Israel's capture of the humanitarian aid ship taking food and other goods to innocent people suffering in Gaza has received little coverage. The Spirit of Humanity was in international waters. It had unarmed well-known peacemakers aboard. Israel had no right to commandeer and board the ship, block the delivery of humanitarian aid, seize the boat and its cargo and the crew's cell phones, and imprison the crew.

Israel has intercepted other ships that have tried to enter with donations from around the world, and now these goods just sit there and rot while innocent people cannot obtain food, necessities or medical care. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Maguire and former U.S. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney were arrested because they tried to deliver humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza.

We must stop sending millions of dollars to Israel. At least use it as a bargaining tool for Israel to stop destroying humanitarian aid efforts.



Sometimes the smallest acts make a world of difference: It would only take a few moments to write a note, letter or postcard addressed to "Resident, Española Valley Nursing Center, 720 Hacienda St., Española, N.M. 87532" or any other nursing facility, so that residents would receive some mail.

Many rarely get visits, and most do not get mail on a regular basis, if ever. Our kind words and good wishes would bring so much cheer to a resident, and cost us nothing but a little time.



I returned this week to the U.S. after a year. All the red white and blue, hot dogs, SUVs, multiple MTV channels, and thick pancakes were actually making me smile. And then, the medley of deafening patriotic tunes emerged from the elephantine speakers at Santa Fe High, the launching point of the city's July Fourth fireworks show. The impressive light show was nearly suffocated by the hyped up, heartfelt songs about America.

Frankly, the electric guitar-ripping version of The Star Spangled Banner does not make me love this land. It makes me want to run in the other direction, fast. When the high points of 15 passionate songs are jumbled together and blasted cavalierly, all meaning dissipates in my mind and understanding.

The Fourth has always been exciting and romantic, but I felt pressed down and forced back to my ashamed-of-America standpoint.



The "patriotic" people who were out protesting the policies of President Barack Obama on the Fourth of July were a joke. Where the hell were they when Bush, Cheney and his cronies were spending like crazy? One good example is the spending on the Iraq war, which was based on lies.

Like the Republicans, these people complain and criticize the president, but do they have a solution to the problems that they created!?

All I know is that if these people, both Democrats and Republicans, don't get together and work on these problems this country is going down. Then again, maybe it's time.



Politicospeak: 1. I'm from the government; I'm here to help. 2. I'll be hiking the Appalachian Trail. 3. I'm not going to be a lame duck, draw a paycheck and milk it; it would not be fair to the people of Alaska. 4. I'm not releasing the results of the blood test; it's my job to minimize pretrial publicity.

Yeah, right.



Let me join the chorus questioning the editorial judgment of Rob DeWalt in the weekly "Taste" section. Like others, I miss John Vollertsen's sprightly columns, although his weakness as a restaurant reviewer was his inability to say anything bad about anybody. So I thought, maybe we'll get a real restaurant critic.

Instead, what we got was a travesty called "The Ethical Epicure." While previous "EEs" were bad enough, the July 1 column was positively silly. Asking New Mexicans to give up all corn products is like asking Asians to give up rice — ain't gonna happen. High fructose corn syrup, sure; corn-fed beef, OK; but tamales? Posole? Totopos? Tortillas?? C'mon!

DeWalt's own column is fine. He should show the same acuity as an editor that he does as a writer. And whatever happens, never take away Tantri Wija.