Spare us the Bigotry

I can't believe that you published"Spare Us the Sob Stories" (Letters, Sept. 5). Excuse me, Mr. Ratcliff, do you have Euro-American heritage? Chances are the Native Americans of the Santa Rosa/Sonoma County area did not appreciate your ancestors killing them as they immigrated to this area. (You were once an immigrant too!)

Wake up and smell your own "trashing of California!"

Christine Thomas, Forestville

Few are Fighting

I was not surprised to read about the money our government has given to corporations at the taxpayers' expense to help rebuild Iraq ("Project Censored," Sept.5). Why we the people do not fight back enough I believe is because many people do not read the right articles. They are kept stupid of what is going on because this administration is trying to become an empire (if it's not already). The corporations are taking over the world, and most of us sit back and do nothing. That includes the Democrats whom we elected to Congress. I am so disgusted with the whole country because only the few are fighting. The rest are ignoring any bad news and are not paying attention to their rights as citizens that are being changed! I do not believe that so many are hiding their heads in the sand. Wake up, America, before it's too late!

Joyce T. Naylor, Santa Rosa

C'mon—For No reason at all?

Regarding "Bush Moves Toward Martial Law" ("Project Censored"), I recently went to a Sebastopol City Council meeting to tell the council members not to sign (but they did sign it!) a city ordinance to take properties via eminent domain, since all our constitutional property rights were taken away with the Kelo v. New London Supreme Court ruling, as did the no on Proposition 90 in last November's election. Two women who spoke before me were part of the nonviolent antiwar movement Women in Black. They told of how a Sonoma County Sheriff showed up at their houses wanting to arrest them for no reason at all. They both resisted the brutality and were beaten and brought to jail and arrested for resisting arrest. While in jail, a Sonoma County judge determined that their children should be returned to the full custody of their proven abusive ex-spouses. I find this disgusting, as I do the faux environmental slander of homes for the government to steal and redevelop, at which time the environmentalists are nowhere to be found. All of this makes me not proud to be an American with no rights left.

Rachele Ketchem, Sebastopol

Torture R Us,

I am writing about the Shepherd Bliss article (Open Mic, Sept. 5 print edition only). I see the parallels to the United States today and Chile. Torture (or some new convoluted definition of torture) is never OK. And knowing the circumstances and the political trends and realities in Chile in the '70s can help us all see the need to stop these same kind of fascist, dictatorial tendencies here in the U.S. now. Many communities here are suffering terribly under this new "anything goes" government. Hundreds are dying in the desert crossings from Mexico while their labor is depended upon in the global economy. Men of Middle Eastern descent are spirited away at the bidding of our government, to be tortured and years later released because they never had any connection to terrorism. U.S. citizens and residents are suffering as corporations tighten their belts to reap astounding profits, while people suffer and die without healthcare, inadequate coverage, or because insurance companies wrongly deny coverage to increase profits.

Yes, keeping more torture from continuing and expanding is vitally necessary. Frank Teruggi and Charles Horman's deaths are proof that even with a strong and organized, dissenting public, these government-sanctioned murders can happen and increase. These two men—two of thousands killed during the following months in Chile—and all freedom-loving people around the world deserve strong community support and admiration. We, the dissenters, are those people. Stand up and be patriotic. Be democratic, do your citizenly duty and tell our representatives that they must do our bidding. Do it in Washington, the streets, in letters and e-mails and with your votes. But as Chile shows, we all must do something now!

Vicki Smith, Sebastopol

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