November 19, 2004

LETTERS2theEDITOR

Resident tired of leaving the area to shop and dine

Editor,
Being a homeowner in the Evergreen area for nearly five years now, I’ve grown quite frustrated with the direction this community is headed. In the Nov. 6 edition of the Evergreen Times, I read a few articles that suggest the restaurant that was planned for the Beshoff MotorCars location might not even open at all.

What is going on? New homes continue to be built left and right, flooding our community with more congestion and creating more traffic jam nightmares at the Capitol Expressway entrance/exit to Highway 101. And yet we can’t even get a decent sit-down restaurant to open up in our area, forcing us to get caught in the congestion. This is simply ridiculous. I’m so sick of having to leave the area to do shopping or dine out at a decent restaurant.

And I’m not even suggesting we target a high-end restaurant. If we just had a few middle-of-the-road establishments to start out with, that would suffice. Yet we have to go out of the area just to eat at the popular chain establishments like Chili’s, Chevy’s, Outback, El Torito, Olive Garden, etc.

Any one of those would be a good addition to Red Lobster, one of the only real options in the area. It looks as though Mexicali Grill might open soon, but it’s looked that way for several months now. And parking is going to be horrible when it does open anyway, just like it was when the building housed the Pedro’s Restaurant.

Not only is there room next to Beshoff MotorCars, but I’ve seen a nice-sized lot near Target that has been available for some time now. There looks to be plenty of room in the Eastridge Shopping Center. And even when it’s finished being remodeled, I doubt the mall itself will attract enough consumers to fill the enormous parking lots. It sure would be nice to get a BJ’s Brewery, Buca Di Beppo, Stoddard’s, Gordon Biersch, Benihana, or a PF Changs, but any of those would likely be out of the question, I’m sure.

How is it that Oakridge Mall, which is located near a number of big name restaurants already, can open three or four new large restaurants, and we can’t get one? I’m sorry folks, but with the increasing congestion, the lack of effort being put forth to attract some nice dining options and the little faith I have in the Eastridge Mall project being little more than a refaced indoor flea market, I’m sure others will agree that Evergreen is becoming a less attractive place to live each year.

Sure, demand for new Evergreen homes may still be high, but that’s only because it’s one of the last affordable, semi-decent areas in San Jose where you can buy a new home. Just wait until the Silver Creek area is completely filled with new homes. The congestion will be unbearable, and unfortunately, everyone will continue to leave the area to dine and shop.

With Santana Row, Valley Fair, Willow Glenn and now Oakridge Mall all loaded with good places to eat and shop, there is some serious work to be done to make Evergreen more attractive for local commerce. I’m hoping the people who are doing the planning realize this.

Chris & Cinthia Raymond
Aborn/White Road, Evergreen

American ignorance of world affairs

Editor,
Thank you for publishing the letters from Sistilio Testa. It takes courage and journalistic integrity to allow such a dissenting voice in your paper.

Mr. Testa is right in his assertions of Americans’ ignorance about world affairs. This lack of awareness results in a failure to recognize or appreciate the depth of contempt and hatred felt for us by much of the world. Because of corporate domination of our media, we are bombarded daily, in the press and on television, by ‘news,’ which is little more than public relations handouts from the White House and Pentagon.

How many people in the United States. know, for example, that U.S. taxpayers are subsidizing the slaughter of Palestinians—not terrorists, but children, women and old people? How many of our citizens know that Israel has been illegally occupying Palestine for 37 years? Or that the United States has vetoed numerous resolutions condemning this occupation and the denial of basic human rights, resources and even water and food, to defenseless Palestinians under occupation?

How many realize that the United States not only gives billions of dollars to Israel every year, but continues to supply free or at-cost arms—fighter planes, helicopter gun-ships—weapons that are used, in violation of U.S. as well as international law, to murder innocent civilians in Palestine refugee camps? How often do we hear that Israeli “defense” forces regularly shoot down unarmed civilians?

The image of Israel presented overwhelmingly in U.S. media is that of a tiny, beleaguered state, struggling to defend itself from deranged suicide bombers. The fact is that Israel is one of the most heavily armed states in the world, and has been cited by human rights groups and the U.N. for the most egregious violations of basic human rights.

This includes refusing to allow ill people to pass checkpoints to reach medical assistance, the shooting of school children seated at their desks, blatant attacks on journalists, smearing of excrement on children’s drawings at an elementary school after it has been demolished, refusal to allow human rights observers to enter refugee areas, the wanton destruction of Palestinian homes, even uprooting 1000-year-old olive trees.

While Ariel Sharon was overseeing the slaughter of innocent Palestinian civilians, G.W. Bush praised him as “a man of peace.” Sharon has a long history of killing unarmed people in refugee camps, and G.W. Bush has a history of utilizing lies and distortions to achieve his goals.

The most serious threat to world peace and stability today is not Osama bin Laden or a desperate, hopeless Palestinian youth willing to sacrifice his own life. The most serious threat by far is a nuclear-armed United States under the Bush regime and a nuclear-armed Israel led by Ariel Sharon.

The face is that the United States and Israel are the most dangerous rogue states in the world today. And the American people would be a lot safer if they were informed of what is really happening, instead of being spoon-fed the pureed pap of our corporate media.

Phylllis Lanham
Nepo Court, 95119

Evergreen resident supports war in Iraq

Editor,
It infuriates me to read such partisan views in your Nov. 6 - 19 edition on the “unnecessary diversion” of real terror issues. Why are there no letters posted with the view that what we are doing in Iraq is right and was necessary? Why aren’t there letters expressing support for Bush? He won the election and people are still furious about his re-election.

Why? It is because people can’t stand voting for someone that lost the election. Mr. Deshmukh states that it was unnecessary and it was just a diversion of our resources from real terror issues. What does that mean … “real terror issues?”

Do real terror issues include genocide, repressing the minority people, etc? This is what Hussein did. The French and the Germans did not participate in the Iraqi war because those countries have a large stake in their economy. You argue because it’s all about oil? So why aren’t oil prices going anywhere below $2?

That just doesn’t cut it for me. “East is East and West is West,” but when tyrants are killing innocent lives because of their religion, race, gender, etc. it is the responsibility of the world to take this problem head on. So why didn’t the world man up to this responsibility? It is because the United Nations is made up of politicians who try to make peace with everybody ... even when that doesn’t look like a possibility.

What is their view on North Korea and Iran? Why haven’t they [the UN] done anything besides holding talks and getting nowhere? The UN has to take a tougher stance and do what is necessary to solve these problems. If a country doesn’t follow UN regulations, the UN has to punish those countries.

The UN stands in the background and does not back up its policies. The problems in N. Korea and Iran are due to the UN’s lack of responsibility in enforcing these kinds of sanctions. Stop blaming Bush for the bad economy and everything else you can think of. The country has spoken and has decided that Bush is the best person for the job, not Kerry.

Vince Leung
Evergreen

Chaboya student feels Bush was better qualified for presidency

Editor,
I too am a Chaboya student and was embarrassed by the letter submitted by Chaboya student Kevin Liao. Kevin wrote that President George Bush is not qualified for the office of president of the United States of America, but I believe my fellow student was not supplied with accurate information.

As for Kevin’s mention of the No Child Left Behind Act; since taking office the president has increased funding by $11 billion, Title 1 funding for low-income students by 52 percent and special education funding by 75 percent. Senator John Kerry’s alternative to the No Child Left Behind Act would be to make schools less accountable, weaken the call for high standards and increase the number of unqualified teachers.

President Bush believes his most important job is to protect America. Sept. 11 taught us we must confront “Gathering Threats” before it is too late. He laid down the Bush Doctrine Policy that if you train, harbor or finance terrorists, you are a terrorist. As a result, the Taliban and the Regime of Saddam Hussein, both threats to America, are no more.

As you know, John Kerry voted to go to war with Iraq, stating it was important to get rid of Saddam Hussein on Jan. 28, 2003, and then voted against providing our troops with the tools they need to get the job done. These funds provided body armor and health care for reservists. Kerry voted at least 12 times against pay increases for military members.

John Kerry has repeatedly opposed weapons vital to winning the War on Terror. These weapons include Bradley fighting vehicles, Patriot missiles, B-2 Stealth bombers, F18 Fighter Jets and more. Just two years after the first attack on the World Trade Center, Kerry proposed slashing intelligence budgets by $7.5 billion.

Kevin said that we have lost jobs under Bush. According to CNN.com on Oct. 14 George W. Bush has added 1.7 million jobs in four years. Kevin says that no other countries are supporting us in the war effort. Because of the help of the 32 countries fighting the war on terror, Iraq expects to host elections for a new leader this coming January. Historically, if you didn’t vote for Saddam Hussein you would lose a hand. Fortunately, his name will not be on the ballot this year.

As for the weapons of mass destruction, John Kerry, Bill Clinton, Al Gore and the United Nations were all convinced that Saddam Hussein had possession of them. Where are these weapons? After 12 years of receiving warnings from the United Nations, Saddam hid them. My guess is that they were smuggled into Syria, but I learned during my education at Chaboya that you shouldn’t guess, you should check your facts before submitting false information.

Caroline Isaacs
Eighth Grade
Chaboya Student

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