Drake's 'toxic' signs
I have the displeasure of driving past the political rants that cover the side of the blue building on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard near The Hub in San Anselmo every morning.

Although, in the past, I have been offended by the rants expressed on that sign, not just for their ridiculous political content, but because of occasional foul language used, this week the offense reached a new low.

The sign asked whether U.S. doctors at "Gitmo" are no better than the Nazi doctors during the Holocaust. As the child of a Holocaust survivor, I am deeply alarmed at the cavalier bandying about of comparisons of our military to Hitler and the Nazis. Every time this comparison is made, the memory of the Holocaust is watered down.

As Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby said recently in response to Sen. Dick Durbin's similar comparison, "Those who draw such insane parallels seek to damn their opponents with the most evil association they can imagine. But all they really accomplish is a kind of Holocaust-denial ... Anyone who can say (or imply) such a thing is guilty of trivializing the Nazis' crimes and of cheapening the agony of their victims."

I suggest the political ranter with the sign do some homework to discover what those Nazi doctors really did to their victims.

He will find that the Nazi doctors injected concentration camp prisoners with malaria, typhus, smallpox, cholera and spotted fever; broke subjects' bones and injected them with infection-causing substances; confined them in low-pressure chambers until their lungs exploded; this is just a tiny sampling of their experiments.

First, I can't help but wonder what role courtesy plays in our community.

I possess strong opinions on politics too, but I refrain from shoving them down my neighbors' throats. I respect them and I respect my community. I like civility. It goes well with the beauty of our Marin environment.

These signs are toxic. I feel poisoned when I have to pass them on a daily basis.

More importantly, every time news comes out of American leadership speaking in this sort of inflammatory language, it is broadcast on Al-Jazeera and lifts the morale of those who seek to destroy us.

If the Drake Boulevard ranter cared about our troops, he would not contribute to a climate that leads to more death.

Far from proclaiming his free-speech rights, perhaps the ranter should be tried for treason, for aiding and abetting the enemy in a time of war.

Michelle Shelfer, San Anselmo