Letters |
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| GOBBLING IT UP We live in a world on inconsistencies yet reminding us that survival for some people now is extremely difficult. Our country is going through a time of economic woes, two wars, and scores of our population being terminated, plus inability to find suitable employment. President Lincoln made THANKSGIVING DAY a national holiday during his time in the White House many years ago. It was meant as an observance to bless freedom, survival, and a gesture to thank the Pilgrims for their tenacity in being the first Caucasians in the new world. Three days the Pilgrims and Indians feasted together until all the food was gone. It was a thank-you to recognize the support given to them by the Indians in growing crops and learning techniques to help them make it through the terrible winters. When the feasting was over the Indiana were so happy with the circumstances, they began hunting for more food. So many times we forget that this special day is to give thanks rather than glut and become victims of our insatiable mouths. In essence becoming stuffed like turkeys. Buzz Flowers Callaway TED STEVENS' OIL DRILLING DAYS ARE NUMBERED With someone so beholden to the oil industry, it should not be a surprise that a jury found Senator Ted Stevens guilty of failing to report gifts by the oil company Veco, for which Stevens has worked to give massive contracts. With Stevens being the main proponent of drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, those favoring such a horrific move should reconsider their position. The facts are clear that we need to protect the last five percent of the North Slope of Alaska that is the biological heart of the last intact Arctic ecosystem with a free-ranging caribou herd left in the world. The 123,000 caribou feed the Gwich'in Nation as well as the Inupiat peoples. The Gwich'in are caribou people, and have lived off the Porcupine Caribou herd for tens of thousands of years. That is the herd that breeds on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge coastal plain, right where people like convicted felon Ted Stevens want to drill for oil. Currently, oil companies have not developed more than 85 percent of the land that they have already leased. There is plenty of oil there until we make the fast-needed transition to renewable energy. They are trying to get the last five percent while President George Bush is in office, because they realize that no one else will likely be corrupt enough to go along with such a disastrous move. In my first personal encounter with Ted Stevens at a public meeting in Kaktovik, on Barter Island in the Artic Ocean, the senator ordered me not to videotape or take photos, even though other in the meeting were allowed. Stevens held the meeting, which attracted nearly 200 native Inupiat peoples, looking for support for drilling in the refuge. Instead, Inupiat leader Robert Thompson presented him with a petition of the majority of residents opposing drilling. Stevens told the group that Congress had promised him drilling. I began to shake my head in disagreement. Having written two books on the subject, I knew this was not true. Stevens stopped the meeting and said in a raised, stern voice: "If you don't stop shaking your head, I will have you removed from this meeting. I will have you removed from this meeting if you don't stop shaking your head." Luckily, the fossil fuel dinosaur is nearly extinct. Rather than more drilling, we must demand massive investment in energy efficiency, solar and wind power to create good, clean sustainable jobs and do something about the climate crisis: by far the most important issue of our time. Chad Kister Kister is the author of Arctic Quest: Odyssey Through a Threatened Wilderness Area; Arctic Melting: How Climate Change Is Destroying One of the World's Largest Wildness Area and Against All Odds: The Struggle to Save the Ridges. He is also the producer of the 2006 film, Caribou People. CHICKADOODLE GOT SOME NERVE Robin Tyler wags her white finger at black voters (SGN 11.14.08) saying you people, uh, I mean ... your kind, umm, oh yeah: "YOUR COMMUNITY sided with the same kinds of bigots who supported slavery, who fought against interracial marriage." Chickadoodle got some nerve coloring a broad spectrum of varied folks through the lens of her imperious ire. I suggest she step off her alabaster pedestal and lecture whomever she arbitrarily defines as her "racial" community as to the fallacy and folly of divisive backstabbing. Equal rights and crosscultural cooperation are ill served by insults like "you got in bed with your enemies, the very people who have fucked you again and again, in the name of morality and their religious beliefs." Ms. Tyler, may I return the compliment: FUCK YOU, in the name of social justice and progress. Aqlqt Aqlqt CALL FOR AN INCLUSIVE REALITY It's unfortunate we have not gained our human rights yet. Even with this voting cycle we seemed to have fallen back instead of moving forward in steady pace. Somehow our country is only able to accept small doses of true liberty. It's almost as though we see this liberation as destruction rather than improving our human situation. We make prejudicial personal decisions about other peoples lives which seem to bolster our own agendas irrespective of how the decisions affect. What would life be like without this control? Or perhaps families are totally unaware Gay and Lesbian individuals will never have the vast social and societal connections afforded families. It's not only the economic advantages, tax breaks, visitation rights, and our children's lives we want to be a part of, we also want the love, peace, dignity, acknowledgement, and safety in knowing we too are helping to build a world that is progressing because we are living entities in it. I can't help but connect our reality to the vast war complex our country supports. We need to work on the violence that throws us into numb fighting which builds separations and continues to foster thinking of divisions. War is obsolete. All societies today need to realize this truth, to bring this reality into their conscious daily lives. We need to get out of genocidal conflicts and grow in an inclusive reality which accepts people for who they are and supports a reality based upon individuals, separate as well as together. Pat Herbert SEATTLE TIMES SUPPORTS DISCRIMINATION For at least the third year in a row, the Seattle Times has chosen the Salvation Army as one of its Fund for the Needy recipients. The Salvation Army discriminates against Gays and it does so (or at least tries to do so) with public money. In 2001, the Washington Post discovered that the Salvation Army and George Bush had a backroom deal: If the Salvation Army backed Bush's faith-based initiative, Bush would push for regulations that would allow the Salvation Army to discriminate against Gays when filling taxpayer-funded jobs and providing domestic-partner benefits. (BTW, the Salvation Army also discriminates against non-Christians. In 2005, the Salvation Army won a court case that allowed it to fire non-Christian employees, even though those positions were funded by the public.) Tell the Seattle Times to remove the Salvation Army from its Fund for the Needy and instead donate to groups that don't practice bigotry, such as Northwest Harvest. Contacts at the Seattle Times: Letter to the Editor: opinion@seattletimes.com; David Boardman, Executive Editor: dboardman@seattletimes.com; Fund for the Needy: communitysupport@seattletimes.com. GZ |
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