Posted on June 13 at 4:31 p.m.

Glad you wrote this article. It is time for a clean sweep at the Garden. The management that caused this mess has to go.

On None

Posted on May 21 at 8:27 p.m.

Almost missing from the slick, legalistic arguments attacking Professor Robinson is the fact that he is being accused of an anti-semitic act. That phony charge can't be ignored. Professor Robinson is Jewish himself. Secondly he simply presented a criticism of a nation, Israel, written by another writer, not a broad stereotyped attack on the Jewish people. If I criticized Italian government policy as strongly, assuming for the sake of argument that the Italians did something as awful as what Israel did to the Palestinians, would that make me an anti-Catholic bigot? I think not, it would make a critic of Italian government policy.

False charges of anti-semitism are at the core of the attack on anybody academic who has the courage to criticise Israel government policy.

On None

Posted on May 21 at 7:19 a.m.

Another thought as to students rights. The many students who appreciate what Professor Robinson teaches have rights as well, rights that the pro-Israeli lobby in this country has no problem crushing.

On None

Posted on May 21 at 6:50 a.m.

The author conveniently sides steps the the fact that this material was relevent to the course. He invents arguments that material offered in a class has to be "fair and balanced". Professor Robinson has indeed presented information that in this country can't be obtained by the mainstream media. In doing so shows that he is a good teacher and is challenging his students to think for themselves. Claiming Professor Robinson lacks compassion because he upset his students with challenging information, is proof of the ridiculousness of the charges against him, and the lengths to which Zionists will go to suppress criticism of Israel.

To the vast majority of the people of the world this information is not controversial. Most of the world is aware of Israel war crimes in the treatment of Palestinians. Whether you were comfortable or not with the comparison to Nazi treatment of Jews and Gypsies to Israel treatment of Palestinians, Israel was guilty of serious criminal behavior. I never knew that students didn't have the right to hear the truth. Unlike the Rabbi, I am part of a large portion of the Jewish community that supports Professor Robinson, who is also Jewish, in telling the truth and challenging his students comfort zone.

On None

Posted on May 3 at 7:34 p.m.

The ADL is a so called civil rights movement advocating for the rights of Jews. Currently they are attempting to suppress a Jew, Professor Robinson, who is guilty of straying from the ADL party line. There is a certain irony in that.

I agree with Prof Flacks when he says this kind of suppression of free speech is a danger to Jews everywhere, and everybody else for that matter. It is also an insult of our intelligence. Criticism of Israel, with a few exceptions, is not anti-semitism. Professor Robinson is expressing views that even some Israeli's hold.

On Students Protest Anti-Defamation League's Involvement in UCSB Matter

Posted on December 31 at 2:01 p.m.

You say that there is no evidence of repeat fires in the last hundred years. However, by 100 years ago ignorant Europeans were in control of the landscape and knew nothing about controlled burns. Go back in California history to when indigenous people managed the landscape and fires were a regular part of the management strategy. Read "Managing the Wild" by M. Kat Anderson to learn how fire was managed. Evidence shows areas were regularly burned on a rotation as frequently as two to five years in many parts of the state.

I also think we need to move people out of the most dangerous canyons and ridges and put a green agricultural belt (organic) between civilization and the chaparral which would make controlled burns safer and easier to do.

Larry Saltzman
Santa Barbara Organic Garden Club

On None

Posted on November 26 at 5:29 a.m.

I am happy to see that a farmer, Justin Bosio was recognized for his contribution in building a green belt that protected a portion of the South Coast from fire. Farmers are usually unrecognized heros and their contributions to society are often unacknowledged. In a sane world we would fund farmers like him to build a green belt that protected the whole of the South Coast from fires and simultaniously provided a wealth of locally grown food.

In a really sane world we would design rainwater harvesting projects that would keep these green belts well irrigated without the use of either state water or Lake Cachuma water.

Larry Buzzell-Saltzman

On Local Heroes 2008