Black lives matter

I haven't written in quite a while, mainly because I honestly don't feel it matters any more. I'm astounded and discouraged at the profound and willful ignorance that not only runs this nation and state, but the applause it receives.

Being a child, and survivor of the 1960s and all the racial uprisings and riots that occurred over equality, I now understand that that was never the goal. Yes, good strides and progress have been made in making sure that all men and women are treated equal. We have doctors, lawyers, professors, business owners and even a president who is not a Caucasian. In fact, all of these careers and professions are in full color in America...as in Asian, Indian, African and any other I may be missing. So I would say that the original goal has been accomplished.

Ah, but alas! That's not really what one particular population wanted. Over every other race and people who walk the streets of this country, contributing and participating in its strength and growth, we still have the "poor me's." Particularly now after the election of a president who represents them and demeans the rest of us, they want more. And more, apparently, will never be enough. Now we are told that their lives matter over any other.

Here's the deal. Call me a bigot, a racist or any other trendy little label that makes you feel good. I don't see skin color until you point it out to me. I don't see a difference until you demand a difference. And on the subject of "black lives matter," listen up. If you want the rest of God's people — "red and yellow, black and white, all precious in His sight" — to feel that black lives matter, then black lives need to start mattering to black lives first!

Let's start with a recent headline: "Teen arrested in daughter's death". Now a precious innocent 6-month baby girl allegedlydied at the hand of her 19-year-old father. Her life apparently didn't matter. Abortion clinics murder more black lives by choice than any other disease. Thousands of black lives are violently ended by blacks on their very own neighborhood streets...because they happened to wear the wrong color of clothing that day.

Black children sitting on their own porch or in their own yard are killed in crossfire as black gang members shoot to kill in order to claim another block of concrete.

When a race of people begins to treasure and respect themselves, build up instead of tearing themselves down, you won't need to riot, kill and steal to "get yours." You will have earned it from within your own people, and it will be contagious. When black lives begin to matter to black lives, you won't have to demand anything. You will automatically have won. I, for one, will wait to see if it really does matter.

P.J. Foster


Iran nuclear deal

Richard Reeb opines (July 25) that the Iran nuclear deal must be scrapped. His entire letter is an anti-President Obama diatribe, and not one word addresses the merits (or lack thereof, perhaps) of the deal. Unfortunately, this is a common reaction among some conservatives these days: President Obama supports it, and therefore it must be stopped.

There is a legitimate discussion to be had regarding the pros and cons of the Iran deal. One would hope that we could move beyond petty politics when we try to make the world safer. Removing the threat of a nuclear Iran is obviously a step in the right direction. If Mr. Reeb and others think that the negotiated deal won't work, then let's debate the merits of the plan, and not the personal traits of the President.

Mark Shoup

Apple Valley

Rewriting history

In Response to the letter to the editor on Stone Mountain, July 26 ... First the Confederate Flag and now Stone Mountain Monument in Georgia? Why don't we just burn our history books? Then the young people growing up will never learn American History and the rest of us who do know it will soon be dead.

Americans have become fanatical about everything. Everything and anything can offend someone, dredge up bad memories, etc. You can't do away with everything that offends people from our past. When my husband and I visited the Georgia area, especially the Confederate cemeteries, we were surprised at how every single grave had a new, little Confederate flag placed on it. To us, this was this area's heritage and we respected that. We did not take offense from it. It actually shed a bright light on what the Civil War was all about and made us really think about the inner turmoil our country faced at that time.

Same way when we visited Stone Mountain Monument, we were impressed by its massiveness and the statement it made and we didn't take it as a slap in the face to our nation. We realized it was a part of the past, that has led us to the present. This monument is significant for Afro Americans as well, in my opinion. It tells the story of how things used to be and the battle that was fought to overcome slavery. If the monument can't be viewed, then the story can't be told. Can't people just observe something, view it and if it bothers/offends them, then move on to something else, instead of insisting it be removed in its entirety so no one can enjoy it?

I do think the recent removal of the Confederate flag from the South Carolina State Capitol was appropriate as the flying of this flag is not representative of the state in it's entirety. But to totally remove it from our site will not solve or cure the issues as to why a gunman gunned down innocent people just as the removal of the Stone Mountain Monument will not erase the fact that part of our country favored slavery way back when. If America continues with this fanatical approach, I fear the American flag will no longer wave either.

Jennifer Salberg



How liberal of David E. Savage Jr. to reach back 14 years to make a point when rebutting Jerry Forrest's letter. Is that all you can come up with? But that's not why I'm writing, Mr. Savage is all over the place after that! He goes from the ACA to the court ruling on death row inmates deaths, then to the power companies and air pollution as well as water pollution. He ends with "That should make conservatives happy." Why in the hell would any of that make anybody happy?

Mr. Savage, I think conservatives have been kowtowing to liberals far too long; just look at the direction the United States has been heading for the last 50 years. We have no control over our own lives as the liberals force more and more of their laws on us and we become more and more of a "nanny state" than ever. We used to be a God-fearing nation, now we're becoming a Godless nation and I fear for my grandkids and their children as morals and common sense disappear.

Donna Seep


No takeover, please

It's not worth mortgaging the city’s future in order to acquire the Apple Valley Ranchos Water Company. It would put the Town tens of millions of dollars into debt just in order to buy the system and that is without factoring legal and consulting fees for the ensuing court battle.

The Apple Valley Town Council has already spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars with city attorney Best, Best and Krieger just to study the idea. All of these costs come without the promise of even lowering water rates, by the Council’s own admission.

Is it really worth the risk? We should not take over Ranchos Water Company.

Kathie Harbottle

Apple Valley

More fact checking

Re: Daniel deAvilan, July 27 letter to the editor ... Well, Danny, you're at it again. My original letter was about the lack of education our children are receiving on the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and the founding principles of limited government in our government-controlled public schools. I suggested that parents and grandparents take on the job of teaching our children these subjects and gave them a place they could go and learn for free.

Instead of having a civil conversation on the merits of teaching these things to our children you chose to go off on a totally irrational rant on Republicans and me that had nothing to do with teaching our children. In your most recent letter you continued your rant on Republicans and me, even though I fully agree that professional Republicans and Democrats share equally in the loss of liberty and the sorry state of our country. Specifically you accused me and Republicans of not supporting veterans because of bills you said were rejected by Republicans. Well, Danny boy, you flat got it wrong.

Here is what actually happened on each bill you said Republicans rejected: HR 2875 never came up for a vote. HR 1178 was passed by the House on 11/02/2009 and received by the Democrat controlled Senate on 11/03/09 where it died in the Democrat controlled committee. HR 1171 was passed by the House on 7/8/13 and signed into law on 8/9/13. HR 1172 passed the house on 6/23/09 and was received by the Democrat-controlled Senate on 6/24/09, where it died in the Democrat-controlled committee. HR 1293 was passed by the House on 7/28/09 and was received by the Democrat-controlled Senate, where it died in the Democrat-controlled committee. HR 1803 was passed by the House on 7/28/09 and received by the Democrat-controlled Senate, where it died in the Democrat-controlled committee. HR 2352 was passed by the House on 5/20/09 and received by the Democrat-controlled Senate, where it died in the Democrat-controlled committee. Who doesn't support veterans?

It is interesting to note most of theses bills were introduced by Republicans. Another interesting fact is, if you note the dates, except for HR 2875 and HR 1171 every one of these bills happened when the Democrats had super majorities and could have passed each one without a single Republican vote. It is also interesting to note the only one of these bills to become law was after the Republicans gained control of the House and gained enough Senate seats to end the super majority. Who doesn't support veterans?

Art Neumann

Apple Valley

A message in a bottle

As I see it, the “Black lives matter” movement has more to do with getting out the message that we in the black community are in trouble and we need help – that a national conversation must take place with the understanding that despite our differences, may the generated empathy break down our societal barriers and deliver to us our commonalities.

This is probably why Gov. O’Malley was apologizing.

Last year I got a wake-up call with the passing of my co-worker whom I’d gotten to know during his tenure. What I learned of the black community, I learned from Dan'te Parker. He was born in South Los Angeles and had survived the gangsterism that was endemic in his community, moving his family to Fresno and then to the Victor Valley to raise and school his kids.

More important was what I learned from the South Los Angeles Baptist Church which eulogized him — a reconnection of the church to the black community, and a proposition that would promise to wash away that which had ravaged their community for generations. The church, while condemning the former, was embracing that brotherhood and espousing a journey to fatherhood.

Citing Colossians 3:18-19: Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord… and 19, Husbands, love your wives and do not be embittered against them." Not a bad start – endearing the family; this should have all of our attention!

Poverty, dropout rates, and abortion would melt away upon the successes of black families. And despite the mendacities of Ms. Patrisse Cullors, her partisan rancor would not serve her cause, but only be remembered as political opportunism.

The black community is calling on the rest of us to listen.

Bryan A. Cook


Obama's Iran nuke deal

I'm not too concerned about Obama's deal with Iran. It's simply delaying the inevitable. Iran knows, just as the rest as the world, that the current administration doesn't possess the guts needed to adequately enforce this, or any other agreement, denying or even trying to limit Iran's access to nuclear weapons.

The way I understand it, when this agreement expires in 10 short years, Iran, (for all intents and purposes), will have all restrictions on their nuclear weapons program lifted and will have the capability to produce a nuclear bomb and the means to deliver it just two months later.

Upon becoming a nuclear power around Thanksgiving 2025, Iran's leaders, drooling at the opportunity to make good on their threats on the Jewish state, will lob a missile into Tel Aviv post haste and fail miserably. Unlike our own, Israel's leaders are quite resolute and most certainly DO posses the guts needed to respond to the threat.... and they will, I suspect, with a very heavy hand.

By Milad un Nabi 2025, (Mohammad`s birthday), the survivors in what was formerly Iran, will find themselves living in the stone age.

America's response? President Chelsea will undoubtedly condemn Israel as the aggressor.

Mike Sparlin


What truth?

Reader Daniel B. Jeffs has clearly found a hero (and perhaps a kindred spirit), as his paean to the "truth" of Donald Trump suggests. It also suggests that truth, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

How Mr. Jeffs (or anyone, for that matter) can be drawn to such an ignorant, ethnocentric, blustering, narcissistic, tone-deaf bully is difficult to fathom. But wait — history teaches that such blustering bullies, if they are charismatic enough, can attract large followings. It is a lesson we should have learned by now, and hopefully will not have to learn again.

Philip Gericke

Apple Valley

Basic geology

Wow. I guess some geologists don't remember basic Geo 101 studies that detailed climate changes in Earth's history. If Mr. Lipps (Berkeley!) did remember his basic geology he might recognize that the institutions he cites have contributed to the loss of credibility of our public sector scientists. And now according to Rabbi Weiss (from Brookline!, who knew?), I am a "fossil fuel capitalist" and mine for profits on public lands. Well, I am a capitalist, but to my knowledge I don't have any fossil fuel clients...yet.

But yes, I do serve mining clients who mine mostly on private but some on public lands to produce commodities that our communities need and use. Members of the Citizen's Climate Lobby (Mr. Weiser and Mr. Tabbert, Newport Beach!) don't like my observations about the political efforts to "stop climate change." If the CCL would actually consider the "science" they so disparage, they would not need to support a tax on energy-generated carbon emissions — because there is no science that demonstrates that the 0.4 percent of the human-generated CO2 drives dangerous climate change.

But seriously. Climate is changing. Urban heat effects and CO2's contribution to warming is real — and trivial. Global climate is not driven by CO2. A warmer earth is better for humans. CO2 is plant food. And those who think model projections are data while ignoring real data that shows global temperatures have remained flat (for over 18 years) while atmospheric CO2 has been rising are just unscientific.

Mr. Lipps argues that my "chief objection" is that CO2 reduction mandates and renewable mandates cost money. Well, yes. How does he think the money for the subsidies, grants and loan guarantees are financed? My objection, as I thought I had made clear, is that these mandates are not based on science. Expensive energy hurts everyone, especially the poor. I believe that most thinking Americans would like public policy to be based on science. Well, don't they?

Dinah Shumway

Principal Geologist

TerraMins Inc.

Apple Valley

Robbing Peter to pay Paul

Re: Charles Smith "Math and assumptions" letter... I don't know who Mr. Smith is. If he has ever attended an Apple Valley Town Council meeting, he hasn't introduced himself and hasn't ever gone to the podium to speak to the Council in my recollection.

Mr. Smith claims in his recent letter that I'm making assumptions as to why the Town of Apple Valley is contemplating the seizure of the Apple Valley Ranchos Water Company through eminent domain. I believe our Town is robbing Peter to pay Paul, as the saying goes. It's not that the Ranchos has tremendous levels of profit that the Town needs to seize them, but rather the Town simply needs the revenue stream, and like all governmental agencies will figure out how to handle the debt later.

Mr. Smith is correct about one thing, however. The debt will have to be paid back, and the Town has already admitted that it can't promise lower water rates, instead doing a little assuming of its own, when it says that it can stabilize water rates. Would it be presumptive of me to believe the Town absolutely plans to seize the Ranchos after spending untold hundreds of thousands of dollars on the endeavor?

We can't even get a straight answer out of our Council on this much, but the fact that they are engaging in preparing an Environmental Impact Report for acquisition would lead you to what assumptions, Mr. Smith?

David Mueller

Apple Valley