The “Deal” with Iran
What I don’t understand is why they want to reach an agreement at all. Well, I think I do, actually. At least Neville Chamberlain appears to have been sincere; Churchill included him in his War Cabinet after taking over as prime minister. And there was a pressing need to prevent the risk of Hitler invading England. Of course, the Munich Agreement was not the right approach, but Chamberlain was sincere even if incompetent. As far as I can tell, Obama’s policies are a mixture of arrogance and incompetence. Arrogance, in that he wants to weaken the West because of his views inherited directly from his father, plus he supports Islam because of his upbringing. Incompetence, because he can’t see – refuses to see – the failings of his own policies. I don’t think he can begin to see what a disaster a nuclear Iran will be for the world. A nuclear arms race in the Arab world. Mutually Assured Deterrence has worked for 70 years because the people with their fingers on the button were approximately sane and certainly not looking for martyrdom. Everyone thought it would be a disaster when India and Pakistan acquired nuclear weapons. So far, it has actually been mutual deterrence. Of course, the huge concern is when ISIS and its ilk get hold of Pakistan’s weapons. But Iran is crazy: giving them nuclear weapons will be a disaster. And half a dozen countries with nuclear weapons in the Middle East. Sooner or later, the ultimate suicide bombing will take place. I weep because when I was in my 20s, I traveled all through the Middle East, Afghanistan, etc., with reasonable safety. The Dark Ages did happen and are happening again. As for John Kerry, he is just Obama’s poodle, desperately craving to do something significant. Kerry is a classic example of the British upper classes who brought war to Europe in the first half of the 20th century, and economic disaster after WWII. These guys were tall, good-looking, well-spoken. But the crucial factor is they got their money and position by inheritance. They were not smart at all. Fortunately, a combination of Mrs. Thatcher, whom the aristocracy hated, and the Richard Branson types, have done away with pretty much all of that. Prince Charles is, of course, Exhibit A: not terribly bright but in a position of great importance through inheritance, and thinks he matters because of all the toadies who have sucked up to him from the cradle on. And in California, the pressing issue is plastic shopping bags... The defining characteristic of the age is that common sense has been abandoned. Scot O’Malley Santa Monica 9 – 16 April 2015
Wrong Again?
Always enjoy letters from Ernie Salomon, who brings such energy, passion, and rich vocabulary to everything he does that it’s fun to read him even when the facts behind his mirth, whimsy, caprice are mostly... wrong. It now averages about $73,000 per year to house someone in San Quentin. Of those there, fewer than one in five had either completed college, or had a stable career before committing the crimes that put them on taxpayers’ broad shoulders for years to come. Conversely, it takes less than ten percent of that for someone to go through SBCC and get – for those who stick it out – a prize-winning, nationally rated education and/or highly skilled preparation for a successful, readily transferable work career. In-state students at UCSB can also matriculate for a tiny fraction of $73,000 a year we spend on high-end inmates. Are SBCC and UCSB perfect, without sin or error? Of course not. Which big American corporation, public, private, nonprofit is? But if we look at positive value to the south coast, and risk reduction for our communities, which corporations contribute more, year after year, to our public health and vitality than SBCC and UCSB? They are among our region’s largest employers, product and service consumers, and job creators. They provide honest, high-skilled workers in almost every imaginable field, at very competitive prices to their area employers. Thanks to their entrepreneurial focus, each encourages new business startup creation. At UCSB, scientists and students (even as I write this) are researching aspects of the human genome; the chemical metabolics of cancer; ways to better understand and prevent climate change; to create cheaper, more efficient green energy and fuel cell sources; make safer use of micro-micro nano particles in many fields, and unlock the cosmos’ deepest secrets. How many prison guards who staff San Quentin, and work with its inmates, do cancer or hydrogen fuel cell research on their off-days? Or, like SBCC’s Scheinfeld Center for business entrepreneurship, create new high-value, high-wage jobs for California during work breaks? Meanwhile, SBCC-trained underwater specialists ply their trade above and beneath all the world’s oceans. Their nurses staff Cottage, and all California’s hospitals. Their trained techs take the MRIs, X-Rays, and CAT scans that guide California’s best doctors. Their trained chefs and wait people run our best cafés, restaurants, hotels. Their certificated “green gar-
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LETTERS Page 284 The writer must teach himself that the basest of all things is to be afraid. – William Faulkner
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