Re: Dustin Christensen, Letters, July 15).
I am getting so tired of this Hitler/Obama comparison that I really don't know where to start. We see it on signs at Tea Party rallies across America; this past week we saw it on a billboard sign in Iowa; and now we have our own local comparison right here in Daily Press letters.
There is absolutely no comparison between the two. Enough is enough.
Insight from Lucerne Valley
In times like these, drizzled as we are by Tea Party know-nothingisms (even the Daily Press appears to have succumbed to this drivel), it's crucial to remember one of our most famous local voices: Ray Bradbury and his deep roots in Lucerne Valley. In 2000, Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 was honored with the National Book Award. Early in the novel, first published in 1953 but set in the future (i.e., our present), Guy Montag — a fireman paid to burn books — tries to have a conversation with his somnolent, "patriotic" wife, Mildred. Guy begins: "(Last night) we burnt a thousand books. We burnt a woman." "Well?" "We burnt copies of Dante and Swift and Marcus Aurelius." "Wasn't he a European?" "Something like that." "Wasn't he a radical?" "I never read him." 'Nuff said. Heaven help us.
Stuart Kellogg
Beyond federal law
Re: "Out of touch" (Our Opinion, July 16). You say Arizona's controversial new immigration law "largely reflects federal law regarding detaining people suspected of being in the United States illegally." The key word here is "largely." The bill also contains a number of provisions that go far beyond federal law. This is the real reason for the Justice Department lawsuit, to see if any of these provisions violate the Constitution. The Constitution trumps public opinion. Just ask Al Gore. You also criticize President Obama's six-month moratorium on deep water oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. However, you neglects to mention that the moratorium affected only 33 of over 3,000 oil rigs in the Gulf and was overturned by a Louisiana judge who had large investments in oil and gas. It's clear who is really out of touch here.
Johnathan Haas
It seems President Obama can do nothing right. If he appears to violate the U.S. Constitution let's get him for that. If on the other hand he seems to uphold the Constitution (Immigration policy is a federal, not state, responsibility) let's accuse him of politics. So really, "Let's see" as Our Opinion so eloquently states it, if it is just politics.
Your diatribe against Mr. Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder is undermined by your publishing of the numbers of people who support the Arizona law. If it''s just "politics" on the part of Obama and Holder, are they just stupid or incompetent or both?
The Presidency is a political institution. Large numbers of people (perhaps voters?) don't want them to do what they are doing. Are they going against the grain of so many to reap the rewards of the "Hispanic" vote sometime in the future? Is that politics? Any gain Mr. Obama could expect to see would not come for many years and in the short term, when elections are decided, would increase his unpopularity. So is he "taking one for the team"? Is he really that much of a Machiavelli?
Your insistence of labeling "Another view" on the opinion page is disconcerting. It's the same Libertarian and right wing drivel as "Our Opinion," just published in a different paper.
The "Another View" label is simply propaganda.
Peter Lipscomb
To have your letter published: Write: P.O. Box 1389, Victorviile, 92393. Fax: 760-241-1860. Or e-mail: SWilliams@VVDailyPress.com.