SN&R Letters 2012-0517

Hope for help

Re “Lives to save” by Jeff vonKaenel (SN&R Greenlight, May 10):

I love to hear the sound of a mind opening and considering new possibilities where mental health is concerned. I respect you for that and for publicly acknowledging it.

We know what happens when we throw money at revitalization of blighted neighborhoods like Oak Park and Del Paso Heights. We know what happens when we spend money to build an arena for sports. All temporary gratification, it seems. It would be terrific to have a sizable amount of money to spend on prevention, education and long-term treatment for mental health, especially if it was administered by people who had been in the trenches and understood how it really needed to be allocated (unlike [Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing]).

Bureaucracy has a way of compromising a lot of well-laid plans, at least to some extent, but it would be nice to have a turn. What if it worked?

Elaine Johnson
Sacramento

Just add butter

Re “Ducking the debate” by Nick Miller (SN&R Frontlines, May 10):

This feels like the [boycott, divestment and sanctions] teapot tempest at the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op, where both sides diligently exerted themselves to avoid any win-win solution. In this case, I’ve heard that ducks and geese want to gorge themselves at times, as suggested in the article. So why not build them a feeder that would allow them to control the gorging?

From my dietary-health perspective, I would want to know more about whether the diet available to fowls was the diet they are evolved to eat. Besides, if it’s gras you want with your foie, you can always just add butter.

But as for “F-bomb” [California Democratic Party Chairman John Burton], I don’t understand how he can think that this is the worst or only abuse suffered by domesticated animals, many of whom must be less happy than Elsie the cow. We can’t ask Elsie if she’s happier in one of the Central Valley [concentrated animal-feeding operations] that divert [Interstate 5] drivers from boredom than ducks and geese living in conditions where force-feeding may be the least of their issues. And even though Burton can ask farm workers how happy they are, I haven’t heard that he’s working as hard for them as for the fowls.

Muriel Strand
Sacramento

What are we smoking? (Part 150)

Re “High on Romney” by Nick Miller (SN&R The 420, May 10):

You’ve got to be blasted out of your mind—or you got some bad dope—to think Mitt Romney and the “anti-everything” religious forces will be better for your marijuana habit.

If Mitt and Team Romney get control of the reins of government, they’ll make Reefer Madness look like a fairy tale. Follow the political process: Remember what happened when millions left the Democrats for Nader in 2000. We got George W. Bush for eight years.

The Republicans and the tea party are playing take-no-prisoners politics.

Ron Lowe
Nevada City

Done with Dems

Re “High on Romney” by Nick Miller (SN&R The 420, May 10):

I voted for Democratic politicians for the last 40 years, but I will not cast a vote for the current president or any of the California Democratic incumbents.

As you pointed out, [President Barack] Obama has done a 180-degree turnaround on the marijuana issue. He does not deserve another chance. I now question the validity of his judgment for handling of an issue that did not need to be addressed so harshly by the attorney general. Therefore, my faith in politicians has been shattered. I feel betrayed by the very people I voted for.

Instead of toadying to an electorate that will not vote for them anyway, they should push for more testing of the weed by the [Food and Drug Administration], so that it can be accurately prescribed by physicians for the various ailments that it helps and for which there are currently no known cures. My only explanation for their indifferent or negative attitude is that they are currently getting suitcases of cash from the pharmaceutical and liquor industries. Their behavior only makes potential voters feel cynical and defeated.

Another irony is that Obama, who spent most of his political capital trying to pass universal [health-care] coverage, has so little compassion for medical-cannabis users. The current administration fails to recognize that medical users are not seedbags, but sick people whose diseases are aggravated by the stress caused by the closure or fear of closure of their favorite dispensaries. The local dispensaries that are still open are overcrowded now, and the quality of their offerings has declined, as some of their suppliers have gone out of business.

Theoretically, in a democracy, a voter should have a choice. However, trying to decide between [Mitt] Romney and Obama is an impossible dilemma. If Obama is elected, there is a very strong possibility that he and his minions will complete what they so successfully started. If the current trend is allowed to go on, the marijuana industry will have to go underground, and the will of the voters has been negated. Unfortunately, as you noted, Romney is not exactly known for his support of this issue and has not shown one iota of moral integrity, either.

Currently, weed sympathizers are in a very difficult spot with their hands tied behind their back. I do appreciate that your magazine has not given up the coverage of an issue that matters to many of us. Please continue your good work. Is there any way to quantify the voters’ defection due to this issue? I just hope it would scare some of our dry-hearted politicos into using better judgment.

Carmen Bigard
Sacramento

Duh-mocracy

Re “Legacy” by Fred Branfman (SN&R Feature, April 26):

It’s really a shame the ’70s radicals didn’t get to change the world by selling out to the system. Wow, man, what a bummer! However, you had to betray yourself before you could betray your parents and your children.

Democracy is the disease, not the cure. Politics is slavery, not freedom. Activism will not reduce the billions of tons of crud being blown into the atmosphere by the military, which dwarfs industry pollution and totally obscures your “carbon footprint.”

Mob protest is not due process. War is not love. Anyone who agrees with you is not thinking, and will be more confused after reading your dichotomous drivel.

Why are you still promoting mob protest as if it’s a good thing—even though you know it doesn’t work; even though you know mob protest is a setup to give the government an excuse to attack the people; even though you know mob protest makes a mockery of rights! War is based on lies, not law.

Yet you and your brethren have found a new voice for your conceptually failed idealism and are embarking on a new campaign to mislead generations to come. As long as you fear the truth more than death, your enemy will be your god.

Just say no to duh-mocracy.

Mike Jackson
Citrus Heights