Free trade agreement endorses ’systematic torture’

Editor:
The term “end” brings a rush of activity: finals, graduations, job and apartment searches.
How does this relate to dogs and cats half a world away?

Let’s look closer.

In another world, the South Korean government poises itself to pounce into the world economy through the proposed South Korean Free Trade Agreement which is now before the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee.

At the same time, in this same world, seemingly unrelated (but similarly compelling) events progress – the goings-on in the South Korean dog- and cat-eating industry.

These markets and farms go by the unfounded belief that dog and cat meat ‘tastes better’ if there is a release of adrenaline sustained by animals who endure systematic torture over a lengthened period of time before they die or are killed.

Yearly, millions endure:
-Crushing in wire cages in extreme weather.
-Stuffing into bags, pummeled violently with a hammer.
-While still alive, their paws are cut off.
-Lying helplessly on the ground, with just stumps for legs, if the animal in sheer agony moves or tries to resist, their heads are stomped upon.
-Still alive, they’re skinned (fur) and boiled or blended (often still alive).

If SKFTA is ratified, leverage to abolish this industry disappears. Make no mistake. More U.S. jobs will disappear also.

Nancy Pelosi, District 8, San Francisco, is now unilaterally empowered to stop SKFTA.

With our 110,000 student body and rich history of activism, act now! Nancy Pelosi, hold the vote. South Korea must meet with the worldwide humane community on the issue of dogs and cats killed for food, intentionally tortured, and on our jobs!

The San Francisco college-community is a force, a beacon for all U.S. college students – a voting mass which will alter our U.S. politics. We will make a difference in the world we are embarking upon. Nancy, you are up for re-election this November. Hear us now.

Patricia Knudsen
City College student

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‘South Korea’s cities would be overrun with strays — thereby making their lives miserable’

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‘You liberals eat each other like maggots’

This letter is in response to the ridiculous editorial “Universal Health Care Abandoned.” I found your editorial to be despicable and full of nothing but ignorance.  I despise how you depict President Obama as the lone decisive factor in getting universal health care for the country. Barack Obama had to fight tooth and nail just to achieve the little change that is on the new bill. Your editorial insinuates that most of the country “feels let down” by Obama for not socializing health care. Your editorial is a subliminal jab at his “failure” on the behalf of those that “feel let down.”  The fact is that most of the citizens in this country OPPOSE Universal Health Care!! Obama is not a king! He is not an Emperor! He can’t just snap his figures and change the policies and proceedings of this country. Instead of supporting him for the little change he has brought, you liberals condemn him. My God, at least republicans stick together but you liberals eat each other like maggots and it’s no wonder why you are all known as a bunch of complainers. You folks are uneducated. Change in this country is a process not a one man decision and to say that his message of hope was just for show is a new low for the Guardian. Your newspaper has no direction. It is just a mess of uneducated, amateur, and ultra-liberal nonsense.

Jorge Lacayo

‘The naivety of the Guardian baffles me and I won’t be reading it anymore’

This letter is in response to your recent commentary on the new Osama Bin Laden Tape. I found your commentary on the subject to be nothing but a rip off of Newsweek Magazine. Why don’t you do some real independent journalism and conduct your own investigation instead of just emulating other news magazines. You speak of Bin Laden as if he were the mascot for the face of terror and that he was the only one that had a hand in the orchestration of 9-11. Any real journalist would already know that Bin laden has been in and out of CIA custody since he’s been on the top 10 FBI’s most wanted list. One example of this is the treatment he received in July 2000 at an American Hospital in Dubai.  Bin laden also couldn’t have been the only elements behind the 9-11 events. Can a guy in cave get NORAD to stand down? How did Bin Laden know of the Global Guardian and other war game exercises that were being carried out on 9-11? How did he know that Air defense in the country would be vulnerable at the time? How was he able to place nano thermite into the WTC buildings (which was found through electronic microscope analysis by physics professor Dr. Steven Jones)? How was he able to detonate the dozens of explosions in building 7 that were all heard and felt by the New Yorkers that were there on the day? The point I’m trying to make is that Bin Laden is nothing but a patsy. He’s nothing but a face for the public when in actuality there is a huge handful of  people responsible that will go forever unpunished because of idiotic editorials such as yours that keep the spot light off the unanswered questions and on the “official story.” The U.S. will NEVER catch Bin Laden. They don’t want to. His family has invested far too much in this country. You guys need to wake up and do more critical thinking. The naivety of the Guardian baffles me and I won’t be reading it anymore.

Jorge Lacayo

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‘Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid Are Worth Fighting For’

Corporations and their paid-for politicians have caused the worst economic crisis since the Depression of the 1930s. Not satisfied with taking away our jobs, our homes, and our savings, they are now dismantling public education.

They are also dismantling Social Security, Medicare, and Medi-Cal. As we speak, they are convening secretive, high-power Commissions to kill these programs’ legal protections for seniors, disabled people, kids, and the poor.  The fight for public education, Social Security, Medicare, and Medi-Cal is a fight for all of us: seniors, kids, poor people, people with disabilities, and younger adults.

These programs are worth fighting for, particularly for younger adults.

For 75 years, Social Security has kept tens of millions of seniors out of poverty and independent.  Would you want your parents to be dependent on you when they get old? Would you want to be dependent on your children when you get old?  Social Security is there for you even now. Payroll taxes have kept Social Security solvent for decades. Making high-earners pay would keep Social Security solvent indefinitely. We demand the government repay the Social Security Trust Fund the trillions it borrowed for wars, bank bailouts, and upper-income tax cuts.

Don’t be fooled. The same ones who say Social Security is doomed and must be cut or privatized to survive, say public schools are doomed and must be converted to  charter schools to survive!

For 35 years, Medicare and Medicaid have kept tens of millions of seniors, the poor, and people with disabilities from serious illness and premature death, but now its financing is being challenged. Meanwhile, younger adults cannot get medical care either from employers or on their own. The cure? Don’t cut Medicare. Extend Medicare to everyone, so we ALL have equal, comprehensive, affordable, and accessible care.  Don’t be fooled.  On a per-person basis, seniors’ health care costs are rising no faster than everyone else’s.  The problem is health care profits, not seniors and Medicare.

Restore funding for all students, pre-school through graduate school. Restore social service cuts.  No cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medi-Cal. Single payer health care. Restore progressive taxation on corporations and the wealthiest.  Stop spending billions on wars that
bleed our programs and kill our jobless youth.

Please call the President, Senators Feinstein and Boxer, and Rep. Pelosi to say no cuts or privatization of Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid.  Their numbers are: 202-456-1414, (415) 393-0707, (415) 403-0100, and 415-556-4862.  There will be a Town Hall meeting on
protecting these benefits on Thursday, May 13, 10 AM, at the Unitarian Center, 1187 Franklin St. in San Francisco.

Michael Lyon
For:
California Alliance for Retired Americans, 415-550-0828
San Francisco Gray Panthers, 415-552-8800
Senior Action Network,

Editor,
Thank you for publishing Robert Romano’s story “Peace between Palestine and Israel is possible.” This is an excellent article and one which I’ve forwarded to many friends and contacts.
Keep up the good work and journalism.

Steve Sosebee

Dear Mr. Romano,
Thank you VERY MUCH for writing the piece “Peace between Palestine and Israel is possible.” More than ever, we need people to bring to light the truth and the tragedy of Palestine and the Palestinian people.

With respect,
Rima El-Kawa

Guidelines for letters:
Letters must be signed with first and last name. The Guardsman reserves the right to edit letters for length, clarity and content. Most letters should be less than 200 words, although longer letters are sometimes printed. All letters are available at www.theguardsman.com.

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(415) 239-3446

‘Face2Face works as a deterrent’

Editor’s note: This letter is in response to an opinion article by Matt Gomez published in the Feb. 24 issue of The Guardsman titled “Ugliness as a deterrent fails to win war on drugs.”

Matt Gomez is criticizing a program that he has never seen. It is unfortunate. Just as bad is his assumption that teenagers do not place a premium on their appearances. They do and that’s why Face2Face works as a deterrent.

I am also curious to find out how many years Mr. Gomez spent in law enforcement. Sheriff Allman, who came up with the concept for Face2Face has tried for many years many different ways to communicate the dangers of using crystal meth. After using Face2Face he now has the proof that the approach works.

Laslo Vespremi
Owner, Abalone LLC
(The company that makes the Face2Face product)

‘Recommendation re graffiti: leave it’

Editor’s note: This letter is in response to a news article by Liska Koenig published in the March 10 issue of The Guardsman titled “Vandals promoting March 4 Day of Action cost City college thousands.”

I graduated from CCSF in 1978 and have been writing for the Laney College paper in Oakland for twelve years.
I have a recommendation re graffiti: leave it up. It will avoid any removal costs and keep students focused on the issue at hand.

Joe Kempkes

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

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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

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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