Letters in the Editor's Mailbag.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Rubicon uncrossed

Ken Zimmerman (letters, June 17) stated that George Bush has "crossed the Rubicon" by denying Jose Padilla and the American people due process. Give me a break!

President Bush did what he had to do because our criminal justice system is a national joke. Padilla may opt to be his own counsel. With our system, that's an almost automatic guilty verdict. Or Padilla may opt to put together a legal dream team with money from who knows where. O.J. Simpson proved the wisdom of that route. Padilla may also enlist the aid of the American Civil Liberties Union and other "rights" groups and make us all look like fools by using our own laws against us. We could even be sued.

Zimmerman did make one statement that made sense when he said the legal system provides a powerful mechanism to hold and punish (Padilla). That powerful mechanism, unfortunately, is for the most part in place to benefit and enrich members of the legal system. In my humble opinion, it has only a cursory effect in protecting the American people from the likes of Padilla.

LARRY PIERCE Eugene

VA clinic inadequate

As I read the June 8 article on the Veteran's Administration Clinic in Eugene, I kept waiting for the rest of the story. It is clear that the reporter is not a vet, has not talked to any vets and has never tried to make an appointment at the clinic.

Next time, the reporter might want to ask a few questions to find out how well everything is working. He might ask why veterans frequently get an answering machine when they call the clinic - and why calls are rarely returned. The reporter might ask what the director has done to improve the three-month wait for an appointment, or why aging veterans who are entering the VA benefits system wait nearly a year to be processed. He might ask why the staff is so overwhelmed with patients.

The reporter remarked on the efficiency provided by the clinic's remodeling. He might have asked why it was so small to begin with, or why that money wasn't redirected to provide more staff and better medical follow-up care. He might have asked why the clinic has not been functioning as a walk-in clinic so that sick or injured veterans can receive timely care instead of having to travel to the Roseburg VA Hospital.

The reporter might have asked why most of the vets don't blame the staff. The doctors, nurses and staff are hard working individuals who really care and are overwhelmed by the lack of proper staffing, low pay, red tape and leaders who are too busy protecting their backsides to take charge.

If your reporter thinks that the remodeling was an improvement, then he should ask some vets. They would tell him it was just a rearranging of the deck chairs on the Titanic.

MALCOLM STECK Eugene

Address hate radio

A number of recent letters have taken Mark Oldham to task for describing Michael Savage's talk radio show as "hate radio" (letters, June 5), one of them stating that "not a shred of evidence" supports this label.

Perhaps a few Michael Savage quotes would shed some light on the concept and people can draw their own conclusions: "I spit on them (leftists); I hate their guts." "(Sen. Joseph) McCarthy was 100 percent right ... McCarthy was a hero" (March 28, 2002). "Only an outright war against the atheists can save this country; they must be eliminated" (March 7). "Anyone who goes on welfare should lose their right to vote; they are parasites" (April 18). "I hate geese, they're out of control and they attack you if you go near them ... I would force the homeless to eat geese until they gagged ... the geese are like immigrants. You open up the door to them and the next thing you know they are defecating on your country and breeding out of control" (April 5).

Labels cast aside, the more important issue involved here is the disastrous overturning of the Fairness Doctrine under President Reagan in the 1980s. Since then, nearly 100 percent of political discourse on AM talk radio nationwide has become rabid, right-wing, unchallenged vitriol levied against any political figure who is targeted for the day. Mix this with lavish praise and endorsements for their pet political candidates and you have a warped system indeed. This kind of monopolization of AM radio, which reaches tens of millions of people every day, is more indicative of a Third World dictatorship then a healthy democracy, and it's an issue I would hope people would begin to take very seriously.

GERRY REMPEL Eugene

LETTERS LOG

Letters received in past week: 129

Letters published: 64

What's on readers' minds: The state's budget crisis was the most popular topic in the past week's Mailbag, with 12 readers submitting letters on the Legislature's efforts to resolve an $860 million deficit. On related matters, seven readers addressed the $8.5 billion shortfall in the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System, and five expressed support for a sales tax dedicated to funding public schools. We also received eight letters denouncing Lane County commissioners' vote to raise their pay by 31 percent; six each on the West Eugene Parkway, the Bush administration's consideration of a pre-emptive strike on Iraq and hate radio, and five on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the Mideast.

- The Register-Guard

CAPTION(S):

The Register-Guard welcomes letters on topics of general interest. Our length limit is 250 words; all letters are subject to condensation. Because of the volume of mail, not all letters can be printed. Mail letters to Mailbag, P.O. Box 10188, Eugene, OR 97440-2188 Fax: [phone] E-mail: [e-mail]