To the Editor:
Second Opinion
Martin, you are of course free to comment at will on my column, but this short (but getting longer) series is about how I came to believe what I do, which will become clear only when I am finished. Many people won't care, which is fine. But these are my impressions, and I am finding that the recollections are far more intense and complicated than I had realized. You can take a rest from me, for the present, if you choose.
To recap, conversely in more detail, the 1960's-70's saw three major history-changing movements in America. Civil unrest resulting from multiple assassinations (JFK, RFK and MLK) where leaders of change were shown to be fatally vulnerable, merged with the protests against the Vietnam War. The brutality of the police when the Chicago Seven demonstrated against the Vietnam War outside the Democratic National Convention in July, 1968, shocked even people who had approved The War. An isolationist movement began to take form. An "Us vs. Them," based upon political position, was emerging.
The second other huge shift was the Civil Rights Act, which addressed race as a critical issue in American society. The reaction of the South and many in the North to Brown vs. Board of Education and other SCOTUS decisions, legislation and enforcement thereof, was one of bitterness and hatred. Violence, threats, and murder, were common. High-powered water hoses, truncheons, spit, epithets and dogs were used to intimidate against and racial equality. A church with children in it was burned. But we are a country of laws, and the laws were changing to recognize that Blacks were equal partners in citizenship, and now they wished to be treated as such. "Those people" were trying to change the white America to its highest ideals on race despite resistance. "Us vs. Other" history based clearly upon race was reinforced.
The third movement was the Feminist Movement. To put it succinctly, many women in the 1950's, having survived WWII by assuming jobs men had previously done (and been paid for!) did not want to return, forever, to the kitchen. Maybe wait until the kids were grown. Or go to college and prepare for a challenging professional career, or possibly not get married at all. The daughters of these women were absolutely committed. The resistance to them was as predictable as it was futile. Women persisted. And, there were benefits: many families could no longer live on the salary of one spouse and to keep up their standard of living; two salaries were required. The male assumption of women's secondary status was partially disarmed, but the wish to control women remained.
Society was irretrievably altered when the many stresses and or cracks in our large and complex society began to show, even though the economy was generally solid, and the country settled into an uneasy re-calibrated "normal." Our expectation that we were "the greatest country on earth" began to change from a hope to an order. You weren't considered by many to be "patriotic" if you didn't insist on it. But (except for Ali) "greatness" is bestowed by the judgment of other people. If you have to insist that you are "the greatest," you probably aren't.
LBJ (D-TX) wisely declined to run for reelection in 1968 (running a war and building "A Great Society" were at financial and moral odds). He tirelessly pushed the Civil Rights Act, though he predicted that the Democrats would lose the South for generations, as they did. Hubert Humphrey, a good but uncharismatic man, was so lost in the clamor that the voters were willing to install Richard Nixon (R-CA) in the presidency.
Everyone knew "Tricky Dicky" was a charmless, bitter, isolated and needy individual, but we did not know how far he would go to subvert the law and tarnish his office to keep himself in power. He resigned in disgrace, and the humiliation caused the Republican Party to look for a savior to erase Dick. Someone who knew how to communicate and deliver the goods. Someone who had "it" and could sell it. Someone who had star quality and was a champion and darling of corporations. And they had been nurturing such a salesman at General Electric (GE) for some time.
Ronald Reagan was as highly underrated as an actor as he was overrated as a man of character. Reagan became president because of his all-American, open-faced good looks, his toned "aw shucks" half-smile, his ability to learn and recite lines and make them believable, his impeccable timing in delivery, his resolute wife, Nancy, his willingness to abandon the values of his childhood and absorb the values of his corporate handlers, and the financial doldrums of 1980. His speech on behalf of a doomed Barry Goldwater in 1964 knocked it out of the convention center. A star was born.
More Reagan, Clinton and Gingrich.
Kelly Scoles,
Fillmore

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To the Editor:
Why CRT is important:
Recently Texas legislators introduced a bill that would eliminate "the history of white supremacy", including but not limited to the institution of slavery, the eugenics movement, and the Ku Klux Klan, and the ways in which it is morally wrong." This is probably one of the most blatantly racist moves to come out of Texas in recent years. This effectively removes the mention of what the right would consider objective racism out of textbooks in Texas, and can potentially whitewash history in the rest of the country considering how large a market for textbooks Texas is. Pay attention to the last wording, "in ways in which it is morally wrong." If this isn't sounding any alarms to you, there's an issue because this implies that they consider that these have morally right characteristics. How better to combat this blatant racism than by educating on the true extent of racism in the US, especially through CRT, which teaches how laws have been used to further racist agendas. That's right ladies and gentlemen, CRT is not a grade school curriculum, rather it's a law school level course that specifically explores how laws are tied to racism, contrary to what a lot of people believe. From the actions of Texas state legislators, it is obvious the CRT must be expanded into a study of American racism as we are facing a clear erasure of such more so when reading that they consider that there is moral righteousness to racism.
- Pedro Ivan Bazan,
Santa Paula, Ca
Microbiology , University of California, Los Angeles

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To the Editor:
I enjoyed the Art Show at the Fillmore Pride Resource Fair on 27 June. The titles of some of the pieces were, ‘Anger’, ‘Greed’, ‘Gluttony’, ‘Lust’. I thought that the artist did a good job of expressing some dark emotions. I thought it a poignant ‘nod’ to the ‘Seven Deadly Sins’ of which ‘Pride‘ is one. [My take away was, that the artist was asking the question, ‘Is ‘Pride’ really a sin!?]
While viewing the Art Show, I noticed that Planned Parenthood (PP) was manning a booth. It got me wondering what Planned Parenthood was offering (mostlyyoung adults) at the Pride ResourceFair. I learned that PP is pioneering a new model of Reproductive Health Services for Los Angeles County teens. They plan to open up ‘50’ clinics at area High Schools. This will provide abortion services for girls w/o parental consent or parental notification. The Clinics will also provide services for ‘GenderAffirming Medical Treatments’. For students that have a diagnosis of ‘Gender Dysphoria’ (distress of sex-assigned-at-birth, or neither identify as male or female). While PP is unable to administerpuberty blockers&hormone replacementor perform Gender Affirming Surgeries for students under age 16, they will refer students to UCLA Gender Health Program or UCSF Child & Adolescent Gender Center Clinic (which medically treats children from age 03).Their Gender Affirming MedicalProtocolconsists of; puberty blockers, mastectomies, hysterectomies, testosterone treatments, phaloplasty for birth-assigned females, and puberty blockers, penectomies, facial surgery, tracheal shaves, breast implants, vaginoplasty for birth-assigned males.
Interestingly, Planned Parenthood,along with Sexual Information & Education Council of the U.S. (SIECUS) has devised a curriculum for Public Schools, K-12, called Comprehensive Sexual Education. SIECUS was founded by Dr. Mary Calderon, an associate and mentee of Dr. Alfred Kinsey. Dr. Kinsey (long-discredited sexologist) was a bisexual, sado-masochist. [For research purposes, he solicited pedophiles to record sexual responses of infants, toddlers, children, adolescents, teens.]
True to Kinsey’s raison de vivre, the emphasis of Comprehensive Sexual Education (Gov. Newsom mandate by Executive Order) Curriculum is ‘how children can have sexual pleasure either with a partner or alone’. [Kindergarteners are learning the word ‘masturbation’ and learning which part of their bodies feel ‘good’ when touched. Second graders learn that this same act can be performed w/ a partner. In brief, all forms of sexual pleasure, with a consensual person, is ‘normal’ and to be ‘enjoyed’ by children].
Truly concerned about over-all well-being, I then thought to look up Health Statistics for LGBTQA+ adults. The CDC reports...suicide ideationup to 65%, suicide attemptsup to 33%, depressionup to 60%, anxiety 58%, substance abuse 46%, HIV/AIDS 67%, (Lesbian) obesity 75%, tobacco useup to 74%. [Note:Gender Affirming hormone treatment, for smokers, increases chance of blood clots, stroke, heart disease.]
I guess I should be appreciative that Planned Parenthood, such a knowledgeable &caring organization, was there that hot summer day for our Fillmore Students. After all, there is scant chance that they will ever experience a fully productive & healthy adulthood.
Leslie G. Marshall,
Piru

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To the Editor:
I received the following commentary from a good friend. Although I do not know the name of the author I find everything he says to be absolutely true. I agree completely and have had enough of the race baiting and political correctness being shoved in our face. Enough is enough.
Dave Johnson,
Fillmore

I NEVER CARED
I believe more and more people are starting to feel the way I do.
I never cared if you were “gay” or whatever acronym you chose to call yourself, until you started shoving it down my throat.
I never cared what color your skin was, until you started blaming me for your problems.
I never cared about your political affiliation, until you started to condemn me for mine.
I never cared where you were from in this great Republic, until you began condemning people based on where they were born and the history that makes them who they are.
I have never cared if you were well off or poor, because I’ve been both . . . until you started calling me names for working hard to make a better life for myself.
I’ve never cared if your beliefs are different than mine, until you said my beliefs are wrong.
I’ve never cared if you didn’t like guns, until you tried to take my guns away.
Now . . . I care.
I’ve given all the tolerance I have to give. This is no longer my problem. It’s your problem. You can still fix it. It’s not too late. But it needs to be soon.
I’m a very patient person. But I’m running out of patience. There are literally Tens of Millions of people just like me that are sick of all the Anti-American crap !
I’ve always cared about life, and all lives, but now you try to force the notion on me and other fellow citizens and patriots that certain lives matter more than others. You protest, riot, attack, burn, and loot. Your so-called “movement” has become a radical out-of-control bunch of thugs, criminals, and anarchists who are intent on destroying our Country.
The masses have had enough! America is the greatest country on Earth, and if you don’t like America then we invite you to leave. We are done caring about your misguided “feelings.”
You don’t have the right to enjoy American freedoms if you are trying to take that right away from me or other Americans.
Please pass it on if you CARE!