Attention, Republicans

Inflation is at its highest rate since 1991, when Bush senior left office. Housing foreclosures are at a near all-time high and the stock market is in a major slump. Gasoline is still too high and Graham, who called you and me "a nation of whiners," is back at McCain's side.

But McCain voted for medical coverage for Viagra and against birth control medical coverage for women. As McCain's surrogate collects $200,000 from the country of Georgia, McCain talks in warlike tones. Go ahead and vote for McSame! By the way, the national debt is quite high too.

Daniel Lynch

Vista

The water police cometh

Most of us feel it is only a matter of time, maybe after the elections, before we are into the dreaded mandatory water cutbacks. I have a feeling the water police recruits are presently being secretly trained in the famous Phoenix water gendarme boot camp.

Most folks are torn between really trying to conserve and … wasting water so they have a point of usage to cut back from (they remember the last mandatory water rationing). For ease, the water police will focus or pick on us tiered-rate homeowners, rather than commercial establishments, which enjoy low flat rates and have no incentive to conserve. I hope the water police focus on large development common areas that are severely overwatered.

Our water is just one area of the local infrastructure growing deficit that the County Grand Jury and others have recently reported on. Continued fast growth without adequate infrastructure is not common sense. How will the water police be able to rate all the new development without any prior data for water usage? And when will the local water departments be able to do the audits they promised? Probably after the mandatory cutbacks.

Jack Key

Oceanside

Praised for failing

You gave a rose to teachers who have 53.5 percent of their students fail a test ("The 'Slow But Steady Increase' award," Aug. 25)? What is the same score for home-schooled students? Do we have students who cannot learn or overeducated teachers who cannot teach? Maybe if our administrators and teachers had a better pension plan (not just Social Security and Medicare like the rest of us), our kids would have better teachers.

Bob Crowell

Oceanside

Intrusive ruling should be overturned

I applaud Richard Kirk's column titled "Doc's beliefs don't count," Aug. 26, which deplores a recent state Supreme Court ruling that a doctor may not refuse to artificially inseminate a homosexual woman if it is contrary to the doctor's beliefs to do so. It appears that a doctor's conscientious objection to performing an elective procedure is now a crime. What's next? Altered fingerprints on demand? Heroin prescriptions on demand? One can only hope that this intrusive court ruling will soon be overturned.

Robert Douglas

Escondido

People have a right to profit

In response to the Community Forum of Tuesday, Aug. 26 ("Escondido City Council disappoints," I would like to respond to Larry Steneck. With all due respect, what gives Mr. Steneck, or anybody else, the right to restrict the income of another person's business or assets? The fact that the owner of the park is wealthy should have no bearing on anything. The owner of the park should be able to get whatever the market will bear for rent. The only thing the owner of that park owes anyone is decent value for their money; if they deem it not worth it, they do not have to stay. I'm sure his costs are going up for labor and utilities. He has maintenance costs, insurance and other costs, and he has the right to earn a good return on his investment.

The government has no place regulating the business of a private individual or corporation. Inclusionary housing is also wrong. Why should people invest in properties when the government restricts your earnings? We are still a free market economy.

Jay Berman

Vista

No evidence that plastic bags harm sea life

I have spent at least a thousand hours in the ocean trying to ride those waves and looking like a clown at it about half of the time. Dolphins, sea lions and fish don't look like clowns in the ocean very often. I believe that if my hands were tied behind my back I could get a plastic shopping bag off of my head, and if my head was shaped like a dolphin's, I could do it four times as fast.

I have never seen a shopping bag in the ocean, and certainly not over anybody's head. I have seen sea lions caught up in fishing line and nets on the news, but I haven't seen video or still pictures of one with a Ralphs bag over its head. These animals are very intelligent, agile and sleek. I have had dolphins swim within a couple of inches of me without touching me. They call it science for a reason. When it becomes a means of pursuing a cause, it loses some of its luster.

I want to see the evidence. I was born on a Friday, but it was not last Friday.

Richard Baker

Carlsbad

How not to pass a bond

Regarding Proposition A's failure ("Prop. A appears to be failing," Aug. 27): How not to pass a hospital bond: Set the election during a recession. Residents who are losing their homes, being laid off and scrounging for gas money will go out of their way to vote against any tax increase. Refuse to reduce the amount of the bond. Run television ads during the Olympics. Run the same newspaper ad every day. Locate the only ballot drop-off site at the hospital instead of a neutral location, such as the Vista courthouse.

Randy Horton

Oceanside

The right to marry â€"â€" anyone

I agree with the letter writer (Aug. 27) who said: "We should be allowed to marry the person we love, and we don't need the government to decide who is acceptable." A man should be allowed to marry another man. Or 12 men. Or an underaged man. Or a man who's his father or son. Or a man who's already married. Or a nonhuman. Or a man who doesn't love him back and doesn't want to get married. Or a man who only exists in his mind. Or a dead man.

Personally, I love John Adams, and I'd like to marry him. If only he'd stop spinning in his grave.

Jack DeLessio

Valley Center

Life begins when it is sustainable

As usual, the church, pro-lifers and the pro-choice, pro-abortionists are talking past each other about when life begins. The question isn't really when life begins. Aren't sperm alive? The question really is, when do individual human rights invest? Don't parental rights trump most children's rights? Obviously, not to the extent of taking the child's life. So both sides should really look at when the individual's right to life begins.

I would suggest that rights can't begin until that life is sustainable independent of the mother. Up to that point the mother has the right to control her own body. After that point, the individual right of the human within outweighs the rights of the mother, when it comes to life. The question should be decided by medical experts, not philosophers, or theologians, or worst of all, the general population. The point in gestation should then be defined by law in a moral country.

Bryan Mace

Carlsbad

Last chance to slam brakes on 241 toll road!

Run, don't walk to the Del Mar Fairgrounds on Sept. 22 (time TBA) to voice your opposition to the toll road. Write the commerce secretary in advance to be scheduled to appear at the hearing. Ten thousand people wanted to appear at UC Irvine to voice their dissent during the public comment period to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce. The hearing was canceled because UC Irvine could not accommodate the large crowd, but also the commerce secretary said no further hearings would be scheduled at the time. Now, suddenly, there has been a change of heart.

In order to appear at the hearing, you must write the secretary of commerce in advance. Here is the contact person and the address: Carlos M. Gutierrez, Secretary of Commerce, U.S. Department of Commerce 1401 Constitution Ave., NW Washington, DC 20230. If you can't appear in person, write a letter, and fast!

Nina Hall

Vista

U.S.A. still the best nation, by comparison

I have heard so many politicians telling the American people how bad America is, how bad and uncaring the American people are, how we should model ourselves after Europe, its people and culture. I spent, voluntarily, over 30 years of my life in the U.S. Air Force, putting my life in harm's way so that we are ensured of our First Amendment rights. I have lived in Europe: Great Britain, Spain, Holland and in and out of Germany for years. I lived on the local economy, not U.S. bases. I can assure you the good old U.S.A. is so far ahead of any place that I have lived in that there is no comparison.

We are appreciated by the regular folks around the world. They believe we are generous, protective, unbiased and we have a terrific sense of humor. Sure, we are a little irreverent and spoiled, but it#'s like having a precocious child. You still love and appreciate their uniqueness and free spirit. Everything can and will be improved upon, and we continue to evolve toward a better America and, subsequently, a better world. Our economy has been, and will always be, cyclical in nature. Live within your means and love your family. God bless America.

John Gilley

Oceanside

Understanding politicians

Most people believe that our political system is designed so that we can select a government office candidate who will represent our best interests. This was generally true up to about 20 years ago, but things have changed because big business investors have obtained strong control over the operation of our government.

Big business investors finance election campaigns and provide other benefits to office holders, without which they could not secure or stay in office. The average voter cannot provide this service, so they end up getting represented only on issues not opposed by big business. This does not result in a democratic form of government, which should be "rule by the ruled."

The allegiance of our legislators is set up on the following priority: first, themselves; second, big business investors; third, the political party; and last, the voters. The solution to the problem is campaign financing paid for by the taxpayers, but Congress is unlikely to make such a change. Voting the bums out isn't going to work either, because you only get new bums in. It will take the U.S. Supreme Court to solve this one, if they can stop playing politics.

Herbert Pairitz

Carlsbad

Personal presidential poll

I work part time at a retail establishment that happens to sell presidential decks of playing cards at the front counter. One deck has McCain on the cover, and the other deck has Obama on the cover. I have been conducting my own private poll by watching who's selling the most. We are a very busy store in a prime tourist location. Our customers are from around the world. Obama is outselling McCain by far. In fact, there was only one deck left of Obama when I finished my last shift.

Also, every once in a while, when I notice a foreigner looking at the cards, I ask where they're from and which candidate they would want us to elect. Actually, first I am embarrassed because I never know who the president of their country is. There were customers from India, Peru, Germany, France, Canada, Russia, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, England and Italy. Every one of them said, "Obama." I thought that was very interesting. I wonder whether they were all terrorists.

Anyway, if there are any undecideds still out there, you can take my personal presidential survey for what it's worth.

Jane Silva

Vista

Cruisin' Grand now ruined

I have owned several classic and custom cars and remember the days when we cruised East Valley Parkway. Cruisin' Grand has been a dream come true. I have attended almost every Friday since it began. I have a blast with my open-air, manx-style dune buggy, my family and my dog. We cruise for a while, park on Grand, then enjoy drinks, ice cream or dinner.

People have come from everywhere to check out Cruisin' Grand. It has been the envy of other cities. The new format has ruined it. Our car, being foreign, is no longer allowed. … Last Friday, I looked down Grand from both ends and saw nothing that made it Cruisin' Grand anymore. Just an empty street lined with cars. Now, when you sit outside on a patio for dinner, there is nothing to see but the few cars parked right in front of you. As long as this is kept up, my car will stay in the garage and my entertainment money will go somewhere else.

Part of the fun was to cruise around and check out the cars. Now there is no action, no roar of engines. It's just another car show. It's not Cruisin' Grand anymore. It's Park on Grand.

Tim Kotter

Escondido