Letters to the Editor, December 24, 2004

	Wishing you the best Christmas ever, and most peaceful of New Years.

	"Merry Christmas" by Gilad Atzmon atz@onetel.net

Sent by Joseph E Fasciani

Arafat

Arafat was a great man, unfortunately we human beings haven't got many like him, and that is bad.

Salam.

Joseph Rodriguez

Blair's PR stunt

Thank you for providing an article on Tony Blair's latest and perhaps most sad effort at a public relations stunt (Al-Jazeerah, December 23, 2004).

How sad to see the prime minister of a nation that once had the respect of many on several continents parroting the extremist Sharon regime line of blaming the victims, the Palestinians, for all violence and then , perhaps to add insult to injury, having Sharon refuse to even send a low level flunky to the London conference, a meeting which is delayed a month with the passing of every two weeks. Indeed Blair's disrespect for Yasser Arafat was dwarfed by Sharon's disrespect for Bush's poodle, Tony Blair.

Alan R. Balboni, Ph.D.

Let's all hope for PEACE for all mankind

Silent night........................while millions are celebrating Christmas, thousands of children are dying of malnutrition worldwide every day - and slaughtering happening in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine - Africa (again !) - and we are singing JOY to the World.

Let's all hope for PEACE for all mankind - may the people of this world unite for PEACE !

When will the governments understand: they are only for a blink of an eye on this earth - and it doesn't really matter how much wealth they have accumulated. What counts is: did I respect my fellow man - what can I do to nurture earth - to preserve earth - to bring Peace to mankind.....Anything else is humbug.

Angie Badelt, Germany

Mutual or Self-Destruction

Has MAD become a PSD?

Dear Editor, Remember MAD, "Mutual Assured Destruction?" The military-industrial complex probably thinks it got rid of that problem with the demise of the Soviet Union. But, in case you haven't noticed, the military-industrial complex against which Dwight D. Eisenhower warned, has itself been transformed into something else. We now have a corporate culture of death instead of what used to be just a corporate elite. Along with the evolution of a corporate culture of death, we have witnessed the growth of the pro-birth movement.

Although, at first blush, it might seem to negate the fixation on death, a pro-birth strategy is a prerequisite, if the pipeline of death is to be replenished. For people to keep dying, especially at an accelerated rate, more have to be born to take their place. The final element required to enable this culture of death to thrive is an ever growing debt. A pro-debt agenda not only serves as a disguise, hiding the true nature of the culture of death; it enables the corporate elite to profit without having to pay. You'd think that a culture of death would be self-defeating--a Program of Self-Destruction or PSD, if you will. But, what keeps it going is that it's other people's children, both at home and abroad, that are being killed.

Monica Smith

http://hannah.smith-family.com