Editors note: This letter is in response to an article published in the Jan. 27 issue of The Guardsman titled “Aid to Haiti revives unity in Americans” by William Chamberlin.

I found the article to be quite one-sided. I’d like to take the time to look at the issue factually.

The article made the ridiculous claim that Obama is giving Haitians food and water, while former presidents Bush Sr. and Clinton denied them aid and refuge in the US because they are poor. What the article doesn’t say, is the United States has been contributing millions of dollars to Haiti every year for many years. In fact, last year we gave them more than $260 million dollars, accounting for 40 percent of Haiti’s national budget.

The claim that Obama is somehow treading new ground in providing aid to Haiti is patently false. Additionally, the idea that we would somehow withhold aid to a people because they are poor is ridiculous. Bush Jr. alone contributed over $40 Billion to African nations during his two terms as president.

The article goes on to compare the response time of the Haiti earthquake response, led by Obama, to the response time of the Bush administration after the Katrina disaster. Large amounts of aid arrived Sept. 2 with 58,000 National Guard troops and $69 Billion dollars in relief funds. It took approximately 3 days in that case to get aid to the masses. Looking at the numbers, I don’t see Obama doing any better then Bush did in terms of response time and aid available.

The final point the article missed ,was when it tried to miss-characterize statements made by radio host Rush Limbaugh. Limbaugh stated “We’ve already donated to Haiti. It’s called the U.S. income tax”. This somehow offended some, but again a review of the facts will show Limbaugh has a point.

As I already said, $260 million dollars of OUR money goes to Haiti every year. The total contribution by the US to the Haiti relief effort now totals $400 million and counting, including the $100 million Obama promised in cash and all the food, tents, etc going to the survivors. This amounts to $1.25 per person of our money going to the country. It’s wonderful to make donations to charitable organizations if you wish, but regardless, all of us are contributing in our tax dollars.

Noah Moore
City College student

—-

Editor:

During the State of the Union Address we were told that,
among other things, if we understood health care reform, we would want
it.

That is the perfect example of AUDACITY.

Blatant disrespect for the average American that would allow The
President to speak down to us as though we were not as smart as he and
his colleagues.

Despite the countless hours of TV, radio and hundreds of written
publications we’ve been bombarded with, we are still not informed
enough to “get it”.  So they plan to try again, perhaps using smaller
words the next time.

It’s not ignorance that leads us to oppose this massive leap toward
socialism, it is our understanding of it and our love of freedom that
compels us to stand against it.  The longer it was discussed; the more
informed we became.  The more it was drawn out into the light; the
more we could see just how bad it really was.  So stop repeating the
message, it’s childish and insulting.

WE DON’T WANT IT.

Josh Steadman

The administration, faculty, staff and students would like to acknowledge and thank our City College of San Francisco Veterans and Reservists for their service at home and abroad. Our veterans have served in Iraq, Afghanistan, and in other parts of the world, often at great personal sacrifice to them and their families.

The CCSF Veteran Education Benefit Program is serving over 300 veterans this semester and that number is continually increasing as the semester continues.

Here are some of the basic services provided to our CCSF Veteran students:
1.) Assistance with questions of the initial application process
2.) VA Certification so that the veteran can be paid
3.) Priority Registration each semester for our veteran students
4.) Academic and personal counseling

Referrals To:
* CCSF Campus Resources
* Department of Veterans Affairs and the services they provide
* Community resources depending upon individual need

Currently the CCSF Veterans Educational Benefits office is located in the basement of Conlan Hall in room E-2.

Office hours: Monday – Thursday 9:00am to 4:00pm, Friday 9:00am to 2:00pm.

For questions call: (415) 239-3486

Once again CCSF would like to thank you for your sacrifice and service. We wish you great success during your academic experience and in all future endeavors.

Editor’s Note: Below is the original Oct. 21 letter to the Editor in response to the editorial “Critical citizens vital to a republic” printed in the Oct. 7 issue of The Guardsman.

I am completely in accord with your editorial condemnation of the Obama commemoration at City College — although I suppose the unearned Nobel prize will now be given as a kind of excuse. “City College should never elevate one set of rational ideas above another,” you rightly say.

The same principle applies to irrational ideas, of course. Yet every year the chancellor participates in the Gay Pride Parade, elevating homosexualism above homophobia. Anyone with a sound knowledge of biology and ordinary skills in conceptual analysis can work out that homosexualism and homophobia are two sides of the same counterfeit coin. But City College elevates one irrational idea over the other.

John A. Wills
Senior Programmer/Analyst
City College information technology services department

________________________________________________________

---

Dear Guardsman staff,

I was deeply offended and concerned by John Wills’ letter to the editor in the Oct. 21 issue, and have prepared this response.  I hope you will print this in your next edition:

John Wills’ letter to the Editor in the Oct. 21 issue—which equated gay rights activism with homophobia and criticized City College for celebrating the SF Pride Parade and the election of our nation’s first non-white president—was profoundly inappropriate, offensive, and even disturbing.

It is completely irrational and intellectually dishonest to relate homosexuality (a natural, immutable human trait)  in any way with homophobia (the willful and deliberate fear and hatred of homosexuals). By “homosexualism” Wills seemed to refer to the cause for gay rights and equal treatment; how anyone can say that support for equal treatment and acceptance of gays and lesbians is in any way related to the hatred and bigotry of homophobia is beyond me.

City College is a place that promotes diversity, tolerance, and equality, as well as respect for everyone’s dignity as a human being.  As such it is wholly appropriate that we celebrate both gay pride parades and the election of our nation’s first non-white president.

Gay pride parades are an expression of the need for GLBTQ community and all those who believe in equal rights to stand against the hatred and discrimination that has been leveled against homosexuals for centuries.  Being such an integral part of the San Francisco community, City College has a duty to promote and celebrate such parades; to fail to do so would be to fail miserably at our mission of promoting acceptance, diversity, and equality.

It gives me some solace to see that the Matthew Shepherd Act has finally passed Congress and made its way to our president’s desk.  Such hate crimes legislation is vital to protect vulnerable, targeted groups like the homosexual community.  Until the hate ceases, gay pride parades and, more importantly, the greater cause for gay rights and equal treatment will remain a priority for our nation–and for our college.  Tolerance, diversity, and most of all equality for all members of society are rightly at the heart of CCSF’s mission, as they forever will be.

Sincerely,
Scott Gentile
CCSF Mathematics Dept.

“When Fascism comes to America, it will be wearing a flag and carrying a cross.”
-Sinclair Lewis

Dear Editor,

In a recent letter to the editor, John A. Wills equates something he calls “heterosexualism” with homophobia and criticizes the chancellor for participating in the Gay Pride Parade. I suppose this is one of the irrational ideas he refers to earlier in his letter. I find most of his letter to be based on such irrationality.

Homophobia/heterosexism is a prejudice predicated on the belief that heterosexuality is the norm in human sexual relationships and that anything other than that is abnormal or perverse. It has been used to justify discrimination, brutal hate crimes, imprisonment, forced psychiatric treatments (including some very harmful types of shock and aversion therapy), and even murder. Parents have disowned and abused their children after discovering they do not conform to heterosexual “norms.” At City College this very year, there have been several incidents of harassment on campus by students who believe that those who do not conform to their standard of “normalcy” are valid targets. Mr. Wills’ letter, in stating that a sound knowledge of “biology” would lead us to the obvious conclusion that homophobia is the same as “homosexualism” is the type of misinformation that leads those who think it is okay to harass fellow citizens to believe it is within their right to do so.

In fact, biology tells us that homosexuality, bisexuality and transgenderism are natural occurrences, and it seems that only the human species has decided this is unnatural and deserves unjust, unfair and often brutal treatment. Homosexuality is natural, homophobia is an abomination of nature.

I am currently in Spain on sabbatical. In 2005 the newly elected Prime Minister of Spain and the legislature approved marriage equality for same-sex couples. In his address to the legislature, Prime Minister Zapatero stated, “a decent society does not humiliate its members.”

It seems to me that we still have a long way to go to become a decent society in the United States. We have outraged citizens advocating the assassination of a president supposedly for his ideology, but more likely for the color of his skin. We still treat gay, lesbian and bisexual citizens as second class, while those who are transgendered are brutalized and abused on a daily basis.

At City College I hope we can begin to work more toward the decent society that Prime Minister Zapatero referred to in his 2005 address. I applaud the chancellor and members of the board of trustees who recognize the importance of CCSF embracing all of our communities, and participating in celebrations of all of our diversity, including, but not limited to Cesar Chavez celebrations, the Chinese New Year Parade and the Gay Pride Parade. Our celebration of the first African-American President in the history of the United States, a history that is tarred with indecency, is also one step toward that decent society I hope I will perhaps see a glimmer of in my lifetime.

Until then, I hope that the views of those like Mr. Wills will be heard less, and those who advocate for our treatment of one another in a fair and decent way will become the norm, not the exception.

Rick Kappra

ESL Instructor/Civic Center Campus

Editor:

“…homosexualism and homophobia are two sides of the same counterfeit coin” writes John Wills in his letter to the editor in your Oct. 21 issue—and The Guardsman printed it!

Are you kidding me? At a community college that is one of the most diverse in the nation—that consistently educates, supports and aggressively pursues diversity initiatives and education among its employees and students—and the school newspaper publishes a letter that not only doesn’t make sense, but that includes slurs and hate speech in its content.

This is unacceptable and diametrically opposed to the mission and goals of this college and the broader society. The Guardsman staff need a lesson—immediately—in the difference between hate speech and free speech because the City College community will not tolerate hatred fueled by ignorance and bigotry.

Lindy McKnight
Dean of Counseling and Student Support
City College of San Francisco E206
SF, CA 94112

Editor’s Note: This letter to the Editor is in response to the editorial “Critical citizens vital to a republic” printed in the Oct. 7 issue of The Guardsman.

I am completely in accord with your editorial condemnation of the Obama commemoration at City College — although I suppose the unearned Nobel prize will now be given as a kind of excuse. “City College should never elevate one set of rational ideas above another,” you rightly say.

The same principle applies to irrational ideas, of course. Yet every year the chancellor participates in the Gay Pride Parade, elevating homosexualism above homophobia. Anyone with a sound knowledge of biology and ordinary skills in conceptual analysis can work out that homosexualism and homophobia are two sides of the same counterfeit coin. But City College elevates one irrational idea over the other.

John A. Wills
Senior Programmer/Analyst
City College information technology services department

Update: The Guardsman recieved several responses to this letter to the Editor. Read them here.

Dear Editor —

After reading the Feb. 11 letters to the editor on GAZA, I had to send a reply. The two letters misrepresent the facts.

Israel was, and still is, the aggressor in GAZA, against Palestinians. Hamas can’t be blamed when Israel is holding 1.5 million Palestinians in concentration camps in GAZA, without basic necessities such as shelter, water, food or electricity. Food goes bad with non-working refrigerators because electricity is cut off.

Israel even bombed the UN building where kids were taking shelter and bombed out hospitals.  Israel broke the truce to win an election.
Don’t believe me; DO SOME RESEARCH! Google it! Even the Israeli news admit it. But they won’t tell you that on the U.S. mainstream news, because Israel is using weapons which include military jets from the United States.

After reading the Feb. 11 letters to the editor on GAZA, I had to send a reply. The two letters misrepresent the facts.

Israel was, and still is, the aggressor in GAZA, against Palestinians. Hamas can’t be blamed when Israel is holding 1.5 million Palestinians in concentration camps in GAZA, without basic necessities such as shelter, water, food, or electricity. (Food goes bad with non-working refrigerators because electricity is cut off.)

Israel even bombed the UN building where kids were taking shelter and bombed out hospitals.  Israel broke the truce to win an election.
Don’t believe me; DO SOME RESEARCH! Google it! Even the Israeli news admit it. But they won’t tell you that on the U.S. mainstream news, because Israel is using weapons which include military jets from United States.

— Charlie El-Qare

Dear Editor —

I have read two letters to the Dear editor column response on the paper on the Gaza protest. I could understand that they are full supporters of Israel and their invasion of Gaza last month, but truth be told they were completely biased of the issue. One example is their anti-Arab statements by saying that Hamas was a terrorist organization and that they instigated the attack.
The truth is the invasion was made only three weeks before their elections on Feb. 10 and right before Barack Obama’s inauguration “and ironically ending only three days before he was the new president.”
One of the writer’s last statements was to look at both sides. The problem is Israel, which is the number one country in U.S. aide, and has been accused of numerous human rights violation against the Palestinians.
The last issue is what the writer said that Hamas used civilians as human shields, not surprising since both media and the government in this country blame every dead Palestinian on Hamas, and not Israel with their air strikes, tanks and soldiers, who actually attack UN hospitals block the borders preventing anyone coming out alive, and using propaganda to blame Hamas for absolutely everything that’s happen to the Palestinians. It’s not fair that only supporters of Israel get to speak out and other people who are against it are not heard just ignored.
— Carlos Olmedo

Dear Editor —

Ahmed Alkhaub, who was interviewed in the 1/16/09 issue of The Guardsman, certainly has a lot to be concerned about.

With Hamas, the current ruling organization in Gaza, shelling into Israel on a daily basis and bringing in weapons through tunnels, Israel had no choice but to respond. The position that Hammas takes is that Israel has no right to exist and it should be destroyed.

With the help of money from foreign hostile countries such as Iran, and others, Hamas is the instigator of the recent clash. Hamas uses its civilians as human shields by setting explosives in homes and structures of Gaza’s own civilian population. Most Palestinians are not terrorists but in the recent clash with Israel, Hamas has made the Palestinian people in Gaza victims of Hamas’s terrorist actions.

Certainly those who are demonstrating against Israel should look at the current actions of Hamas and educate themselves about both sides of what is really happening in that region.

— Lynn Levy, ESL Instructor

—–

Dear Editor —

I would just like to say that CCSF has students who protested in support of Israel during the most recent conflict. Here is one way to end Israel’s retaliation: Have the Hamas stop firing rockets into Israel, which drew Israel back into Gaza after leaving in 2005.

— Jonathan Segev

Letters to the Editor

We’re giving you an opportunity to express your thoughts: Take advantage of it. If you have some insight on an issue, whether it be campus-related or otherwise, send an e-mail to us through our contact form and we’ll put it right here. Please limit your response to 200 words. The Guardsman reserves the right to publish the submitted material in any form.

Editor – The reasons behind the elimination of the JROTC by the San Francisco Board of Education was one that was thoroughly weighed out for its potential effects on the students. The virtues attributed to the JROTC are not at all virtues that are exclusive to the program, but are in fact a reflection of qualities inherent with SFUSD. Proponents of Proposition V point out that over 90% of JROTC cadets are students of color, but fail to attribute this to the fact the over 90% of SFUSD students in general come from communities of color. Proponents of Proposition V also point out that over 90% of JROTC cadets go to college, but fail to attribute this to the fact the over 90% of SFUSD students in general also continue on to college.

The bottom line is, JROTC does not yield a higher success rate than the district as a whole; the only thing that sets it apart from general academics courses is that it’s a military program that has time and again been praised for its effectiveness in recruiting students into the military. 40-50% of JROTC graduates end up in the military, and no hard evidence to refute that has ever been produced by proponents of Proposition V.

It is also true that JROTC discriminates against LGBT cadets. It does so by denying LGBT JROTC graduates college ROTC scholarships and other benefits that non-LGBT JROTC cadets receive, an unfair way to dole out educational benefits to students. But what is also unfair to all students is the fact that $1 million of local taxes is spent to fund a program that only caters to 500 students. If we really want to foster choice for students then let’s take our money back from The Pentagon and use it to expand the existing non-military leadership programs.

Russell Stephens

---

The Guardsman welcomes Letters to the Editor. Visit our Web site contact form or call (415) 239-3446 for
submission guidelines.