Forget smoke: Let's ban grass!

My grass allergies were so bad the other night, I was up until 2 a.m. sneezing nonstop for 5 hours, to the point where I thought I had to go to the emergency room. All this, despite being on $3/a day prescription allergy medicine.

In Eugene, we have the highest grass seed pollen count in the world, thanks to Linn County ("Grass Seed Capital of the World") grass seed growers. While health hazards from grass field burning are finally in the public's (watering, bloodshot) eye, why are we not addressing the misery of allergy sufferers that comes from simply growing the grass seed in the first place?

I propose that grass seed growers be held accountable for covering the costs of every allergy sufferer in the Willamette Valley. I, myself, will be sending copies of my allergy medicine receipts, along with a letter asking for financial reimbursement, to the industry lobby group Oregon Grass Seed Council, at 1193 Royvonne Ave. S., Suite 11, Salem, OR 97302. I encourage all other allergy sufferers to do the same.

Come to think of it, with all this recent talk of "sustainability," why are we still wasting water, fossil fuels, and topsoil to grow hundreds of thousands of acres of grass seed for ornamental lawns instead of the crops we need to feed ourselves?

Michelle D'Amico, Eugene

Bright economy? Propaganda!

George Will in his commentary Sunday, June 10, "Economy grows, leaving Dems speechless," is back at his propaganda again painting his bright picture of our economy. He forgot to mention about HP laying off employees, The U.S. automakers laying off thousands and closing plants. Halliburton moving its home office overseas so they don't have to pay taxes.

The United States is importing more products than we are exporting, which is not good economics when I went to school. He also said that there was 8 million jobs created but forgot to say they are not good enough to support a family on a single income.

Elden B. Huntling, Lebanon

In response, history of Islam

Ms. Kenagy's letter (Sunday, June 3) is so full of histrionic name-calling and so ignorant of historical fact and argument that it is difficult to respond to it in the brief space allowed letter writers.

A few facts: Islam was founded by Muhammad who, after he married a rich woman and found himself one of the idle rich, declared himself to be Allah's final prophet. After 12 years of preaching to members of his tribe in Mecca and gaining almost no followers, he moved to Medina, where he discovered he could gain converts through the sword.

At this time (622 AD), the entire Muslim world was just a tiny portion of what is today Saudi Arabia. It was not in "Palestine," Jerusalem, or anywhere else. After Islam forcefully united the tribes of Arabia into a single community, it spread itself by the sword, conquering Syria and Egypt, Persia (Iran), present-day (then Christian and Jewish) Israel, North Africa, and on into all of Spain and Italy, and into most of eastern Europe. The Christian Crusades, 450 years later, recovered some of the Christian lands.

In Islamic theology, any land that has ever belonged to the House of Islam belongs to it forever. Islam also calls for Shar'ia to be the supreme law throughout the world, hence Islam's present-day claim to these lands and Iranian President Ahmadinejad's call for a third caliphate.

Muslim demonstrators in Dearborn, Mich., and Dallas have carried posters of Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini, who said, "Those who know nothing of Islam pretend that Islam counsels against war. Those [who say this] are witless. Islam says: Kill all the unbelievers ... ."

If you are not Muslim, you are an unbeliever, which according to Iraqi Shi'ite Grand Ayatollah Sistani puts you number 8 on his list of 10 najis (unclean) things: urine, feces, semen, dead bodies, blood, dogs, pigs, unbelievers, alcoholic liquors, and the sweat of animals who eat unclean things.

Dan Conway, Albany

We want Armageddon? Bunk!

Give us a break, June Forsyth Kenagy, about Americans suffering from Islamic phobia. If a survey recording 25 percent of evangelicals believed in suicide bombing, the headline would have read, "One out of four Evangelicals will commit suicide bombings to spread their faith." Like usual, the mainstream liberal media just glosses it over, hoping no one would pick up on it.

As for Christian right wanting an armageddon against Arabs, it is a bunch of bunk. Many religious right or social conservatives do not hate Muslims. They do not want to convert them against their wills. They have found out that John 3:16 works a whole lot better than an M16 when it comes to converting Muslims.

As for the Muslim world being a great opponent to western civilization, that does have some merit. Why do Muslim clerics among the 57 Muslim countries teach that western civilization must die so Islam can rule the world? Why do Muslim clerics insist that Sharia be implemented around the world?

In addition, the 57 Muslim countries around the world forbid Christians, Jews and other religions from expressing their faith. Should they get caught, they're either imprisoned, beaten or executed. However, I have never seen it reported among any western nation, including Israel, that a Muslim was imprisoned, beaten or executed for converting non-Muslims.

Wayne A. Pruitt, Lebanon

Tracking humor: Fix the comics

Being a writer of sorts and a devout packrat, I keep clippings from various sources like the ADH. Knowing this, you might suspect I would have a collection of James Kilpatrick's words for writer and you'd be right.

Last Sunday's "Then he said, and she said..." on humor was much enjoyed and led me to reminisce through my Dave Barry collection. Such a chuckle! Dave abandoned us at our time of greatest need, i.e., the destruction of our republic by the once glorious party of FDR.

After all, why give all that humor material manufactured by Hillary and Pelosi to Rush Limbaugh? His senses of humor, and wallet, with millions of listeners, is rich enough as it is.

After digesting Kilpatrick for the second time I decided to check on Barry's ADH replacement, Chris Erskine. I hadn't read Erskine for a while as I got tired of all the diaper jokes. After three kids of my own, I've been trying to forget about misery in all its forms. I was entertained and pleased to discover he had married Amelia Earhart and his kids, iguanas, and chimpanzees had matured into full blown laughter.

Now if ADH will just mature a bit by dropping Charlie Brown's Dog (past tense by 30 years), that ridiculous cat-dog-squirrel thing in classified, and the even worse absurdity masquerading as a comic next to Family Circle, there might be some hope for the industry. Especially if the only comic class act, Prince Valiant, is reinstituted. I feel a bit guilty stealing my neighbor's Oregonian to clip a copy of the Prince.

Not to worry. My neighbor doesn't miss the comics. He's nearly blind and only uses the paper to wrap fish.

Charlie Stoakes, Brownsville

The beer tax and troopers

Our local state representatives, Sara Gelser and Andy Olsen, are both on the powerful House Revenue committee. In the legislature's final weeks, I hope that they will work hard to raise the beer tax by a nickel to create a dedicated funding source for the Oregon State Police.

Today, Oregon has less than 300 state police, down from a high of over 600 in 1979. This, even as the state's population has doubled in that time. Oregon currently has the lowest beer tax in the nation and it hasn't been raised since 1977.

Combine this with the fact that half of all traffic fatalities are alcohol related, and alcohol is a big factor in many other crimes and accidents, I think that a higher beer tax to fund law enforcement is a great idea.

Edith Thompson, Corvallis

Start by sealing the border

The debate in the Senate about the bill to deal with immigration problems with the Mexican border is very difficult for me to clearly understand. It appears that the current bill is intended to solve all problems instantaneously. This, of course, is impossible, and chaos will likely occur if this legislation is enacted.

Most Americans, I think, would agree that dealing with illegal immigrants could be handled in a sequential manner. Let's start with sealing the border to stop the problem from expanding. Then, the myriad of other issues could be dealt with.

It is difficult for many Americans to believe that our government will really seal the border since it has, so far, failed to implement the measures already in place. Establishing some strict measurable benchmarks that would clearly demonstrate that illegal immigration has largely been stopped seems to be appropriate.

It is very interesting that Congress is insisting that the government of Iraq meet such benchmarks to demonstrate that it is truly pacifying the country and improving political and social conditions for the people. If benchmarks are appropriate for the government of Iraq, then certainly they should be appropriate for our government.

So, let the Senate pass a bill that first would require benchmarks be met that certify that the Mexican border has been secured for at least six months, then begin developing the other measures necessary to resolve immigration problems.

Also, we are being told that the immigration legislation must be passed now and that a bad bill is better than the status quo. I disagree, there seems to be many flaws and loop holes in the proposed Senate bill that would make the situation much worse than the status quo. Americans passed an amnesty bill in 1986 that was unsuccessful because our government failed to implement its measures. We should not make the same mistake again.

Chuck Lane, Blodgett

Investigate attack on USS Liberty

On June 8, 1967, the air and naval forces of Israel attacked the USS Liberty while it was on patrol in international waters. Thirty-four Americans were killed. Israeli gunboats strafed survivors, including sailors who were climbing into life rafts and wounded lying in on the deck of the ship.

Israel claimed that the attack on our ship was an accident; that they confused the Liberty (which was teaming with electronic antennae) with a rusty, 40-year-old tramp steamer one-fourth the size that was bound for the scrapyard.

The Liberty came under attack from jets - painted to look like Egypt's - whose pilots, the Israelis claimed, failed to see 6-foot-high hull markings and who somehow didn't see the holiday flag that the Liberty flag was flying during the attack. Further, Israelis deliberately jammed the discrete radio frequencies that the Liberty used to communicate with the Sixth Fleet. Those channels were used by U.S. ships, and U.S. ships alone.

Survivors believe they know the reason for the attack: Israel killed hundreds (if not thousands) of Egyptian POWs within earshot of the ship. They say the Israelis attempted to shift the blame on the Liberty attack to the Egyptians - "false flag" - something that they had done before and since.

Most tragically, the details on this affair have been kept secret. With one exception - the Liberty - every attack on a U.S. Navy ship has been investigated by Congress. It is long past time for Congress to turn away from the Israel lobby and speak the truth of what happened now more than 40 years ago today.

Bil Burton, Corvallis

Crack down on the employers

Is illegal immigration a problem? Yes. But one glaringly obvious point in the matter seems to keep being passed over: Who is hiring illegals?

Simply put, if work isn't available in this country for illegals, why would illegals come to this country for work? Instead of spending untold millions of our tax dollars building a fence or wall, maybe we should crack down on the Americans who are illegally hiring illegals!

Richard Clinton, Lebanon