Letters for May 5, 2005

Holiday envy

Re “Cut hours instead of holidays” (SN&R Guest comment, April 28):

When Joe Tassinari talks about taking away two days of vacation from their already 14 days a year, I think, “Wow, government workers get 14 holidays a year. I only get eight.”

It is ridiculous to think that this would have any impact on one’s mental health. What are vacations for? I feel he is looking for ways to do less work for the same pay. Oh, and let the rich non-union legislators pay the bill. This article further justifies my feelings that union workers want more holidays or smaller workweeks at the same pay. I would like them to walk in my shoes.

Preston Stauffer
Sacramento

Harmon walked the line

Re “My dinner with the white supremacists” by Harmon Leon (SN&R Cover, April 21):

This week’s cover story on the creeps from the National Alliance is one of the best I’ve seen. They are way too easy to dismiss as clowns since 9/11, but their lineage is a violent—they are the same gene pool from which arose the morons who assassinated Alan Berg—and at times popular one (40,000 Klansmen marching on Washington in 1925, for example). Tom Walsh’s editor’s note was dead-on [“Exposure to ultra-white,” April 21]. It is dangerous to ignore these people and just as dangerous to glorify them. Harmon Leon did a wonderful job of walking that line.

Too bad you guys aren’t on my side more often; you do some world-class work.

Mark Williams
KFBK talk radio

Vandalism isn’t free speech

Re “My dinner with the white supremacists” by Harmon Leon (SN&R Cover, April 21):

I found this to be extremely well-written and right on the money. These groups bear serious watching, as they are known hate groups. Hate killed Matthew Shepard. Hate killed a gay couple in Auburn, and it also bombed three Jewish synagogues in one night a few years ago here in Sacramento (the two punks who did this belonged to the “World Church of the Creator,” whose founder is now heading for prison, where he belongs).

However, if “Kevin” and his “wife” are ever in need of plasma due to an accident, they might want to refuse it, because the inventor of the plasma machine, Dr. Charles Drew, was an African-American physician, also known for helping invent the gas mask used in World War I. I have immense sympathy for their baby, as they are bringing it up in an atmosphere of hate and abuse.

Also, “Nancy” might want to know that defacing other people’s property (chairlifts when she goes snowboarding) with stickers is illegal and can get her tossed in jail. Did any of these people actually take a government/civics class and pass it?

One wonders.

Alex Brown
Carmichael

No excuse for a swastika

Re “My dinner with the white supremacists” by Harmon Leon (SN&R Cover, April 21):

I was stunned to see the cover of your newspaper with the huge swastika plastered all over the newsstands. What were you thinking? Why do we have to be subjected to the filthy symbol of evil on your front page?

If the purpose was to create a sensation without any moral responsibility on your part, then you have succeeded. The way that the huge swastika was shown on the front page has the potential of encouraging haters and hatred.

You are probably not aware that Holocaust Memorial Day is coming up in two weeks. Why couldn’t you have written about that instead? There is a Holocaust memorial program being held at Mosaic Law Synagogue on May 5. It would behoove some of you to attend that and learn about the evil of the Holocaust (symbolized by the Nazi swastika).

The article, by the way, could only have been written by someone who has no intelligence as to what is going on today with the spread of hatred all over the world. I was nauseated by the whole attitude of the piece and the almost lighthearted manner in which it was written. You can’t tell me that you couldn’t have found anyone else to write a better article.

How about writing about the millions who were killed in the Holocaust so you can serve as a newspaper that educates, rather than printing stupid garbage articles that have no value whatsoever and a symbol that is disgusting, not only to Jews, but to anyone who values freedom, morality and the sanctity of human life?

Marilyn Amir
Sacramento

What your definition of ‘is’ is

Re “Think different, act identical” (SN&R Bites, April 21):

The Bites column attacking a press release from Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez was off the mark.

The public notice issued by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regarding video news releases leaves out several key elements. FCC spokeswoman Rebecca Fisher said that, although the public notice did not specifically say the FCC issued a “ruling,” the unanimous decision to issue this public notice regarding video news releases and the penalties for their misuse was, in an important sense, a “ruling.” Though the public notice does not specifically refer to the ruling as unanimous, Ms. Fisher informed me that all such notices based upon FCC rulings are unanimous, unless otherwise noted.

This is reflected in Mr. Ahrens’ article regarding the matter in The Washington Post. The information provided in this article, coupled with the FCC’s public notice, served as the basis of our press release.

Ms. Fisher confirmed that our description of a unanimous ruling by the FCC did not stretch the bounds of credulity. The release was based upon an article in a reputable national newspaper and an official public notice from the FCC. The information was further corroborated by an FCC spokeswoman.

Thus, Bites’ implication that there was no unanimous ruling was misleading. “Ruling” may be defined as “a generalized statement that describes what is true in most or all cases, or to decide or declare authoritatively or judicially.”

With this public notice, the FCC unanimously declared authoritatively that broadcasters must disclose to the viewer the origins of video news releases. It did so in a generalized statement that describes what is true in most or all cases. For all intents and purposes, this was a unanimous ruling by the FCC.

Nick Velasquez
office of California state Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez

She wants on the ‘B’ list

Re “The B list” by Kate Washington (SN&R Dish, April 21):

If Pachanga is on the “B” list, then it is my most favorite ever B-list restaurant.

I happened upon Pachanga prior to its official opening. I found the food very tasty and the ambience of newness rather delightful. However, not being a person to have one visit make or break a place, I went back, this time taking friends who eat out on a regular basis and who have a rather discerning appetite.

Not only did they like the place, but also they have been back on a regular basis, enjoying the atmosphere as well as the food. I have also been back to Pachanga, especially when I have the opportunity to make a choice. What I like most is the food and the portions, which are better than minuscule, everything ordered separately for three times the price at other places.

Sorry your order didn’t please you, but in all fairness, you should give it another try. And now that I think about it, they are doing pretty well for only being in operation for a little over three months.

A. Moore
Sacramento

Think Pravda and the Bee

Re “The vast left wing conspiracy” by Tom Tomorrow (SN&R This Modern World, April 21):

This comic strip deserves comment.

When you think left wing, think propaganda, government control, Pravda, The Sacramento Bee, labor unions, the Democratic Party, college professors, race politics, the ACLU [American Civil Liberties Union], the Ford Foundation and maybe even SN&R. Now, with all these tempting juicy participants promoting the left-wing agenda, why did Mr. Tomorrow give us such lame examples like the kid reading Paul Krugman or the ham operator listening to Air America?

The answer is obvious: Tom Tomorrow is a drone from the left-wing beehive. My version of the vast left-wing conspiracy would have been more realistic.

Frame one would have had ex-Governor Gray Davis in a Denny’s restroom along Interstate 5 accepting a bag of money from one of the big public-employee unions. Frame two would have shown a Sac State college professor haranguing her students about their imperialistic country. Frame three would have shown a typical family watching a Bush bashing on CBS’s 60 Minutes. Frame four would have shown a Ford Foundation executive writing multimillion-dollar checks to MALDEF [the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund] and the ACLU. My ending frame would have one guy say, “If it weren’t for talk radio and the blogs …” His buddy would finish it with “We’d believe all the propaganda put out by The Sacramento Bee, the Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.”

Don Stewart
Lincoln