Iran celebrates 30th anniversary of U.S. Embassy seize

On Nov. 4 the Iranian government held anti-American rallies to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the storming of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran [“Protests illustrate split in Iran,” News, Nov. 5].

This annual celebration remembers fondly not just the embassy takeover, but also the taking of 53 American hostages. They do this while chanting, “Death to Satan!”

Recently President Obama declared the U.S. does not interfere in Iran’s internal affairs. So when hundreds of thousands of Iranians came out to rightfully protest this despicable event, the U.S. missed a huge opportunity to parlay this into something meaningful in nuclear discussions with Iran, in part because our president wants open dialogue with the Iranian regime.

All while the White House clearly enjoys meddling in the internal affairs of other countries, such as Honduras.

When Honduras removed Manuel Zelaya from power after it was found that he was attempting to rig a vote that would have removed presidential term limits, the White House offered harsh rebukes to Honduras. President Obama urged and later virtually ordered Honduras — a sovereign government — to reinstate Zelaya.

No one can reasonably tell me this style of governing is any better than the inept style of the previous White House occupant. To me, this is truly Bush-league.

— John Avery, Bellevue

Calling for an end to nuclear weapons

With President Obama’s recent win of the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize, many have been left wondering whether he actually deserved to win [“A less-than-flattering view of Obama’s foreign policy,” Opinion, Charles Krauthammer syndicated column, Oct. 17].

The stated reason for his win was his avowed intention of achieving global nuclear disarmament. Although Obama recanted some, and declared that disarmament was an immense goal that may indeed take longer than his life to come to realization, he has at least acknowledged that there is a problem in dealing with nuclear weapons. He also admitted there is a problem with the policy of deterrence, and that the best policy is to rid the world of them and their menace.

So I enjoin you, the citizens, to voice your support for President Obama’s policy of disarmament by writing letters or e-mails to him and his myriad staff, be they demanding, congratulating or condescending.

This will ensure officials are aware of the extent that people wish to see the end of nuclear weapons and the specter of nuclear war.

Let it be known that we do not feel that nuclear weapons protect us or that we would be a weaker nation without them. Contrarily, the nuclear weapons, power plants, uranium mines and radioactive wastes involved court death for the life of the whole planet.

— Kevin Carr, Seattle

Republicans blocking global warming bill?

Recently, Sen. Barbara Boxer voted a climate bill out of committee despite a boycott by the Republicans on the committee [“GOP aims to block bill on global warming,” News, Nov. 1].

A committee rule requires at least two minority members be present if any amendments are allowed, so the bill had to be reported out of committee with no amendments. The purpose of the rule is to ensure that the majority party does not call unannounced meetings to modify and pass legislation without sufficient notification to the minority party.

It was an abuse of the rule for the Republicans to try and use it to prevent action by boycotting a well-publicized meeting. Boxer’s action was unusual because such extreme obstructionism, as the Republicans are now showing, is rare in our history.

Despite President Obama’s futile attempts to reach out to Republicans, it is clear the Republicans are not concerned with trying to reach reasonable agreement to deal with our serious national problems, but seek only political advantage by obstructing all action, hoping this will make the Democratic majority seem ineffectual.

— Joseph H. Hendrickson, Des Moines

Limbaugh weighs in

I see that Rush Limbaugh has ratcheted up his criticisms and insults of President Obama [“Limbaugh says Obama is ‘in over his head,’” News, Nov. 2].

Let’s not forget that for eight years Limbaugh was the head cheerleader for the George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Karl Rove gang, and we all know where that got us. We have one horribly unnecessary war, one necessary war executed with gross incompetence, an economy deep in the toilet.

In searching for the right words to describe Limbaugh’s soundness of judgment, the phrase Looney Tunes is one that comes to mind.

— Dave Richards, Bainbridge