Standing for patriotism

In his letter to the editor on April 23, Jay Matous makes fun of those protesting Vice President Cheney’s recent visit (“Put protests to bed”).

As I stood outside the Davenport, I didn’t see “baby boomers … dressed for Woodstock.” I saw intelligent college professors demanding honesty from their government; loving parents with sons and daughters who are fed up with the lies of this administration; parents of young men and women in Iraq demanding the return of their children from a badly mismanaged war; a former state senator who served with distinction and is sickened by the unfair and unjust policies of this president; a young Republican, in suit and tie, proclaiming his party has betrayed him; and a plethora of Americans who are every bit as patriotic as anyone who supports this president.

Mr. Matous uses the same sad tactics used by Mr. Cheney and this administration. He calls honest, caring people who love their country names and suggests they are unpatriotic.

What I saw outside the Davenport was a cross section of the 60 percent in every national poll who now know the emperor has no clothes and are increasingly willing to stand in the street and say so.

Thomas P. Robinson

Spokane

Protesters key to democracy

Unlike Jay Matous (“Put protests to bed,” April 23), I have the utmost respect for the hundreds of people who are out there protesting against discrimination, against cruelty to animals, against destruction of the environment, against the financial policies that are devastating the working class and against violence.

I may not fit the stereotype that Jay Matous describes and I may not be brave enough to be out there protesting myself, but I support each and every one of these causes 100 percent.

Is Jay trying to say that he is in favor of discrimination and he supports cruelty to animals?

Does he want to live in a filthy, polluted world where the rich get richer and the rest of us can’t make ends meet no matter how hard we try?

Does he want the battle cry of our republic to be “might makes right” and “violence rules”? Is this his idea of patriotism?

If so, I fear that right-wingers like Jay Matous may be every bit as dangerous as the Muslim extremists. Time will tell.

Roya Franz

Spokane

The fall of home

Jay Matous’ letter (“Put protests to bed,” April 23) made me think of Nero fiddling while Rome burned. Look back in history at why empires fell and you’ll find we are making the same mistakes they made just prior to their collapse.

I’m never surprised when men like George Bush come along (who said at a fund-raiser, “This is an impressive crowd – the haves and the have mores. Some people call you the elite – I call you my base”), but how can 50 percent of a deteriorating middle class vote for a man who so clearly does not represent them? Our president represents corporate America’s venture of globalization and will leave the majority of his supporters in a race to the economic bottom.

We are at war and face escalating pressures concerning petroleum dependency and supply! We are eight trillion in debt fueled by tax cuts for the ultra-rich while the CEO of Exxon Mobil gets nearly a half billion in bonus pay!

How bad does it have to get, Jay, before you realize you backed the wrong guy? You rail at “liberals” while the rug is pulled from beneath you by those you so vigorously support.

Chris Bowers

Liberty Lake

Lay off Fox News

Mr. Jay Matous believes Fox News is legitimate journalism rather than the propaganda wing of the Republican Party (“Put protests to bed,” April 23).

Not a single Iraqi was involved in 9/11, nor was there any connection to Saddam Hussein. So don’t wave 9/11 to justify the Iraq war.

Mr. Matous recycles the story that Sudan offered Osama bin Laden to the U.S. That discredited story started with Mansoor Ijaz, a New York financier. Ijaz admits he donated to the Democrats in the ‘90s to help his business aspirations in Sudan even though the U.S. had declared Sudan a terror-sponsor in ‘93. Ijaz wanted to manage foreign investment in Sudanese oil.

After 9/11, he claimed that Sudan offered to hand bin Laden over to the U.S. in 1996 and 2000. Remember that then bin Laden had not been connected to any U.S. deaths. The 9/11 Commission said, “We have not found any reliable evidence to support the Sudanese claim.”

Despite Ijaz’s efforts, Sudan remained on the terror-sponsor list. So no lucrative Sudanese oil contracts for him. Note that Ijaz then became a Fox News “analyst/commentator.” Are Americans going to die in Iran? Fox exclusive?

Steve Gigliotti

Davenport, Wash.