Anti-Semitism
[In regards to “Anti-Semitism or taboo scholarship?”, May 2] Bravo! The tactics of the Israel lobby in dominating U.S. foreign policy constitute an important issue that requires a thorough airing in academia and the media. We can safeguard (pre-1967) Israel without surrendering our freedom of speech or entering into unnecessary wars because of pressures from the Israel lobby. I highly recommend the Mearsheimer-Walt paper for those who wish to explore the issue.
Robert Phillips, Engineer
Bio-diesel
Hybrid Diesels don’t make sense. [“Biodiesel now cheaper than regular diesel,” May 1]
Gas engines have lousy torque at low RPM, but excellent torque at high RPM. Electric motors have excellent torque at low RPM but lousy torque at high RPM, which explains why a gasoline-electric hybrid makes perfect sense.
However, diesels are like electric motors; both have excellent torque at low RPM but are lousy at high speed; they’re not a good match.
However, a heat exchanger in the exhaust, a double-expansion steam engine or a Sterling engine would be superb for a diesel. BMW’s testing that now, and expect to get an extra 15 BHP.
Also, using one pair of cylinders to mix the fuel and air and another pair for ignition and exhaust has great potential, for the intake/mix cylinders could compress air into an air bottle for regenerative braking and quicker starts off the line without heavy, spendy and potentially toxic batteries.
Those technologies would pair better with a diesel than electric-battery hybridization does.
K7AAY, Telecom System Admin.
Portland, OR
Commencement
Dear Editor:
Your article on the hard decision of what kind of graduation ceremony speaker to invite is an old one [“Commencement Conundrum,” May, 12]. As graduating seniors in the PSU class of 1970, just a couple of weeks before graduation, we endured a violent confrontation in the Park Blocks in front of Smith Center between students protesting the Vietnam war and the Portland Police. Two dozen students were hospitalized and the war in Southeast Asia would continue for another five years.
The main speaker for our graduation, held at the Memorial Coliseum, was the humor columnist Art Buchwald. Normally he would have been a fine person to address the PSU graduating class, as he had a wonderful wit and made great comments on events of the era, large and small. But for the class of 1970 a much more serious speaker was needed to cry out for a generation of college students who had gone through the Vietnam war since they were high school students, as well as the assassinations of major political leaders, race riots resulting in death and destruction in every major U.S. city, violence on hundreds of U.S. college campuses, and a generation gap which had bitterly split the country’s youth from its parent’s generation.
After a long and serious round of negotiations with PSU’s administration a graduating senior was allowed to make an impassioned speech, just before Buchwald spoke, addressing the issues so many millions of U.S. college students had struggled and fought for during the late 1960s. The speech was forceful, yet respectful of the occasion and in the end it was received well by the audience.
Young college graduates should celebrate with their families and friends the great achievement of having successfully completed their higher education, but they should also realize that they are entering a hard world with great problems, many of which will not be solved even in the long years they have ahead of them.
A few words on what is going to be needed from them during their lives is not only proper, but highly necessary.
Sincerely,
Deborah White
Long Beach, CA
It appears to me that some people are trying to gain political leverage and garner publicity for illegal immigration by opposing one of Oregon’s most respected Congressmen, Peter DeFazio, as a speaker at Commencement. Representative DeFazio represents the wishes of the people who voted him into office, unlike Senator McCain who refuses to represent the constituents who elected him, but I’m sure those opposing DeFazio wouldn’t say a word if the speaker was McCain. DeFazio was one of only 16 Congressmen who voted against a take-over bill of our news media to "big business." He has always stood firmly for the protection of our citizens and this nation. Any speaker will have some who disagree with him about something, from the President to the Pope to Jesus. I see any protest as just another underhanded ploy to gain publicity for a "cause" by people who will use any means for their agenda, including Commencement. Commencement should not be hi-jacked for those reasons.
Betty Lukinich
Grants Pass, OR