Iraq's not our country

Larry Crompton would do well to reread his letter of 1-2-07. In it he will find the fundamental reason Vietnam was an utter failure for our country and why we have absolutely no hope of "winning" in Iraq. His statement that "losing is not an option, not when your country is at stake," says it all.

Maybe in his next letter he could explain just how Iraq and Vietnam could be construed to qualify as our country. And why citizens of other countries would or should tolerate the U.S forcing things down their throats. We, and I'm sure that includes Larry, would never tolerate another country invading our country.

The "God bless us and to hell with everyone else" sentiment that seeps from the letter seems remarkably similar to the sentiments expressed by the Islamic fundamentalists. The slippery slope we are on is thinking we can fight terrorism by breeding more terrorists.

Peter Kenagy, Albany

Must have been a slow day

Re: Don Anderson's letter, "Tip of the iceberg (Jan. 6):"

A slow day would explain the inclusion of this sorry piece of hostile blather. Please, D-H readers, take pen in hand and give the editor a luxury of choice above this level of toxicity.

Edith Harrison, Albany

Do 'something,' but what?

The struggle over "global warming" or whatever term is currently in vogue continues apace. Today I saw a "public service" spot on TV, funded by the Ad Council, saying that we can't wait, that we need to "do something" about global warming before it's too late.

The problem with that is that "something" is never defined.

We hear about restricting carbon, generating energy using new, environmentally sound methods, and "conservation." But while we are being urged to support all this, no one is able to tell us, with any kind of certainty, exactly what it will entail and how long it will take.

Are we going to outlaw the automobile? Force people to move into high density housing? Bulldoze our cities and rebuild them according to some master environmental plan? Convert everything to electric?

A wind farm generating 200-300 MW of power would cover about 40,000 acres. As a comparison the Boardman coal-fired generating plane is rated as 556 MW and covers a lot less acreage.

Where are we going to get all this power? It's nice to talk about yet-to-be developed technologies, but remember, we're supposed to be doing this now. So all I want to know, before we start doing "something" about global warming is, exactly what are we going to do and how long will it take?

It would seem to me to be a fair question. The supporters of doing "something" are adamant that we need to act before it is too late, so they must know what that "something" is. And the entire goal of doing this must be to stop and reverse "Global Warming." Why else would we do it?

Once we decide about what "something" is, how are we going to apply it? Are the oh-so-concerned citizens of the urban areas going to apply these restrictions to themselves? Or are we going to get another spotted owl scenario where the citizens of rural areas are sacrificed so the urbanites can feel good about themselves?

Waiting for answers.

John Dunshee, Tangent

Drug deaths, too, ignored

The column, "A Deadly Story Nobody Reports" discussed the terrible toll from auto accidents. As of New Year's Eve, 44,000 people, give or take several hundred, will have died in auto accidents in 2006.

While the media do report on traffic deaths once in a while, they are totally silent on the number of deaths from drug overdoses. When was the last time you saw or heard the media report on the yearly toll of drug overdose deaths? The answer is practically never. Do you realize that every year in Oregon over 200 people between the ages of 15 and 40 die from drug overdoses?

Drug overdose deaths since 2003 in one county in Michigan (in which Detroit is located) total more than the deaths in Iraq from all 50 states during the same period. Officials there state that about three people die from drug overdoses every day. In one 10-day period, (May 18-28, 2006) 41 people died from drug overdoses in that county. County officials said that was a little high.

Why do the media totally ignore deaths from drug overdoses? Investigative reporters can call the state agency collecting such data just as I did. The media report every death in Iraq but totally ignore the war on drugs right in their own backyard. Where are the protest marches about the terrible toll from drug overdoses.

I challenge this newspaper to begin reporting on a regular basis deaths from drug overdoses. Such information is available.

Charles M. Fischer, Corvallis

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