Will change be for good or bad?

Every time I hear Barack Obama talk about change, I'm reminded of the 1960 presidential campaign. John Kennedy continually repeated the mantra, "It's time we got our country moving again!" Let's see, what happened? During the previous eight-year Eisenhower presidency, not a square foot of land was lost to communism. Why? Because they dared not mess with the Allied commander who routed the Axis powers. As a teenager during those years, I remember how great America was, how safe we all felt. …

Despite dying an untimely and tragic death, Kennedy's legacy is not a great one. He withdrew promised U.S. support at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba, permitting brave Cuban citizens to either die on the beach or become prisoners of a ruthless dictator. His weakness was quickly recognized by the U.S.S.R., which later began planting ICBMs in Cuba, bringing the world to the brink of nuclear war.

Kennedy viewed France's failure in Vietnam … as an opportunity to show America's military might. He created a disaster, which Johnson prolonged. Space limits me to these few examples, but when you think about the change being promised by Obama, you have to ask yourself, will that be change for the good or the bad?

Ernest Sparks

Vista

Vote for business-friendly candidates

I offer once again a heartfelt thanks to all the groups and individuals who opposed Robertson's. Certain groups and individuals were left off my original letter, published on http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/04/02/opinion/letters/1c71abaaf6c9ecb68825741e007f37c6.txt">April 2.

I want to thank Oceanside Coastal Neighborhood Association for honoring my neighborhood group, Loma Alta Neighborhood Association, with their opposition to this plant. I also wish to thank the North County Coalition for Peace and Justice for their assistance and the recognition that preserving our environment in a healthy state contributes to more peaceful and sustainable community.

There are also myriad individuals whom space does not permit me to thank individually. My thanks are with you and your families and friends who opposed this poorly located project.

Last, I want to remind all neighborhoods that if this debacle can happen in my neighborhood, equally undesirable projects can happen in yours. We must continue to work together in honoring our neighbors in … order to preserve our quality of life throughout the entire city. Remember, Jack Feller voted against all of us. Get Jack off the council. Vote for business-friendly, intelligent candidates in November who will honor their constituents and the environment for a sustainable future.

Nadine Scott

Oceanside

Unforeseen benefits to new rules

In response to the Aug. 9, 2007 article titled http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/08/09/news/top_stories/1_02_398_8_07.txt">"New employment rules aim to crack down on illegal workers": I think the new rules will have a lot of unforeseen benefits, in addition to the obvious ones.

As a CSUSM student who has worked for an accounting firm during tax season for the past three years, I have seen what a pain, not to mention inconvenience, it is when a person's taxes are rejected due to an incorrect Social Security number or name that does not match what the Social Security Administration has on file. The problem is magnified tenfold when our office learns, a day before taxes are due, that an individual's taxes have been rejected for a reason that is, more often than not, unknown to them. It is time-consuming, stressful and a nuisance.

Personally, I would want to know if a mistake or oversight had been made on my part or that of the SSA's before it caused an avoidable inconvenience at an inopportune time.

Dominique McGill

San Marcos

Racism is deep-rooted in white America

I first saw racism at age 16 when my girlfriend … said, "All of you can come in (to her birthday party) except Giovanni," a mixed-Italian-black fellow football player. I replied, "If Giovanni can't, none of us will." Thirty-five years later at a school reunion, Giovanni asked what happened and hugged me when I told him the truth. Giovanni had lived with that vision his entire life.

The failure of religions, then and now, to teach what Christ is alleged to have taught â€"â€" "we are all the children of God" â€"â€" speaks to the truth of a self-damning, cruel, ignorant society and righteous, belligerent country.

I am sure Obama is not talking about the suffering endured at the hands of today's aging racists, but reading North County Times letters, you can easily recognize them. Fortunately, the younger Americans are smarter.

Historically, nations and civilizations damn themselves and eventually disappear on their own, and some have the courage to say it. Mature white Democrats, Republicans and silent racist Christian and Judeo clergy, along with a divisive, corrupt and inhuman government, are damning our nation without the need of God's intervention or mention.

Edgar Towers

Oceanside

Two ways to get serious on energy emissions

Is it time to get serious and start thinking of new ways to deal with energy and CO2 emissions? Suggestion for city councils: Poll your constituencies and see if they might prefer the elimination of some street lighting. Most fixtures consume 300-plus watts of energy, burning all night long. For what? To attract bugs? There are many existing neighborhoods in the coastal area with no street lights. Are the residents outraged? Not that I've heard. This also might be one of those issues that will allow council members to wear the proverbial white hat. The idea could work in new tracts, old tracts and (with timers) at some of the overlighted auto malls.

Suggestion 2: Start charging for student parking privileges at public high schools. If a student is working immediately after school to support the family (not the car), then that is a good reason to waive the parking fee. However, to Mr. and Mrs. Taxpayer (the ones paying the bills), they might be very interested to know much school revenue is devoted to parking lots, either during construction or in maintenance. Showing off one's car at school is not a guaranteed right by the Constitution.

G. Lance Johannsen

Carlsbad

Columbia River could be solution to water crisis

I've been reading and hearing about the future Southern California water shortage crisis for at least the past 50 or 60 years (and it is not simply a problem, but a crisis). But never â€"â€" not once â€"â€" have I read or heard of possibly tapping into a river that is mightier than the Colorado and Sacramento rivers combined: The Columbia.

At merely 275 miles (as the crow flies) north of the headwaters of the Sacramento River lies what could well be the solution. If we can design and build canals that transport the Sacramento River water over 400 miles and up and over the eastern section of the Tehachapi Mountain range in the 20th century, surely we can design a comparable 275-mile system running through Oregon in the 21st century. Operating year-round, it would constantly recharge Lake Shasta (increase Shasta's capacity, if necessary). This is doable.

But where is the imagination and leadership? If several states can share the Colorado water, then evidently the politics of the Columbia project can be resolved also. Don't be fooled by the delta smelt situation. Science can develop electric-field filters. It shouldn't take rocket science to act on this. We could be bathing in Columbia River water 10 years from now!

William Bing

San Marcos

Government abuse of credit cards no surprise

Credit card abuses by federal employees during 2005 and 2006? Surprise, surprise ("Auditors: Federal employees misused credit cards," April 9)! Nearly 41 percent of $14 billion in taxpayer dollars provided niceties and perks that many Americans will never have while trying to feed their families, heat their homes and buy gasoline.

Surely this GAO report reveals nothing new. Fraud, waste and abuse go back a long way, not just in every aspect of government, but in the business world as well. However, it is particularly painful since the people are drained dry by taxes at every opportunity. We are taxed three times on every dollar â€"â€" when you earn it, when you save it and when you leave it to your heirs.

Why do federal employees need credit cards? Whatever happened to the expense report, which required a written accounting of every dime spent, accompanied by verifiable receipts? The employees paid the charges and were reimbursed by the employer if they were justifiable expenses. Of course, that might put a damper on prostitutes, etc.

We are so busy worrying about the behavior of our teens â€"â€" when are we going to scrutinize the behavior of our role models?

Jo Anne Jones

Vista

Dowd's Clinton vendetta is tedious

Wow! What a pleasure reading a Maureen Dowd column that did not bash Hillary ("Iraqi toil and trouble," April 10). This New York Times writer has had a constant vendetta against Hillary and her husband. If she would explain what caused her hatred for the Clintons, that would be an interesting column.

This column was the Maureen I enjoyed so much before she started endlessly focusing on every little thing that Hillary did or said, which became quite tedious.

Please, Maureen, give us the old razzle-dazzle that your readers loved before you got so involved with your anti-Clinton campaign.

Ira Landis

Oceanside

Some real estate agents lack accountability

The real estate profession can be a dreadful lot. Some run amok with their fees, are not looking out for their clients and all is well, except for the buyer. The buyer hires these people because they are supposed to be professionals in their field, just like doctors in their field, lawyers in their field, landscapers in their field. We, the laymen, hire these people with good will intentions and trust they will look out for our best interests, and we rely on them to tell us the truth, the scoop â€"â€" just like a doctor would before an operation or a lawyer before signing documents or a landscaper would disclose possible problems with soil, plants, growth, etc.

In my opinion, it is the real estate agent's job to know and point out in full disclosure what is happening in the neighborhood, city, schools, foreseeable future growth and anything that would help the buyer make an informed decision. After all, it's usually our biggest asset, and we use people in the profession to help us determine what would best suit the family, the budget and lifestyle to the best of the agent's knowledge. It doesn't matter if it was a million-dollar house or a $500,000 one, it's, in my opinion, that the agent only has his best interest in mind.

Linda Ynda

Carlsbad

Distorted Khrushchev quotation

Contrary to Marvin Gartenbaum's assertion, Nikita Khrushchev did not say, "We will bury the West" while banging his shoe on the table at the U.N. http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/04/10/opinion/letters/cd4f8c55edc42240882574270076cfb4.txt">(Letters, "Lesson not learned," April 11). The boorish Soviet leader was pounding his shoe to get attention about another matter. He did say something much like "We will bury you" (some translators say "We will leave you in the dust") at the Polish embassy in Moscow, November, 1956.

On Sept. 16, 1959 at the National Press Club in Washington, conservative columnist David Lawrence asked Khrushchev about the remark. Khrushchev explained that he wasn't speaking of the "physical burial of any people but the … historical force of development." Then he launched into typical Marxist analysis to show how his nation's superior economic system would, as it were, bury ours â€"â€" just as capitalism had buried feudalism. History has proved Khrushchev dead wrong.

Finally, contrary to some claims, Premier Khrushchev never used the words "We will bury you from within." Anyone believing their memory to be better than documentation may consult the following: "They Never Said It," Boller and George; "American Extremists," George and Wilcox; "Respectfully Quoted," Platt (ed.).

John George

Carlsbad

Heading back to bondage

There are some folks who believe that Roosevelt's New Deal put America on the road to recovery when, in fact, FDR's liberal policies put America on the path to socialism. That's right: Roosevelt's Great Depression hand-up programs have evolved into today's big-government entitlement society.

However, liberals like Douglas Dunn http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/03/23/opinion/letters/a497adc7697b1038882574130080724e.txt">(Letters, March 23) want to silence opposing opinions while scoffing at historical lessons by accusing critics of today's nanny state of "name-calling" when using descriptive terms such as socialist or Marxist to identify people associated with the progressive-liberal movement that is insidiously leading America away from democracy (or a republic) and onto the path to nationalist control of everything.

History reveals that a democracy will continue to exist only until a time when the majority discovers they can vote for candidates who promise them benefits from the treasury, resulting in the eventual collapse of democracy to be replaced by a dictatorship. The life of a democracy follows a sequence of events, beginning with bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence; from dependence back to bondage.

Darrell Beck

Ramona