Re: your June 30 article, “Flllmore continues fundraising tradition”:

Once again, Fillmore opens its city to everyone for its annual fireworks sale.

Interesting how the two people interviewed while buying fireworks in The Star article were not Fillmore residents at all, but lived miles away, in areas where fireworks are illegal. Too bad the city must turn a blind eye to this in favor of all the revenue it gets. I’ll be hearing Fillmore fireworks again this year in Ventura. Wouldn’t it be nice if Fillmore took more responsibility toward this problem?

— Kurt Triffet, Ventura

Let’s say a relative of yours got hold of your secret password, bankrolled all your family’s assets and left you homeless, your children malnourished.

When you finally caught up with him, he told you that he did it because he needed surgery for an imminent and life-threatening disease. Later you learned, from your shopping cart of rags, that he had used the money to invest in Halliburton and had made a huge profit.

This is what George Bush has done to the American people. In his pre-emptive vendetta in Iraq, he lied to the American people about links to al-Qaida and weapons of mass destruction.

Re: Michael Burge’s June 29 letter, “Comet waste of money”:

I am sure that if we visited the Burge home we would find many high-tech toys such as a cell phone, high-definition TV, a personal computer, X-Box, etc.

Where did the technologies for these consumer products come from? They sure as heck were not developed by the efforts of the Ventura City Council or the city’s water department. The technologies that we all enjoy today, and those that we will be enjoying in the years to come, are the result of work by scientists and engineers who push the envelope on human knowledge.

Both the California Senate and Assembly Public Safety Committees have besmirched the title of public safety.

The Senate committee chaired by Sen. Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, and the Assembly committee chaired by Assemblyman Mark Leno, also D-San Francisco, have become a limbo for bills that have anything to do with law enforcement and the protection of citizens’ rights. But even more unfortunate is that our legislators have played political games and accommodated the whims of these two “leaders.”

Our current situation in Iraq reminds me of an old folk song: “Neck-deep in the Big Muddy and the big fool says to push on.”

Before the war, the Bush administration suggested that the war might end in six days or six weeks but doubted that it would take six months to finish. We were on the shore, looking at the Big Muddy.

Immediately after the American forces arrived in Baghdad, the Bush administration proclaimed, “Mission accomplished.” We were knee-deep in the Big Muddy.

I am so angry!

Why can’t the Bush administration get its plans and estimates right? In the beginning, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the war would last less than six months. It’s been 28 months.
Vice President Dick Cheney said a few days ago that the insurgency is “in its last throes,” but coalition casualties have been steadily climbing over just the past four months. 

And now the last straw: They underestimated the number of veterans who would return this year from Iraq and Afghanistan needing medical treatment, and not just by a little bit. They were off by a huge amount. The new estimate is more than four times the old one — from 23,553 to 103,000. Are they all amateurs?

I’d like to focus a little attention on a growing problem in the county.

On June 26 at around 3 p.m., I was riding my motorcycle eastbound on Foothill Road between Saticoy Avenue and Wells Road when I noticed two cars coming at me at a high rate of speed. To my amazement and then horror, the white pickup, which was following a red car, pulled into my lane and started to pass, unfazed by the three large headlights on my bike. Of course, the testosterone levels were soaring and the car in front would never let him pass, so they both accelerated to at least 100 mph.

I am writing in response to former high school principal Phyllys Lloyd’s argument that unification will not change the problems at Camarillo High School.

She asks, “Who is responsible for the mediocrity?”

Well, the Pleasant Valley School District, our K-8 grade system, is not mediocre. We have no dirty, run-down campuses, no destruction of school grounds, no poor return of homework or plagiarism problems. We have very high expectations of academic achievement, and we attain them.

Re: your June 26 article, “Authorities on lookout for vandals”:

There is an additional form of vandalism that has been occurring in Ventura that also merits attention.
On June 20, at 2:10 a.m., I was awakened suddenly by a bright light outside of my bedroom window. Immediately, I thought it was our sensor light, which lets us know when anyone is too close to the house. I looked outside, but it was not our sensor light. One of our cars, parked on the curb, directly in front of our house, was on fire.

My husband raced outside to try and put the fire out, while I contacted 911. The fire department responded immediately, as did the police. The car was engulfed and could only be determined as a total loss.

I find it tough to pick up the paper. Celebrity acquittals, felon rock star heroes, expanding euthanasia, abortion on demand, constitutionally protected right to pornography, gambling houses everywhere, corrupt corporate executives, child-molesting priests, crystal meth labs, gang shootings, men marrying men, parents murdering children to spite their ex-spouse — and 24-hour news coverage of it all broadcast all over the world.

I can’t imagine why Islamic fundamentalists view us as a morally bankrupt society. 

The ACLU and People for the American Way want you to believe the Christian right is imposing its beliefs on society.  If that is the case, they sure aren’t doing a very good job. These left-wing kooks are enemies to the institutions, individuals and traditions that made this country great. The policies they promote are dangerous to all!

Although I happen to live in Moorpark, I would like to express support for Mike Dunn of the Conejo Valley Unified School District board and his fight to make sure the rule of law is upheld with regard to the definition of marriage. The textbooks should not be redefining marriage. The traditional marriage has worked well in societies for thousands of years, and to redefine it for an entire generation of students will have far-reaching negative consequences that the other members of the Conejo Valley school board just don’t realize.

I wholeheartedly support a recall of the entire Conejo Valley school board and replacing them with more individuals like Dunn. The Conejo Valley school board is controlled by that liberal special interest known as the teachers union. Its ideas are far too left-wing and out of touch with the mainstream. It’s time we had school board members who care about the interests of parents and students.

— Jason Spadaro, Moorpark

Amid all the outrage over the governor’s remarks supporting Cabrillo Port and the Senate restricting the state’s authority to approve onshore liquefied natural gas projects, we must remember this: The planning process for Cabrillo Port remains the same.

The City of Oxnard and its residents will still have the ability to formally comment as part of the U.S. Coast Guard and the State Lands Commission environmental review process.

For my money, I am with the governor. It makes sense to put an LNG terminal where it will have the least impact on people, wildlife, the coast and the environment. And, as the governor points out, that site is where they’re planning to put Cabrillo Port.

— Robert Burnett, Port Hueneme             

Re: your June 28 article, “County to consider raise for deputies”:

Why is it that we live in one of the wealthiest counties in California and we have one of the lowest paid sheriff’s departments? Our sheriff’s deputies place their lives on the line to protect ours. Ventura County hosts some of the safest cities in the nation.

Wake up, Board of Supervisors, and pay these deputies what they deserve for the job they do!
 
— Diane Sands, Camarillo

I attended Tuesday’s Conejo Valley Unified School District board meeting, where the primary topic was the adoption of the ninth-grade health textbook. Almost 50 members of the public spoke. I was utterly disgusted by the words of many of them.

One woman, furious that her daughter had seen two girls kissing after school, seemed to want the school board to outlaw homosexuality. I’d like to remind her that in this country, gays have just as much right to kiss in public as anyone else, and if her daughter doesn’t like seeing it, she is free to look away.

I am really concerned for the citizens of these United States of America.

I cannot understand the thoughts of people, reporters, congressional leaders and politicians when they decry that our war against terrorists is not for us to fight.

Pessimists think negatively and should think reality. Let them go there and live for awhile. Let them see what happens when they say no too often. It may, or will, be the last time they say no! Have they forgotten so soon Pearl Harbor and American lives lost by fanatic warlords?

Re: your June 29 article, “Text with broad marriage definition picked”:

I have a concern about the broad use of the term “marriage” to include same-sex partners. This objection is not based on the observation that it alters a custom as old as civilization, or on any religious belief that the state of marriage must be between a man a woman, and it is not based on the argument that it creates legal rights reserved for those in a traditional marriage. Be informed, however, that I do respect the position of those who do hold those views.

Being an engineer, my concern is based on precision in language.

I attended Tuesday’s Conejo Valley Unified School District board meeting where the main topic of discussion was the textbook recommended for the health class. There were perhaps 150 people assembled to listen and speak, and opinion was relatively evenly divided. The issue was whether the recommended textbook undercuts family values by promoting or at least condoning gay marriage.

The actual chapter in the text that was the nub of the controversy had been photocopied and was available to anyone who wanted a copy. I read it and could not fathom anyone objecting to its contents.

So Vice President Dick Cheney is crying wolf again. We are “on the last throes” of ending the insurgency. We are “just a few months before the end.”

Isn’t this the same man who touted Iraq would be a “cakewalk” and that the war would last but “a few weeks”?

And how does his statement stand alongside Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s speech before a congressional hearing that “we cannot leave Iraq until it is stable,” and that the insurgency could go on for four, eight, 10, 12, 15 years.

The traffic court system is very discouraging and frustrating.

I was recently cited in San Luis Obispo County for a moving violation. Although I live a couple of hours from the courthouse listed on my ticket, I firmly believed it was worth fighting for. When I inquired about the court procedure, I was informed that I would have to appear two separate times, one for arraignment and the other to give the officer an opportunity to show up in court.

What is the purpose of this policy? While it may be to keep the courts from being bogged down with these small cases, is it fair that the person who gets pulled over in a location far from their home has to travel an excessive distance twice?

Regarding the recent Supreme Court decision on eminent domain:

“A government big enough to give you all you want is a government big enough to take away all you have.” — Former President Gerald R. Ford.

 — Les Kopel, Oxnard

Re: your June 28 article, “Activist vows to continue protests”:

Thanks to The Star for getting the facts straight that SaveOurState.org is protesting illegal immigration, not all immigration. We want secure borders and safe homelands.

— Sharon Madonna, Oak View

Re: Gary Selvaggio’s June 26 letter, “Ruling has two edges”:

What Mr. Selvaggio fails to realize is that this nation was founded on the rule of law, not majority rule. Each of us is a minority in one or more aspects. However, we are, or we should be, protected from the mob or majority rule by the presence of laws.

All prudent individuals understand the need to allow government the right to seize privately owned property when the health and safety of the entire community is at stake.  However, using eminent domain to seize property and then turn it over to someone else for their private use, even if it may bring some financial benefits to the community, is wrong.

Re: your June 28 article, “Activist vows to continue protests”:

I am embarrassed and saddened by this article.

Joseph Turner, a stay-at-home father, has decided to head a grassroots anti-illegal immigration group via the Internet to promote what he calls “transference of pain.”

As a teacher and fellow parent, I can find nothing redeeming in teaching children fear and hatred.
What a pity that Mr. Turner feels compelled to waste valuable time inflicting “economic pain” on the cities of Baldwin Park, Alhambra and Victorville as they pay extra officers to keep the peace during his “rallies.” These cities either have reflective artwork or Home Depots where “illegal immigrants wait in front of the stores for work.”

The Ventura City Council wants to raise our water and sewage charges an extra $30 a year to generate an extra $1.1 million a year. That is OK by me as it is needed, and I will be pleased to do it.

What upsets me is the federal government wasting mine and your money on unnecessary things such as trying to blow a hole in a comet.

First of all, the comet does not belong to the United States, and secondly, it did not ask to be blasted, and thirdly, it is costing the people of this country $333 million.

We are trying to get a measly $1.1 million for our community.

Re: W. Reid Ripley’s June 28 letter, “Shame on Democrats”:

Mr. Ripley comments about Democrats’ behavior toward the Iraq war with no consideration of how this war started, by whom and where is it going.

A country is being destroyed, and its population, including many children, is being killed. At the same time, our own men and women in uniform are being killed and wounded.

All of this is for what purpose? Experience has indicated that in this type of “war,” there are no winners. The countries’ populations on both sides are the losers.

Re: Bill O’Reilly’s June 25 commentary, “It’s time Americans set limits on dissent over Iraq war”:

I usually read O’Reilly’s column with an odd combination of disdain and amusement. While I disagree with what he has to say most of the time, I find his opinions entertaining and generally harmless.
His June 25 commentary makes me rethink my attitude.

O’Reilly suggests critics of the Iraq war, which he conflates with the “war on terror,” are responsible “for much of the anti-American hatred around the world.” He fondly recalls the limits placed on debate during World War II.

Shades of Vietnam are showing up as our politicians, who got us into the Middle East war, try to run it. When will they learn?

Once your nation commits its military, whether you think the cause is right or wrong, you shut your mouth and support them in every way.

Politicians should stick to their own field of “expertise” and negotiate with their political connections. They have already screwed up in their field or we wouldn’t have troops committed to combat.
I came back from the United Nations’ Vietnam “police action” extremely angry. The politicians didn’t even have the guts to call it a war, nor did the press.

Every day in The Star, I read how evil George Bush and the Iraq war are and that anyone who questions their dissension is violating their right of free speech.

Consider this:

No more will we send our children to liberate and fight and die to protect your free speech, as you call it, because it gives our enemies resolve that we are not united.

No more will we send our military to foreign shores to liberate 50 million people living under the worst form of slavery one can imagine to satisy your pathetic definition of peace.

On Father’s Day, my family took my dad to the beach at Silver Strand in Oxnard. While we were there, this seal caught a wave right next to my little brother and rode it in with him to the shore.

At first, we thought it wanted to play. The seal came out of the water and just sat there in the tide. It didn’t look very old, and it didn’t appear to be hurt. It just looked sad. We sat next to it for a bit, then a lifeguard came and told us not to get too close as seals have sharp teeth.

One time when we lived in Central California. a seal came up on the beach and it was really cut up but still alive. We called 911 and they called an animal rescue program that sent people out to help the seal. I think they ended up taking it to the Monterey Bay Aquarium for help.

There is no debate allowed by the Bush haters. Cheering for the other side by inference, if not directly, in this war against terrorists is their bent, and apparently losing that war is the only thing that will appease them. Pity.

— Jack Weber, Oxnard

No sooner had President Bush completed his speech at Fort Bragg, N.C., Tuesday night when Rep. Robin Hayes, R-N.C., conflates Saddam Hussein, al-Qaida and the attacks of September 11. The White House did the same thing when they rushed from the Afghanistan campaign and created the “central front of the war on terror.”

All I’ve got to go on is the mainstream media (radio, television, newspapers, and Internet), my own research and government reports such as the 9/11 Commission’s book which stated contacts did not become a collaborative operational relationship. 

Hayes says legislators have access to evidence others do not.

In late May, a vote was taken on a veterans care bill that provided $52 million for veterans care, of which $8 million was to be provided for combat trauma care and $9 million was to provide prosthetics for veterans returning from the Afghanistan and the Iraqi theaters of war. The bill lost 213 to 214, with U.S. Rep. Elton Gallegly voting against it. His vote the other way would have allowed the bill to pass.

A few weeks prior to the vote, Rep. Gallegly sent to his constituents a newsletter which included in big bold letters on the front, “Support Our Troops.” With his vote on the veterans care bill, Rep. Gallegly seems to want to support our troops as long as there is no sacrifice taken by him or his constituents. The only people who are required to make sacrifices, in his eyes, are the troops, which Rep. Gallegly so boldly proclaims in his newsletter he wants to “support.”

Tuesday night, in a performance marked by glazed-over eyes reminiscent of a has-been rock star who has inhaled too much, too often, our “president” — and I use the term lightly — demonstrated once again his total failure to grasp reality.

Once again, in the face of facts to the contrary, he once again repeated the mindless mantra of September 11 to justify his failing and failed policies.

It is time to get something straight, clear and unequivocally before the American public. Iraq and Saddam Hussein had absolutely nothing to do with the events of September 11. Hussein had absolutely no connection to al-Qaida and was hated by it even more than it hated America and the West because he is/was an Arab nonbeliever.

I am writing for the sole purpose of telling the community of a treasure we have right here in our backyard. It’s called the Rubicon Theater, where an excellent production of “Tuesdays With Morrie” is playing. It will run through July 18, but it cannot be publicized, which cuts down dramatically on attendance.

The reason for no publicity seems contradictory to me. Our community theater contracted players, got the rights to the play, and did everything by the books. Then, a national company was formed afterwards which will visit the Los Angeles area sometime this summer. They called our production and insisted they stop this play — after all was finished and the play had begun! Unreasonable?
I think so! After many discussions, the compromise of “no advertising” was agreed upon.

Sunday night around midnight, some idiots set off fireworks somewhere near my home. I’m talking fireworks, not firecrackers! I called 911 and was told to call my local police department. I hung up, felt enraged, and thought: If my home burns down, or someone in the community is injured from these reckless individuals, I’ll sue!

I’ve called the local police department regarding fights occurring outside a local bar and have been connected to 911 operators! I find it absurd that a fight at a bar is considered an emergency, but jerks setting off fireworks next to and over your home in a residential neighborhood is not?

Beam me up, Scotty!

— Marie Basiago, Simi Valley

Re: your June 22 article, “Water tank plan gets a cold reception”:

I oppose the Triunfo Sanitation District’s decision to place a huge water tank on a main trailhead into the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area in Oak Park. There are wildlife, hiking and biking, and viewshed negative impacts. There has to be a better place for the Conifer Zone replacement tank!

District Director Norma Callero said the board had not decided on the trailhead site as the final choice. However, why did Triunfo hold a scoping meeting for only that site?

Re: Joe Howry’s June 26 essay, “Old news by any stretch”:

Mr. Howry argues that the current administration may have lied to the American people to gain support for the Iraq war, but it doesn’t matter because it was what we wanted to hear anyway. As he puts it, “The sales pitch doesn’t have to be great or even factual if the buyer is eager and willing.”

Let’s accept this morally dubious argument — a perennial favorite of petty con men everywhere — for the sake of discussion.

Here are some observations from President Bush’s speech Tuesday night:

1. Terrorists are terrorists, whether they are driving planes into buildings or setting off explosives on their bodies. It’s better to battle them somewhere other than on U.S. soil.

2. There is a strategic plan, there has always been a strategic plan, and it is based on accomplishments, not a measurement of time.

3. The sacrifices our military men and women make on behalf of our nation are vital to our security and our nation’s future. They are thanked and appreciated beyond words.

Re: your June 29 article, “Text with broad marriage definition picked”:

I attended the Conejo Valley Unified School District board meeting on Tuesday. The issue before the board was pretty routine. They were voting on whether to accept a ninth-grade health book. It should have been easy.

It was anything but easy, due to the concerted efforts of a single school board member, Michael Dunn, and his friends. They purposely misconstrued language in the text to create a tempest in a teapot.   

Re: your June 29 article, “Text with broad marriage definition picked”:

The intensity of the debate over what definition of marriage is taught in the public schools is a bit mystifying.

Isn’t the job of the public schools to educate rather than to proselytize? Why don’t we simply give our students an accurate picture of what has happened and is happening in our society on this issue? That is: Until recently, marriage has largely been defined culturally, legally and religiously as a union between a man and a woman, whereas today, some groups within society, some legal jurisdictions and some religious organizations have embraced the broader view that same-sex couples should enjoy its status and privileges.

My point in sending this letter is to thank Conejo Valley Unified School District board members Dolores Didio, Dorothy L. Beaubien and Patricia Phelps, Timothy Stephens and Superintendent Robert Fraisse for their willingness to hold to their ideals in the face of blistering opposition.

All speakers at the board meeting were emotionally charged and speaking their own truth. The perserverance of the board members in sticking to their charge of teaching our children with tolerance and wisdom is inspiring. It is a profound blessing to have them overseeing the education in our public schools.

Thanks to each one of them.

— Kathy Matthews, Thousand Oaks

Re: your June 29 article, “Text with broad marriage definition picked”:

“Keep your eyes peeled, because Mr. Dunn isn’t watching where he’s going!”

No, it’s not the recorded voice from the popular Disneyland ride, folks! It’s that wild, wacky “Mr. Dunn and His Wild Political Ride” at the Conejo Valley Unified School District board!

Tuesday night’s meeting was a thrill a minute, with riders in one car screaming and ranting that the district’s “family values” are being eroded by the benign wording in a ninth-grade textbook — which refers to commitment as being between two “partners” — while riders in the other car were settled in for the whole ride, including the budget discussion.

That was a great speech by President Bush on Tuesday.

He reminded all of us why we have to “stay the course” in Iraq. If we don’t stay and fight the Islamo-fascists there until we thoroughly defeat them, or at least until the Iraqi security forces are strong enough to go after and conquer the terrorists themselves, they will attack us here on U.S. soil again.

Does anybody doubt the terrorists’ goal? Does anyone honestly believe announcing a “date certain” for us to pull our troops out of Iraq, regardless of Iraq’s ability to defend itself, will do anything other than demoralize the Iraqi population and our troops and signal the terrorists that all they have to do is hunker down and wait us out?

Re: Terry Sautter’s June 27 letter, “Questionable story”:

Not a single person who wrote or received the Downing Street memos have claimed that they are fake. In fact, U.S. and British officials have indicated that they are accurate. The Butler Committee, a United Kingdom commission looking into weapons of mass destruction, has quoted the documents and accepted their authenticity, along with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. 

As for destroying the originals, they were not destroyed. They were returned to the source. Michael Smith, the London Times reporter who obtained the memos, explained the sequence of events, saying he photocopied the originals and returned them, then retyped the text and destroyed the photocopies because markings on them might have identified his source.

What is the vital necessity and benefit to the financial concerns of the United States to spend $333 million to try to hit a comet 80 million miles away?

Will this impact anyone’s life here on Earth one way or another, except to maybe keep some scientists employed? I can think of tons of more critical causes where $333 million could make a real difference in lives.

— Marjorie Olson, Ventura

The governor and members of the state Legislature have a problem: They are not getting along. This problem is costing the state millions and millions of dollars in the form of waste and lost jobs.

When I had a problem with my knee, I went to a chiropractor and got it fixed by following his directions — which, I might add, made sense to me.

There are leadership training programs available today which result in people working together for their mutual benefit. I believe the best investment the State of California could make is to have the legislators and the governor attend such a program annually.

— Scott Friedman, Camarillo

Re: Bill O’Reilly’s June 25 commentary, “It’s time Americans set limits on dissent over Iraq war”:

I was stunned by Bill O'Reilly’s commentary advocating limiting the quelling of anti-war dissent. Such a sentiment reveals the true attitude of today’s American right: “Shut up, believe what we tell you to believe, keep shopping, and God bless America.”

I could launch half a dozen diatribes at Mr. O’Reilly about free speech, but I will limit my argument to this:

Re: your June 28 article, “Activist vows to continue protests”:

It’s irresponsible of The Star to print an article about Joseph Turner and Save Our State without including background information. Who exactly is Turner and where does he come from?

A report released earlier this year by Bear Stearns Asset Management addresses the incidence of illegal immigration, and a quote from one of its analysts states that the reason it exists is that it’s America’s way of competing with the low-wage forces of Latin America and Asia.

Re: Tom Elias’ June 22 commentary, “Pernicious LNG assumption”:

Public Utilities Commissioner Michael Peevey has said repeatedly across the state that one of the driving factors behind the need for liquefied natural gas is that most new electric generators in California are being fueled by natural gas.

Tom Elias, on the other hand, would like us to stick our heads in the sand and wait until there is a disastrous shortage of natural gas in order to prove the need for it.

Incidentally, that is exactly what we did with electricity five years ago, and look how badly that affected California.

— Laura O’Connor, Oxnard

The Supreme Court has spoken. Or, has it?

Troubling rumblings have been emerging from those quarters for 30 years. The picture is not getting any prettier.

The latest ruling on taking private property should cause the other two branches of government to begin exercising their constitutional obligations of “two-thirds” oversight. The Fourth Amendment so clearly forbids the seizure of property that this ruling is clearly off base! If this is allowed to stand, with no objection by either the executive or legislative branches, the future does not look bright for private property.

Re: John Sherffius’ June 27 editorial cartoon:

Amen to Sherffius! May God always be our troops’ co-pilot.

May God be with the United States and our troops as President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice force Israel to give up God’s land to the Palestines, starting with Bethlehem this week and continuing with other areas throughout this summer.

— Kathy Hart, Camarillo

Having been a student of U.S. history all of my adult life, I know well the differences and similarities of the Republican and Democratic parties.

My observations through the years have led me to understand that the American people can be fooled easily but not for very long. There is hope.

The present administration blindsided a slight majority of us, but time is grinding them down. Messy domestic and foreign issues have piled up; eyes are opening up.

It’s summer!

Any family with kids knows the wonderful feeling of freedom that comes with the last day of school. But I was recently reminded that summer is also the time of year when many young lives are lost because of accidental drowning.

Even if you have no children in your household, you still need to act safely in and around water.

Everyone in my family loves swimming and water sports, and we’re in the ocean or the pool all year round.

Re: your June 26 article, “War of the words”:

I don’t understand why there is such an uproar over the wording in the textbooks regarding sex education.

People say that they want the books to stress only one man and one woman so that the students will know that any other option is not acceptable.

Recently, the Ventura Parks and Recreation Commission unanimously approved a proposed Phase 2 Plan for the new Ventura Community Park.

“Phase 2?” you might ask. You haven’t even been to the park opening yet! How could there be a Phase 2?

I’m on a committee that could use your help. We have raised almost $1 million to fund future park buildout. (A special thanks to the local businesses and residents who have supported the new park!) While this is only a fraction of what we need for the total park buildout, it is a great start.

How much did the City of Ventura pay for the so-called “art” at the mall — the leaky bus stop that resembles a sand worm in “Dune” or “Tremors” — or the tube at the end of the pier that is now an artificial reef?

It seems to me the City of Ventura likes to waste money on “art,” but programs or places to keep kids out of the hair of the Ventura Police Department or local merchants are too much.

Gee, maybe a skateboard park would free up the police from stupid calls like a scuffed- up bench or curb so they can deal with the teenagers who don’t have a legitimate hobby. Those teenagers are in gangs, doing drugs, living in the river bottom.

Re: your June 27 article, “Camarillo hires new assistant manager”:

I read with interest the article on the hiring of a new assistant city manager for the city of Camarillo. Of note was the fact that he will be paid $157,000 per year.

It so happens that I frequently use the Heritage Park in Camarillo. The benches and tables have been in need of painting for some time. I pointed this out to an individual in the Parks Department and was told that they had insufficient funds for this project.

Re: your June 26 article, “War of the words”:

The people of California voted via Proposition 22 that the definition of marriage was “a union between a man and a woman.” It is the business of the school board and other public entities to uphold the laws of this state. This applies to all areas, including race, creed and gender.

One textbook makes a statement contrary to our state law, and the other doesn’t. What are they arguing about? Make sure neither textbook has any statements that can be construed as derogatory or misleading and get on with it.

The California version is biased against our state law, the Texas version is not.

— Ben Griffes, Thousand Oaks

Re: Joe Howry’s June 26 essay, “Old news by any stretch”:

Amazed am I.

Amazed that the editor of The Star, Joe Howry, claims that the American public still thinks that the Iraq war was justified, even though recent polls say that more than 60 percent of the public now believes the war was not justified and has not made us safer.

Amazed that an alleged journalist such as Mr. Howry has not the foggiest idea of public sentiment.

Re: your June 26 article, “War of the words”:

It is very troubling to me to see religious fascism looming in the Conejo Valley Unified School District’s choice of textbooks.

What has happened to the separation of church and state? Conejo Valley public schools are not religious-sponsored institutions and need to reflect the rights and views of all Conejo Valley residents regardless of race, color, creed, belief or sexual orientation.  We would be better served to focus on the unity of all life than on the political agendas of some school board members.

— Thomas Betournay, Thousand Oaks

Re: Bill O’Reilly’s June 25 commentary, “It’s time Americans set limits on dissent over Iraq war”:

I would like to quote from “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich,” by William L. Shirer:

“Section 14 of the Press Law (Reich Press Law of 1933) ordered editors to ‘keep out of the newspapers anything which in any manner ... tends to weaken the will of the German people, the defense of Germany, its culture and economy, ... or offends the honor and dignity of Germany.”

Re: your June 26 article, “War of the words”:

Conejo Valley Unified School District board member Mike Dunn’s lesson for the schoolchildren: how to be a big bully!

How can someone think that having a “partner” to love is immoral, but bullying is a moral, electable value?

— Jeanine Smith, Moorpark

Re: “GOP group hears talk on immigration”:

I couldn’t help but note with irony the comments attributed to former U.S. Border Patrol agent William King Jr. that “illegal immigration along the porous border with Mexico is a threat.”

I am sympathetic with King; I am reminded of the threat of the porous borders along the Ohio Valley and the Mississippi Valley when hordes of illegal white aliens invaded the borders of the Indian nations and the sovereign border of Mexico.

Wow! What a blow to the American dream!

“We the people” can no longer feel secure in our homes that we own, from any city government. Imagine paying state and city taxes yearly for the joy of homeownership, but yet give the city the opportunity to ‘repossess’ it via eminent domain.

Why doesn’t Washington, D.C., replace the White House with a car dealership? I’m sure that the dealership would generate much more tax revenue than the expense of running the White House. Imagine that, the ability to buy a lemon at the former location of the White House.

I can hardly wait to see a city decide to take over a church property and replace it with a Wal-Mart. Wonder where the lines will be drawn on religion versus government?

— Mark Bucell, Thousand Oaks

So now I’m looking at the ranches and beautiful countryside homes with a different look. I see the hungry eyes and watering mouths of the giant land developers flying over these privately owned lands, laughing an evil laugh at their newfound pot of gold.

The Supreme Court, or should I said the stupid old biddy judges, have given your land to these corporations. My mouth dropped wide open, and the jaw is still dangling from what they have decided.

Is it not the American dream to own your own home? Is it not the American dream to pass this land on to your offspring? You work hard, scrape up the funds, dream and dream more until you own that little piece of soil. We are crushed when Mother Nature destroys this land that has become part of what makes us us.

Well, let me tell you, I will never let a corporation take my home without a fight. I’ll turn into one of them there hillbillies with shotgun in hand and die a great fight.

— Mary E. Aquino, Moorpark

I was so glad to see that Congress is trying to pass a constitutional amendment outlawing the burning of the American flag.

In college, I recall witnessing a minority rights group burning the U.S. flag on campus. This shocking, visual display of opinion made me realize that flag-burners are completely ignorant and have no idea how lucky they are to live in the United States.

Thank goodness Congress is trying to punish such ignoramuses by taking away their freedom of speech and forcing them to resort to other, and perhaps more physically violent, forms of protest.

— Erin S. Robertson, Thousand Oaks

Judy Lazar’s letter deifying Grant Brimhall is insulting to those of us, including other council members, who worked hard for the City of Thousand Oaks and contributed to its development.

The facts speak for themselves.

The Oaks Mall was a done deal by 1978 when Brimhall appeared. Lazar should have known that, since she was actively opposed to the project from the get-go. The Oaks Mall expanded because it was dying.

The senior and teen centers were the council’s ideas, especially Alex Fiore’s.

Two more brave soldiers dead, limitless throngs of maniacs willing to strap bombs to their bodies to qualify for 72 virgins, even brave jihadists in Lodi planning to bomb hospitals. When will it end?

We needed Al Gore in 2000, and we came so close! He would have handled the World Trade Center leveling differently, like his predecessor, President Clinton, when they tried to level the center during his watch
. 
President Gore would have launched some mighty cruise missiles, caught those responsible and set up “Project Understanding” to find out why they hate us.

People are shocked at Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s support for a liquefied natural gas plant off the Oxnard coast. Why is anyone shocked at what Gov. Schwarzenegger does?

I hate to say it, but our forefathers understood the need to have people who were born and raised in a democratic society be part of our political arena. Schwarzenegger obviously understands economics and has made plans with a company that is not American to do business in building the plant.
What happened to “buy American” and provide Americans the jobs?

If he represents America and wants to do a good job for America, then he should start proving it. Let’s keep the economical advantages at home!

As a lifelong resident of Ventura County and the grandmother of a developmentally challenged child with autism, I feel I must respond to the residents of Santa Rosa Valley who have chosen to oppose the Kids’ Korral.

The rationale they have used is that they wish to preserve the rural “character” of Santa Rosa and that the retreat will compromise that character.

Unfortunately, they are about 50 years too late.

Isn’t it great that President Bush continues to push his No Child Left Behind program?

I want to relate one particular story that is true because I know personally the party involved.

Specifically, there is a sixth grader who will be going into the seventh grade in the fall. The child is being promoted even though he failed every class, with the exception of P.E., in which he earned a D. He has been suspended 19 or 20 times this past school year. But thanks to Bush’s program, he will be advanced in grade only because they do not want to hold the child back.

President Bush did what he did and said what he said based upon faulty intelligence. He believed in the intelligence he was given — as most other countries, President Clinton and the Democrats did. Liberals keep saying Bush lied when he did not, and saying he lied over and over is not going to make it so.

Why do they insist on not seeing what really happened? Bush had to make a decision in the post September 11 world, and I thank him for not being timid at a terrible time in our history. Bush won the election and Ventura County, so more people in the country and in our community agree with Bush, and that is not a lie.

— Rich Simpson, Camarillo

On the Internet and, I bet, in letters to the editor across the nation, people are saying it is the liberal judges who caused this seizure of private homes in New London, Conn.

But no, it is not liberal or conservative — it is business- and corporate-leaning judges. Just go back to the 1971 Powell Memorandum (see www.mediatransparency.org) where Lewis Powell recommended a plan for the U.S. businesses to “save” and preserve their system.

He essentially recommended a long-range orchestrated and well-financed program to be implemented to influence academia and speakers, television and other media and thus the public.
He suggested that textbooks and the daily news be evaluated to ensure a balanced viewpoint of the American system.

Congressional Democrats are at it again.

With their unfailing instinct for missing the real enemy, the Democrats are calling for an expensive, wasteful “investigation” into some Republican conspiracy with the military to be mean to those poor lambs of terrorists detained at Guantanamo. We might say, with Mel Brooks, “Have you ever seen such cruelty?”

If the national Democratic Party had a brain in its head, it would not countenance this impeding of the war effort. Alas, it seems that impeding the war effort is central to this party’s efforts, which amount, in effect, to “Lose the war —now!”

At first glance, the Supreme Court’s decision giving communities the right to take private property for public use scared the bejesus out of me.

Then it occurred to me that the ruling is a two-way sword that points back at developers and municipalities just as effectively. The court ruled that the test for public takeover of private property is a simple one: Would it provide a benefit to the public? The court also ruled that it is up to each community to make that decision. Guess what? We are the community!

The court’s ruling gives us the power to decide what is of benefit to us when the issue of public takeover arises.

The American dream has been changed by the Supreme Court. No longer is the dream to own a home, but now it is to own a big enough business that can influence politicians to permit bulldozing someone’s beautiful home to erect a new health club.

In the case of Susette Kelo and several other homeowners in a working-class neighborhood in New London, Conn., who filed a lawsuit after city officials announced plans to raze their homes to clear the way for a riverfront hotel, health club and offices, the Supreme Court ruled that local governments may seize people’s homes and businesses — even against their will — for private economic development.

Re: your June 16 article, “Grand Jury faults air district over replies”:

I smell our Grand Jury blowing smoke, not coffee.

The issue over odors emanating from an Oak View coffee brewing business was resolved beyond the requirements of the law. The company is too small to even need a permit, yet it installed smell-reduction equipment not even required of larger businesses.

Re: David Poeschl’s June 23 letter, “Conservative mistakes”:

The Vietnam conflict was started by President Kennedy and escalated by President Johnson, both Democrats, so David Poeschl can’t lay that one at our door.

However, on the trickle-down economics of the 1980s, led by President Reagan, we will be happy to take credit for that when compared to the mess President Carter made in the late ‘70s.

President Clinton ignoring the terrorist threats during his eight years in office is what I would consider to be dead wrong.

Mr. Poeschl needs to be fair in examining the history of both parties. 
 
— Rich Simpson, Camarillo

Re: Tom Elias’ June 22 commentary, “Pernicious LNG assumption”:

Tom Elias’ commentary has helped place the liquefied natural gas arguments into perspective. Denying states and local governments a place at the discussion table is wrong and undemocratic. I find it hard to believe Congress would approve such a measure.

I applaud Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s arguments: States and local governments have a right to protect public health, our beaches and environment. We in Oxnard will not sit by and let this happen without a good fight.

— Lupe Anguiano, Oxnard

Re: David Poeschl’s June 23 letter, “Conservative mistakes”:

Mr. Poeschl ends his diatribe by calling conservatives “backward-thinking, reactionary, historical revisionists.” I submit that Mr. Poeschl’s arrogance and self-righteousness obviously blind him as to who all those he calls conservatives really are. I do believe Mr. Poeschl needs to read a history book that doesn’t practice said revisionism.

Admittedly, there are going to be disagreements in regards to abortion, gay marriage, stem cell research, global warming, the Iraq liberation and other modern issues. These are subjects that are discussed based on personal moral beliefs and won’t be easily agreed upon. Mr. Poeschl is completely mistaken in regards to historical accuracy.

Re: Tom Elias’s June 22 commentary, “Pernicious LNG assumption”:

Mr. Elias writes that all we have to do to ensure an adequate supply of natural gas for us in California is to buy what we need from producers in Texas, Wyoming and Alberta, Canada. He makes it sound as if natural gas grows on trees, to be harvested at will.

Natural gas is a depletable commodity, a wasting asset because it cannot be replaced artificially. Like domestic crude oil, reserves of natural gas are in decline.

Potential hearings under Senate Bill 425 should be held not only to adduce information on the need for liquefied natural gas but also to stress what happens when there is none.

— Arthur O. Spaulding, Ojai

I’m 17, so I was a little uneasy reading about SB806, the proposal to clamp down on those with provisional driver’s licenses.

The bill includes provisions to increase penalties for breaking the terms of the provisional license — which is good, because if we’re going to have laws, we should vigorously enforce them.
But one section would force provisional drivers like myself to insert a visible placard on the backs of our vehicles to denote our status — another scary and divisive regulation in a society that already treats teenagers like second-class citizens.

Pet owners: The Fourth of July holiday can be a scary time for your pet. Please urge your family, friends and neighbors to keep their pets safe during the Fourth of July celebrations. If they’re left alone, protect them in a safe area inside the house, behind secure front and back doors, with plenty of water and treats and a radio or TV on to help drown out the loud noises. All this can make for a good, safe environment during this frightening time.

Fireworks may be fun for some people, but they can be terrifying for our pets. Also, be sure your pet has correct identification on at all times. It’s better to be safe than sorry!

— Gene Caulfield, Santa Paula

Having been born in Ventura, I grew up here with my family. This included my beloved brother, John Gibson. We had fun in Ventura. It was a good town to grow up in. It has evolved into a fine city where good people live. The smell of the ocean breeze can bring back some wonderful memories of me and John swimming in the ocean. Ah, the lemon! Close to a lemon packinghouse was the Montalvo Little League. Watching my brother play ball and my father coach was so much fun. My mother even kept score.

I wanted to know which representatives in Congress signed on to John Conyers’ letter to President Bush asking five questions regarding the Downing Street memo, so I researched and found the list on line.

To my surprise, Elton Gallegly signed the letter. I called his Thousand Oaks office to inquire, first of all to verify if it was true, and to express my pleasant surprise.

The woman who answered the phone did not know anything at all about Mr. Gallegly’s signing of the letter or anything about the Downing Street memo. Unfortunately, we got into a rather testy exchange when she “accused” me of being pro-choice, against drilling in the Alaska wildlife refuge and against the war, after I told her I was a Democrat and declined to be placed on their mailing list.

Instead of Congress taking steps to cut funding to the Public Broadcasting Service, it should be taking steps to require people to watch it.

With all the monumental problems facing this country and the world, network and cable news seem to concentrate their investigative reporting on pressing subjects like the Michael Jackson trial or pretty missing white girls. That may be more interesting and entertaining to many, but it’s not very educational or informing.

Public television and National Public Radio seem to be the only broadcasting organizations giving any information on what is really going on in the world and in our government. It also has top quality arts and educational programs.

Re: Loren Ledin’s June 21 article, “Transplant to get teen back in the game”:

The generosity of live organ donors like Tim Bednar is remarkable. But we wouldn’t need live organ donors if Americans weren’t burying or cremating 20,000 transplantable organs every year.
There is a better solution to the organ shortage: If you don’t agree to donate your organs when you die, then you go to the back of the waiting list if you ever need an organ to live.

Re: Judy Magee-Windle’s June 22 letter, “Rude adults”:

Judy Magee-Windle, in her personal description of the Hillside Middle School graduation ceremony, has once again exposed the selfishness and cutthroat behavior and attitude of our society at large.

“What’s in it for me?” seems to be the mantra of the new millennium. One need not attend a graduation ceremony to experience such a frustrating moment. Simply get in your vehicle, go shopping at a grocery store, or paddle out to catch some waves, and sure enough there will be some ill-socialized human — if you care to call them that — bent on practicing the verbiage of, “What’s in it for me?”

Well, sad to say, get used to it. It’s not going away. Next time an ignorant individual rolls through a stop sign just to get in front of you, don’t scream “Idiot!” or get mad. Smile, and move-on to the next obstacle. For it will surely come. 

— Robert L. Rada, Ventura 

Re: Judy Magee-Windle’s June 22 letter, “Rude adults”:

I feel bad for the experience she had to sit through on what should have been a great evening honoring her daughter and her classmates. But these are the same people, faces changed, who park in handicapped spaces; ride single in the carpool lanes; use cell phones while in line at the bank, post office, in restaurants while their dinner partner sits and looks around; block driveways with their cars; park in the 10-minute zone at the library because it is the closest; etc.

We all experience these people every day. They are totally unaware of the words “courtesy” and “concern for others.” It’s all about them!

At first, there appeared a few tall trees in planter boxes. That was on May 26. Over the next few days the Little League park on Katherine Drive between the railroad tracks and the fire station became a fantasy place that could only exist in the movies. The transformation was amazing. By June 1, there were grandstands, bunting and even a set facade or two.

On the following day, approximately 200 people who comprised the cast and crew began arriving. They parked their cars in the private empty lot at the northwest corner of the intersection where Katherine Drive turns south into the Knolls. On the grounds of the former horse ranch — where Gary Gorian wants to put his megaplex apartments —the crew set up their base camp, where there were at least two very large catering tents and 20-plus trailers and trucks. With all the gravel parking spaces along the park taken up by trucks, trailers, facades and potted trees, it must have looked like the circus had come to town.

At the July 2004 Board of Supervisors meeting regarding development in the Santa Susana Knolls, I described how the unincorporated community of Caspar in coastal northern California is working proactively with Mendocino County in order to determine their own future. They are not saying no to all development. They realize that property owners have a right to make a fair profit from their property. But they are making sure that the whole community is involved from the start so that everyone can live with the result. That way everyone comes out a winner.

It is a model for community involvement that has caught the attention of state lawmakers in Sacramento, and they like what they see.

This is what we in the Knolls community want.

Re: your June 22 editorial, “Keep door on drilling closed”:

This editorial vehemently opposes efforts in Congress to approve an inventory of the nation’s offshore oil and gas resources. Such study within the Department of the Interior is conducted periodically to keep decision-makers informed on energy resource volumes and distributions.

Such study and report, known as the “Outer Continental Shelf Petroleum Assessment,” was last completed in 2000 as OCS Report MMS 2001-036. The earlier report covering the assessment of the Pacific Outer Continental Shelf Region (including California) was published as MMS 97-0019.

Kids’ Korral wants to be a good neighbor to the residents on and around Blanchard Road in Santa Rosa Valley.

Because the project is small in scope, we believe that the neighbors’ concerns will not be realized. We plan to rurally maintain the rolling hills and natural terrain, an asset that the neighbors can all be proud to have next door.

We’re concerned about the attitudes that have been generated over misinterpretation of the code and our intentions. Our site plan has changed since the initial meetings with the neighbors last March, largely because we incorporated many of their suggestions into the plan.

As an almost senior citizen approaching the age of official retirement, I am thinking about all the issues that will impact my day-to-day activities in the approaching period, and the future looks grim.

I see myself as a very capable person, physically and mentally. I can work if I am offered a job. Why should perfectly capable persons be prohibited or restricted on the pursuit of a fulfilling, paying job when they receive Social Security? I don’t see how one thing relates to the other.

Social Security is something you contributed to and you are entitled to receive. I think the right to find a job in the pursuit of happiness — especially at older age — is protected by our Constitution. Why restrict capable human beings from working? Why restrict them to living within a restricted income? Isn’t that anti-constitutional?

I like just about everything Costco does. Their prices have been good, and their quality is superior. Their pharmacy has the best pricing in the country for prescriptions. I know this because I do this work for my clients.

If they do this well also, I will be pleased with this too. You see, I sell health insurance, and I assure you there are a few plans that are the best choices — only one or two, at best, for each company. The rest of the plans they sell are basically not good compared to their best plan(s).

The insurance company is not your friend, and I believe that someone can save folks a lot of money if they don’t have buildings to build, commissions to pay, and stockholders who are used to large profit margins. Will Costco be able to do it? I will check them out and let you know. In the meantime, I hope they will do well.

— Frank Bland, Simi Valley

Re: Peter Dreier’s June 16 commentary, “Living wage study exposes empty threats by business”:

Supporters of living wage laws are now pointing to a new study published by the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE) that says that living wage laws have been an overwhelming success and that businesses were “crying wolf” with their predictions of dire economic consequences. Armed with this new study, they now want to extend their push for government mandated living wages into other cities and counties across the nation.

Curiously enough, LAANE also happens to be an organization that is closely allied with labor unions and was at the forefront of the living wage movement itself.

Re: Richard Larsen’s June 14 essay, “Education should inspire”:

This essay on the issue of textbooks for the Conejo Valley Unified School District was a blatantly dishonest presentation of an important issue.

The “California edition” of the Glencoe Health textbook is attempting to introduce a new definition of marriage, but Larsen presents the issue as if Christians are trying to force a “parochial dogma” on innocent students.

A great deal of change has taken place in our city since our family moved to Simi Valley in 1978. I believe a majority of that change has been for the good.

It gives me a great deal of pride to show visitors around our lovely city. The landscaping of public parking strips, freeway offramp areas, camouflaging the train tracks on Los Angeles Avenue, and the wonderful median full of flowers and palm trees on Alamo Street are just some examples of the beauty of our city. That’s not to mention the no-graffiti ordinance in effect and a multitude of public parks.

These things just don’t happen by themselves, and I think our City Council, as well as the Department of Public Works, deserve a pat on the back for their efforts in keeping our city not only beautiful but safe as well.

It is perplexing to see the same people still opposed to North Park Village. The applicant has worked with the city for four years to craft a plan that benefits Moorpark and its residents.

We asked for a reduced number of homes. North Park Village reduced the market-priced homes by more than half.

We asked for improvements to our roads. North Park Village will pay for significant improvements to our roads, even paying for a new freeway interchange.

The Star claims to rarely use anonymous sources for stories. Perhaps that is true, but I have to wonder when I read the Associated Press story The Star ran regarding the so-called Downing Street memos.

Buried in that story is the admission that these memos are not originals and were supplied by an anonymous source. The British journalist who published them admits that he typed the memos. He claims that they were copies of memos supplied to him by an anonymous source, but when asked what happened to the originals, he doesn’t say he locked them away for safekeeping. No, he claims to have destroyed them. How convenient.

Re: Janine Montoya’s June 17 letter, “The role of Christians”:

I quote Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan: “Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts.”
Ms. Montoya claims that the Dark Ages were without the influence of the Bible and only ended when the “word became available to everyone during the Enlightenment.” The Dark Ages, in fact, were an age of ascendancy for the church. The Enlightenment corresponded with the questioning of the church’s teachings, leading to such luminaries as Voltaire.

Re: Richard Braun’s June 17 letter, “Deterrent to what?”                                                                                                  
As Mr. Braun requested, I have evidence to back up my claim that guns in the hands of good people deters crime.

Earlier, I wrote that criminals in Florida were targeting a group of people they knew probably wouldn’t be armed, namely tourists, by checking the license plate to see if the car was a rental. The state changed the license plates so criminals couldn’t tell anymore. Evidence of what the criminals were doing came from the criminals themselves, during interrogation. This all happened a number of years ago. Now, non-residents can get a permit too, but the process takes up to 90 days and most travelers don’t bother.

There seems to be a misunderstanding on the part of many people regarding military recruiters.

I continue to see articles concerning different groups that portray military service recruiters in a less than favorable light, likening them to vultures that prey on high school students, particularly those who reside in less affluent areas.

It’s a fact of life that students with the means to attend college will, and that they will likely not serve in the military. It’s a fact of life that those who cannot afford college will have to find other means to do so.
Should recruiters be denigrated for offering those who might otherwise not be able to go to college the chance to do so?

Years ago, at 10 p.m. each Saturday, a message would flash across my parents’ television screen, “Parents: Do you know where your children are?”

Last Saturday at approximately 2 a.m., my outside security lights went on. I went outside to check the situation. I encountered three children walking on Timberridge Road at Mapleridge Court in Moorpark. These children were 10 and 12 years old — I asked them if they were 18, and they told me how old they were.

In October 2003, Californians were duped.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger came into office claiming to reform the government, ridding California of the special interests, but things have just gone downhill. The budget deficit has marginally improved, partisanship finds a welcome home in Sacramento, and the governor’s divisive agenda leaves more and more people behind every day. In fact, Gov. Schwarzenegger has taken more special-interest contributions in two years than Gov. Gray Davis took in four.

All the people who write their comments about embryos should read Webster’s Dictionary. It’s as simple as that.

Please, get real about embryos. An embryo is “the developing human individual from the time of implantation to the end of the eighth week after conception.” A human being cannot survive being put in a freezer. Only a human that is dead can survive a freezer. Only human cells, DNA, can survive a freezer. The DNA in human vomit can survive a freezer. Does that mean that the DNA in human vomit is a human being? Please! Get real!

Re: Kevin O’Connor’s June 17 letter, “Workers’ comp a mess”:

I read this letter and promptly threw up. O’Connor needs to check his facts before he puts pen to paper.
First of all, the workers’ compensation system was designed nearly 100 years ago by our Legislature to provide injured employees with medical treatment because employees are people — thus, they are not factory “disposables.”

At the same time, the California labor codes were meant to shield employers from civil liability. That means it is a “no fault” system: If an employee is injured on the job, even if it’s her own fault, she gets medical care and the employer does not get sued by her in civil court. It was supposed to be as simple as that. No lawyers required.

Blending into the neighborhood on Blanchard Road would come naturally for Kids’ Korral. Due to the agricultural nature of the program, the project will have an understanding and innate appreciation of the children, pets and horses that currently utilize Blanchard Road.

Many Santa Rosa Valley children who were fortunate to not be challenged by autism have benefited from the 4-H and Future Farmers of America programs in this community.

While the current administration is promoting democracy in the Middle East and has liberated millions of people from tyranny and oppression in Iraq and Afghanistan, Democrats are inexplicably calling for better treatment for the enemy combatants being held at Guantanamo Bay.

The prisoners being held at Gitmo are the same degenerates who supported the Taliban regime, which stoned women to death for exposing their faces in public.

These enemy combatants are the same ilk that prevented women from working, voting, getting an education, and which prohibited them from leaving their house without a male escort. These miscreants, who, if released, would go right back to killing Americans, are the same cowards that murder innocent women and children to further their twisted, Dark Ages ideology.

First O.J. Simpson, then Robert Blake, now Michael Jackson. What if the unthinkable happens again and Saddam Hussein is found not guilty? Do we say, “Sorry about that. Here, you can have Iraq back.” Would we be liable in civil court?

If Saddam is found guilty, does he get to keep the proceeds from his book deal, movie rights and interviews? How does one go about being his agent?

— Dennis Hollowed, Santa Paula

Is the current Carl’s Jr. commercial promoting hamburgers? All I can see — and many others, including the media comments — is a commercial selling sex!

When I see Paris Hilton’s exposed body parts and her biting into the hamburger hurriedly, plus leaving a stomach doing “flip flops,” one forgets it’s hamburgers she’s promoting.

These large companies inundate us with idealized females who physically represent very few of us. Why don’t they focus on models of middle class? I think their hamburgers would sell better!

I want to thank The Star for its courage in printing some of the information in the eight letters and the recorded minutes between President Bush and Tony Blair in the Downing Street memos.

I remember the eve of war with Iraq, when our vice president insisted on links to al-Qaida, and President Bush told us that a nuclear attack by Saddam Hussein was inevitable because of a plutonium give-away in Africa. Bush told Congress that if they did not declare war, “You will be responsible when our country is attacked by Saddam Hussein.” And I remember our rush to war, in spite of United Nations weapons inspectors stating it would only be a matter of a few months to resolve the weapons of mass destruction issue.

As the hot weather returns to California, it’s important to be on the lookout for people leaving companion animals inside hot cars. Every year, dogs die after being locked inside cars in the warm weather. These animals’ deaths occur with alarming frequency, yet are entirely preventable. 

The Animal Protection Institute has launched its annual “My Dog is Cool” campaign in order to end the avoidable deaths of dogs left inside cars in hot weather.

Most people simply don’t realize that when it’s 85 degrees out, the temperature inside a car — even with the windows left slightly open — can soar to 102 degrees in 10 minutes, and reach 120 in just half an hour.

Re: your June 2 article, “Gallegly receives anti-DeLay petitions”:

I coordinated the MoveOnPAC.org action on June 1, in which local members asked U.S. Rep. Elton Gallegly to support national efforts to fire House Majority Leader Tom DeLay due to allegations that DeLay violated campaign finance laws and committed other unethical acts while in office. Details at: http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=478127

The Star quoted Gallegly as saying, “They had my door blocked.” I was there. No door was blocked. If he meant that the hallway outside his office was a bit crowded, that would be accurate. His words gave the reader the impression that there was intent to obstruct. That’s not the case.

As a regular walker of Ventura’s promenade, I would like to thank the city’s police department for making it a safe and pleasurable place to walk, run and bike again.

In the last few weeks, there have been many police walk-bys, and it seems to have encouraged the “scary” (my granddaughter’s word) loiterers to be somewhere else.

Also, thank you for keeping the parking lot on Paseo de Playa free of motor homes that keep appearing year-round every night.

Re: Johnny Flores’ June 20 letter, “Liberals lie, complain”:

Here we go again, with a conservative still bringing up a lie that President Clinton told and trying to justify President Bush’s dalliances with the truth.

I’d like to remind Mr. Flores that President Clinton’s lie did not cost one American life. Can he say the same for President Bush? I can still see, more than two years ago, President Bush in his flight suit on the deck of the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier claiming, “Mission accomplished!” But, as we all know, more than 1,500 flag- covered coffins have come back from Iraq since then.

I am writing on behalf of the large majority of residents on Blanchard Road and the side streets of Blanchard Road who have signed a petition against the use of our main street for industrial/commercial enterprises.

There are more than 200 signatures from residents opposing Kids’ Korral, with still more to come. Most of the residents work during the day and cannot attend forums to speak on their own behalf and have very little time to write letters.

Consider the following:

I was appalled to learn of Ventura County’s practices in dealing with its sick and injured marine life that seek refuge on shore. Lately, there have been an inordinate amount of seals that have beached themselves. This is due to a toxin in the algae.

The process of dying is a ghastly one. It can take 10 days. Most do not make it that far however. Instead, once they are too weak to react with any force, the seagulls will peck out their eyes and/or intestinal tract while the animal is still alive.

In other counties, they receive care; and many that do, survive. Recently, I too was one of the clueless saying, “We called animal control and they are taking care of it.”

How come Congress attempted to impeach President Clinton because of lying —in incidents that concerned only three people: President Clinton, Hillary Clinton and Monica Lewinsky — but in no way affected his running of our country? At the end of his presidency, the United States had the largest budget surplus in our country’s history.

Nowhere in the press do I see any talks of impeachment for President Bush for lying about the Iraq war, which has affected the economy of our country much more seriously then anything that President Clinton did.

I do not think that the 46 percent cut in public broadcasting funding contemplated by the U.S. House leadership is in the national interest.

The survival of our democracy depends on an informed electorate, and National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service provide an information source relatively free of commercial bias that cannot ever be matched by for-profit networks.

Just compare the quality of children’s programming offered by commercial broadcasters — if you can find any — with the proven track record of “Sesame Street.” There’s no comparison. When did you last see Igor Stravinsky’s “Firebird” suite on network TV? That’s right, never, although I saw and heard it last week on KCET.

It seems Dubya doesn’t understand his problem. He has wasted months trying to convince the American public that “private accounts” will save Social Security.

More recently, he has tried to jam renewal of the Patriot Act down our throats.

Now he is trying to sell us another bill of goods on the Medicare prescription benefit — it’s a benefit all right, to the pharmaceutical industry.

What is there about the word “illegal” that we don’t understand? Webster’s defines it as: “Contrary to or in violation of the law.” To close our eyes to the illegal invasion from the south is to breed contempt for the law.

Aside from the strain on our social services and law enforcement facilities, it is an affront to those of us who went through the tedious, lengthy and expensive process of legal immigration. Virtually all of us here are legal immigrants or descendants of legal immigrants. There is now the additional concern of terrorists posing as immigrants.

Re: Terry Paulson’s June 20 essay, “It’s not America’s story”:

Ah, Terry’s done it again. This liberal cannot allow his fabrications to go unchallenged. He can wrap yourself in the flag, in a Christian shroud, or in a military uniform, but like the infamous emperor, he ends up wearing no clothes.

Bush-bashers exist because Bush lied, lied, lied. He lied about weapons of mass destruction and ties to al-Qaida, evidenced more recently by the Downing Street memos. With exposure of that lie, he (they) switched to regime change, clearly illegal under the U.N. charter which we helped write. With exposure of that lie, he (they) switched to fostering democracy. Apparently, you go from one lie to the next until you get one that sticks. Just as apparently, anyone who espoused each lie in turn is equally guilty. That includes Terry Paulson.

My partner and I have been together more than 30 years. We have a long-term, loving, committed relationship. We have raised two wonderful children together and have tried to instill a respect for people of other races, religions and beliefs. We have also tried to instill a respect for the laws of the United States and the state of California.

School board member Michael Dunn is entitled to his personal beliefs and ideas. He is not entitled to impose them on the children of the Conejo Valley. It is important that parents teach their children their family’s religious beliefs, since not all people believe the same things. Religion is not, nor should it be, a function of public education.

Re: your June 18 article, “Conejo school board colleagues call missive sent to them, union president, a ‘veiled threat’”:

For the second time in the first six months of his term on the Conejo Valley school board, Mike Dunn has again possibly violated the Brown Act and is behaving like a spoiled little bully, threatening to beat up the other kids on the playground if they won’t play his game.

Not only is this man delusional when he thinks he was elected to impose his personal religious beliefs, a la the Taliban, on the school board, he’s incredibly stupid in how he goes about it. He makes clear threats against other board members, in writing no less.

Isn’t it a trifle odd that, in the months leading up to the election of 2004, there were terrorist alerts about once a week, but since the election there have been next to none? When one considers that President Bush’s strong suit among many voters was his ability to quell terrorism, this curious anomaly might cause some to wonder. Funny how the “evildoers” were so conveniently cooperative to the interests of the Bush campaign.

— John Blumenthal, Westlake Village

Re: Yahya Merchant’s June 16 letter, “Understanding Islam”:

Merchant said there were a few questions The Star’s readers might like to ask themselves. Here are a few more.

Why did the United Nations say that Muslim militias known as the Janjaweed have butchered 30,000 black Sudanese and displaced 1.2 million people in the past year?

Re: Sandy Emberland’s June 15 letter, “‘W’ prompts questions”:

Emberland’s self-taught lesson on the freedom of speech is ubiquitous and auspicious.
Happy belated Memorial Day.

— Jay Wylie, Simi Valley

Re: Philip Gailey’s June 15 commentary, “Bush has still not leveled with people about war in Iraq”:
This writer takes issue with Philip Gailey’s position regarding President Bush not having leveled with we the people.

I do not know the “majority” of the people with whom Mr. Gailey spoke, but they aren’t the people with whom I speak, nor are they the actual troops engaged, nor are they the kin of those who have lost their lives. They seem to be the typical left-of-center media manipulators who have dominated our newsprint since our president won his first election and which has been foisted upon our citizenry since.
Such drivel has been hatched in the viscera of the Bush-haters since their fair-haired boy lost to “Dubya.” Time to get over it, don’t you think?

Euphemisms are useful things. Take the euphemism, “defending marriage,” much in evidence at the June 14 Conejo Valley Unified School District meeting where conservative activists objected to the district’s proposed new health textbook.

“I’m defending marriage” is a nice way of saying, “I’m attacking homosexuals — and getting away with it.”

District board member Mike Dunn expects us to believe that the wording of a textbook will “undermine” and “jeopardize” the institution of marriage, the so-called “foundation” of American civilization.
He, John Anderson and their supporters want to protect this sacred institution.

The special election has begun!

Republicans in the state Assembly and Senate rejected a state budget that basically reflected what they said they wanted. Why? Could it be that their true colors are showing? Could it be that they would like to hold the state budget hostage in order to pursue the directives of their corporate overlords?

Re: Sandy Emberland’s June 15 letter, “‘W’ prompts questions”:

Sandy Emberland would like you to believe that there are elements to the Constitution that do not exist.
She highlights the fact that most Americans don’t really know what is in the Constitution.

There is nothing whatsoever in the Constitution that bars a “pre-emptive war.”

Instead of just thoughtlessly repeating something that sounded good to her and her political ideas, maybe she should have read a copy of the document first.

— David Matza, Thousand Oaks

Re: Richard Larsen’s June 14 essay, “Education must inspire”:

Larsen’s latest diatribe is a classic example of why liberals are so out of touch with reality. He has the gall to state that family values are not under attack and then claim that those with family values are using them to turn the nation from being “vibrantly secular.” As usual, this good liberal is alleging that only they have the answer to all of life’s problems.

Well, let’s see what “vibrant secularism” has given us. Our schools graduate kids who are functionally illiterate. You can’t give an aspirin to a student, but our daughters can get an abortion without parental notice. Halloween is being banned since it might offend a witch. Christmas is attacked since three atheists are offended. Easter is trashed as forcing religion on the population. Hanukkah and Passover are antiquated and have no place in an enlightened world. Non-elected judges can overrule the will of the people. Educators can tell kids we came from apes, but the mere mention of God is a threat to society.

I am a mother of a Conejo Valley Unified School District student. Although my son is just finishing second grade, he will, in a few years, attend high school in this town, and so he will be using whatever curriculum the board chooses for his ninth-grade health class.

As his mother, I urge the board to reject the Texas version of the Glencoe curriculum.

I know that board member Mike Dunn has spoken strongly about “the values of this community” and perceives a responsibility to uphold these “values” in choosing curriculum. His discussion assumes that there is one acceptable choice for parents who wish to instill “values,” and that choice is to adopt the Texas curriculum.

During the recall election, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger promised to work with the Legislature in order to solve California’s problems. His inability to do so clearly proves that he was not only naive but woefully inexperienced in the art of politics.

And so, once again, we have government by initiative, a costly and unnecessary process. If the Founding Fathers had wanted legislation via referendum, they wouldn’t have established legislatures. Next time around we should have one last initiative -- an initiative to end initiatives.

— John Blumenthal, Westlake Village

Re: Elinor Craig’s June 10 letter, “Bush impeachment,” and Socorro G. Mercado’s June 10 letter, “Negativism taking toll”:

Elinor Craig wants President Bush impeached for lying just to start a war. Every intellectually honest person who’s interested in the facts knows by now who the real liars are.

President Clinton was not impeached for lying about his zipper problem, as Ms. Craig contends; he was impeached for lying under oath.

Re: your June 15 article, “Johnson Drive offramp to reopen before July Fourth”:

Once again, the concerns of Auto Row are highlighted and the plight of the small merchants on the north side of Highway 101 is minimized. As one of those merchants, I can tell you that sales have dropped from 30 to 45 percent, not dipped slightly as indicated in the article. Numbers are available and have been presented to the California Department of Transportation and the City of Ventura, to no avail.

All the small businesses on the north side are very concerned about the southbound onramp being closed for another year.

Why isnt the Downing Street memo being investigated by the American media?

The Downing Street memo is the smoking gun to impeach President Bush, but it is being ignored by our media. The story belongs on the front page of every major newspaper in America. The American people can decide if the facts are on the table.

Is it because the so-called “liberal media” is actually controlled by the right-wing Republicans, or is it because no one has what it takes to stand up and say Bush is a liar and a criminal?

Re: Bill O’Reilly’s June 4 commentary, “The left only hurts country by trying to undermine Bush”:

According to conservative spinmeister Bill O’Reilly, “the anti-Bush” (which he no doubt equates to the anti-Christ) were so “stunned that Sen. John Kerry lost” and frightened by “the successful election in Iraq” (which Iraq?) that they became determined to “undermine the Bush administration.”

Then, with a lot of sound and fury representing the art of shilling, he proceeds to round up the usual suspects. Suddenly the ACLU, left-wing Web sites, New York Times columnists, a “liberal federal judge” and the White House press corps all become part of an “anti-Bush cabal” hell-bent on “torturing” the president.

Re: Samuel M. Rosen’s June 15 letter, “Gatch had good vision”:

This letter credits former Thousand Oaks City Manager Phil Gatch with a litany of accomplishments during the less than two years he served in that position.

Let’s set the record straight.

Re: your June 13 letters concerning Kids’ Korral:

One neighbor has expressed a concern that other enterprises will also be located on the property in Santa Rosa Valley proposed for the Kids’ Korral retreat for autistic children.

This fear is unfounded because of the protections of the Ventura County Conditional Use Permit (CUP) process, which is required for any endeavor not specifically stated in the zoning for that property.

Therefore, only activities permitted by contract with the county via a CUP can be conducted. Anything else is against the law, and any changes would have to be approved, again via the CUP process, allowing all interested parties to voice their concerns at that time.

On May 31, workers’ compensation Judge John Gutierrez, attorney Francis Sparagna and I met at radio station KPFK to tape an interview on the impact of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s so-called “reform” legislation, SB899.

Judge Gutierrez was quite circumspect, noting at the outset that he did not speak for the Department of Workers’ Compensation (DWC) and could not comment on issues that could come before him.
Untethered by the restraints of judicial ethics, Mr. Sparagna and I provided an honest analysis that exposed SB899 as a special interest sham designed to swell the profits of insurance companies who contributed to the Schwarzenegger recall campaign.

Re: Marty Bates’ June 15 letter, “Above the law”:

Marty Bates claims that the verdict in the Michael Jackson case “makes it very difficult to ‘teach’ our children,” and that “If you are rich or have ‘star power’ you are above the laws of our country.”
If that is what he believes, Marty Bates should resign from the Ventura County Board of Education, based on his demonstrated lack of ability to think logically or to consider facts.

Re: Marty Bates’ June 15 letter, “Above the law”:

Mr. Bates should be spearheading an educational format to teach how to change our judicial system, not making ridiculous statements that celebrities answer to a different set of laws than us commoners. They just have the money to put on an expensive defense; it’s as simple as that. The “system” may not be perfect, but it is all we have.

The system isn’t built around our personal opinions, thank goodness. Who would want a jury to make a decision about their life based on the juror’s personal judgments? Most would prefer to have the verdict based upon the evidence and testimony allowed into court by a judge.

Why has President Bush not been held accountable for blatantly lying to the American people about his reasons for starting a war?

President Clinton lied about having sex with an intern, and look what happened to him.

Bush’s lies have cost thousands of lives, thousands of wounded. Thousands of families are suffering, in great pain and grief, because a son or daughter has been killed thousands of miles from home. This president has spread sorrow and suffering. Who lost a leg, or a son or an arm because of Clinton’s lies? Why are we (the media, Congress and Senate) not going after Bush?

Recently the City of San Buenaventura shut down several of the nonprofit and aid organizations feeding the homeless.

The work of helping the homeless is criticized for enabling homelessness. But why are people in our community homeless? Do the homeless prefer to be homeless? Are the homeless trying to find work and become independent of aid? Do the homeless have the skills necessary to go to work and rent a place to live? Do the homeless have the desire to go to work?

Re: Richard Larsen’s June 14 essay, “Education should inspire”:

In response to Richard Larsen’s essay regarding the need for public schools to “shun all parochial dogmas” in connection with school textbooks, I would like respectfully to comment.

My dictionary has three meanings for the word parochial — the third of them: “of very limited or narrow scope; provincial.” Mr. Larsen is applying this word to the issue of marriage as between one man and one woman.

What does it take to get the American media to call a spade a spade?

The leaders in this administration have been spouting false information to the public for years with impunity, and the press has been reporting it without a question. 

Have any of these declarations been headlined as untrue, as the dictionary defines them? As falsehoods? As prevarications? Have they been labeled misrepresentations or misstatements? Or has the practice ever been gently tagged “disassembling,” as a very prominent official has recently said? Why are all these guys getting a pass?

Re: Kenneth Hoffman’s May 29 Pulse piece, “Let’s all work together”:

So the truth is finally out! Kenneth Hoffman, a teacher, in his response to Tom McClintock’s proposals to save our schools, admitted in his third paragraph tirade about McClintock’s “insulting” teachers that the “unions are leading their own fight for their own reasons” and “the teachers who belong to those unions ... have next to no voice in the unions’ political activities.”

Well, there goes my respect for Mr. Hoffman and any others of his profession who allow themselves to be “represented” by any organization that does not allow its members to have a voice in its policies and political activities.

As a father of two young children who has been out of work for four years, I find Raytheon’s whining about lack of technical talent to be a bit disingenuous.

I am 47, a Sun-certified Java programmer with a strong electronics background, 30 years of experience, strong teaching background and halfway through a graduate degree.

I am unable to get the time of day out of companies like Raytheon. And I’m not alone. My neighborhood is littered with a jettisoned generation of unwanted grown wiz kids.

I am curious as to why the Muslims are so angry at the United States about the handling of the holy Quran. Haven’t many of their mosques been recently bombed and burned, destroying sacred items including copies of the Quran? Who did the destruction? Weren’t they Muslims?

Haven’t Muslims been murdering other Muslims praying in these sacred places? Where are the bold headlines about this outrageous Muslim behavior?

It was found that the report about a Quran being “flushed” down a toilet was false. Even a brain-dead reporter should have know that flushing any book down a toilet is questionable and next to impossible. Like many other “news” stories of today, it would have been much easier, and more appropriate, for the editor to have flushed the reporter’s story down where it belonged.

— Richard H. Hoffman, Ventura

Re: Richard Larsen’s June 14 essay, “Education should inspire”:

Larsen argues that a broad definition of marriage should be taught in public schools because, “Public schools belong to all the people; public places belong to all the people; government belongs to all the people.” Mr. Larsen concludes that, “Education needs to inspire and open up vistas.  Public schools must be the catalyst for a lifetime of curiosity, enlightenment and toleration...”
 
Well then, why stop with homosexual marriage? By Mr. Larsen’s standards, we must consider a curriculum that would include polygamy, bestiality and any other manner of unusual coupling his kind can think of.

Re: Michael D. Gregoryk’s June 14 letter, “Newspaper plan in works”:

In his letter, the Ventura College interim president seeks to alert the public of the Ventura County Community College District’s budget crisis and justify the resulting need to eliminate the journalism program and newspaper.

After the Watergate break-in was exposed, the men and women of the media were everywhere trying to get the truth about what happened out in the open. With the help of informants like Mark Felt, “Deep Throat,” this was done, and President Nixon resigned before he could be impeached.

When President Clinton told the American people that he did not have an affair with Monica Lewinsky, and this statement was later shown to be untrue, the media were everywhere looking for further proof of their tryst. This led to the impeachment of Clinton.

When the Downing Street memo came to light earlier this year proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that intelligence reports were being “fixed around the policy” presented by the Bush administration and further pointing out that there was “little discussion in Washington of the aftermath after military action,” the press is swarming around — Michael Jackson?

Re: Dan Walters’ June 14 commentary, “Debate on exit exams illustrates state’s academic failure”:

It appears from the quotation Mr. Walters cites of a California law on the subject of this exam that the author(s) of same would likely fail at least the English part of the exam.  Why? It reads, in part, “the conditions necessary for successful passage of the exit examination.” And what’s wrong with that?

If “passage” is the proper word, none of the dictionaries I consulted think so. “Passage” is not a fancy word for “passing.” It’s a different word with a completely different meaning — a meaning unrelated to its usage here.

The California Department of Transportation had contractors working around the clock, including Saturday and Sundays at premium pay, to rebuild the Casitas Grade on Highway 33. The road bed was severely damaged during our winter storms.

The damaged portion of the roadway was prepared, asphalt base laid down — and the worked stopped. All that is left to complete the project is 2 inches of asphalt topping and restripe.
In addition, Caltrans removed the K-rail protective barrier in the middle of the project and left it open. This portion of the road is very narrow and dangerous. 

I have read several articles in The Star recently that underscore the role that political and social conservatives have played in the history of our country. These articles have had to do with global warming, Iraq, political scandal and stem cell research.

Before and during the Revolutionary War, our conservatives were the British loyalists. They played the same part in the War of 1812. They were for “states rights” regarding slavery later in the century, and women’s suffrage was another target of their scorn. They were the isolationists before both world wars (sometimes anti-Semitic and often admirers of Adolf Hitler before the latter; think of Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh) and against civil rights legislation in the ‘50s and ‘60s. Of course, they were for the Vietnam War, voted for Nixon in ‘72 (they disparaged George McGovern, calling him a “nut”) and they were for “trickle-down economics” in the ‘80s.

An NBC reporter recently returned for her eighth time to Iraq. She was asked to compare the security situation there with the last two times she had been in that war-ravaged country. She said that life there was now more difficult, that there is less security, more death and violence and less of the basic necessities of life than on her most recent previous visits.

Have you noticed that the only people reporting “progress” in Iraq are Pentagon officials and the Bush administration? Reporters from all countries, the poor and innocent civilians trying to make their homes there, and even many returning soldiers and Marines tell an entirely different story. Who will you believe?

Re: Philip J. Romero’s May 22 commentary, “Opposition is bad for economy”:

I was so relieved to see Dr. Romero’s article on the positive economic impacts of liquefied natural gas terminals in California. There are two sides to every issue, and I am delighted to see the positive side of this debate finally showcased.

A certain fact is that California is continuing to grow — and along with it, demand for natural gas. The good news is there is a solution: Importing LNG to California would reduce its dependency for natural gas from other states.

Re: your June 9 article, “Strawberries grow vertically at new farm”:

The idea of growing strawberries hydroponically without insecticides, pesticides or a soil sterilizer like methyl bromide, and needing less water, is a fantastic idea.

U.S. Department of Agriculture subsidies for farms in the United States totaled $131,313,000,000 from 1995 through 2002.

I might as well subscribe to People magazine or “rags” with American Idol and Michael Jackson above the fold. Where is the real news? We are tired of Britney Spears, Tom Cruise and other celebrities. What about the deaths of American kids dying in war or real county news?

There are papers across the nation, so why doesn’t The Star report on their news if nothing is happening in Ventura County or affecting the parents of kids or spouses in the military?

Re: Terri Thomas’ June 12 article, “Look for Styrofoam substitutes”:

I would like to make the following corrections to this article because other Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) products could be condemned unfairly.

1. EPS does not result in an increase in crude oil imports because it is made from the by-products of the refining of other petroleum products that were once burned off in the flare stacks.

2. EPS is a styrene polymer and is safe and harmless.

Re: Richard Larsen’s June 14 essay, “Education should inspire”:

Sometimes I wonder why I keep subscribing to a newspaper that is consistently one-sided.
For my money, I demand that my paper delivers the news, all the news; a paper that opines right and opines left, equally; and also a paper that is not a reprint of The New York Times, since I could buy my own.

I do not want a paper where diversity is OK as long as it is only dedicated to Spanish (i.e., Mexican) residents. Nor do I want a paper where Mr. Larsen would let us believe that this nation is “vibrantly secular and not narrowly Christian.”

Re: Richard Larsen’s June 14 essay, “Education should inspire”:

I was amazed to find out that defining marriage as between a man and a woman was a uniquely Christian tradition.

This is what Larsen wrote: “No one has attacked family values. But people have and should continue to criticize those who use family values, traditional or otherwise, as a weapon to turn this nation from vibrantly secular to narrowly Christian.”

World War II involved more combatants than any other war in the history of the world. The Americans who participated in this gigantic conflagration have been referred to as “the greatest generation.” The ground war, the air war and the naval battles, heaven permitting, should not and cannot happen again.

The United States involvement had, overall, 11 million men in uniform. The U.S. Army Air Corps suffered the highest losses, on a percentage basis, than any other single military service.

The Commemorative Air Force Museum, located at the Camarillo Airport, is a remembrance to those who fought and died in this conflagration. The museum contains actual aircraft that have seen combat and represent both sides of the combatants.

Re: your June 7 editorial, “Congress must decide pot laws”:

Bravo for this principled editorial on medical marijuana!

It’s interesting that “conservative” justices William Rehnquist and Clarence Thomas sided with medical marijuana users, while “liberals” John Paul Stevens, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, David Souter and Stephen Breyer upheld “Reefer Madness” anti-pot policies. But libertarians have long pointed out that the political spectrum is more complex than the one-dimensional “left-right” line (see the “world’s shortest political quiz” at http://www.theadvocates.org/quiz.html).

Re: your June 12 article, “Karl Rove, visiting Simi, lauds legacy of Reagan”:

Instead of adhering to objective, impartial journalistic standards, The Star crafted a blatantly obsequious piece that reads like a laudatory discourse from Pravda.

I was one of those 40 protesters passively mentioned. Among those gathered were professionals, grandmothers, grandfathers, parents, people of faith, even disillusioned Republicans and others who have worked tirelessly for the betterment of their respective communities and their country.

Re: your June 12 article, “Karl Rove, visiting Simi, lauds legacy of Reagan”:

Wow! First we find out Laura Bush can deliver a punch line, and now we see that Karl Rove can be funny, too.

I didn’t find it very funny, nor was it at all elegant, to see so many middle fingers through the tinted windows of so many fancy cars snaking their way up the hill to listen to the president’s deputy chief of staff. With such a coarse crowd present, it isn’t surprising that he would attempt some coarse and ridiculing humor at the protesters’ expense.

I wish people would have the courtesy and conscientiousness to respect the speed limit on Harbor Boulevard.

The speed folks drive coming from Hollywood Beach, Channel Islands Harbor, and Port Hueneme is well over the posted 45 mph. Their speed makes it a risky process exiting from Beachmont Street onto Harbor, especially westbound.

Part of this speed issue is that most of these folks do not know what a center acceleration and merge lane is. Horns are blaring all the time as Ventura Keys visitors and inhabitants exit the Keys westbound.

Vehicle speed in general is an issue. On the freeway, knock yourselves out; but on surface streets and residential neighborhoods, where the speed limit is 25 mph, slow down.

— Larry Young, Ventura

Re: your June 13 article, “Princess tells of struggles of Muslims in the Philippines”:

I am a retired attorney. I live in Ventura with my wife, a Filipina. We are amazed at the lack of judgment of the Philippine community in choosing this “princess” as a spokesperson for the event.

Firstly, she is denying that she is a Filipina, so, as she said, she has nothing to celebrate.

Secondly, being a Muslim and from a section of the country notorious for terrorism, she is hardly a role model for that country or for the United States.

What were they thinking of?

— Bernard Lehrer, Ventura

Where have all the flags gone? Memorial Day was to be the day to remember our fallen men and women of all wars. One of the ways to do this was to simply display our flag. I proudly displayed my flag and noticed that no one on our block, both sides of the street, had a flag out.

After 9/11 almost all the homes, near and far, displayed a flag. It warmed your heart to see the patriotic way in which we had all rallied together. Now it seems most of us have forgotten what that flag stands for. They burn our flag in parts of the world. We simply forget to hang that flag on the day we were supposed to remember. Sad.

A reminder: Flag Day is today. Let’s all get patriotic again!

— Betty Lysaght, Ventura

Re: Larry & Ilene Cohen’s and Marilyn I. Vail’s June 12 letter, “No rubber stamp”:

Ventura County Supervisor Linda Parks did not deserve this letter.

Yes, she was very supportive of my husband when he came to her with an idea to help autistic children in Ventura County.

Yes, she was instrumental in developing our board and hiring our very competent and caring executive director, Molly Conway. 

Re: Ellen Goodman’s June 11 essay, “The politics of embryos”:

In Ellen Goodman’s essay, The Star emphasized a paragraph from her article, “Embryos are not human beings. Nor are they hangnails. They carry the potential for human life that deserves moral attention and respect.” This quote is problematic.

What a novel concept: expecting the federal government to do something about the financial consequences to state and local governments of the invasion of illegal immigrants they choose to ignore!

One would think that getting help to offset the costs of housing criminal illegal aliens would be a “no brainer” for our Congress. At the very minimum, they should gladly absorb all of the cost of detention for criminal illegal aliens and then rapidly deport them once their sentence is served. But let’s not forget who the money Congress provides comes from in the first place — you and me!

It is way past time our elected representatives started enforcing the laws of this land and stop dragging their feet in securing our borders. Their failure to enforce our immigration laws should have them all impeached!  

— Judy McLaughlin, Simi Valley

I support Conejo Valley Unified School District board member Mike Dunn in his campaign to have sex education materials conform to California law: “Marriage is only between a man and a woman.”

Opponents of Dunn seem to think that he is focused solely on the homosexual aspect of the wording, “two people.” That is what The Star would lead you to believe, but, curiously, The Star fails to quote him saying so. There is a lot more to this.

The “commitment” wording of the text raises the issue of fidelity. The state has a financial interest in discouraging more shattered, divorced families. Dysfunctional, broken families contribute to welfare and crime. Stable nuclear families help the economy.

Re: your June 12 article, “Karl Rove, visiting Simi, lauds legacy of Reagan”:

Some 380 supporters went to the Reagan Presidential Library and each paid $150 to listen to Karl Rove, whose infamous credentials include using dirty political tricks and promoting falsehoods that generated support for the misguided Iraqi war.

When Rove advised the audience to be honest and stand for values they believe in because “at the end of the day people will see you for who you are,” I wonder how many of them saw the irony in such a statement coming from a man who has never served his country and has built a successful career manipulating and lying to the American public.

I thank Phil Gatch, former Thousand Oaks city manager, for his 38 years of dedicated and tireless efforts to make Thousand Oaks a city of parks, two magnificent libraries, a teen center, a senior center, the botanical gardens, home of California Lutheran University, the Stagecoach Inn, pathway to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, the Civic Arts Plaza, the Oaks Mall, golf courses, the Greenmeadow Community Center, home of Amgen, the Janss Mall, and the list goes on for a city that boasts the lowest crime rate in the nation.

We enjoy Mr. Gatch’s vision of Thousand Oaks. I protest his forced resignation.

— Samuel M. Rosen, Newbury Park

I think most Ventura County vehicle owners are unaware the county has been surreptitiously imposing a tax on every vehicle since 1991.

If every vehicle owner would examine his Department of Motor Vehicles registration certificate, it will show a fee (tax) of $7 collected by the DMV at the request of the county. Of this amount, $1 goes to the county Sheriff’s Department for fingerprinting, $1 goes to the county Transportation Commission and $4 is for the county Air Pollution District.

Re: your June 8 article, “GM will slash 25,000 jobs, shutter plants”:

It was very sad to read about the news from General Motors. Some 25,000 jobs will be eliminated and manufacturing plants will be closed. Let me restate that just a little: Jobs for 25,000 American taxpayers will be eliminated, property tax-paying manufacturing plants will be closed.

What happens when GM closes up shop, when Ford and Chrysler pack it in? It means less tax money available for schools, roads, water treatment plants, defense — you name it. Soon, all of the cars will come from offshore manufacturers, but will their taxpayers come to our aid? I don’t think so!

Re: Steve Morsa’s June 9 letter, “Enough of Paris”:

I don’t understand why people are in such an uproar over a TV commercial. Especially to boycott Carl’s Jr. over it is ridiculous. It will be over and off the air soon enough and everyone can go back to stuffing their faces. The fact that people are still talking about proves that it is an effective ad. If it bothers you that much, turn off the TV during the commercials or do as the rest of the electronic consuming, gizmo-wielding public does and get a TiVo.

— Paul Rosenberg, Moorpark

Re: Ken Foerster’s June 9 letter, “Thank you, Wal-Mart”:

Mr. Foerster stated that Florida gives their residents the option of carrying a gun in their cars and that it’s a crime deterrent.

I checked www.disastercenter.com and discovered that in 2000, the violent crime rate in Florida was 812 per 100,000, the highest rate for any state in the nation. California was ninth, with a rate of 621.6. In 2003, according to www.infoplease.com, Florida was second to South Carolina, with a rate of 730.2. California’s rate of 579.3 was 10th. Some deterrent!

— Richard Braun, Simi Valley

With regard to the desecration of the Torah and Bible, please note that Muslims regard Jews and Christians as People of the Book — that is to say, people who have received books from God.

Unlike Jews and Christians who have no respect for Muslim holy places or the Quran, Muslims do respect the Torah and Bible, which may be why there are no headlines reporting such desecrations. We also respect the Christian holy places.

The Caliph Omar ibn al Khattab, after accepting the keys to Jerusalem, was invited to pray in the Church of the Sepulcher. He refused on the grounds that ignorant Muslims in the future might convert it to a Mosque. Thus, he protected one of the holiest churches of Christianity.

Re: your June 4 article, “Ventura County rapist’s release causes stir in Paso Robles”:

As a member of the Ventura County jury that decided “a high-risk sex offender should be released from Atascadero State Hospital,” I feel compelled to share my experiences during the two-week trial and beyond.

Three-time rapist Anthony Dacayana’s most recent conviction was for raping a blind woman 17 years ago. He was to be released from prison in 1996; however, California enacted the Sexually Violent Predator (SVP) law that same year, and Dacayana was involuntarily committed to the hospital.
In order to continue Dacayana’s commitment, Superior Court Judge Teri Cody instructed the jury must find beyond a reasonable doubt that:

When realization that the U.S. war in Vietnam was going nowhere and this fact finally reached critical mass facing the Nixon administration of the time, the term “Vietnamization” was coined to represent an exit strategy for U.S. forces while turning over the defense of South Vietnam to their political regime at war with the North.

Obviously, we know from history that Vietnamization was a euphemism for U.S. retreat in the face of a resilient guerrilla war waged by the Viet Cong and by particular discontent for the war’s failures back home in the United States.

Having just read another “in-depth article” about the violent and unstable history of Toby Whelchel, I am left with a huge “how?” I’m not asking why he did it, but how could a person like this be allowed to own guns? Never mind how he became a captain in the Air Force one year after being convicted of felony battery on a police officer.

Why aren’t all the “shocked people” asking this question?

Is the subject of “gun control” so taboo that everyone — The Star especially — is afraid to broach it?
Sure, a person can go nuts and hurt people without a gun, but I really doubt that as many would die. Come on! A child with a little skill and luck can take out a lot of people with a gun!

— Scott Sandwall, Ventura

In recent events, the U.S. government affirmed its stance on separation of church and state with the ruling regarding the public display of the Ten Commandments. At the highest level of judicial courts, the stance resounded from the court of Alabama to the far reaches of American media. An amazing outcry against this public display of religious beliefs rippled throughout America.

As a Christian, I found it disheartening to hear how people will tolerate things they personally disagree with and yet not say a word when it pertains to religion. We acknowledge the foundation of our esteemed country on Christian principles, but we are intolerant of Christianity in our public.

Speaking before the annual General Motors shareholders meeting, company chairman Rick Wagoner said that job cuts are part of a more aggressive plan to deal with sagging sales and high operating costs.

GM will reduce U.S. manufacturing employment by about 25,000 positions. Presumably, that means that GM will have 25,000 fewer loyal customers.

Re: Steve Magoon’s June 3 commentary, “We cannot toss away high-achieving students”:

Many of the students receiving special recognition at graduation ceremonies this month are undoubtedly high achievers who have worked hard and taken more classes and more difficult classes than the average student. The opportunity to accelerate their education by attending summer school was an option that many of these students made the most of.

Much has been written in the last several weeks regarding religion, in one way or another.

We, Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, would like to share one area in which our faith has been working for positive social and economic change: the Children’s Health Initiative.

To date, 14 congregations and ministerial associations, including Temple Beth Torah where I serve, have endorsed the initiative. These congregations have also helped collect more than 1,000 individual signatures in support of the measure.

I am an American. I am responsible for my actions and my words. I remain in a deep quandary about the actions and inactions of President Bush.

The president has stated that he will veto any bill regarding embryonic stem cell research sent to him by Congress that would spend the taxpayers’ funds “to kill a life, to save a life.” There is a difference in action, but in my opinion, not in principle in the killing of American military personnel in Iraq and elsewhere in the world that hopefully results in the savings of thousands of lives from despot rulers, such as Saddam Hussein.  

Another immediate concern to me is the apparent concern the commander in chief shows for the health and welfare of illegal immigrants in this country over the safety, health and welfare of our combatant troops.  

It is further evident to this writer that the president’s policies on foreign trade agreements favor the foreign nations, especially China, to destroy middle-class America, while using American technology and money to build up the Chinese war machine.
 
My generation, the Greatest Generation, worked and served to put America first and to keep Americans free of fear and want. My fear today is that Mr. Bush and his policies are destroying what the Greatest Generation preserved. I do not hold Congress blameless for the current events.

The major political parties are already campaigning for the 2006-2008 national campaigns. Will you, the voter, study the issues and vote for leaders that will provide for the education, health, welfare and the safety of citizens? The time to prepare is now!

Do I walk alone in my quandary?

— Joseph P. Quinn, Oxnard

Re: your June 7 article, “Grumpy old men a myth, behavior studies discover”:

I have but two things to say.

First, the findings are no surprise to me. At 51 myself, I’ve almost always found the generation that preceded me to be extraordinarily kind — not to mention wise — and absolutely chock-full of humor and grace. By and large, there is a twinkle in their eye, they exhibit the patience of Job, and they’re typically ready to poor one a stiff Scotch or provide a bunk out back, depending on what is required. A surprising number of them have a very good joke at the ready. By and large, they are the salt of the earth.

Women in Black, a worldwide network of women standing for peace and justice, have been standing on the corner of Gallatin Street and Gonzales Road every Wednesday from 5 to 6 p.m. for a year. This is at the corner of the North Oxnard United Methodist Church, next to our field of more than 1,600 American flags in memory of those lost in Iraq.

However, due to an angry neighbor complaining of the honking of horns in response to our signs, “Support our Troops,” “Pray for Peace” and “Honk for Peace,” we will no longer be encouraging people to honk. After all, we are for peace.

Instead, we will hold a silent vigil, praying for peace. We want the many, many people who responded to us by stopping by, joining us and honking to know why we have changed our approach.

Re: your June 9 editorial, “Parent power for piercings”:

Your lead editorial applauds a law, as if we hadn’t enough foolish laws, that not many years ago would have brought the house down in laughter.

Once upon a time, parents were not afraid to say no. Instead of encouraging the burgeoning nanny state, you ought to be thundering at parents who lack the backbone to impose discipline.

The D-Day generation, which you spent much ink on this past week, could not have imagined a world that needed such silly laws. What happened to, “You may not pierce or tattoo”? Case closed; full stop.

— Frank Ward, Oxnard