it's the Mexican who is coming here to steal your job.

Randy Cunningham, I have to assume, at some point in his life was a good person. The money got to him and now he's a shamed man and in prison. Prison. And the good people of the 50th District just elected a guy who had connections with the same group. Don't fool yourselves, the money for all those ads you say you hate worked like magic ññ again. Get ready for more ññ November is right around the corner and the powers that be are going to give you what you want, or at least what they know will work.

LAURA SHARP

San Marcos

No money for trash removal

Today while walking and picking up litter at Tamarack State Beach, I was surprised that the trash containers had not been returned yet to the beach.

Puzzled and dismayed at all the litter, I inquired of state beach administrators as to the reason for the absence of trash containers. Not enough money left in the budget for this fiscal year was the answer. They will be returned when the new fiscal year arrives in July.

Quite frankly, I find it very disturbing that this country can expend $10 billion a week for a war, but cannot appropriate sufficient money to maintain our priceless state beaches and parks. I'm not confused about state and federal budgets, just dismayed at the priorities of each.

On the other hand, what is wrong with the people who are so disrespectful of other people and the environmental consequences of litter that they leave their trash lying around?

Where are the parents, schools and the community that should be teaching people to have a little concern for other people and the environment?

A. JOAN GRAVEL

Oceanside

Stop the North American Union

Wake up, America, the North American Union is here.

President Bush, Canada and Mexico adopted the Security and Prosperity Partnership in March of 2005. There will be a free movement of people, products and capital. Its goal will be to guarantee a free, secure, just and prosperous North America. It is not a prosperous United States of America ññ our borders will be erased and they are creating a new court system for the new country. Our government, with the backing of the Chamber of Commerce, will not secure the border with Mexico because they like the cheap labor.

The more poor Mexican people who are here, the easier it will be to implement the new country. The Senate immigration bill required the approval of Mexico to build a border fence because it is in the Security and Prosperity Partnership. It is now in the House of Representatives and is bill HR 2672. Contact our representatives and tell them no to the North American Union and no to amnesty for illegal immigrants. Look at humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=15497 and spp.gov.

The military does not fight for the North American Union, they fight for the United States of America!

JANE GROSS

San Marcos

Make the Brooks Theater a top priority

I have been a volunteer for the Brooks Theater since it finally opened for business after a period of total mismanagement by the city of Oceanside!

Thanks to the foresight of former City Councilwoman Betty Harding, renovations finally were completed and Oceanside was well on its way to having its second legitimate theater. Oceanside was really exploding with available culture.

However, it still was not promoted properly and the theater was vacant for quite a spell. Lo and behold, the current production company running the theater is up against the same lackadaisical attitude of the powers that be at City Hall. We have a great opportunity to have another Avo-type theater in Oceanside! Come on, you council members. Let's start promoting a little more for our cultural needs. We have OMA (Oceanside Museum Of Art) and the Brooks Theater should be another priority.

BEN SCOTT

Oceanside

Freedom sings its swan song

Last week a city in America passed a law prohibiting the use of sheets and/or towels to cover the insides of the windows in private homes, punishable by six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Now, the police can enter your home without a warrant, on probable cause that your window is covered with a sheet and arrest you for your decorating scheme.

All private ownership rights are gone because you can't stop the cop at the door anymore. When government is asked to take a right away from some sector of society, it does it happily because you are giving them more power and less ability to complain when it is your right next time.

People happily agreed when government decided that poverty housing, individually owned, was designated as blighted, and then proceeded to extend eminent domain law against them.

After years of this, the same business interests behind the blighted laws that put big shopping centers in when they moved out the poor, convinced government to extend blighted to any property, and now they can take your home for Joe's Shoeshine (The New London case). All of our fundamental rights are not being taken away, we are begging government to take them from us.

NOEL SPAID

Del Mar

Modern liberalism regressive

I also have received anonymous packages from the dirty little left-wing coward.

He needs to cease and desist or suffer the consequences of a face-to-face confrontation. Far left-wingers like himself, Chris Pulse and Eric Parish shamelessly attempt to equate alleged isolated behavioral aberrations (several unproven to date) into common practices by our military.

Liberal activism caused the loss of the Vietnam War, as verified in later writings by North Vietnam's leadership; they would have caused the loss of the Cold War if it were not for the steadfastness of President Reagan, and their defeatism could weaken our protections, and cause us to lose the war, against Islamic-fascism. Others with confused allegiances like Gene Gerow claim moral equivalency between Bush and Al-Zarqawi. Some actually want us to lose in Iraq and Afghanistan. They make pacifism look like treason.

Social and political misconduct by left-wing teachers at high schools and professors/students at colleges use an arrogant false sense of superiority (Thomas Godwin) to demonstrate narcissistic immaturity, intolerant hypocrisy and condoning hate toward Christianity.

MICHAEL EUGENE CAMPBELL

Rancho Penasquitos

Hawking's proposal is illogical

I want to mention two observations concerning the June 14 article titled, "Hawking: Humans must spread out in space to survive."

First, Hawking's proposal that space and time have no beginning and no ending flies in the face of the first and second laws of thermodynamics. The first being that energy is neither being created nor destroyed, and the second being everything tends to greater entropy. Albert Einstein said that his greatest mistake was saying that the universe had no beginning.

Second, Hawking suggests that humans leave a planet that is perfect for support of organic life to places that are hostile to organic life in order to survive.

What kind of disaster could make the Earth more uninhabitable than the moon or Mars? And is it really possible that those planets could be habitable without any earthly support? What are the chances? Slim and none in my opinion.

But this is where Hawking's thinking that life came from nonliving chemicals logically or illogically leads.

PAUL OWENS

Ramona

Legislators busy solving immigration

I see our legislators have been busy, either promoting their re-election, or trying to solve illegal immigration. I also notice that they are focusing on our southern border. What about the other three? Our legislators have come up with some great ideas. I just wonder why these ideas were not put into place a long time ago. Come to think about it, I think they were. It's illegal to hire, harbor or transport any illegal immigrant. The fine was $5,000 or six months in jail, or both.

Even better, our government has decided that English should be declared the national language. Silly me, all this time I thought it was. I also thought that the Constitution guaranteed freedom of speech. What the hey, I've made mistakes before.

Here is another great idea our legislators have come up with: Let's incarcerate all illegal immigrants. Well, golly gee, why wasn't that implemented before? I think it's a great idea. We can take all illegal immigrants and put them in prison. Let's build some state-of-the-art detention centers and teach them how to speak English! A minimum of five would probably work.

Who knows, these guys might come out of there and become legislators. Heck, while they are in prison they can apply for citizenship.

ROBERT MARTINEZ

Vista

Telephone taps a reality?

It is possible to record all phone calls. Has anyone thought how much time it would take to check or listen to all recorded conversations? Even with all the computer stuff, it is close to impossible. To see just how hard it would be, just call 1-800 information.

The only way that information works is to stay on the line and hope a real person will answer, and then most of the time it does not work. About 40 years ago I was told voice-to-print was about 20 years away.

Right now best estimates for voice-to-print is about 20 years away. After you recorded all the phone calls we just do not have enough time to edit or check them out; (800) 555-1212 will tell you they are powered by "Tell Me." Most of the time you must punch it up more than once to understand what "Tell Me" is saying.

ROBERT DUKE LAYTON

Vista

Stop complaining and do something

Thanks to the two gentlemen who support the cross, Mr. Sanford and Mr. Ehrhart (Letters, June 11), for not giving in to the atheists who continue to complain about the flags and cross.

The complainers enjoy life in our beautiful United States, but complain about a symbol the rest of us salute.

I served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1949 to 1952, and my husband was a Marine for 30 years, serving in World War II, Korea and Vietnam, and is buried in Arlington, Va.

I love my country, and wanted to give something back, so I served on the San Diego County grand jury for several years.

And I love my beautiful city, Carlsbad, and am serving on the Senior Commission to show my appreciation.

Quit complaining and do something to give thanks for just being here! Or, if you would rather ññ go somewhere else.

You are free to be atheists here. Enjoy it!

ANNA ORLANDO

HOPKINS

Carlsbad

Top priorities of the GOP Congress

Since the GOP-controlled Congress brought up a vote on one of their top priorities last week, to appease their discriminating base, I offer this direct quote from former ambassador to the U.N. and Republican Sen. John Danforth: "As a senator, I worried every day about the size of the federal deficit. I did not spend a single minute worrying about the effect of gays on the institution of marriage. Today it seems to be the other way around."

Oh, and that same base is requiring these mockeries of representatives of the people to have a vote on another of their priorities, flag-burning! When was the last time you saw a flag burned? But on both gay marriage and flag-burning, the Republicans want to amend the Constitution. After all, we don't have more pressing issues before us, do we? They should all be ashamed of themselves.

JOANNE GOODWIN

Oceanside

Time for Bush's reign to end

I read "Bush: Send Guards to border of Mexico" on May 16. I think that President Bush is doing a wrong thing because Mexico and the United States signed a paper in the old days saying that they will never put National Guardsmen on the border of Mexico. I think that we should not vote for Bush because he wants to close borders with Mexico and the United States. He should not be president again.

All the immigrants come to work and have a better life. They take out fruits in the trees of the fields. The two countries should be free and they should have freedom. We need the immigrants in our country because other people don't want to do the jobs immigrants do, like construction, mechanics and field workers.

I'm from the United States and I think it is a great thing to have immigrants in our country. We are all a kind of brothers in our country and all of the world. We should get together and not vote for Bush. We all are immigrants because some people came from Mexico, Salvador, Cuba, Columbia and all other countries. We all are family and you should not vote for Bush.

Pedro Rocha Jr.

Lake Elsinore

Terra Cotta Middle School

Grad night plans are disappointing

I was a senior this year at Temecula Valley High School. Unfortunately, for grad night we are going to Mulligan's Family Fun Center. How sad is that? Almost every other high school is going to Disneyland. Is our school that poor that we have to go to Mulligans?

With more than 800 students graduating, how can that tiny place even accommodate us? I can't wait to take pictures with my friends waiting in a huge line to ride a go-cart! Wow, that's embarrassing.

There isn't anything wrong with Mulligan's if you're planning a party for your 5-year-old child, but there is a problem when it comes to 18-year-olds. We seniors have worked so hard these past four years; we could at least end our senior year at the happiest place on Earth!

Esther Harbour

Temecula Valley High School

Don't let TVHS lose more teachers

I attend Temecula Valley High School and I couldn't be more happy with it. You always hear horror stories about teachers, the way they teach and the different assignments they assign, but if the teacher is willing to help you on the assignment, then what is the big deal of doing a research paper? The dedicated teachers here do so much for their students to further their education.

Now we are losing some of Temecula Valley's greatest teachers because our number of students are dropping. French Valley has kids going to Chaparral High and some students from TVHS as well.

Not only are teachers losing students to the other high schools, they aren't even guaranteed a job next year. Even with all the years of experience they have, they have to settle for a job at a middle school after teaching seniors.

There are fabricated stories that float about and some parents believe them and even pull their child out of school or transfer them to another high school. And due to that, some of TVHS' greatest teachers are forced to leave. I believe something must be done to stop this before we lose any more teachers.

Kassondra Zeller

Temecula Valley High School

Educational environment should come first

I am a senior at Temecula Valley High School and am in awe at our school's priorities. As you might already know, we are in the process of getting a new gym and pool built on top of one of our parking lots. While our school spends thousands -- maybe even millions -- of dollars building these attachments, students are suffering in their classrooms.

In our school there are at least three rat-infested classrooms, and five classrooms that have air conditioning and/or heating problems. Not only can we hear and smell the rats, there are wet spots in the ceilings that we can only use our imagination to decipher.

Instead of using those funds to build a new gym when we already have one, and pool, when we have been using the Community Recreation Center down the street for years, the money should be used to fix our classrooms or build new ones.

Do not misunderstand me as you read this, I love my school and I love being a Golden Bear, but students' educational environment should come first. Students should have clean, fresh-smelling classrooms to bring out the best in their academic abilities.

Dawnn Dixon-Lewis

Temecula Valley High School

Attendance should not be top priority

Schools are required to teach and help students prepare for the "real world." So when did attendance play a role in deciding our future?

I go to Temecula Valley High School and I believe it is unfair for the school district to lower our grade just because of absences. Can we help it if we get sick or if important family matters come up? I mean, is that fair? A student could be the brightest and gifted, but could fail a class due to their attendance.

This is not fair to all of the students who actually try to pass high school. And all of the seniors who are unable to graduate due to absences is ridiculous. How can a school sit there and fail you just because you could not be there? Why do they make our job at school much harder than it is supposed to be? I think that the schools should look more toward the students' grades and how they progress in class rather than failing them for not being there.

Maria Balingit

Temecula Valley High School

Drop-off area needed for parents at school

I am a high school senior about to graduate. It seems like traffic is starting to build up really bad around the school in the morning, which is causing myself and other students to be late. The parents who drop off their kids feel they have a higher priority to get into the school parking lot to drop off their kid than to let us get in there first so we can park and get to class.

Just yesterday morning, a parent cut me off and gave me the finger because she felt she had to get into the student parking lot before me. I feel that the school should have a better location for the parents who are dropping off their teens to prevent things like this from happening and to help traffic die down in the near future.

Brittanie Singer

Temecula Valley High School