Letters for July 14, 2005

Real Americans
I was taken aback and alarmed yesterday, July 7, to find a note taped to our screen door addressed in big blue felt-tip letters. “To war haters!!” Someone had come up our sidewalk and onto the porch to tape the paper to our door.

Inside was a typed version of the lyrics (un-attributed) to a Darryl Worley country song, “Have You Forgotten?” Its pro-war lyrics accuse us of having forgotten “our homeland under fire,” “her people blown away” and “things worth fightin’ for.”

Below the lyrics, again in big blue letters, our anonymous critic had signed the paper with “GOD BLESS AMERICA, Sincerely, Real Americans.” Its implication was that we are traitors or fools for having displayed our “War Is Not the Answer” Quaker sign on our lawn (www.fcnl.org). This feels like hate, like a threat. It reminds me of the bullying red-scare rhetoric of the ‘50s.

Dispute by slogan gets nowhere, and it allows mistaken assumptions to go unchecked and to fester. I do remember. And war scares me, shocks me, saddens me. But I try not to hate. Hate disables us at a time when we need our best minds and hearts to address the many ills of out time and the many, many openings for peace and justice. I grieve for all those killed in America, 9/11, and in London yesterday. And for the ruins left by war—the children, the animals, the young men and women in the war today. And I do remember.
David Scofield Wilson
Chico

We can’t hear you
What a pathetic statement from someone in Enloe’s human resources: “We appealed [a union election] so the employees who voted ‘no’ would have an avenue for their voices to be heard” ["The great divide,” Newslines, June 30]. It was a democratic election. Their voices WERE heard!

For Enloe to hide its contempt for unions behind a fabrication of upholding workers’ rights is just plain sinister, a slap at a democratic election, and a slap at the intelligence of News & Review readers.

If Enloe cared about its workers, they would still be employed by Enloe and have health insurance for their families.

The amount of money being spent to defeat the union and the lack of respect for workers Enloe’s actions illustrate make me think about driving 60 miles north to Mercy, Redding.

Carol Eberling
Chico

Flag abuse
We were disturbed today, July 3, at around 3:30 p.m. to see an American flag lying in the gutter in our own neighborhood, carelessly left as an advertising device by a local real estate agent.

Small plastic flags were placed on the lawns of houses along Via Mission Drive in Chico, with the agent’s business card attached. Many were touching the ground, and one was lying in the gutter. While our government expresses concern over the desecration of the American flag as a form of political protest, we think it is far more offensive to see it used in such a frivolous way, with no respect for the proper treatment of our national symbol.

Kevin Weherly and Valerie Bean
Chico

Still here
While reading your review of the great food at Jedidiah’s ["Rock ‘n’ cinnamon roll,” Chow, June 9], I was surprised to learn that this fine eatery is located in “the old Humboldt Studios building.” While the studio’s operation no longer requires the front space of the building and we no longer host the all-ages music events and, uh, “dance parties” of a few years ago, Humboldt Studios continues in business.

Since closing out our costly event schedule, we have been able to invest in new equipment and software for a sound that is better than ever. Most recently, engineer Sean Brown completed work on Danny Cohen’s latest CD, We’re All Gunna Die, which went into national distribution last month on Tom Waits’ ANTI- label to some very good reviews.

So we’re still very much here, behind Jedidiah’s in our beautiful “old” Humboldt Studios building at 265 Humboldt Avenue and on the Web at www.humboldtstudios.com, and focused on partnering with local artists who are serious about making quality original music more available to their audiences.

Greg Tropea
Owner

Humboldt Studios

Flags aplenty
The American flags adorning Chico’s streets lend a festive air to our town. Pride of place and love of country can inspire us to greatness. I would like to see perhaps every fifth flag be our own California Bear Flag. And an occasional flag of other nations would lend an air of sophistication and cosmopolitanism. Our American patriots had a very good idea to install the flags, and we should expand on the concept.

Michael Jones
Chico

Folly of secularism
This octogenarian, as well as being a retired U.S. Marine, again exposes another local teacher of our community that makes statements having no validity: Jennifer Spangler ["What’s God got to do with it?” Guest comment, June 23].

Jennifer Spangler should research the facts. She will find that this nation was founded as a Christian nation, and that in 1892 our Supreme Court after examining all original documents unanimously stipulated “this is a Christian nation.” She should visit government building in Washington, D.C. After World War II (approximately 1946) secularism advocates initiated a history rewrite. This history rewrite has failed, and many students who do research have and will find this fraud. Her comment pertaining to the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution is a good example of attempting to rewrite history and facts.

Secularism will never be the guiding force, and mankind will never completely accept secularism. It is impossible to erase God Almighty.

Robert L. Heitger
Chico

No difference
As a volunteer for the Advocates for Self-Government, I’ve given “The World’s Smallest Political Quiz” to hundreds of people in Chico. People score all over the map, liberal, conservative, Libertarian, statist and centrist.

I share with you a very interesting occurrence, notwithstanding the fact that Republicans and Democrats garner about 95 percent of the vote on average: Almost every time, the quiz taker says that their party doesn’t really represent their views. Almost everybody agrees to end corporate welfare, repeal sex laws regarding consenting adults, and that government should not censor speech, press, media or the Internet. Most people believe we have too many laws and not enough privacy and government wastes a lot of money.

On top of all that, I’ve never met anybody who said that the act itself of smoking marijuana should be criminal, or that the I.R.S. is fair. My experience tells me that what most people want is more freedom, but it seems to me that by voting Republican or Democrat the status quo remains, and government only grows, eventually to everyone’s dismay.

If you’d like to take the quiz, visit www.theadvocates.org or write to PO Box 702 Chico, California 95927 and I’ll send you one.

Casey Aplanalp
Chico