Old-fashioned community activation

It seems that our esteemed leaders in government are unable to figure out how to take care of the problems for which they are responsible. Therefore, I suggest that all government entities adjourn for the next six weeks and all representatives of each entity hold community discussions in their respective districts, along with their respective opponents finishing either first or second in the last election.

Each day for at least eight hours, those representatives appear at events within the community willing to listen to the citizens in the communities concerning the problems the nation is having. The date, place and conditions of the events are to be published in all media within the community.

At the end of all the events, the two representatives will meet to come to some consensus about the concerns of the citizens in the community, and publish the results. Then the representative elected for the new government entity will have firmly in mind, and on paper, just what it is that concerns the citizens in her/his community. Maybe something more positive can come from this old-fashioned method of community activation.

James Campbell

Cardiff

It's easier than rocket science

The technical knowledge required to fly to the moon was monumental when our country decided to go there. The technical challenges to repowering America with 100 percent clean and renewable forms of energy pales in comparison.

So why is it so impossible to change from fossil fuels and coal to clean, renewable forms of energy? I'll give you three reasons: 1. It's political. 2. It takes money out of the hands of very rich corporations and puts it in the hands of a new corporation. 3. Sun, wind, waves, geothermal and flowing rivers are all reliable, low-cost energy sources. These three reasons distill down to two words: power and money.

Given the current economic, environmental and national security challenges we face, you would think it would not be so difficult to repower America. Apparently, it is. We need to move away from the polluting sources of energy we have now, and we need to repower with 100 percent clean electricity. We need to do it in 10 years. Not 25 or 50, as some leaders are proposing. Ten years is plenty of time, especially because it is not rocket science. Remember, 10 years and no rocket science. Repower America!

Joe Cuviello

Solana Beach

Keep eyes on prize of oil independence

The oil-producing countries and the American gasoline producers are not stupid, but they think that the American public is. Oil pricing and gasoline pricing are now being manipulated downward by them in hopes that we will not have the resolve necessary to increase mileage standards and develop alternative, non-petroleum-based means of producing energy. (Hmmm, from over $4.50 to under $2 in six months. Aw, we don't need no stupid highly efficient cars.)

American memories are so short that these opportunist companies and countries figure that "acceptable cost" eliminates the focus. Let's not repeat history and fall victim to them. Let's not cause billions to be sent to foreign countries, causing pollution and global warming, rather than having America develop non-food-grain ethanol, wind, solar and nuclear-powered electric plants, green fuels and many American jobs, with American ingenuity.

Write to your legislators and the president asking that they keep their eyes on the prize of being self-sufficient, green and highly efficient, and creating eco-friendly power and jobs for our nation.

Jerry Sarnataro

Fallbrook

Middle class cannot exist under NAFTA

Under NAFTA, the American economy has to descend to the economy of the poorest member, and the middle class cannot exist under NAFTA. This is the action Henry Paulson and George W. Bush are following vigorously before they are put out of power and office. The American economy has to be destroyed for NAFTA to take hold and work for the benefit of the wealthy elite to completely control the economy of the world. If you don't believe me, then read the damn thing for yourself! After all, Bush Sr., Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and most members of the past and present U.S. Congress have supported it (and still support it) from the moment of its creation.

Sadly, I don't believe even President-elect Obama can turn this around in four or eight years. I think the horse has left the barn on this. So, Americans, get ready for the new world order after W. Bush and Paulson do their job on us! Gary Myers

Oceanside

Procreation is the bottom line

The passage of Proposition 8 is a mandate by clear-thinking people that marriage, which is a union between a man and a woman, is the only way to procreate human beings. Lesbians and homosexuals cannot, and never will be able to, bring children into this world. … Lesbians and homosexuals who claim to have families with children, like husbands and wives do, rely totally on male and female sexual unions to produce … any children they would claim through adoption.

Think about it: If all lesbians and homosexuals found themselves on an island, by themselves, even with all the amenities we all enjoy, they could only live one generation and eventually die off with no human beings left to continue the existence of mankind.

The true definition of marriage has for thousands of years been defined by billions of people who have come before all of us. Man and woman through the age-old definition of marriage provide the haven, the warmth, the safety, love and ability to procreate and continue the plan God has for this Earth. Therefore, procreation is the overriding issue that dictates the eventual destiny of man and how long the human race exists. If God would sanction the homosexual lifestyle, that would contradict the very argument that God, not man, determines the destiny of this Earth. Therefore procreation dies off and human life would soon cease to exist. …

James Dokos

San Marcos

Pray for a long life for Obama

The next American president was just elected. All American citizens should wish that person a long and productive life. I mention this, as for over 143 years, assassinations and attempted assassinations have happened. Four presidents â€"â€" Abraham Lincoln (1865), James Garfield (1881), William McKinley (1901) and John Kennedy (1963) â€"â€" were killed in office. Six presidents, one former president and one president-elect were also targets of assassins â€"â€" President Truman (1950), President Ford (1975), President Reagan (1981), President Clinton (1994), former President Theodore Roosevelt (1912) and President-elect Franklin Roosevelt (1933).

Shamefully, too many Booths, Oswalds … and Hinckleys lurk in the shadows with the sole purpose of killing a president of the United States. God forbid this should happen to Barack Obama, because the civil unrest and violence worldwide would be an ongoing nightmare.

Who can forget the July 1967, riots in Newark, N.J., where 26 were killed and 1,500 injured, or the July 1967 riots in Detroit, where 40 were killed and 2,100 injured, or the 1965 riots in Los Angeles that resulted in 34 deaths and $200 million in property loss? … This national disgrace could happen again.

Leon Smith

Oceanside

Jobs will stop positive feedback

"Positive feedback" is a technical term in control systems that results in the system going out of control and slamming up against the stops. This is what we are experiencing right now in our economic crisis. People lose jobs and, of course, spend less. Spending less means that suppliers of goods and services have to retrench â€"â€" laying off workers. More people without jobs means more people spending less, etc., etc., until we are up against the stops â€"â€" or in another Great Depression.

Positive feedback. The only way to put the brakes on this downward spiral is to put unemployed people back to work. President-elect Obama has the right idea. He wants to institute massive government programs rebuilding and expanding the infrastructure of our country and developing oil independence â€"â€" never mind where the money comes from. The money comment is mine, not his. That is a sure way to put people back to work. Yes, it means more deficit spending or higher taxes, but I don't think there is any other way to stop this catastrophic spiral.

Morris Shechet

Oceanside

Biggest mistake in centuries

In spite of a hefty record of accidents caused by airplanes attempting to land at the airport, etc., Oceanside re-elected the same KFC members who back the airport. Since the people living near the airport can't afford to match FAA funds, the airport will stay there, right in the middle of a residential area.

Residential: That means homes and people, right? Because they have the FAA behind them, they can still fly low over homes illegally and thumb their noses at our residents. So, when the river forest catches fire from a badly maintained small plane missing the runway, that's OK. Or when a plane goes through a nearby roof, no skin off their noses. …

The airport will never be an asset to Oceanside, and they will never pay back the hundreds of thousands of dollars of our money already sunk into that snake pit. They get a free ride on the backs of everyone in Oceanside and will pay dearly in the years ahead for this tragic mistake.

June Kristapovich

Oceanside