Letters for May 31, 2012

Get your terms right

Re “Telemedicine Abortions No More” (Pulse, May 17):

The writer of this article made a significant error mislabeling RU486 as the “morning after pill.” This is a common mistake and one that confuses many. The “morning-after pill” is a term for emergency contraception. There are many forms of emergency contraception, one of the most commonly used being Plan B. It is high-dose progesterone that will prevent or delay ovulation after an episode of unprotected intercourse. It does not harm a pregnancy that has already occurred.

RU486, the “abortion pill,” is a progesterone blocker that can be used up to 49 days gestation. It allows women the option of terminating a pregnancy without surgical intervention.

Confusing these two terms leads to fewer women seeking emergency contraception due to fear that they are seeking an abortion. It is important that those responsible for reporting this information in the media take care in using the proper terminology so as not to confuse the public further.

Jen Sanchez, FNP
Chico

Editor’s note: Ms. Sanchez is correct. Our source, the Capitol newspaper The Hill, had it wrong.

Measure A: two views

Re “Taking the measure of Measure A” (Election cover story, by Melissa Daugherty, May 24):

The California Supreme Court has ruled that cities and counties have the right to regulate the amount [of medical marijuana] that can be grown. If you heard about the destruction people testified about at the hearings for the ordinances, you would say the supervisors did the right thing.

If there are places that some feel are unfair and have a legitimate complaint, they have the right to go to the supervisors, just like the people who asked for help getting these ordinances did. It took a long time and a lot of hearings, and all were given plenty of time to have their say.

There was testimony by elderly citizens who were threatened and families who had to walk away from there homes in fear. Familiess who live in small rural housing can no longer use their back yards and have plastic over every window from the sprays and smell of skunk so strong from next door it makes the whole family feel sick.

Patricia Vance
Oroville

Measure A pushes aside the Fourth and Fifth amendments to the Constitution by mandating that medical-marijuana growers must register and invite law officers to search their property without warrant. Imagine having to voluntarily open your medicine cabinet or home to scrutiny for expired prescription pills or other irregularities.

Anyone with a half-acre or less shall not grow even a single plant, indoors or out. Those folks will likely shift to foothills acreage and commercial sellers. Taxpayers will suffer the cost of expensive, unnecessary prosecutions, incarcerations and more traffic and dust in foothill communities.

Measure A is an affront to doctor/patient confidentiality. It requires patients disclose their personal medical recommendation to local government. Imagine filing your prescriptions.

God said “I have given you all vegetation bearing seed which is on the surface of the earth.” Still, marijuana is opposed by many. Influential interests, such as the pharmaceutical industry, are loath to compete with Mother Nature and oppose the acceptance of any garden-grown remedies.

It threatens alcohol industry profits. A recent, major traffic study of three medical-marijuana states found, to the researcher’s surprise, that people drink less alcohol when marijuana is acceptable and available. As a direct consequence traffic fatalities dropped by nearly 9 percent in those states following their legalization of medical marijuana. It could be speculated that other social ills linked to alcohol might also diminish.

Jim Stanwood
Forest Ranch

Two for Reed

Re “Eight is enough” (Election cover story, by Tom Gascoyne, May 24):

I watched the congressional candidates’ debate May 7 at Chico’s City Council chambers. The only adult on that stage, thinking and speaking clearly and on point, was Jim Reed. I don’t want to waste words on the others beyond saying that they spouted the party line, sticking to motherhood and apple pie.

Jim Reed impressed me with his independent, reasonable and moderate thinking: He wants to save Social Security and Medicare as we know them instead of privatizing them, he wants to fix the tax code in order to fairly fund our government, he wants to support banking regulations that will prevent the obscene gambling and profit-taking that are so clearly damaging the world economy, and he wants to promote spending cuts that make sense.

Among all the others on the podium prattling about a strong defense, Jim Reed was the only one who zeroed in on the elephant in the room: Our military exploits its enlisted men and women, rewarding them with low wages and inadequate support when their multiple tours of duty are done, while paying huge sums to armies of contractors whose main allegiance is to money. Jim Reed courageously pointed out that contractors are not the same as soldiers. They need to be taken out of the defense equation.

He’s also the only one that stated that he believes in human-related climate change. The others didn’t know or wouldn’t say.

I hope you will join me in voting for Jim Reed.

Maria Phillips
Chico

The banks have received $16 trillion in near zero-interest loans from the Federal Reserve and used this money for such things as funding credit cards charging 30 percent interest or more as well as speculating in oil and commodities futures, driving up the price of food and gas.

The largest American bank, Bank of America, notoriously paid no taxes on profits of over $4 billion last year. You probably paid more even if you were receiving unemployment checks. Even one of the presidential candidates admitted to paying a lower tax rate on his multimillion-dollar income than the average American paid on very much less.

We have an opportunity to vote in a candidate for Congress in the upcoming elections whose No. 1 item on his agenda includes addressing this inequity. Jim Reed is concerned about creating fairness for the middle class and reining in the gambling on Wall Street that still threatens our economy, as well as working to get our government working for us again. Join me on June 5 in starting to regain our democracy by voting for Jim Reed.

Frank Toriello
Montague

Rabble Rouser

Re “The CN& R recommends…” (Editorial, May 24):

The CN&R does it again, endorsing candidates for the average working person. Thank you!

Especially in the Assembly District 3 race, if Dems don’t mail in their VBMs [vote-by-mail ballots] or go to the polls, we’ll have two conservatives [in the November general election]. They won’t get anywhere in Sacramento because they’ll be aligned with the Party of No!

Charles Rouse and his volunteers will have walked over 5,000 households in the six counties by Election Day, talking about his support for jobs, our teachers, firefighters and police. His wife, Angelica Zavala Rouse, is calling Hispanic households in the district. Now that’s true grassroots politickin’, where the voters can see and express their feelings to the candidate.

Let’s get out and vote and elect a common citizen to the Assembly in Sacramento on June 5.

Frank D. Treadway
Redding

Missed translation

Re “He didn’t say that” (Letters, May 3):

Reader Charles Withuhn wrote about the well-known quote in which Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reportedly said that Iran seeks to “wipe Israel off the face of the map.”

Mr. Withuhn notes that in an interview with Al Jazeera, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor “admitted Ahmadinejad has been misquoted.”

In context, the Meridor statement is hardly exculpatory. Rather, he said that even without the map comment, elimination of Israel is Iranian government policy. Here is his statement, in answer to a question about Ahmadinejad’s being misquoted: “You speak of Ahmadinejad. I speak of Khamenei, Ahmadinejad, Rafsanjani, Shamkhani. I give the names of all these people. They all come, basically ideologically, religiously, with the statement that Israel is an unnatural creature, it will not survive. They didn’t say, ‘We’ll wipe it out,’ you’re right. But ‘It will not survive; it is a cancerous tumor that should be removed,’ was said just two weeks ago again.”

More to the point, I found the “off the map” statement myself on Ahmadinejad’s English-language website. Readers can also find it at www.president.ir/en/10114/printable. It’s a news release that reads as follows:

“O dear Imam [Khomeini]! You said the Zionist regime that is a usurper and illegitimate regime and a cancerous tumor should be wiped off the map. I should say that your illuminating remark and cause is going to come true today. … The Zionist regime faces a complete dead end, and under God’s grace your wish will soon be materialized and the corrupt element will be wiped off the map.”—President Ahmadinejad.

Again, this is from Ahmadinejad’s own website, so there is no danger of mistranslation here.

Dennis Myers
Reno

Some highlight

Re “Value of a vote” (Letters, by Rick Clements, May 17):

After reading the letters last week I wondered if I had the name wrong. Was it the Clements News & Review?

I felt so sad that his violent and inaccurate words were highlighted so large [in a pull-quote]. Free display ads for such language?

Surely the CN&R can highlight more encouraging words for a local hero like Tom [Gascoyne].

Charles Withuhn
Chico

State needs ‘tough love’

Re “The end of austerity” (Editorial, May 10):

Shame on you. You blame Republicans in the Legislature for California’s huge budget debts. You say that Republicans have blocked all efforts to increase revenues in our state.

I know you are left leaning, but not mentioning who has really been in control of California’s government for 50 years (the Democrats) is just plain misleading.

Trying to get Sacramento to tighten their belts and live within their means is as hard as it gets. Democrats have always preferred to spend first and pay later.

What California really needs is more Republicans wielding “tough love” in all areas of state spending. I say throw the Democrats out of office and let them become regular taxpayers. Too many of them have been there forever.

Loretta Ann Torres
Princeton

Gladiators

Re “Warriors in cages” (Cover story, by Jaime O’Neill, May 3):

I remain in a state of shock after reading this glorification of cage warriors. The bloody battles and broken bones seem to thrill Mr. O’Neill.

I hope Jaime got paid well for this abomination. I will never go to see such brutality. We don’t let dogs fight like this!

Shame on you, Jaime. You are supposedly a refined gentleman and academician. You bring dishonor and shame to your status, whatever is left, in this community.

F. Floyd
Magalia

Some same-sex questions

So the topic of same-sex marriage is back in the national spotlight again. There are a few things I’m having trouble following, through. Who is going to agree to perform all these ceremonies? Is this like putting the cart before the horse?

What has not been considered here is the boon to the honeymoon industry (travel arrangements, hotels, restaurants, etc.). “It’s good for the economy, stupid!” Think of all the entrepreneurial enterprises that could emerge!

Some clever gal or fellow might even expand on the marriage concept to include marrying your favorite pet! (They have pet cemeteries!)

Let’s face it: Loneliness is not one of our best features. The battle with eternity is still out to a hung jury. Why not approach the afterlife now with a little old-fashioned companionship as we all go along our way? Besides, once the networks get hold of this I will watch the shit out of the proceedings on divorce court TV.

Rick Vagts
Chico