Letters for September 13, 2012

Dolan for state Senate

Re “Byzantine politics” (From This Corner, by Robert Speer, Sept. 6):

Let’s draft Jane Dolan to replace Doug LaMalfa.

She’s experienced, ready, has the name recognition needed for a short, cheap campaign, and lives in the district!

Rich Meyers
Oroville

How about an alternative?

Editor’s note: This letter was written before the body of missing tuber Brett Olson was found.

Re “Man lost during Labor Day float” (Downstroke, Sept. 6):

Why are we allowing the Chico State “children” and their “buds” to get drunk and throw an inner tube in the Sacramento River and cause nothing but pollution and trouble?

According to your article, there were 63 “rescues,” 124 “assists” (whatever that means) and one missing person. How many tax dollars were wasted?

Solution: no parking on Hwy. 32, or schedule an alternative event on campus, e.g., music, arts, food, beer (responsible beer!).

Let’s be honest: The “kids” will find a way to party. How about something that does not require the entire Glenn/Butte County law enforcement and X number of hours cleaning up Bud Lite 30-packs from our river?

Michael Wiedeman
Capay

Thinking forward on bags

Re “Bagging it” (Newslines, by Robert Speer, Sept. 6):

According to [activist group] Environment California, Californians throw away 125,000 tons of plastic bags a year. The plastic-bag ban is a necessary evil. The progressives on our City Council, rather than wait for the state to take action, are being proactive leaders and looking out for the common good.

I am all for banning plastic bags for environmental concerns, but when I go shopping at the local stores, I forget my cloth bags most of the time. If I knew I was going to be paying an extra 10 or 20 cents per bag, I would guarantee you I’d never forget to bring my cloth bags.

I lived in Germany for 11 years, where plastic bags were always 20 cents apiece, and guess what—almost every person who came into the store brought a cloth bag.

So yes, some people may argue that they do not want government in their pocket telling them what to do, but when it comes to environmental regulations, the temptation to be “convenient” and use a harmful plastic bag is just too great! Someone has got to take a strong stance and be the leader, and it sounds like progressives such as Ann Schwab and Mary Goloff are just the type to think forward and get the job done!

Josh Stewart
Chico

A start on reform

Re “Wolf in sheep’s clothing” (Editorial, Sept. 6):

Proposition 32 is a great start for California reform. It is not perfect, but we have to start somewhere. We have to remember how badly broken California is and any reformative approach is going to take time. Nothing will fix this mess overnight. Special interests groups and major corporations have ruled California politics for far too long; and the damage is immense.

We have to give Prop. 32 a chance. It maintains the interest of the people, and that is what is going to help us fix California.

Janae Price
Sacramento

It seems a basic civics refresher may be in order. What Prop 32 does is ban both corporate and union donations to politicians. Can unions, corporations and probably my dog give to a super PAC? Yes, but there’s nothing California voters can do about that.

Banning corporate and union donations to politicians cuts the leash that strangles our politics. It lets reform breath again. Consider just one case: Recently the California Teachers Association killed a bill to streamline the firing of sexual predators hunting in our schools! Did voters want it to pass? Yes. But a special interest snapped the fingers it uses to sign donation checks and got their way. That is the dreadful status quo Prop. 32 will end.

Jordan Magill
Sacramento

Editor’s note: If Prop. 32 merely prohibited both unions and corporations from donating to candidates, that would be one thing. But it also seeks to destroy unions’ ability to raise political funds, thereby tilting the playing field toward big business. As our editorial stated, we believe this would be bad for California.

Racing and global warming

Re “Life and loss at the Silver Dollar Speedway” (Cover story, by Ken Davis, Aug. 30):

Does the staff of the CN&R believe global warming is a reality? Auto racers are not heroes. Alcohol is served at racing events; this itself promotes and condones combining speeding and alcohol consumption among young men.

My family stayed home on Labor Day weekend, and why? Because I want to “spare the air” in California, and I want to believe that if we don’t drive, the next hurricane will be a little less destructive to someone at their home.

But I tend to be less hopeful every day because of the continuation of NASCAR and its like.

Shame on you, News & Review.

L. Berry
Oroville

Money we won’t get

Re “Romney-Ryan: two views” (Letters, by Victor Corbett, Sept. 6):

I was glad to see your rag was still good for a laugh. Victor [Corbett] wrote you to say that Ryan was wrong, that the Sainted One did not cut $716 billion from Medicare. It was pointed out that Walks on Water merely imposed restrictions and it would actually save $726 billion.

Now that’s $726 billion Medicare we won’t get. Is it a cut or a savings? Either way, it is money we won’t get.

Not being in love with the left or right, I find it horrible that America today can have issues spun a hundred ways depending on one’s views. While Victor might be good during the day and say his prayers at night, it is still a shortcoming in the next day’s sunshine.

Nick Patterson
Paradise

Editor’s note: For the record, President Obama’s Medicare plan would not cut patient services.

Schwab understands Chico

Ann Schwab understands that a flourishing, strong and vibrant economy is ultimately based on the health of our local, regional and global ecosystems. She also understands that the natural beauty of this area is an incredibly valuable long-term public asset that will continue to pay dividends in the form of jobs, resources and recreation as long as it is protected from short-sighted profiteering.

Ann is a natural leader, public servant and friend to all Chicoans. I fully support her campaign for the Chico City Council.

Andy Keller
Chico

The joy of fishing

Re “Fishing for kids” (15 Minutes, by Vic Cantu, Sept. 6):

I just returned from a fly-fishing trip with Ryan Johnston of Cast Hope. It was an amazing experience, and I plan to use what I learned to take the kids in my church out of the city to experience fly fishing and nature. Great way to break the cycle!

James Secola
Chico

Let the circus begin!

Well, it is time once again for the nation’s great Kabuki Theater, Circus Maximus and Puppet Show (your choice), replete with grandstanding, name-calling, breast-beating, finger-pointing … a real dog-whistle, wedge-issue, code-word-laced spectacle, routinely presented, along with hyperbole and empty promises.

After loquacious kickoffs at both conventions, the ensuing national campaign is designed to gain intensity by replicating the appearance of a WWF event, in which bile and venom are encouraged to flow in an all-out effort to further widen the gap that separates both political parties and, most important, their members and adherents.

Professional cheerleading conducted by talking heads who draw multimillion-dollar salaries at FOX, MSNBC and other propaganda machines is supplemented by the input of extremely expensive gurus public-relations firms.

TV stations and advertisers are reaping windfall profits, but, most important, puppeteers and ring masters—i.e., banksters, Wall Street and the corporate sector—having dumped hundreds of millions of dollars into the fray, stand ready to collect their pre-arranged return on their investments.

Obviously, divide and conquer is the modus operandi here, and as long as we are willing participants and obediently acquiesce to our assigned role as each other’s avowed enemy, even to our own detriment, expecting conditions and the status quo to change will once again turn out to be just another deception and empty pipedream.

Joe Bahlke
Red Bluff

Drone bombing is terrorism

I consider unmanned drone bombings much worse than President Bush’s torture policy. It is illegal and immoral and actually creates many more terrorists than it kills.

The bombings take place in many countries in the Middle East, many of which we are not at war with. People in these countries must live in constant fear or terror as they see the drones flying around. Are they the next target?

Individuals can’t be identified by aerial photography. Targets must thus be determined by paid informants. I am sure these informants have many enemies; all they have to do is declare them terrorists and the United States will take them out, along with any civilians in the area.

Bombing is an act of war; we have become the terrorists creating more terrorists. Not in my name!

Norm Dillinger
Chico