Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger recently said that the U.S. is in Iraq for oil and that he would like to see our leaders stand up and admit it. Evidently, we are also in Iraq to spend money.

When former President Bush's economic advisers said the Iraq war would cost $200 billion, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said "baloney," and the estimate was lowered to $50 billion to $60 billion. Yet we've already spent a trillion dollars in direct operating costs (fuel, ammunition, salaries, etc.). Add the interest on the money borrowed to fight the war, the cost to replace all the destroyed equipment, medical and disability expense, costs to society for disabled veterans, and you have a total cost of $3 trillion or more. But this assumes that we have won the war, with a scheduled drawdown of our troops, and have set an end date. We still have about 100,000 troops in Iraq, and the Pentagon plans to keep 50,000 there indefinitely. We are committing an additional 60,000 troops to control the oil and gas pipelines in Afghanistan. How long can we afford war after war?


21st-century crime

E-mail theft, or hacking, is a worldwide epidemic. Last week, I received a fraudulent e-mail from my provider, Hotmail, telling me I had to renew my account and give them all my info, including my password, or the account would be closed. I did so, and a few days later everyone on my contact list received an e-mail from me saying I was stranded in London and asking for money.

A few people responded, and someone even sent money via Western Union. In one case they used the nickname only I know of a dear friend. It was just as big a nightmare trying to inform Hotmail about this. There was no one to contact. It took me five days, through e-mails to anonymous people, to get the account back in my name. This gave the thieves plenty of time to do their work. When I did get my account back, I found it a total mess. All my contacts had disappeared and a planted e-mail was in all my replies. Beware! Computer-savvy crooks are stealing money from people and violating their space. This is the crime of our times.


Communist czar

Here is why White House green jobs coordinator Van Jones had to resign. The East Bay Express for Nov. 2, 2005, reported (direct quote of Van Jones): "I met all these young radical people of color — I mean really radical, communists and anarchists. And it was, like, 'This is what I need to be a part of. ... I spent the next 10 years of my life working with a lot of those people I met in jail, trying to be a revolutionary. ... I was a rowdy nationalist on April 28th, and then the verdicts came down on April 29th. ... By August, I was a communist."

The communist organization Van Jones subsequently led was Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement (STORM). Because the "czars" do not go through congressional confirmation, we have no idea who they are or where they come from. Jones was chosen by President Barack Obama as a close adviser.


Misplaced money

Regarding the Sept. 6 article, "Former rector sues Holy Faith": It's outrageous that Holy Faith gave one dime in severance pay to Rev. Dale Coleman. "All that he had accomplished during that time" was to split the congregation and decimate an affordable housing program for seniors run by the Holy Faith Church for decades. It is unfortunate that the Diocese of the Rio Grande took no action back in July 2004 when the evicted seniors protested.


Cuts will hurt

I understand that the city's budget had to be cut. But at what cost and to whom? Cuts in the essential service of Santa Fe Ride for people with disabilities and Santa Fe Trails' fixed-route bus service will severely impact the lives of those who depend on these services to get to work, school, church, medical visits, public events, etc.

No well-publicized hearings were held so that the ridership could offer ways to cut with less impact. The hearing on Sept. 1 was called only for comment on additional cuts being considered. The suggestions made by the ridership were thoughtful and deserve consideration. They included broad support for increased fares.

I doubt that other planned cuts in service will cause as much hardship to individuals as the cuts to public transportation will.


Liquor lobby

In the July 14 article, "Teen license program may cut fatalities," Rep. Brian Egolf is interviewed regarding ideas he has for a bill to help keep teens safer on the road.

In his grappling with the realities of DWI, he is quoted in the article as saying, "Unfortunately, the liquor lobby is so strong." One can infer from such a statement, as I did, that the liquor lobby is part of the problem.

I have written to Rep. Egolf to please explain to our community exactly what he meant by this statement. I haven't yet received a response from him. I also stated that I would like to know how we constituents can support our politicians to courageously confront such a Goliath. An exposé by one of our local investigative reporters would be of great interest.