Free trade will destroy the U.S.

Free trade is not working. Our companies have to comply to U.S. law at an expense of approximately 50 percent, while foreign companies have this expense of as little as 4 percent. Many products you buy now are cheaper for that reason. Our large companies are moving overseas, producing their products cheaper there and then selling them here in the U.S. for less. But who can afford to buy anything if you are out of a job? Free trade will destroy the U.S.

What we need are tariffs to level the playing field. It will also help with our huge indebtedness and our standard of living.

Kurt Pfizenmaier

Escondido

Problem solving Proposition 8

Our very wise Founding Fathers knew what they were doing when they established our Constitution separating church and state.

The problem with Proposition 8 seems to be simple (not easy). First, the state cannot "sanctify" marriage; it can specify the requirements for marriage to be valid, and it had. The original definition did not include the words "only valid between a man and a woman."

Then, certain (not all) religious communities wanted that changed. The problem is that it goes against the U.S. Constitution, Article 14, which says no state shall create laws which discriminate against any minority.

Solution: the Supreme Court should decide that this amendment does indeed discriminate against a group of people, therefore it is illegal. Since the main problems seems to be the word "marriage," as the religious right understand it, change the term to read civil unions since that is what they are. Then churches can go back to their business of sanctifying who they want, and we can all invest our time in a more positive and productive endeavor -- that of resolving the deficit in our state (and country while we are at it).

Just my dos centavos.

Nora Klynjan

Carlsbad

Burn permits are dangerous and archaic

On Monday, March 2, an out-of-control agricultural burn scorched 77 acres in De Luz and was reported by the North County Times on March 3 ("Officials said De Luz blaze to be contained by Tuesday morning").

Cal Fire and the Air Pollution Control District issue burn permits based on humidity, temperature, wind and air quality. Our region is dry and hot most of the year, the winds come and go unpredictably and with our large population, our air quality is just OK.

Prescribed burns can barely be controlled by fire professionals, much less by a single land owner and a bunch of farm workers. There is never a good time to burn in our area. A little breeze can carry an ember into a neighbors' yard and, here we go again, another tragedy.

These burn permits are archaic. They might have been OK in the 1960s, but there are too many people and too crowded exits once a fire gets going.

I wouldn't want someone in my area burning their yard waste. Would you?

Tony Clark

Escondido

Agenda-driven group bilking taxpayers

Re: "Groups seek $2.7 million for fighting power line," March 8: I cannot believe these brats are asking for millions of our dollars! Did they take on this fight because it was the right thing to do or, as I suspect, did they do it knowing they could get $2.7 million? I'm sick and tired of these brats, and that's all they are. They don't care if projects such as this can help the community; they just care about their agenda, and that's not right.

It doesn't matter what a given project is these days, there's always a group of brats who are ready to fight it. I can't believe some idiot allows this to happen. If you want to take on every project that comes along, you should be ready to pay your way, not make a living off of it. Will somebody please let these brats know it's time for a diaper change?

Andrew Mayville

Oceanside

Letter writer uses old pro-Prop. 8 arguments

Len Tevebaugh simply repeats one of the several lies used by the Christian right to justify support of Proposition 8 (Letters, March 8).

The word "marriage" has most certainly not been understood to mean one man and one woman "for thousands of years," having meant one man and as many women as he could afford in early Biblical times. The Mormons, the greatest supporters of Proposition 8, have themselves completely redefined the meaning of the word "marriage" twice in their 230-year history. … A mere century ago, they changed it in response to a revelation from God, which arrived just in the nick of time to save their property from confiscation by a public fed up with abuses. …

Proposition 8 was nothing more than an ( attempt to deprive a substantial minority of our population of equal rights under the guise of disingenuous concern for nonexistent "tradition" and unneeded "protection" of children, by the injection of a narrow religious belief into the California Constitution.

If the word "marriage" is so tied up with religion, then the state should avoid using the term for anyone and grant permission to partner to any pair of unattached adults regardless of sexual orientation.

Richard Weddleton

Escondido

Aid to Gaza is aid to Hamas

So here is some more of change we voted for. Since Obama was elected, the stock market has tanked and our economy is in freefall, our national debt is in the multitrillions and our president answers with plans to double down on foreign aid while also giving $900 million in aid to Gaza!

Anyone with any understanding of the Middle East is aware that giving aid to Gaza is, in reality, giving aid to Hamas, the terrorist thugs responsible for creating the Gaza tragedy by their brutal and wanton missile attacks on Israel.

Spending money we don't have on earmarks, etc., is outrageous itself but to slam American taxpayers and future generations with a foreign aid bill of $50 billion a year and the referenced $900 million to terrorists is quite another. No doubt this confounds those who did not vote for the Obama change, but I am certain, in this case, many of those who did.

Where are the hard questions and outrage from our investigative media? Answer, you will never see them as long as they remain where they have been hiding for the past two years, in the tank for Obama!

Wayne Parkola

Fallbrook

What about Republic of Free America?

I want to buy a state. And turn it into a new country so the millions of us who are profoundly disgusted with the politicians who want to tax and govern us into ruin can live free in a new America. We'll call it The Republic of Free America. Think 1776, again.

Your president, not mine, has already broken his promises on cutting earmarks, increasing taxes, not expanding government and the list goes on.

So too, will new taxes, into the largest black hole in the known universe-Washington, D.C.

If you voted for Barack, now's the time you should start feeling duped.

That's why you can pay for his party, not me.

In the RFA, you'll be expected to have a job, be a citizen, not an illegal immigrant (we'll check) and pull your own weight. We will honor our military, support our police and care for our elderly, infirm and mentally disabled. No deficit spending, no undue tax burdens, drug free sports and schools, honest elections and citizen democracy will rule.

If you're a current congressman, senator, president or state legislator, you're not invited. Anyone up for the move with me?

Karl Higgins

Vista

Why do liberals hate Americans?

I have wondered over the years: Why do they hate Americans? No, not them! I mean liberals.

Liberals seem to hate Americans because Americans are basically capitalists.

They hate capitalists because capitalism can only flourish in a free society.

They hate free societies because free societies are created by free individuals.

It's become clear: In the end, liberal/"progressive" socialists/collectivists hate individualism. That is the end target of their hatred. The "war on poverty," the anti-Vietnam War movement, the anti-Iraq War movement, the phony global warming movement, animal rights movements, unionization, nationalized health, affirmative action, increased taxation at all levels: they were and are all aimed at extinguishing individualism.

But then there is always the money, too. During Lyndon Johnson's war on poverty the word going around was "poverty is where the money is." Today, global warming is where the money is. Taking funds out of the economy via taxation and redistributing them back into a politically favored section of the economy also manages to drop a significant portion of the funds into the pockets of politicians and bureaucrats along the way.

It has to work that way; those politicos and bureaucrats don't work for nothing, you know.

Darrell McGuire

Oceanside

Prop. 8 supporters don't hate gays

I read with dismay the Community Forum by Alex Martinez ("Same-sex marriage about equality") and the letter by David Horwitz ("Praise and condemnation")on March 4.

Alex claims that Proposition 8 was about hatred. I couldn't disagree more. Though I personally was against the measure, I don't believe those who voted for Prop. 8 did so out of hatred for those who exhibit homosexual behaviors. The majority voted for Prop. 8 in order to protect their religious rights.

David hit it right on the head when he wrote, "Gays and lesbians want the right to marry." How he can claim that this is not an attempt to force society to approve of their lifestyle is beyond me, though. Marriage is a civil and religious institution and has been defined as a union between a man and a woman since the beginning of recorded history.

Forcing a change of the definition of a religious institution, through government mandate, is not the way to separate church and state. The only way to separate the two in regards to marriage is to take marriage out of the scope of government because it will never cease from being a religious institution.

Steven Holman

Escondido

Proud to pay some taxes, but not all

I envy a person like Mark Remas (Letters, March 6) who is "proud to pay taxes." He has so many opportunities to be "proud." Everything he eats and wears is taxed. His furniture, appliances, hand tools and car are taxed. He pays taxes for the roof over his head, whether he owns or rents. Everything Mr. Remas consumes, those taxes are passed along from the producer, the supplier and the retailer, to him -- the consumer. Soon, I anticipate, he will have an opportunity to pay a carbon tax.

Moreover, for one to be "proud to pay taxes" must mean one is proud of the government that collects and spends one's money. I can't say that I always share that sentiment.

Don't get me wrong, I am proud to be an American citizen. I'm proud of our Founders and the sacrifices they made to set us -- however, briefly -- at liberty from government's onerous control over our lives.

Bottom line: No! I can't say I'm proud to pay all taxes. I can't say I'm proud of the way my government punishes success in order to reward indolence, the screw-ups and the system gamers. Sorry!

Grant Kuhns

Carlsbad

VUSD can't afford reading program

The Lindamood-Bell reading program needs to go. There are a number of school districts in the area that have better reading scores than Vista.

The money allocated to this program could have been better spent.

The present superintendent brought this program with her from Colorado … (a program that) is not used in California by other districts. The superintendent needs to take a pay cut in this time of cutbacks. She was given a starting salary far above the previous Vista superintendent. Her reading program that aids a limited number of students needs to go. Vista Unified can't afford her program!

Daniel Lynch

Vista

Too many surly letters

The hate and contempt embodied in letters which appear on these pages every single day is astonishing! The economic disaster in the U.S.A. transcends all ideological and political divides and the cure will not come from such rude discourse!

These letters serve only the ego of the writer, and bit by bit, tear apart the fabric which holds this great nation together. Reasoned and articulate arguments are a much better solution. But that, of course, would force a change in the editorial policies of the North County Times.

Ken Munson

Fallbrook

Limbaugh's statement was reasonable

Regarding Lyle Stone's letter in the March 8 letters to the editor, … if Rush (is) the "worst the Republican Party has to offer," then the party must be in good shape. …

Mr. Stone states that wanting Obama to fail is like wanting the U.S.A. to fail, and that "Limbaugh and his party do not support this country." Both contentions are patently without basis in fact, but seem to be typical of liberal stratagem.

… Limbaugh has said he wants the country to succeed, but wants President Obama to fail in implementing policies that would jeopardize success. Sure seems reasonable to me! As for the "time for a new generation of ideas," "new" does not necessarily mean "better," and change for its own sake is asinine.

Many of the old ideas, such as those favoring lower taxes, smaller and fiscally responsible government, less bureaucracy, a powerful military and belief in God and an honest day's work, among others, have served us well, and would continue to do so.

A final comment: Mr. Stone might want to check on the definition of the word "descent," and get a laugh, as I did, out of his assertion that Republicans "decry descent as traitorous."

Charles Palmeter

Escondido

Let scientists practice science

I applaud the president's decision to allow scientists to apply for government money for stem-cell research. At some point in our lives, we will be touched by one of the deadly or debilitating diseases scientists hope may be helped through such studies.

Research has always pushed the envelope. Prior to the 1990s, people with ulcers were told it had to do with stress or spicy foods. However, Drs. Barry Marshall and Robin Warren believed otherwise. To prove the point, Marshall purposely swallowed the bacteria H. pylori. His immediate symptoms and further tests established that H. pylori infection causes the majority of ulcers in the stomach and the small intestine.

Allowing scientists to practice science gives us tools we never dreamt possible. And I hope in 50 years I am able to say "some crazy scientist did X, Y and Z with stem cells so now we can prevent Alzheimer's disease."

Sarah Dunlap

student, U.S.D. School of Nursing

San Diego