Crosses of Lafayette: Two Letters

Here are two letters published by the Contra Costa Times concerning the Crosses of Lafayette. The first one posted on Monday, December 18 is by Bob Hanson who is is co-chair of the Mt. Diablo Peace and Justice Center:

I guess I'm the "Bob" that Jay Todesco lambastes in his letter to the editor. I did have something to do with the crosses of Lafayette.

No, I don't hate America. America has been good to me. But, I do hate it when our country illegally invades another country that has done nothing to us, based upon a pack of lies.

I also hate the fact that we spend more on weapons than all of the other countries of the world put together. I do hate it when we feel we can ignore the Geneva Conventions against torture and other world treaties.

I also hate it when we spend hundreds of billions of dollars on a war that shouldn't have been fought, and I hate it when nearly 3,000 of our young men and women come home in boxes from a war that had nothing to do with 9/11 and is causing the rest of the world to hate us.

Some people believe "America, right or wrong." I also say "America, right or wrong," but if it's wrong, I will try to change it.

Bob Hanson
Walnut Creek

The letter above is responding to this letter from Jay Todesco published on December 13:

Jeff Heaton and his buddy Bob are having so much fun with their crosses. But make no mistake. This is no memorial for the dead. It is a premeditated backhanded slap in the face of the men, women and families of our military.

It is meant to degrade everything good that America and our military has accomplished in the last five years. I expect this socialist tripe from Bob and Jeff, but city planner Michael Cass should be ashamed and embarrassed for his part in it. And it appears many rules were bent or ignored.

Bob and Jeff are not really anti-war. They just use it as a platform from which they can stain America. If they were really anti-war we would have seen all their protests against the hundreds of wars brought on by communist countries, leftist dictators, and Islamic extremists all over the world. But we hear from Bob and Jeff only when the United States is asserting itself in its own defense or in the defense of freedom and democracy. When we are at war or when we have our soldiers in harm's way, we know Bob and Jeff will be rooting for the other side.

Jay Todesco
Concord