More fiction than fact

More fiction from Dolores Wiener (Letters, July 29). Wiener says that, although Palestine has been there for 2,000 years, there was no such word as "Palestinian." The land that is Palestine has been called numerous names that were variations of Palestine for far more than 2,000 years. Some words were "Philistia," "Palashtu" and the Greek historian Herodotus, in the fifth century BCE, called the area "Palestine." Jewish historian Josephus, 37-100 CE, called the area "Palestine" and Philo of Alexandria, 20 BCE to 50 CE, called it "Palestine." You can find all this in Wikipedia.

Now don't you think that people who have lived in Palestine for centuries would be called Palestinians? Gaza was part of Palestine, and in the partition plan was to go to the Palestinians. Egypt only took possession of it in 1948 and lost it in 1967. So for Wiener to say that there were no Palestinians there is absurd.

Wiener continues with the statement that the Palestinians were Arabs who came into Palestine after the Jews settled there. This has been thoroughly discredited. Wiener says that the Arabs want to conquer the world.

Oh, please.

Chris Pulse

Vista

Clinging to his right to be bitter

Americans should be wary of smooth-talking strangers who speak in platitudes, doublespeak and make rosy promises. When Barack Obama offers change, it's wise to heed his wife Michelle's definition of change. "Barack Obama … will require you to work; he is going to demand that you shed your cynicism and division; that you come out of your isolation; that you move out of your comfort zones. Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual, uninvolved and uninformed." Obviously, change to Obama means control of everything and everyone, especially the little guy and those small-town rubes.

"They get bitter, they cling to their guns or religion or antipathy … to explain their frustrations," said Obama. As far as I am concerned, I don't want to give Obama and his cohorts the opportunity to control my life. I want to retain my right to be cynical of a dictatorial government and of elitists like Obama. I want to keep my rights to fight any government that mocks or denies my right to freedom, religion and self-defense. Yes, I will "cling" to my right to remain "bitter" about any change I must submit to.

Darrell Beck

Ramona

American politics at its best

Comedian Jon Stewart soars as a popular newscaster because he so brilliantly exposes the absurdities of presidential politics, much as Will Rogers and Mark Twain did. He played a video clip recently of a McCain campaign hack denouncing Obama as an "arrogant, arugula-eating, fancy-berry tea-drinking celebrity." Arugula, for those who don't know, is that purple-tinted salad leaf with the bitter taste. I eat it all the time, and perhaps it is responsible for my being so arrogant. But I know this: Onions, arugula and turmeric are packed with special cancer-fighting flavenols. When you want a healthy, happy pancreas, you've got plenty of foods to choose from, but these are three of the best natural cancer-fighters.

I don't know for a fact that Obama is an arugula-eater, but it could benefit McCain to become one, considering his battles with cancer.

McCain pundits say Obama is simply too fit to be president: His healthy food choices are un-American. Food faux pas have plagued presidential candidates in the past. On a 1976 visit to Texas, Gerald Ford bit into a tamale with the corn husk still on. He lost the election to Jimmy Carter. This is American politics, folks.

J. Howard Crews

Fallbrook

Bring eye care into the 21st century

California has a much-deserved reputation as an innovator. In access to eye care, however, we lag far behind the majority of states. Like many, you rely on a doctor of optometry as your primary eye care provider. Your optometrist not only prescribes your eyeglass prescriptions, he or she also detects eye-related and many other unrelated diseases through a comprehensive eye exam.

But current law prevents your California optometrist from providing glaucoma care, a serious eye disease that causes increased pressure in the eye and, if not treated, partial or full vision loss. More than 40 other states are not so short-sighted as California, allowing optometrists to diagnose and treat patients' glaucoma fully, which they are eminently qualified to do.

A bill pending in the State Legislature, Senate Bill 1406, would change our current cumbersome law and provide greater access to vision care to all Californians. If you believe in quality and affordable eye care, urge your legislator to vote yes on Senate Bill 1406 and bring California vision treatment into the 21st century.

John Riggs

president, San Diego County Optometric Society

Encinitas

Save the ocean: Ban surfing

This silly plastic-bag-fee law must be the result of someone having way too much time on their hands ("Plastic-bag recycling law clears Assembly, heads for Senate"). Now, if folks really want to help the coastal areas and our environment, why not ban surfing? Most surfers drive to the beach and shower afterwards, thus causing pollution and wasting resources. Building and shipping surf gear causes pollution too. Let's not forget, all surfers pee in the ocean, causing pollution and injuring poor helpless fish. Often, when driving to the beach, surfers check out the surf rather than watch the road, potentially causing accidents.

Surfing drives up health care costs as well. Surfer's ear is a medical condition that is caused by surfing. After rainstorms, surfers go into polluted waters, and often seek medical treatment as a result.

Apparently, pollution doesn't really bother surfers too much after all. How do you folks feel about your silly little plastic bag law now?

Russell Ames

Carlsbad

Chuck Lowery has Oceanside's interest at heart

The choices we make this November will have major implications at every level of government, from the White House to our local city hall. Will we choose candidates who favor corporate interests or those who put America's interests first?

I'm particularly excited about the candidacy of Charles "Chuck" Lowery for Oceanside City Council. Chuck is a lifelong Oceanside resident and a small business owner (Pacific Bakery, founded more than 20 years ago). Chuck has worked with local neighborhood groups to organize opposition to the much-maligned Robertson's Concrete Plant and the proposed hotel, encroaching on Buena Vista Lagoon. He wants to represent the citizens of Oceanside more than out-of-town developers. We need someone like him on our City Council, someone who is dedicated to preserving our quality of life.

Chuck is not anti-growth or anti-development. He simply wants our city to make sure that the development that we approve makes sense for the majority of our residents. Chuck's typical supporters are small business owners, working families, neighborhood association members and senior citizens. For more, go to www.lowery4council.com.

Carol Kissin

Oceanside

We deserve better leaders than Cheney

Bettie Heldring's letter "Cheney, Bush have kept us safe," (Letters, Aug. 3), includes some strange comments, other than whether I "can read or see." She states: "It is obvious he (I) knows nothing about Vice President Cheney." Unfortunately, I know too much about Vice President Cheney's actions, particularly the deliberate lies that got us into a catastrophic war. Cheney and his inner circle have long insisted that Mohamed Atta (of 9/11 infamy) had been trained in Iraq and that this untruth justified going to war against Iraq.

Of course, there were many other lies, such as the yellow cake and aluminum tubes fabrications. I am surprised that Heldring's mole at the CIA … did not give her the true story, which is being widely published in Ron Suskind's new book, "The Way of the World."

She makes no mention of the unbridled corruption Cheney brought to the White House. Whoever heard of no-bid billion-dollar contracts being awarded, especially to his former employer Halliburton? How many billions of taxpayer dollars were stolen or wasted on incomplete or shoddy projects? What about the Hurricane Katrina debacle, which has not yet been satisfactorily resolved? With the energy crisis getting worse daily, it becomes clearer why Cheney fought so hard to keep the energy task force meetings so secretive and hush-hush. … It is unbelievable that Heldring can consider Cheney as "honorable." Americans deserve better leaders as soon as possible.

Ira Landis

Oceanside

Backers of Prop. 2 need to go lay an egg

Has California really come down to a bunch of city-slicker do-gooders? These folks are constantly telling the agricultural-community how to raise produce, dairy and meat without ever working on a farm or ranch. Now these clucks want the California chicken ranchers to revise their ways with Proposition 2, which will again put higher prices on another locally produced food source to consumers, while ending a multimillion-dollar industry that will have a devastating impact on local economies throughout the state ("UC study reports Prop. 2 would destroy state egg industry," Aug. 6). … Man domesticated animals thousands of years ago as a readily available food supply. Together with the fact that there is no biological or nutritional difference in the make-up of a chicken egg that was raised by a factory-farm chicken or a free-range chicken, why is this issue even on the ballot? How much gas will be wasted to truck in foreign-raised chicken eggs to California? Additionally, how much more will we have to pay for lawn fertilizer that also has to be trucked into your local hardware store? And furthermore, how many more cases of salmonella will Californians experience with the poop-ridden free-range chicken eggs? …

Dale Weston

Vista

Volunteer for OPD senior patrol

Hey, there, you bored senior guys and gals of North County. Are you wondering what to do now that vacations are over, friends and relatives have left, the pesky backyard is finally whipped into shape and the soaps are becoming too sudsy? Well, relax. We have the answer.

Come on down to Oceanside's Police Department, 3855 Mission Ave., and check out our Senior Volunteer Police Patrol. The patrol is composed of those older than 50 who have volunteered to give a minimum of six hours per week to help other citizens and/or the police department, if required. Patrols consist of two volunteers, and their duties may include security checks of vacationers' homes or of calling upon those temporarily home-bound. In addition, patrols cover shopping areas and, if required, cite violators of handicapped parking spaces. There are many other interesting duties for those who have more time.

For information, call (760) 435-4763. Also, attend the orientation class at 3 p.m. Oct. 1 in the Community Room of the Mission Branch of the Oceanside Library.

Harry Titus

Oceanside

San Diego's congressional 'dream team'

Last week, we sent our very best athletes to Beijing to compete in the Olympics. In November, we can send another "dream team" to Washington to help save San Diego County. We have five outstanding pro-America, anti-illegal immigration candidates on the ballot in our county's five congressional districts.

Leading the pack is Brian Bilbray, R-Solana Beach, who has made border security and immigration enforcement his No. 1 cause. Bilbray is now the leader of the Immigration Reform Caucus and is literally leading the fight in Washington to end illegal immigration.

Darrell Issa, R-Vista, has come on strong the past two years supporting strong border security and opposing amnesties. He now earns a grade of "A" on immigration from www.BetterImmigration.com.

Duncan Hunter is running for his father's open seat in the East County. Duncan is rock-solid on border security and sovereignty issues, having just served in Iraq and Afghanistan with the 1st Marine Division. Go to www.HunterForCongress.com.

Michael Crimmins, a retired Marine, is tough on illegal immigration and running against Susan Davis in San Diego. Go to www.CrimminsForCongress.com.

David Lee Joy will secure our dangerous borders and is running against Bob Filner in South County. Go to www.DavidLeeJoy.com.

Support these outstanding candidates, and let's solve San Diego County's illegal immigration crisis.

Jeff Schwilk

Founder, San Diego Minutemen

Vista

Proposition 2 is right on

Regarding Proposition 2, the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production concluded its 2 1/2-year study of American animal agriculture with unanimous findings: Factory farms pose unacceptable risks to public health, the environment and animal welfare. Recommendations were issued to phase out battery cages and gestation and veal crates.

The Compass Group (the world's largest food service provider with 8,000 U.S. clients), 330 colleges and universities, Denny's, AOL and Google have committed to purchasing cage-free eggs. The egg industry's California-based economist reports that producing cage-free eggs costs less than one penny more per egg.

The Chino slaughter-plant video exposed cruel treatment of sick and crippled cows, and led to the largest beef recall from our school lunch program. The American Public Health Association has called for a moratorium on new factory farms because they can devastate the environment and surrounding communities.

Manure lagoons contaminate our waterways, groundwater, soil, and air. Salmonella and E. coli downstream are a common occurrence nowadays.

The Center for Food Safety; Consumer Federation of America, Center for Science in the Public Interest; Union of Concerned Scientists; leaders from Episcopal, Methodist and Catholic churches; California Veterinary Medical Association; San Diego County Veterinary Medical Association; and hundreds of veterinarians throughout California have endorsed Proposition 2.

Judy Ki

Poway

Vote no on Prop. 2

Once again, the state of California is proving to be hostile to business owners. Bottom line â€"â€" they're chickens. They are bred and raised for that purpose. Proposition 2 will take millions of dollars out of San Diego, specifically. Other states, and probably Mexico, who do not have these regulations, will fill in the gap.

We lose, the chickens really don't win, and no one has fresh eggs. Right now, you can choose free-range eggs, or not. After Prop. 2, watch prices go up and distance travelled for the will eggs increase. Who wins?

Tammy Russell

Fallbrook

Power plants also kill fish

I believe one of the main objections to the Carlsbad desalinization project is that it would kill lots of fish. There is an excellent chance to prove whether this is true.

The current power plant in Carlsbad draws in more sea water than the planned desalinization project. I challenge the environmental groups to become part of the solution.

Help fund a study to determine just how many fish are killed. Experiments could be run to determine the best way to reduce the number of fish killed. Then decisions can be made using facts, instead of projections that cannot be proven.

Ed Sox

Oceanside

State should not set society's morals

Many people think gay marriage affects only gay people. Not so. Legalizing gay marriage actually affects straights more than it does gays. California had already given gay civil unions all of the rights of marriage. Allowing gay marriage only affects the word "marriage." For straight people, however, allowing gay marriage eliminates many of their rights to make moral choices.

Heterosexual marriage streams naturally from the desire of people to settle down and have children. It has existed longer than any state and does not depend on the state for its continued existence.

Gay marriage, however, is purely a creation of the state and, as such, must be defended by the state. Allowing the state to defend gay marriage gives the state huge increases in power. … Do we really want the state to determine what moral positions are acceptable?

Charles Maxwell

San Marcos