Hat with dryer sheets helps keep gnats away

A mention was made in the Squawkbox recently about the gnat problem in our area. I have a simple solution.

Wear a cap or hat while you are outside, and line it with dryer sheets, such as Bounce. Let the sheet or sheets drop down an inch or so below the rim of your cap/hat and just above your eyebrows and, if needed, around the top of your ears.

I guarantee the gnats will not come near you or your face. I have used this gnat-resistance method for more than 10 years. It does work.

JAMES A. COX
Albany

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God's people do not need help to win wars

The recent column "Terrorism can no longer win out" by Dr. Earl Tilford made some good points regarding the ongoing war in the Middle East between Israel and the Islamic nations. He, as do most Americans, seems to believe the United States should always side with Israel no matter what, since we are told that the Jewish people are "God's chosen people."

I cannot find any scriptures in the Bible that state the Jews, as we know them today, are God's chosen people. God had and still has a chosen people, scattered throughout Europe, North America and Australia. These are known as the 12 tribes of Jacob, whose name was later changed to Israel. We call them Christians.

The 1943 Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, page 474, states that the Jewish religion as it is today traces its descent, without a break, through all the centuries, from the Pharisees. If what the Jewish Encyclopedia states is true, and if Christ Himself condemned the Pharisees, why do most Christians seem to think the Jewish people are God's chosen people?

If we are serious about ending this conflict in the Middle East, why not adopt a policy of neutrality and stop all foreign aid to Israel, since all foreign aid is unconstitutional?

Anyone who reads the Bible knows that God's chosen people, when they sincerely followed him, never needed help from other nations in order to win their wars.

DAN KERSEY
Albany

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Cindy Sheehan's son knew why he served

An Open Letter to Cindy Sheehan:

I see you have thrust yourself and your liberal cause into the news again. I also have read that you have taken the money from your dead son's military life insurance to purchase 5 acres of land near George Bush's Crawford, Texas, ranch. It was reported recently that you claim the land bordered Mr. Bush's ranch. Now I read that it is 7 miles away.

Your son, Casey, chose to join the Army, to defend the U.S. Constitution and to follow his superiors' orders. As a veteran, I believe he chose his path with full knowledge of the odds that he may see combat. He "ran toward the sound of guns." Our nation has been defended by heroes, such as your son, for more than 200 years.

Now you claim to champion a cause to end the war in Iraq. My belief is that you are but a pawn in a liberal crusade that, if successful, will cause irreparable damage to our great nation for generations to come.

This is a worldwide battle of freedom against religious fanaticism. At a time when America has the means to help democracy gain a foothold where despotism once was the norm, you cloak yourself in Casey's death shroud.

Specialist Casey Sheehan gave his ultimate sacrifice for a cause; I doubt you would do the same. By your actions and rhetoric, to you nothing is worth fighting for.

Listen to the words of John Stuart Mill, a liberal philosopher of the 1800s: "But war, in a good cause, is not the greatest evil which a nation can suffer. War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth a war makes us worse. A man who has nothing which he is willing to fight for, nothing which he cares more about than he does about his personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. As long as justice and injustice have not terminated their ever-renewing fight for ascendancy in the affairs of mankind, human beings must be willing, when need is, to do battle for the one against the other."

I pray that someday soon you will understand why young Casey ran toward the sound of guns.

STEVE WHITTEN
Albany