Today's letter to US Senators

I live in Asheville NC and I lived through the gasoline shortage of September 2008. It was not a great hardship for me, since I have no medical problems or children who need to get somewhere, so I just canceled any appointments and did not drive to entertainment events. All I had to worry about was getting to work, which is 4 miles away. I could walk to the grocery store, so no problem there. I was lucky. Others had much bigger problems.

I bring that up because I am hearing that the US government is proposing a gasoline embargo on Iran.

I feel this is wrong.

Forcing people in foreign countries to suffer -- PEOPLE WHO HAVE NOT HARMED US IN ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FROM -- is just wrong. It is also counter-productive, since causing the ordinary people to cling closer to their government no matter how awful it might be. It will cause the general population to support their government's policies, no matter how awful they might be.

If Asheville had been denied gasoline in September 2008 from a foreign entity, I am certain that animosity toward that foreign entity would have been terrific.

In short, causing regular people to suffer - people who have not harmed us - will increase the likelihood of Iran getting nuclear weapons. Any US Senator or Representative who supports this embargo is REALLY SAYING THEY WANT IRAN TO GET NUCLEAR WEAPONS SO THAT WE CAN HAVE A NUCLEAR WAR WITH THEM.

This is massively stupid and massively evil.

++++++

You can send a message to your US Senators at this link.

Letters like this are hard to write. I am arguing against actions that will increase nuclear weapons and the possibility of war. One would think that this is a logical position to take and that our elected officials actually would want the same things. They may say they want the same things, but they are lying. They actually want to INCREASE spending on weapons of all kinds, and the route to doing that is to encourage other countries to increase their spending on weapons, including nuclear weapons, and to have endless war.

I do not feel that there will be a war or attack on Iran anytime in the next five years. That is simply because the US and Israel are bullies who only pick on the weak. Iran is not weak. And the point of the sanctions is to weaken them (like in Iraq) but I don't think it will work. Iran is much bigger and stronger than Iraq has been in the last few decades. Putting severe sanctions on Iran will only push them towards developing nuclear weapons, which is a bad thing (so is building nuclear energy plants) for any country, any where, at any time. Nuclear weapons and nuclear power could destroy the planet, no doubt about that. So we need to move towards reducing the nuclear weapons and shutting down the nuclear energy plants. Fat chance that is going to happen!

The biggest threat to world safety is the nuclear weapons in Pakistan and India. A nuclear exchange between them would have a severe negative impact on the ENTIRE planet's health. Pakistan is doubly dangerous because of a remote possibility that the nuclear weapons will fall into the hands of the extremists who would have no hesitation to use them. And the more drone bombings the USA does, the more extremists there are in Pakistan.

Iran is perfectly capable of having nuclear weapons and not using them offensively.