What’s the matter with the American people? I see protests about the exorbitant price of gasoline and that’s about all. With enough publicity, if people would simply stop buying gas for 24 hours, you would see the price come down.

We had this kind of protest in the ’70s and it worked — but it has to be on a grand scale, i.e., everybody has to be involved. We, the people, need to be shown respect.

Let’s quit moaning about the price of gasoline. The oil companies should be headed toward the guillotine.

We folks who need our cars to drive to work shouldn’t be penalized like a jerk.

Stand up for yourself, don’t buy gas for 24 hours. We, the working class, have the power.

Come on folks, let’s show those guys. Let’s join together and knock them down to size.

Helen Lewison

San Francisco

Kucinich impeachment effort

Impeachment at last! Finally a Democrat has developed sufficient spine to do the moral thing and attempt to rid us of our war-criminal president.

Hey, if lying about consensual sex in the White House can get you there, perhaps one of these 35 articles of impeachment just might give George the boot.

But then, we always have been more fixated on sex than violence anyway. Regardless of the outcome, this shows the world that we do care about international law and lawbreakers.

For those who have time, go to chun.afterdowningstreet.org/amomentoftruth.pdf.

Way to go, Dennis Kucinich.

Mike Caggiano

San Mateo

Hill should concede

As a longtime political observer in San Mateo County, I see the election of Jerry Hill as an anomaly.

With the instant-runoff voting system supported by the San Mateo County Democratic Party, I have to believe that Richard Holober’s votes would have ensured the election of Gina Papan.

Jerry Hill should concede. Let a real Democrat compete with a real Republican (and, with IRV, the third parties might also get a chance).

Jack Hickey

Emerald Hills

McCain is out of touch

When can our troops come home from Iraq? “That’s not too important,” John McCain said when he was asked this month on NBC’s “Today” show.

But how does that sound to families who have a loved one serving in Iraq, who live for the day when they can see their child, spouse or parent again, alive and in one piece?

I thought McCain was out of touch with us before, but this takes the cake. From what McCain has said about continuing the war in Iraq, he does not care one bit about what most of us want.

Most Iraqis want us out of their country, too. But he has said he would keep us in Iraq for another five years, or as he excitedly told one reporter, maybe “a hundred years” or “a thousand or million years.” What mood swings the man has.

McCain said in March of this year, “No one has supported President Bush on Iraq more than I have.” Yet now he conveniently tries to distance himself from Bush.

If McCain is elected president, we will be dragged down by another four years of Bush policies.

Doug Long

Rio Rancho, N.M.

Media felt the pressure

The fallout over Scott McClellan’s book continues with startling new revelations and hopeful signs that more and more reporters are resisting the pressures of their corporate sponsors and owners.

Many prominent journalists have voiced their support for McClellan’s basic assertions that the national news media served as “complicit enablers” for Bush’s push for war on Iraq.

Katie Couric, anchor of “CBS Evening News,” and Brian Williams, anchor of “NBC Nightly News,” have publicly come out supporting McClellan’s basic premise that Bush Inc. deliberately misled the American people in the lead up to the Iraq war.

In February 2005, CNN’s chief news executive, Eason Jordan, was forced to resign after a videotape emerged in which Jordan was heard complaining that the U.S. military had deliberately killed 63 journalists in Iraq (The Washington Post, Feb. 12, 2005).

Jessica Yellin, formerly of MSNBC and currently with CNN, revealed that corporate executives that own the networks tightly controlled the pro-war coverage.

FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) reported that Phil Donahue was another early casualty, invoking the wrath of MSNBC for his anti-war position.

An internal memo confirmed that MSNBC only wanted shows that presented a pro-war stance.

Tej Uberoi

Los Altos

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