The answer?
Response to Carolyn Hawley’s letter of November 18, 2015:
How about this? Mother Nature has many ways of protecting her planet. One of these ways is to let a species kill their members off to prevent over population.
If we humans had not killed so many of our own in wars since time began, you would not have room to sit down now.
Norman Michael, N. Lakeport
Missing the point
So, Bill (RB 2015/11/18), couldn’t find any evidence that Hillary Clinton lied to the public about the video being the cause of the attack in Benghazi? Oh well. I guess I wasn’t demonizing Trey Gowdy after all. Then you translated that into my claiming that Hillary Clinton has never lied. How is that even close to what I said? I have heard HRC lie a number of times. The examples you bring up are two of them. But is this the best you could do? I can come up with several much more egregious. But I don’t think that was the subject of my previous letter.
By the way, Hillary said her mother told her she was named after Edmund Hillary so you would have to ask her mother, whom has passed away, if this was true.
Kevin Bracken, Kelseyville
Reviewing a life
The other night, as I lay in bed waiting for that restful period of sleep to come, my mind was reviewing the 70 plus years of life that have been given me. These past few years have brought that review to me as to reasons I took the path that I did and in living my life, what had caused me to do so. Maybe it is the fact I understand that my time is limited, as I lose both family and friends far more often than in the past.
That night I found my thoughts reviewing my life from my early youth to the present. I thought of those times that some event or experience caused me to follow the path that guided me to this very point in my life. I felt very much at ease during this in depth review which truly did bring a level of contentment. I now fully realize that my life was formed by so many choices along the way, and some, while not as good as others, were softened by those that were right on target.
In choosing the specific paths I began on in my earliest years, I believe their directions were partially within me at birth, probably a genetic thing. I share this as I have one brother and he chose a path totally opposite than I. Along the way, other factors were involved in guiding me through life, too. I was a hawk into my teens, but switched to being a dove during the Vietnam War. My parents were Republicans, but, far, far different than the conservative Republicans of today. I supported Ike just like they did.
Another event was when I witnessed something highly discriminatory within the faith based organization I attended each Sunday. It discouraged and dismayed me and lead me on the path to put my trust and belief in nature and science as the best directions my life should follow. In doing a deeper research of this issue and applying a touch of common sense I moved deeper into being liberal rather than following the conservative path. This proved over a lifetime to be a correct choice, to use common sense to figure out our world. It allowed me to be open and widen my views of my fellow man, to bringing a higher degree of tolerance, having far less fear in my everyday life, and opening my mind to a greater understanding of life in general. It also allowed for far more kindness of spirit that caused a genuine happiness that others could see in my smiling face with a twinkle in the eyes. The same could be said for the desire to learn and understand in
a modern, enlightened way, answers to far more of the questions our minds encounter over a lifetime.
It saddens me to this day to see those who live on the path of faith based rhetoric, limiting themselves to so many wonders and joys of life by the far narrower views of rights and wrongs that they practice. I totally believe that this gift of life is a one time only fact and start each day understanding that wasting even one unnecessarily is a true loss. So many times I have witnessed those who think that there going to a better place after the life we have here. Another point of understanding is the fact that the only thing we individuals have total control over is our INTEGRITY that far too many give away or sell out so cheaply. One of the best examples of this is the present day rat race fueled by, greed, wealth and power.
The past few years, I have had to endure some of the most disgusting and demoralizing actions by a fairly large group of my fellow citizens as to which path our Nation should take in the present. I have listened to those conservatives who are battling for the leadership position of the members of their clown car, and have exposed the failings of following a wrong path in living ones life. It is so hard to understand why they support such views of misinformation, anger and hate. Living in California doesn’t offer a view of what the conservative agenda is like in the Midwest and South. It sometimes feels like the Civil War has never been over, as to uniting our nation at all. That brutal, oh so costly conflict, did not solve so many negative aspects of why it was fought. A real shame for sure.
I am now seeing the desire for truth and fact based information being demanded by more and more of the ‘social media’ informed population of this Nation. It offers a hope that the young of our Nation may use their new found ability to access this information rich era to bring more understanding and resulting corrective actions to our government in the future. I can only hope it does, as each day passing my inner desire understands, that I may not see Dr. King’s dream come to fruition.
Jim Hall, Clearlake Oaks
