Posted 9:50 PM by Floyd

Today in downtown Mountain View I saw posters for an anti-war protest organized by Not in Our Name. The slogan was

Our Grief Is Not a Cry for War

It's dangerous to light a match around the anti-war left; anywhere you put it you are likely to ignite a strawman. Would someone please show me anyone has cited grief as his or her reason for supporting the War on Terror?

More evidence of the anti-war movement's complete dissociation from reality can be found in today's San Jose Mercury News letters page:

THE current federal budget calls for $355 billion for national defense; that amounts to $11,000 per second. Of course, any future wars against Iraq or any other country will necessitate even more increases. By comparison, the second largest item on the budget is education at $45 billion, a mere 12 percent of the military budget.

Is this what we truly value? Are we willing to continue to spend that kind of money on our military while the infrastructure of our country deteriorates: the quality of state and local governments, school systems, housing, medical care, mental health services, police and fire protection, support for the arts, etc.

Each of us ultimately has to choose whether to live by faith or by fear, by love or by hate, by violence or by non-violent resistance. Each of us has to choose whether we are to be creators and nurturers or destroyers and oppressors. It is imperative that each one of us become an active voice for our values. The time to act is now.

Stephen R. Foltz
Aptos

Well, Stephen, I'm certainly not going to live by faith; I choose reason. If my hatred of our enemies is wrong, so is your hatred for the innocent victims whose murder you choose not to resist. I choose violence because non-violence can only be effective when directed at people who have consciences.

And I'll be damned if I'm going to "nurture" terrorists.