Opinion

Letters to the editor


Published: June 20, 2008

Is Iran next?

To the editor:

President Bush is talking about Iran the same way he was talking about Iraq in 2002. We cannot sustain a war with Iran, and there is no reason for it. Rep. John Conyers' recent letter to Bush has pointed out the constitutional balances of power which unauthorized war would violate. Please support Congress and urge your reps to support an impeachment resolution if Iran is attacked without proper authority.

Timothy Frazer

Concord, N.H.

Enough is enough

To the editor:

Sen. Sununu, the time has come! Over 4,076 American soldiers have lost their lives while serving in Iraq. More than 30,000 have been wounded. My own brother William just arrived there earlier this month and his vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb. Thankfully, he has only minor injuries. Since the United States invaded Iraq, over a million Iraqi civilians have been killed. How many more lives need to lost in order for our government to realize that we have accomplished enough?

The war in Iraq has brought freedom to the Iraq people. They are no longer under the cruel reign of Saddam Hussein. Our troops have performed valiantly and done all that our government has asked of them. Unfortunately, the Iraqi Government has not been so forthcoming. While our troops toil away in the midst of a civil war, the Iraqi government has failed to meet the political benchmarks we have set out for them. The time has come to take the pressure of building a safe and secure Iraq off of the backs of American soldiers and give it to the Iraqi government.

The Bush-Sununu status-quo strategy of stay the course has failed to produce the political progress needed for a stable, sustainable Iraq. We now need to set a timeline to gradually withdraw troops from the region and hand things over to the Iraqis. I understand we do need to maintain a presence in the region to keep the embassy open as well as to preserve stability. Yet the kind of long term presence being discussed by President Bush and others will simply continue to stoke the coals of resentment.

Senator Sununu, I would like to know how you and your fellow elected officials would be voting if your own children were fighting on the frontlines of this war? Would you be siding with President Bush 90% of the time if your son or daughters were there in harm's way? I highly doubt that this war would still be going on if our politicans' own flesh and blood were there serving in a treacherous warzone. The time has come for setting up a timeline for gradual troop withdrawal. We need our mothers, fathers, sister, brothers, uncles and aunts back home. John McCain has said that we may be in Iraq for up to 100 years. That is totally unacceptable. This war has tarnished our scarred reputation to the rest of the world. The loss of US soldiers is absolutely sickening. Enough is enough!!!

Jennifer Craffey

Nashua, N.H.

Outdoor Fair And Expo

To the Editor:

The first annual "Our Town" fair and expo will be sponsored by the Salem Woman's Club on Saturday, July 12 from 9 to 5 pm at the Rockingham Park Racetrack. This fair will be held rain or shine.

We have one- hundred 10 X 10 rental spaces available on a first come first serve basis. It will be a fun time for the entire Salem Community. There will be entertainment, face painting, races, raffles, food, magicians, rides, a dunk tank, specialty features and many other surprises. Bring the family and enjoy. Electricity is not available. All proceeds will benefit local community projects.

Wanted, crafters, businesses, home décor, floral arrangements, candles, baskets, ceramics, metal, mosaic, pet products, doll clothes, purses, etc.

Crafters, artisans, specialty items, home expo wares, non-profits, health organizations, town organizations, brochures and information, information booths, jewelry, aromatherapy, oils, local banks, businesses, financial information, flea market items, new clothing wares, home show items, flags, furniture, lamps, leather, photography, purses, quilts, wood, shell craft, slate, others, etc. Use your imagination and rent a 10 x 10 space at a very affordable price. Arts and Craft tables will be separated.

For more information and application form call 893-6653 or Nananetc@aol.com. Bring your own table, canopy or umbrella to place on hot top space.

Annette Cooke

Betty Moran

Salem, N.H.

Theos says 'thank you'

To the editor:

I would like to send out a message of thanks to those who recently recognized my volunteer work by presenting me with the Robert W. Lincoln Award.

I continue to receive congratulations from fellow workers and many townspeople and friends and would also like to thank all of them for their good wishes.

I was in awe of the reception I received at the Londonderry High School spring pep rally by the students and teachers and am very thankful to have gotten it. There have been so many High School students who have volunteered their time helping with Special Olympics over the last 2 decades I could never mention them all. You know who you are and thank you! The interaction between those high school students and the special Athletes is priceless, and I believe they all learn so much from each other.

I am blessed to work with Special Olympics and to live and work in a town where the Special Olympians are treated with such genuine respect. The name of the team is Special Forces and they are! Thank you again for this honor.

Mary Theos

Londonderry, N.H.

Plant sale a succes

To the editor:

The Derry Garden Club's Plant Sale was very successful — even the weather cooperated this year!

Thank You to everyone that came to our sale. We look forward to seeing many of you again next year.

We want to say Thank You to everyone who let us dig in their gardens. Happily, the list is growing longer!

Also we thank Channel 17, Clam Haven, Benway Johnston, Marion Gerrish Community Center and Dr. Scott Copeland for helping us advertise this sale.

We appreciated all the publicity that we received along the way.

Here are the contributors to our raffle: Walmart Supercenter, Lake Street Garden Center, Rockingham Acres Garden Center, Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Home Depot, Chekarian Farm Greenhouse, Dollar Bill's Discount World, Delahunty Nurseries and Florists, Benson's Lumber and Hardware, Inc., Londonderry, Fred Nugent and Derry Feed and Supply Co. Our raffle was very successful thanks to all of your donations.

Here are the winners of the raffle: Tim Butterfield, Kathy Bibeau, Justin Asani, Y Klein, Heide Dannion, Silvia Mace, Gloria Skidmore, Jane Hebert, Pat Hume, Chris Reed, Lou Ann Whitton, Sandy Fritschy, Kim Lund, Laurel Fecteau and Priscilla Dalrymple. Congratulations to all of you.

The Derry Garden Club has many civic beautification projects on going in Derry and uses money raised from this sale to maintain them. We have a children's garden at the Robert Frost Homestead, we care for the Manning Street Pocket Park, and also the Marion Gerrish Community Center.

Don't Forget: The Annual Recycling Pots Day will be Saturday, June 7, from 10-12, rain or shine, at the Marion Gerrish Community Center, West Broadway, Derry. If you have any pots from our sale, please drop them off so we can reuse them next year. For more information call 432-9215 or derrygardenclub.org.

The Manchester Animal League on Dunbarton Road came at the end of the sale and packed their car with our perennials so they can have a plant sale in June to raise money for the animals there in Manchester.

Members of the Derry Garden Club

Derry, N.H.

Bradley deserves support

To the editor:

I want to take this opportunity to support Jeb Bradley's effort to win back the seat in Congress from the First District.

Jeb was a small-business owner and in Congress Jeb worked for lower taxes, cutting wasteful spending and always supported troops and veterans.

Everyone also knows how hard he worked. He held town hall meetings just about every weekend in New Hampshire and in Washington slept in his office. Anyone could always reach Jeb directly. His phone was listed in the phone book, his answering machine directed people to his cell phone and guess what? He answered those calls himself.

One of those calls came from me after Jeb left office. I was at my wits end trying to get my former husband's veterans benefits straightened out. Jeb patiently explained what I should do and that he would work with Senator Judd Gregg's office to make sure that Norman Segal got the benefits he had earned serving our nation.

Jeb was there for me when I needed him the most and Jeb will be there for all of us when we send him back to Washington.

Lois Segal-Morgan

Wolfeboro, N.H.

Vet supports Bradley

To the editor:

As a U.S. Navy veteran, I retain strong feelings of comradeship for those who have served and protected our nation in all conflicts, particularly the ones currently in progress in the Middle East. Jeb Bradley, Republican candidate for the First District congressional seat in 2008, certainly shares these views and strongly supported the veteran's issues during six terms in the New Hampshire legislature and two terms as our Representative in Congress.

Many voted for "change" in Congress in 2006, and the current Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, with a Democratic majority have certainly given us that. The many issues supported by our current incumbent are not the kind of "change" that we favor in New Hampshire. Among these are: the largest tax increase in history, greatly increased government spending; exorbitant "pork" earmarks for special interests; and even taxpayer-funded benefits for illegal aliens, etc. If they could get their way we would have already surrendered to the terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan — where we are currently making good progress toward bringing a degree of peace to these tragic countries.

In these times we need to return New Hampshire values and experience to Congress.

Jeb Bradley represented our commonsense values of frugality, limited government, low taxes, personal responsibility, and individual freedom when he served in Washington from 2003 to 2006. He voted consistently for tax relief, economic growth initiatives, spending restraint, border security, environmental protection, affordable health care, and preserving the rights of all Americans guaranteed by the Constitution.

One of his highest priorities, now and then is to support the men and women currently in the armed forces and our nation's veterans to whom we owe our most precious freedoms — as we recall every Memorial Day. He has been the recipient of numerous awards from veteran's organizations while in Congress, and has always merited their unqualified support.

Finally, all who know Jeb realize that he has always been one of our most accessible representatives (probably in the nation!). His cell phone number is readily available, and he returns calls from his constituents both day and night to hear their concerns and updated them on the status of their issues.

Please join me, and thousands of other veterans in New Hampshire, by voting for Jeb Bradley in the September primary and the November general elections — and return him to Congress in 2008.

John Deady Sr.

Bedford, N.H.

It's to be expected

To the editor:

Death, taxes ... and inflation

When I was growing up we would save up our money, and when we had a whole dollar, we'd go to the bank and swap our change for a silver dollar. The bank kept silver dollars at the window for just that. Each silver dollar contained just under an ounce of silver.

When I got out of the army in 1968, my first real job paid $120 a week. That doesn't sound like a lot, but you could still swap those dollars for silver. Then came the seventies with inflation rates through the roof. Silver coins (following "Gresham's Law) disappeared. We got great raises, but somehow we kept falling further behind. Sometimes we got "tax cuts", however, they never amounted to much because inflation kept pushing us into higher tax brackets.

Now that silver dollar is worth around $17 in paper. The $120 a week in silver comes out to $2040 in present day paper. That's $51 an hour in present day paper dollars. How many entry level jobs are paying $50 an hour today?

We hear Bernanke babbling about "wage/price spirals" and other fairy tales. The reality is that they've stolen the wealth of a generation by printing paper dollars. Each dollar the Federal Reserve prints makes every dollar in your pocket, in your bank account, and in your retirement account worth less. People who work for a living, or who are trying to exist on "Social Security" are being pushed into poverty. Our nation is a shadow of what it was when "sound as a dollar" meant as sound as gold and silver coins.

One thing our government owes us is a sound currency. A dollar that's worth as much this year as last year, and that will be worth as much next year would eliminate the need for programs to help those who've been ripped off by dollar inflation. When you hear someone from Washington telling you it's time to sacrifice, just visualize the printing press behind them pouring out endless, worthless paper dollars.

John Lewicke

Mason, N.H.