Phillips on the Far Right

* In response to “Friendly Fire,” by Kevin Phillips, Opinion, May 7:

Phillips’ statement linking the “far right” Oklahoma City bombers with the Republican Party is absolutely without foundation and smacks of cheap politics. Then to say that the Republicans must keep firm control of the fringe groups and radicals is absolutely ludicrous. Timothy McVeigh and whoever else was involved have no more link with the Republican Party than you have, Mr. Phillips. I for one am more than a little tired of listening to and reading people like you and the President trying use this tragedy for political purposes. You both should be ashamed.

JOE BISWICK

Irvine

* The fact that it is necessary for even seasoned commentators like Phillips to dance around the mainstream Republican influence on violence such as the Oklahoma City bombing is a sad commentary on how far to the right the nation has swung. The bombing in Oklahoma was a physical counterpart to the psychic bomb that is the “contract with America”; the bomber, a less polished version of Newt Gingrich, the architect of this reactionary slap at “big government” that invariably destroys lives.

When the Republicans who currently occupy the spotlight and control power in Washington throw out rational discourse and engage fully in the sort of button-pushing made popular by the likes of Rush Limbaugh, is the extrapolation to gutless terrorist tactics really much of a stretch? When the Republican leadership opposes the assault-weapon ban and still claims to be opposed to violence, will America start to get the picture? Far-right-wing figures like Jesse Helms have been engaging in appeals to white male troglodytes for years; the 1988 Bush presidential campaign made such tactics the status quo.

It’s clear that militias and yahoos who like to run around in the woods with guns are merely a symptom of the same mentality that drives a reactionary Republican political machine that equates justice with revenge and needs to attack scapegoats instead of doing the difficult and unpopular work of analyzing and solving problems in an intelligent manner.

DAVID LAKE

Los Angeles

* Since the bombing in Oklahoma City, much has been written about how “easily obtained” fertilizer was used to make the bomb. Some people may be wondering if their garden fertilizer in the garage is explosive. Ammonium nitrate is explosive and was apparently used in the bombing. This fertilizer is not easily obtained by the home gardener; it is simply not sold at garden centers. Even professional gardeners would have a hard time finding it. Large-scale farmers use ammonium nitrate because it is very inexpensive on a per-acre basis.

For most purposes in Southern California other fertilizers are available that do just as good a job at a reasonable price. Ammonium sulfate is readily available. One might even find calcium nitrate for sale, but neither of these are explosive. And these cannot be combined to make a bomb.

GARY SIEGEL

Trabuco Canyon

* I can’t help but wonder how many of the people involved in the militias bothered to vote in the last elections. Our Founding Fathers gave us the weapon of the ballot to change whatever we thought was wrong with the government. The murder of innocent American men, women and babies is not a patriotic act, but it’s the act of cretins and mutants from hell.

ENA TINKHAM

Los Angeles