Get involved instead of complaining

As one of those "antique rent-a-cops who burn up all of our expensive gas (so I) can write a ticket for illegal parking in a handicapped spot," I can partially agree with G. Charles Evans (Letters, May 15) about "little old ladies (and) their shopping carts in a handicapped spot." First off, it's not only those "little old ladies" we have to worry about; it's also middle-aged men and women, plus commercial outlets utilizing "No Parking" locations to store their carts or block their entrances with sales-promotion items (Wal-Mart off 76 is a major culprit. Their marked spots are usually full of carts).

Secondly, Mr. Evans, we antiques get paid a munificent sum of double-zero dollars for citing scofflaws ($330 fine) who park without permits. Note: No one, with or without a permit, can park in a handicapped-marked crosshatched zone (same fine).

I wish that more citizens would be concerned about the utilization of handicapped spaces when not authorized to do so. Maybe Mr. Evans can help; he should come on down to the police station (3855 Mission) or call 435-4763 to learn more; even take a ride with us. We would love to have him.

Harry Titus

Oceanside

Rebuilding after the fires

All I want is my home back! Yeah â€"â€" it burned down. Yeah â€"â€" the mortgage company is trying to steal the insurance money. Yeah, there are many people who will help.

The one piece of reality missing is that it was not your home that burned down, it was not you running through the night trying to make sure everyone you love was OK. It was not you watching a wall of flame coming to devour you and everything you ever loved or worked for. It was not you stuck in a line of cars trying to get out of Ramona before the flames caught up with you. It is not you remembering that you no longer own a pair of scissors. It is not you who lies awake at night afraid of the winds blowing over your rented apartment.

More than 500,000 people were evacuated from their homes: 497,000 of you turned in to your neighborhood and saw your home still standing. Somewhere in the area of 3,000 people did not; instead, we were slapped in the face with the emotion that comes when everything is gone. People can help, but can never know, unless it happens to them. Yeah, all I want is my home back!

Mark Payne

Ramona

Falling on his own sword of ignorance

In his March 31 letter, Mr. Pete de Jong of San Marcos berates the public for its ignorance of history â€"â€" then proceeds to fall on his own sword by exposing his own ignorance! He says, "President Roosevelt declared war on Germany." Not true. Roosevelt declared war on Japan after Pearl Harbor, and then Nazi Germany declared war on the United States. Check it out.

Overall, Mr. de Jong's purpose appears to be to show that the death toll of Mr. Bush's war on Iraq is minimal when compared with previous wars. Try telling that to the loved ones of those killed in Iraq â€"â€" a completely unnecessary war. Saddam Hussein had been rendered impotent militarily following the original Gulf War, and was absolutely no threat to the U.S.A. He was not a nice man, we can all agree on that, but are we to pre-emptively strike all countries led by people we don't like? Cuba, Serbia, North Korea, Iran, Syria, Sudan and Venezuela, just to name a few. Who gave us the moral authority to be the judge and jury for the whole world?

Mr. de Jong ends by quoting Mr. Bush at his absolute worst â€"â€" "Stay the course."

Robert Green

Fallbrook

Please, please, vote no on Prop. 98

While driving and listening to the radio, a commercial came on extolling the virtues of Proposition 98. Don't let this fool you. Do you wonder who is spending all the money extolling this proposition? Well, it is the owners of mobile-home parks and the owners of apartment buildings, whose main interest is not really eminent domain. This is just to make Prop. 98 look appealing. The main interest is to eliminate rent control.

If this proposition passes, there will be millions of poor elderly across the state who will lose the places they live, and will end up out on the street or with relatives to take care of them. They will not be able to afford to live in their current residence when the owners double the rent the day Prop. 98 passes.

Remember, rent control affects the elderly who live on a fixed income of Social Security, so please help them by voting no on Prop. 98.

Gordon Olson

San Marcos

Check out providers before appointments

On May 2, the staff at [my] doctor's office gave me a referral to another gynecologist who had a disciplinary record from the medical board. These offenses included but weren't limited to fraud, dishonesty and an undisclosed offense committed in another state.

I found these things out by purchasing a background check … at Healthgrades.com. You can also find out information on the Web site for the Medical Board of California itself. There is also quack.watch.com and insiderpages.com. I advise you to check these sites before you or your loved ones put your life in the hands of unfamiliar doctors.

Melinda Santa Cruz

Escondido

Service economy makes politicians rich

Who says you can't make money providing services? We have three self-made millionaires running for president. Not one made their money in the private sector.

Now the politicians have discovered that we produce nothing here and want to tax services. Good. I hope the lawyers have to leave California just like manufacturing and construction. That will reduce CO2.

Al Gore can buy pollution credits, so why can't a smoker do the same thing? It was the money from smokers that paid San Diego County's debts, not the anti-smoking crowds. Maybe we should harvest trees instead of allowing them to burn and pollute California.

We have allowed the biggest global polluters, China and India, to prosper by taking our middle-class jobs. By not utilizing our natural resources, we lose great jobs and empower the Middle East. Bill Gates wants to bring in foreign workers because he thinks American computer people are too expensive. Does he support taxing Internet commerce?

America is awash with potential and there is no question we could be self-sufficient for hundreds of years. The lunatics are running the asylum. It is time sane people start questioning their flawed logic and take back this country.

Peter Murnieks

Vista

George Bush's highest responsibility

President Bush recently stated, "We have no higher responsibility than stopping terrorist attacks." But let's look at the record. 1. Prior to 9/11, the Bush administration received at least 16 separate warnings about the use of airplanes to destroy big buildings, but did nothing to avoid it. 2. Bush's first director of terrorist security, Richard Clark, stated that George Bush had little interest in the subject of terrorism. 3. Our borders and visa systems are wide open to the entry of terrorists. 4. Instead of concentrating our efforts on fighting the terrorists in Afghanistan after 9/11, he diverted our military forces to an illegitimate war in Iraq, which created a new terrorist group. 5. He put big business profits ahead of terrorist security when he tried to sell the operation of six of our ports to an Arab government-owned company. 6. His administration botched a chance to capture Osama bin Laden and also failed to get permission for the U.S. to search for him in western Pakistan.

Herbert Pairitz

Carlsbad

Distorted views of Israel

Looks like Mr. Parish needs a history lesson (Letters, May 12). Firstly, we are not protecting Israel â€"â€" Israel is protecting itself! The U.S. did not get involved in any of Israel's wars, the latest being their conflict with Hezbollah two years ago. And yes, Israel has nuclear weapons, but will use them only if they are attacked with nuclear weapons. As we all know, Iran is threatening to do just that, the first chance they get, but Israel is prepared to take them out before they can even develop an A-bomb (remember Iraq's nuclear plant in 1988?).

Secondly, Israel offered to give back over 90 percent of areas conquered in the '67 war, but Arafat's PLO was greedy and demanded more (remember the Oslo Accords in 1993?). Israel's presence in the Middle East, primarily, is to check the Muslim radicals from overrunning the area prior to the apocalypse they have planned against the infidels (that's North America and Europe). If that happens, Eric won't be able to publish his distorted views in the NCT anymore!

Jack Strumpf

Escondido

Healthier to boycott Beijing

A while back, the North County Times published an article titled, "WHO: Virus no threat to Olympics," May 5, which said that, "a highly infectious virus … has killed 24 children in China," and "is unlikely" to be a threat to the Beijing Olympics. Besides the fact that the World Health Organization is a self-serving bunch of bureaucrats, I wondered why the deaths of just 24 children in a population of over 1 billion would bother the Chinese bureaucracy?

Then, on Sunday, May 11, in "Earthweek" (Business section, D-7) of the NCT, a second article titled "An Olympic effort" states that this virus has now killed 30 children (four more than some weeks ago. Big deal?). However, China's Center for Health Protection (an oxymoron?) states that the virus has "spread rapidly across China in recent weeks." China always represses adverse news, so I wouldn't be surprised if they have left some "zeros" off the purported "30" and are really in a panic over the potential adverse effects on the Olympics.

Couple this fatal virus with the abject respiratory damaging pollution in Beijing, and the USOC and our government have every right to boycott the Beijing Olympics. It's not political, it's protecting the health of our athletes.

Merrill Brown

Oceanside

Drug users guilty of increasing crime

I wonder if those frat boys at San Diego State, and all the other users of drugs from the Mexican drug cartels, realize that they are guilty of the increasing murders by those same cartels?

Jesse Frank Ford

Fallbrook