Enough is enough

The Republicans have lost the White House and Congress. I think it is in very poor taste for those in the media, talk shows, actors, and comedians to continue to snip at President Bush, Sen. McCain, and Gov. Palin like they've been doing every chance they get.

I am a lifelong Democrat, but, it's been more than a month and enough is enough. They call the last eight years a disaster, but, has it been?

Inflation and unemployment have been low. When you think about it, the stores are full of good things to eat. And most anything else you want. The lights and heat are there at the flip of a switch. The police, firemen, doctors, and emergency personnel are there when needed.

Our roads and freeways are fantastic. It has been a rough ride in 2008 mainly to investments, I've lost a lot of the large gains that my IRAs made in the 1990s up to the end of 2007, but I haven't lost any of the dollars I put in, only lost paper gains.

They say 70 percent of the people in this country are dissatisfied with things as they are. Perhaps it's my advancing years that tell me change isn't always for the better, and I wonder at times if we might look back on the years 2000 to 2007 as the good old days?

Except for 9/11, we have been free of terror attacks, and I think the administration deserves credit for that. I haven't liked many things President Bush has done, but I do know when I'm well off. I'd say 99 percent of what we have in this country should not be changed, it's great.

Ron Tansley, Lebanon

Start worrying about cooling

George H. Taylor, renowned Oregon climatologist, has a cool head and excellent scientific understanding. Taylor consistently relies on facts, rather than political and emotional pressure, to keep Oregonians informed about variations in local and worldwide climate.

On Sunday, Nov. 23, the Sunday paper published Taylor's column, "NASA error may have had huge influence," exposing worldwide temperature reporting errors by NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies Director James Hansen.

It appears that, early on, Hansen jumped on the global warming bandwagon. Ego may have led him to repeatedly doctor statistics so that in 2008 it would appear that his predictions of global warming were right - the world is headed toward global warming catastrophe.

Actually, true statistics show that the highest worldwide temperatures of the century were in the 1930s and that 2008 had only the 70th warmest October in 114 years.

Both President-elect Obama and Oregon's Gov. Kulongoski are on the global warming bandwagon.

But Oregon's cyclic temperatures are falling and our snowpack last winter was above average. Maybe we should concern ourselves more with cooling, which would reduce our ability to produce enough food.

Jean Nelson, Corvallis

Bearing arms for freedom

The classic liberal response by Larry Padman of Corvallis (Nov. 30) to our rights was to turn the Second Amendment into a hunting or personal protection right. Larry, the Second Amendment isn't about hunting or personal protection, it is about the people having the right to bear arms in defense of liberty. It is the teeth to all our rights granted by God and enumerated by the Constitution.

Governments have a way of trampling our liberties especially socialist governments. We only have to look at India to see how the people were reduced to throwing rocks at machine-gun-wielding terrorist to understand how the rights of the people were taken away. I suggest, Larry that you practice with a pocket full of rocks after the new president steps into office.

The reasons to fear the new administration are obvious if you remember history. Most of the new appointees are Clinton people who have a record of extremist positions against gun owners. It isn't the "change" promised, but then you can't trust a politicion and that is why we have a Constitution, a lawful document that gives us the right to real "change" should our rights be trampled.

We are going through very bad times right now and none of us know where this will lead us. Both parties in government have shown us they can't be trusted with our money or our liberties. We would be fools to give up our ability to effect real change should our government trample the Constitution. America is strong because our people have the rights to worship as they see fit, speak freely and back up our rights with the freedom to bear arms.

Gun control is really people control and that is what socialism is all about. Once you give up your guns, government can and will run every part of your life. Put a rock in your pocket and remind yourself of that.

Jim Farmer, Albany

Reminded of Kennewick man

I read with interest and amusement Finn John's story about the fossilized fecal deposit in the Paisley Southwest Oregon caves by those of East Asian descent circa 12,300 B.C. While Mr. John made sure that his readers were properly apprised as to the Mongolian origins of the depositors, he somehow failed to mention that the 9,300-year-old bones of Mr. Kennewick found on the banks of the Columbia River were decidedly identified as Caucasian. For those of you just out of high school, Caucasian means white person.

You see, one of the claims to fame for the American Indian is that they were here first. Once Mr. Kennewick was identified as Caucasian, our Indian brothers demanded that Mr. Kennewick be interred post-haste, with "proper ceremony" of course.

A few years ago a world-class scientist was brought to the Oregon State University campus with much fanfare. It so happened that he was one of the handful of scientists that was "disrespectfully probing and testing" the bones of Mr. Kennewick and was involved in the lawsuit against the Interior Department to keep Mr. Kennewick available for further study.

Well, as you can imagine, this didn't set to well with the political correctors on campus, so this world-class scientist, along with his endowed chair became persona non grata.

Assuming Mr. Kennewick didn't spring from the forehead of Zeus (with a spear point in hip) one wonders just how long his forbearers had been rummaging around the North American land mass.

Dean Kennedy, Corvallis

More dams won't be needed

In his Nov. 30 editorial, "We'll need more water storage," Hasso Hering correctly stated that climate change will most likely result in decreased water resources in the Willamette Valley. However, his conclusion that less available water because of decreased snowfall necessarily requires building more dams on our rivers, and sacrificing wildlife, is simply wrong.

We have more and better options for providing adequate water for our future needs, even with the forecast population increase. The key is using water more efficiently. There are many ways that our communities can employ smart practices that conserve water and do not diminish our quality of life. For example, homes and businesses can install low-flow fixtures, reuse gray water for non-potable water needs such as toilet flushing and plant drought-resistant landscaping to eliminate the need to irrigate.

The industrial and agricultural sectors can employ better water management. Cities can better manage storm water so that it recharges groundwater, thereby improving river and stream levels in the summer and fall.

Years ago, most of us threw everything in the garbage can. Then we realized we were wasting valuable resources, and modified our behavior to reduce our trash, reuse and recycle. As a result, we now recover about 40 percent of our waste instead of landfilling it - a successful collaboration of individual actions and sensible public/private sector strategies and programs. If Oregonians, as a community, make a similar effort with our water resources, we can meet our future needs in a sustainable way.

John McEvoy, Corvallis

A rerun of the robber barons

George Will has devoted his career to repealing the New Deal and his ideological commitment to that goal does not end with the crash of his economic theories. We still need to fear FDR and giving too much to working people for their labor.

His thesis (Nov. 30) is that "corporate profits-prerequisities for job-creating investments-were excessively drained into labor expenses that left many workers priced out of the market." He finds economists who support his line of thinking, but that is not hard when ideology is what they share.

According to Will's economics, we should be experiencing incredible prosperity as corporate profits have soared and labor has remained static.

All that "job-creating" corporate profits ought to have us leading the world.

Instead, we have a rerun of the Robber Barons and the Great Depression.

It might be because people like Will have convinced others to misread the lessons of history and the New Deal. This is precisely what happens when corporate profits are not balanced by a strong labor movement able to share in the fruits of increased productivity.

But do not worry George. We are not going to bring back FDR and the New Deal. They are just the guides for doing what we have to do to get out of the mess caused by Will and his ideologue aristocrats who hate democracy.

This time we will not just save capitalism like FDR did.

Don Caughey, Corvallis

Guns in England: Horror stories

For those of you like Pat Wray who voted for Obama "hoping" he would protect your gun rights, please look up "Tony Martin, England" to reveal numerous BBC and English newspaper articles (The Birmingham Mercury) on the Internet.

Several other related articles on those pages describe crime in England due to zealous gun control and political stupidity. Britain has instituted almost total gun confiscation over many years, and it has caused horrendous rates of burglary and assault, crimes on unprotected victims.

Two examples of the many talked about:

Tony Martin killed a burglar and wounded another in defense of his farm after numerous previous break-ins; the British authorities arrested him for murder, which takes a life sentence. Further court activities lessened the sentence, but also allowed him to be sued by the remaining burglar. The surviving burglar was released before Mr. Martin, and was even paid for an interview by the BBC.

Another old gentleman, Martin James, 64, described as disabled, killed himself after authorities warned of impending arrest for firing a BB gun at hoodlums after several incidents of harassment and property damage by the punks.

We now have an impending president who has a questionable record towards gun rights and self defense. Look up President-elect Obama's and Vice President-elect Biden's votes on Senate Bill 397, 2005, for the "Protection of Lawful Commerce Act," and his Illinois legislature vote against Hale DeMar, who defended his home from an intruder..

Be vigilant, be watchful of our political representatives or we could lose our rights here just as those in England did.

Gary Hartman, Lebanon