Letters for July 5, 2012

Greedy and gluttonous

Re “Are you going to eat that?!” by Jonathan Mendick (SN&R Feature Story, June 28):

Let’s put his ventures in perspective. What would possess anyone to eat embryonic beings? Missing the bones, beaks and feathers is a source of regret? Even if experimental, when does your sense of honor to the animals of this Earth take precedence over gluttony? Yes, gluttony!

The photo of the hundreds of quail eggs made me wonder where the hens were that produced so many eggs? What life of hell did they suffer before also going under the knife? How about the ducks? Ducks belong on ponds or wild rivers, not shut in confined processing farms. We know how the pigs are handled (cages stuffed with pigs lying on each other like firewood).

I am asking the readers of this newspaper to rise above the cutesy-smarmsy lingo of “eat first, ask questions later,” and look greed and gluttony in the eye.

Asian cuisine, at times, borders on repulsive and abusive. It is distressing to me, who knows quails from seeing them happily running through the underbrush in the mountains, to see their young exploited in such a crude, wasteful manner. And don’t tell me that the crunch of the bones of an unborn bird does anything for you. It reminds me of the unborn, aborted human fetuses ground into powder and taken as a capsule to enhance the vitality of an adult: just flat-out predatory!

This article points out more instances of careless, disregard for the animal and human integrity in the food equation. How about some articles revealing what is wrong with all that is found in these unnamed packages?

Janet Schultz
El Dorado Hills

Which way does the wind blow?

Re “The weatherman” by Cosmo Garvin (SN&R Feature Story, June 21):

The weatherman on your cover led me to think it was a story on Mitt Romney until I read on. After all, Mitt is not bad looking, he chooses his words carefully and ensures himself protective deniability at every step.

In the 1948 presidential election I was only 6, but remember Republican candidate Thomas Dewey being compared the “the man (figure) on a wedding cake.” How well Mitt Romney fits that archetype.

In subsequent elections, [Richard] Nixon lost by the sweat on his chin, and Mitt’s father, George [Romney], was counted out when he said he had been “brainwashed.” [Michael] Dukakis, another Massachusetts governor, appeared in an oversized military helmet atop a tank, and he lost. Al Gore claimed to have invented the Internet, and lost (to the Supreme Court, at least). In 2004, Sen. [John] Kerry parasailed, another bad optic.

Mitt Romney remembers his father’s contretemps and is cautious to the point of woodenness. Would he have pulled the trigger on Osama bin Laden? He is probably a bit too conservative to have done that.

Jim Carlson
Rocklin

Rowboats on K Street?

Re “The weatherman” by Cosmo Garvin (SN&R Feature Story, June 21) and “Eco despair” by Auntie Ruth (SN&R An Inconvenient Ruth, June 21):

What a double whammy of time-to-wake-upness in these two pieces. We’re just not paying attention to what’s happening around us.

Maybe we’re too “plugged in,” but any old-timer could tell you that Sacramento’s way overdue for a bad flood—and while there aren’t any people left who saw the flood of 1862, we’ve had plenty of bad ones since.

Someone sent me an email that said, “Climate is what you affect, and weather is what you get.” As Auntie Ruth pointed out, the damage is done where the climate’s concerned. Now, we’ll see what we get. If it’s rain—and it could be—we may find ourselves in the kind of shape our great-great grandparents were, using rowboats on K Street.

Jan Kline
Sacramento

We can’t keep this up

Re “Eco despair” by Auntie Ruth (SN&R An Inconvenient Ruth, June 21):

Thanks to Auntie Ruth for calling attention to the environmental threat posed by our unsustainable and growing world population. The Earth is now in “overshoot,” where we are consuming renewable resources 50 percent faster than the planet can provide. Many organizations inform the public on this issue, but with the world population growing by 200,000 every day, there is still much work to be done.

On November 17, 2007, the Sierra Club Board of Directors stated, “Global population is already larger than can be sustained. … The situation is urgent and deserves more attention than it is getting.” In the intervening five years, the global population has grown by another 400 million, to 7 billion and counting. Talk about unsustainable!

Evan Jones
Sacramento

It’s not just about the pot

Re “Activists outraged over El Camino Wellness raid” by Nick Miller (SN&R Beats, June 21):

This is just another reason that we must get rid of the Manchurian in D.C. He has proven to be against U.S. interests on practically every avenue.

He is for illegal aliens over Americans for jobs, for [socialized] medicine against a system that works, although [it] is in need of some overhauls. He is for socialism/communism over capitalism. He refuses to give information about his background, and that which manages to leak out is somewhat disastrous. Somehow, he has managed to keep the press from providing information about himself, and they are afraid to give him bad press.

How is he managing to do that? Kick this idiot out. The government is more out of control than any I have seen in my 61 years of life, much worse for impeachment than [President Bill] Clinton for his BJ in the Oval Office or [President Richard] Nixon for Watergate. He is even worse than [President] Jimmy Carter for not getting anything accomplished.

Prior to winning the presidency, he said he would not prosecute medical marijuana in those states with medical-marijuana laws. Now this?

Jim Vomacka
Rocklin

In memoriam

Tola Sholotan, a driver for SN&R’s distribution team since April 2011, died June 20. During her time with the paper, Sholotan grew 500 distribution accounts in the Roseville, Folsom and El Dorado Hills regions. She is survived by her two sons, Lolu and Yemi. She will be missed—SN&R extends its condolences to the entire Sholotan family.