Diversity has been caught in a fit of grand-mal hypocrisy. All the prattle about tolerance, diversity and respect for all is getting hard to believe, really hard to swallow and impossible to stomach. Multiculturalism seems to enforce respect for every culture except the American culture.

Would the tolerance tyrants allow a picture on a schoolroom wall of the burning of a rainbow flag, or a desecration of an icon of diversity under the rubric of education? Of course not. Those comments would not be tolerated.

During the rise of the National Socialists in 1930s Germany, they burned books. The warning was sounded: "If they burn books, they will burn people." The warning can go out today. If they burn flags, they will burn people. And that person is Robin Flury.

In two consecutive cartoons in the Weekly-Times, this concerned patriot is shown being wrapped in a flag and burnt. Just think of it. In our wonderful, tolerant town, a woman—a living, breathing human being, your neighbor—immolated, burned in effigy for an excess of patriotism. We have gone through the looking glass; the Red Queen is in charge, and the inmates must be running the asylum.

We need a new paradigm of tolerance, a new definition of diversity, in which one can be a patriot, love their country, speak out and not be burned alive.

—Ted Kucklick, Los Gatos


Flag-burning issue—enough is enough

I think we've beaten the dead horse. I do not know Ms. Flury or Ms. Schwartz, so I am on neither side. Ms. Flury had a right to speak her mind no matter how ignorant she may have been about the issue. Ms. Schwartz had a right to take and display the photos. Ms. Flury crossed the line when she sent a mass email to parents and she paid the price. How many more spankings does she need? More important, how many more pages of the Weekly-Times do we need to waste on this issue?

These are heated times, and a lot of passion is flowing on both political sides, but I am puzzled by Nicole Morello's letter stating that "all these phonies who call themselves patriots are trying to stifle others from expressing their constitutional rights." My family and friends consist of both Democrats and Republicans, all patriots who love America and are thankful that we do live in a country where we have freedom of speech. Ms. Flury and Ms. Schwartz were both exercising this freedom.

Let's not waste any more precious energy and anger on an issue that has been well-covered. (I am sure Mr. DeCinzo would agree with me.)

—Gini Doss, Los Gatos


Supporting position on flag burning

I'm writing to add my voice to that of Frank Brienzo, who wrote a letter (Los Gatos Weekly-Times, April 30) making clear the distinction between constructive protest and desecration of the American flag.

We have an absolute right in this country to protest peacefully when we disagree with something: to write letters, carry posters, march, sing on the street corner—whatever. When someone burns the American flag, however, it is not simply expressing disagreement. It is the destruction of a symbol that represents the very soul of this country. Burning the flag shows utter contempt for the freedoms that millions of Americans fought and died for and a blatant disregard for the essence of this country's foundation. I don't buy the argument I sometimes hear that burning the flag is merely a symbolic act to show disagreement with policies, not hatred of the country.

This despicable gesture goes so much deeper than that. If someone disagreed with you and, instead of speaking about or writing about the disagreement burned a likeness of you, would you feel that the person simply disagreed with you or would you know in your gut that the person hated you and everything you stood for? Let's be real. There's a clear difference between protesting to show dissent and a protest full of loathing.

When Ms. Schwartz displayed in her classroom the picture of the American flag burning, did she discuss what the flag symbolizes or did she use it merely as another example of our right to protest? Students need to understand that the flag symbolizes all of the freedoms that they enjoy today and that our families fought for—freedoms that allow us to make anything of ourselves if we're truly motivated to do so, freedoms that allow us to speak out about what we believe in and what we disagree with without fear of imprisonment or execution.

Some Americans have become so complacent about these freedoms that I wonder whether they could even begin to comprehend what it would be like to live in China, Cuba or in Saddam's Iraq. We're living in a time when flag salutes are disappearing from our elementary schools and children can't even remember the Pledge of Allegiance. I hope that when Ms. Schwartz put up that picture of the flag burning, she explained all of the history behind this bit of cloth and what burning it signifies to many (I hope most) Americans.

—Sondra Garcia, Los Gatos


Don't make parking any more difficult

The Los Gatos merchants are correct in their assumption that if people perceive parking to be a hassle, they will shop and dine elsewhere.

Even though we live in Saratoga, we consider Los Gatos our "home away from home." Between grooming needs, dining and shopping, we spend a fair amount of time and money in Los Gatos. If we have to worry about moving our car into another "zone" every few hours, we will go somewhere else. I seem to remember an attempt in the past to implement paid parking, which apparently did not last too long. I think that is why downtown San Jose has such a problem getting people to shop there.

Let's not add another problem besides construction to shopping in Los Gatos.

—Judy Keeley, Saratoga


Commute over Highway 17 can be tough

I work in Santa Cruz. I have been making the 22- mile commute from my home in Los Gatos to my job in Santa Cruz since May of 2002.

Previously, I managed a store in Los Gatos and my commute was and should have been a walk. However, being essentially lax and lazy about exercise [yech], I drove to work. It was approximately 1¹/2 miles door-to-door. When I lived up the street in Campbell it was about a two-mile drive.

When this opportunity came up in Santa Cruz I thought about the implications of the commute. Twenty-two miles as I checked it on my odometer: door-to-door, home to work.

Heck not so bad, I figured. Since I like the place I live in presently, I opted for the easy commute. Hah, what a joke!

I re-learned what I knew from a prior commute, which was when I lived in Santa Cruz and worked in Los Gatos: the majority of the regular drivers on the stretch of winding, twisting mountain road between Scotts Valley and Los Gatos are inconsiderate, speeders, tailgaters and essentially non-attentive to the rules of traffic or speed and have little sense of common courtesy.

I was born, raised and learned to drive in northeastern Massachusetts. I am quite familiar with winding, hilly country and mountain roads and paths. No road similar to Highway 17 I've ever driven on in Massachusetts or New Hampshire has ever had the number of accidents that this stretch of road experiences.

An overwhelming majority of the commuters on this road drive too fast and too close and are wholly inattentive to road and or traffic conditions or, for that matter, even weather conditions.

—Alan Caras, Los Gatos