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Letters to the Editor
311; San Francisco City Budget; California State Budget; Eric Smith in District 10; New Rental Housing; More on SEIU and UNITE-HERE ...
Jul. 03‚ 2009
Dear Editor,
My understanding is that a great many of the 311 calls are MUNI related. Those calls seem to be redirected as you have to push a separate number for MUNI related calls, but are they being redirected to MUNI, and if not, I wonder what happened to the MUNI employees who used to field those calls before 311.
Terrrie Frye
San Francisco
To the Editor:
I'm part of the Friends of the Bernal Preschool / Learning Center that received an add back last year and part of the 41% that was taken back 100%. I agreed with Supervisor Daly last night that if history has anything to show for Newsom, come State budget and mid-year cuts, most if not all add backs will be gone. We should reserve Newsom's pet projects to guarantee he maintains the add-backs fought for by the community. Newsom is not to be trusted. Look at his track record.
Mauricio Vela
San Francisco
To the Editor:
California is bankrupt, due to too much spending and that is NOT the fault of the Governor. It's the Liberals that truly run the state (state legislature), that has run it into the ground. If California is to make it, it NEEDS to stop giving away money to every special interest desire and stop being a welfare state. However, Liberals would rather keep raising hoping that will fix everything. Taxing people to death is NOT a solution, it only serves to drive people from the state and lowering the overall tax base. Where are the Hollywood Elite's now? Maybe with many of their extreme liberal views, they should give away all their money to bail out the state they helped to destroy (practice what they preach and lead by example). Good luck out there.....
Mike S.
To the Editor:
The first thing the State should do is overturn Prop 13! When I moved here in 1978 and witnessed the Prop 13 debacle, I knew we would be in trouble!
Arthur Zigas
To the Editor:
The left wing bias in this article is over the top. What the left doesn't seem to understand is that more debt makes a long term solution more grim. Government operates on the backs of working people. It never creates money, only takes away from productive people via taxation.
There is already no way to pay back the deficit, meaning the productive people are already over-taxed and loosing their productive capacity because of it. And democrats seem to think that another few billion federal loan-shark money will save us. We need to take the pain now, and government workers, and those living off handouts need to earn instead of steal.
Zach O'Brien
To the Editor:
Re: "Beyond Chron Writer Enters District 10 Race." I have been the Health and Environmental Science Editor of the SFBayview Newspaper for 10 years, and ran for Mayor of San Francisco on a platform
advancing environmental justice. I grew up in southeast San Francisco, have a stepson who lives on Palou, a cousin who owns a business on Third Street and a slew of friends. I helped close down two power plants, and founded the Radiological subcommittee of the shipyard RAB. I sat on the Board of Directors of the California League of Conservation Voters and the Executive Committee of the Sierra Club. How come I never heard of this guy in all of my life? I smell a rat!
Dr. Ahimsa Sumchai
San Francisco
To the Editor:
Re: "Builders Trade Luxury Condos for No-Frills Rentals." Does this mean we are back to the horrible design (really lack of) that represented the 50's specials in the Western Addition and the Richmond? Seems the Planning Commission must take an active role in design review, and not rubber stamp all projects to increase the tax revenue.
Winston Austin
To the Editor:
As if the economic crisis wasn't enough drag on unions' effort to negotiate contracts, the SEIU's irresponsible raids are a joy to the business community that thrives and licks its tongue at these internecine fights. True Union leaders will further the Union ideals before their own gain. Praise of Andy Stern by Wall Street Journal few years ago was a harbinger of a duplicitous Union leader.
Nafiss Griffis
San Francisco
To the Editor:
UNITE HERE needs to focus on the biggest company they have, Walt Disney World. It seems they are spending money from dues to help other people and not the Cast Members at Walt Disney. We have poor representation, and too many new Cast Members are getting the benefits that the Cast Members that have been their 10 to 20 years. It's bullshit the way our union treats us.
Mick Smith
You can submit letters to the editor by clicking on this link: feedback@beyondchron.org or by writing to:
Beyond Chron
126 Hyde Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
415-771-9850 (phone)
Revolt Against SEIU; War in Afghanistan; Bootstrap Theory ...
Jul. 01‚ 2009
To the Editor:
Kudos to Randy Shaw for consistently great labor reporting in recent months. I don't know what happened to Harold Meyerson or Jonathan Tasini, but Shaw has become the first & best stop in understanding what's going on within labor.
Josh H. Pille
To the Editor:
Randy Shaw's article captures an extraordinary and long overdue development in the US labor movement. Finally, and in a dramatic fashion, leaders of the nation's largest unions have come out and clearly stated what many of us formerly in SEIU and now in the NUHW have been saying for years: the Stern-Burger-SEIU model of top-down organizing and secret, sweetheart deals with employers is wrong for workers, and Andy Stern is a rogue union leader.
That these national labor leaders have pledged material and moral support to UNITE HERE is especially encouraging, but they need to go further in two specific areas. First, they should terminate for once and for all the 'Cheat To Win' experiment and rejoin the AFL-CIO, making sure SEIU is not allowed to rejoin the federation on the basis that it's a company union. Second, they need to give moral and material support to the NUHW's effort to liberate those SEIU health care workers who want to get out of their corrupt union, and join the NUHW.
Charlie Ridgell
Oakland
To the Editor:
You go, UNITE HERE! You bet I'm with those loyal members. I've been a proud member of Unite Here Local 57 for 25 years, and my mom for 40 years! The difference between Unite Here members and SEIU is loyality to our union members. It comes from our hearts, and not from a bank! We are the union, not some appointee ... We will never give up in this fight. Unite Here is our union, not S.E.I.U. or a MADE UP union like Workers United.
Susan Scattaregia
UNITE HERE member
To the Editor:
Members of the international democratic reform movement inside SEIU have another name for 'the bosses union.' We call it "SEIU --Serving Employers Instead of Us." We say it's time for a change. SEIU needs new leadership. If you are a member of SEIU, join S.M.A.R.T. -- SEIU Member Activists for Reform Today http://www.seiusmart.org/
Monty Kroopkin,
Reform221 candidate for president of SEIU Local 221
http://reformseiulocal221.blogspot.com/
To the Editor:
The title of Robert S. Becker's article, "Afghanistan: No Exit Plan, No Exit, No End," hits the nail on the head. It seems that perpetual war is the game plan, no matter who occupies the White House. I am reminded of 1964, when we elected the "anti-war" Lyndon Baines Johnson, and millions died in Vietnam.
Marc Norton
San Francisco
To the Editor:
Pretty poor piece on the war in Afghanistan. Robert Becker provides nothing but rhetoric -- the same rhetoric we heard on Iraq. Obviously, the "exit plan" is to leave when there's a government in Afghanistan that can govern, without the populace being bullied by the Taliban. Afghanistan is where the 9/11 attackers and many other homicidal, suicidal fanatics were trained. It's also where Osama Bin Psycho was based before 9/11. Why would the US allow that scenario to start over again?
Now that Pakistan is finally showing an interest in combating the terrorists in that country, the US stands a much better chance of defeating the terrorists in Afghanistan if that sanctuary is eliminated. The US, by the way, is beginning to withdraw from Iraq, in spite of all the dire predictions from the peaceniks. Fortunately, President Obama is not the kind of "progressive" that wants to see his country lose wars.
Rob Anderson
San Francisco
To the Editor:
The total cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan exceeds $874 billion. Of this amount, San Francisco taxpayers paid $3.1 billion for total Iraq and Afghanistan war spending since 2001. To place this figure in perspective, this money could have provided 1,261,312 people with health care for one year or 9,173 affordable housing units or 1,145,538 children with health care for one year or 5,460,195 homes with renewable electricity for one year or 366,568 Head Start places for children for one year or 44,014 elementary school teachers for one year or 43,292 music and arts teachers for one year or 54,748 public safety officers for one year. Can we continue these war expenditures ad infinitum, especially with our faltering economy?
Ralph E. Stone
San Francisco
To the Editor:
Let economic conditions prevail, without attempting to alter it to create some other condition. Help those unable to provide for themselves, by teaching / aiding them to make it on their own to provide for themselves. Don't jump on the backs of one group, in order to continually aid another group of people needing help! The less politicians in our lives, the better!
Wayne Alba
You can submit letters to the editor by clicking on this link: feedback@beyondchron.org or by writing to:
Beyond Chron
126 Hyde Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
415-771-9850 (phone)
City Retirement Funds; More Jerry Brown vs. Newsom; More SEIU Fresno; Obama and DOMA ...
Jun. 29‚ 2009
To the Editor:
The retirement fund for city employees is also being hit hard because of the high retirement benefits incurred by Police and Fire. Years ago, when we were trying to get a little more for SEIU members, Josie Mooney told us that the "boys" always get theirs first, we follow. Well, we never got ours.
The "boys" were supposed to be brought back to the table to renegotiate if the retirement fund was being depleted, but they never were. They were supposed to pay more into the fund, since they were taking the majority out of the fund. SEIU is the largest union in city government and yet, Police and Fire take most of the funds. The 90% of salary retirement is ridiculous. SEIU management let them get away with this. All they care about is collecting union dues.
Maggie Carmody
To the Editor:
Well, Randy it is very clear for whom you're whoring. Not only can't Gavy "if I only had a brain" Newsom win the gubernatorial election, he'll never make it past the primary. You state that Newsom need only defeat Jerry Brown -- a very tall order. While no fan of Jerry's, I'll move heaven and earth to make sure that an adult is our next Governor, not some snot-nosed boob of a kid.
And since we are a green state, and kid Newsom is this shade too -- read inexperienced -- it is clear that Jerry will be the next CEO of CA. After all, Californians do recycle, and we'll do the same with the once and future Governor of this fair state. You may want to start talking to somebody other than the reflection in the mirror.
Mark Weinberger
To the Editor:
I am one of the SEIU staff who was mandated to work in Fresno for this campaign, and I'm so happy to finally see someone with the exact same assessment of this fight that I had going into it. Prior to the last 2 weeks of the blitz, Dave Regan told us privately that this was SEIU's "Gettysburg," in his interpretation pitting "brother against brother." I, however, immediately saw the parallels to Vietnam instead, for all the excellent reasons you pointed out in your article.
I have always been one of SEIU's strongest supporters. I drank the "purple koolaid" early and have been with the organization for almost 20 years. This campaign broke me. The violent overtones of Regan, the lies they wanted us to tell workers, and the unprecedented waste of resources and people poured into essentially fighting ourselves at first shocked and demoralized me, then radicalized me into actively helping the other side during the campaign.
It's hard still working for SEIU, especially when so many good people are resigning. But I am staying on for now hoping for either a change of heart by Andy Stern, or barring that, an internal rebellion against him that I can participate in. I am angry at what he has done to our union, and don't feel I should have to resign because of his stupidity and arrogance. I have just as much invested in the success of our union as anyone, and we did so much good work here in California until Stern decided we were getting too powerful and needed to cut us down to size. We don't work for him, we work for our members, and I for one will continue to do just
that.
Fresno SEIU Staffer
To the Editor:
As an older lady I was appalled that so many "young" folks were sporting Obama stickers on their car along with marriage equality stickers. I asked many people "What are you thinking," and when I raised concerns I was blown off as not really understanding. We were stung badly by Bill Clinton & apparently we have not learned that main-stream politicos will say anything to get elected. There were good 3rd party choices on both the left & right. I am afraid that believing Obama will fight for us is a case of too soon old, too late smart.
Willa Grant
You can submit letters to the editor by clicking on this link: feedback@beyondchron.org or by writing to:
Beyond Chron
126 Hyde Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
415-771-9850 (phone)
Jerry Brown's Chances; Life in a Corporatized World; Remembering Dr. DuBose ...
Jun. 26‚ 2009
To the Editor:
It may be true the press has been overestimating Jerry Brown's benefit from Antonio Villaraigosa's decision not to run, but he still stands to benefit more if the Democratic machinery (which had remained largely uncommitted, waiting for the LA Mayor) goes with Brown. Chatter in the back rooms is it will.
Newsom may be "the much younger version" of Brown, but that might be his undoing. Seen as a liberal seeking the limelight, he has higher negatives with the "moderate" voter. The younger version of Brown wouldn't carry the same weight as the older one, suddenly recast as a voice of experience and pragmatism in a time of chaos and uncertainty.
Tomas Summers Sandoval
To the Editor:
Randy Shaw wrote a good review of Life Inc., but missed the most pivotal recent book on this topic: Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, by John Perkins (2004; Berrett-Koehler Publishers, San Francisco.) Perkins reveals the corporatocracy's tactics in Third World Countries, which the banking and mortgage industry scandals indicate were also used on American citizens at home.
Corporate robber barons dictate actions taken by politicians. Governmental action is now so favorable to what Eisenhower called the military industrial complex, it ignores the needs of the middle class and work force as it earlier ignored those of the poor and disadvantaged here and abroad. If democracy weren't murdered with Martin Luther King, John Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, and Malcolm X, it fell when the twin towers were imploded, a missile struck the Pentagon, and more than one plane plummeted out of the sky before John-John's made it clear fascism didn't die with Hitler.
It is alive and well in what used to be our country; we no longer have a democracy to export -- any claim we do is yet another excuse to pour billions into the corporatocracy. Laws once inadequately enforced, especially as to minorities, are now evaded by having them violated elsewhere. Companies that set up owners for future foreclosure own empty homes. Those who once owed their soul to the company store have seen their jobs moved abroad. It was once said there is no there in Oakland; any there left of America has been re-packaged and re-sold by entities with no ethics and no loyalty to any human being. Our once gold-backed economy is now a poorly papered promise. Based on what? A declaration that "the era of greed is over" (issued AFTER we caved in to the greedy)?
Sharon Jones
To the Editor:
Thank You for the wonderful tribute to Dr. DuBose. For many sincere comments and memories from his colleagues at Golden Gate Seminary, please view the Seminary website: http://www.ggbts.edu/news.aspx?item=56
Phyllis Evans
To the Editor:
Dr. DuBose influenced my life in many ways, and he will be missed. Thanks for the sharing in this article. Because of his devoted support, my mother's church -- Nineteenth Avenue Chinese Baptist Church -- has been greatly involved in community services and has been part of the "Church of the Nations" family at NABC for over 20 years. Dr. DuBose planted a great example for us to follow and he should be honored.
Terence Hui
You can submit letters to the editor by clicking on this link: feedback@beyondchron.org or by writing to:
Beyond Chron
126 Hyde Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
415-771-9850 (phone)
SFGate Attacks Kamala Harris; 311 Call Center; Cutting the Budget Fat ...
Jun. 25‚ 2009
To the Editor:
SfGate gets a lot of hits from racists, and other hated filled wing-nuts who post on their board. Kamala Harris seems to be favorite target of these people. Ever read some of the posts on there? The hateful posts are stomach turning, and the majority of posts are hateful. I would guess most posters do not even live in the state. The more hateful traffic, the better for SfGate.
Candice Smith
To the Editor:
Paul Hogarth's article about 311 is of great interest. 311 could be eliminated without any infringement on the City's stance. The money, 11 million dollars, could be spent on taking care of the street trees that are in dire situation, the facade of buildings, the dirty streets, the many time the cable car lines are out of order, etc.
Nafiss Griffis
San Francisco
To the Editor:
I think the top most positions of government should voluntarily take the biggest cuts. This will benefit all parties the most. It seems all the lowest levels seem to get affected all the time which results in the least affect. Cutting 10% of some higher paid officials could equal to an entire position of a lower paid employee resulting in another unemployed person to support their family.
Jordan Leone
You can submit letters to the editor by clicking on this link: feedback@beyondchron.org or by writing to:
Beyond Chron
126 Hyde Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
415-771-9850 (phone)
California State Budget; Mayor Newsom's Budget; Conviction of Conscience; More on SEIU and Fresno ...
Jun. 24‚ 2009
To the Editor:
You cannot spend and tax your way out of a situation that we here in California find ourselves in. Cutting welfare and not supporting illegal aliens is the way to go. Like the Hmongs in the San Joaquin valley, who cannot find work, are taking their clans to Alaska and Arkansas. I would chip in a few bucks for a bus one-way ticket to a State/city for those on welfare to find a job. More deadwood paper pushers in State offices need to go as well. Get rid of the worthless DMV as well.
Personal responsibility is the only way to go. Taxing the people will only lead more and more us to leave this state. Thousands of tax paying people and businesses are doing just that. Tough choices and unpopular choices in the long-term will bring us to be fiscally responsible.
Jaye Southworth
To the Editor:
Why not tax those who make the most money messing around with the economy -- as in raising gas prices just because they think they should. I would pay taxes just so there are Police and Fire to respond to us in the need for help. As a nurse, tax BOOZE, CIGARETTES, and BIG OIL. Fix the broken system in California. Stop putting people out of business. I cannot afford gas -- I take the bus -- no funding to transportation -- makes me have to drive my car ... and on and on.
Candace Feuchter
To the Editor:
I'm no accountant, but after looking at Mayor Newsom's budget I see is there are some very significant increases in some budgets. If that money was taken back, we could fund our programs.
Adult probation, increased $469,726
Fire Dept, increased $7,981,300
Police, increased $15,942,935
Sherif, increased $2,084,503
Superior Court, increased $7,418,961
Airport, increased $91,282,117
Public Works, increased $12,514,448
Port, increased $16,143,747
These increases total $153,837,737
Public Health budget cuts = $128,358,887
Vickie Van Fossen
To the Editor:
I think I wrote the only review of Gavin Newsom's recent hour long appearance on Current TV, where he promoted himself as our eco-shriek candidate and bragged that he'd finally found the "human resources " -- a.k.a. Police -- to go after San Franciscans plucking redeemable bottles and cans out of the big blue bins before Sunset Scavenger comes.
Since I don't consider "trash poaching" an environmental crime, and consider people to be part of my environment, I resolved to make a point of finding Marvin, an extraordinarily industrious bottle and can collector in my neighborhood, before Sunset Scavenger comes, from now on.
Re the oil and gas severance tax: there are now 50 Democrats in the State Assembly, which means four Republicans would have to cross over to pass AB 656, the Oil and Gas Severance Tax to Fund Higher Education, and Assembly Majority Leader Alberto Torrico told me that he has four in mind. He needed one of three reluctant Democrats, from relatively conservative districts, to help him get AB 656 out of committee, and he told me he was more worried about that than he was winning over four Republicans. The Assembly Committee on Higher Education is considering AB 656 right now.
The State Budget Conference Committee also proposed a 9.9% oil and gas severance tax, but if both were passed, California would still be 5.2% shy of Alaska's 25% tax on oil and gas at the wellhead. Sarah Palin and her 25% oil and gas severance tax, which raised another $6 billion for the State of Alaska in 2008, is making Arnold Schwarzenegger and the rest of the California Republicans look like chumps.
Gavin Newsom doesn't seem to have said a word about oil and gas severance taxes, even though the State Democratic Party platform supports them, and even though we might expect a gubernatorial candidate running on his environmental vision to support AB 656, which would fund higher education with an emphasis on renewable energy education in the community college system.
(If Newsom has supported either AB 656, or the oil and gas tax proposed or the General Fund, I simply haven't been able to find it on the Web, or get any sort of statement about it out of his office, and, he did not discuss it in the course of an entire eco hour on Current TV. However, I just sent my suggestion that he take a stand to his solar, wind, and tidal powered campaign.)
Ann Garrison
San Francisco
To the Editor:
When a person acts out of conscience, that person is refusing to do something he or she believes is wrong. Strip away the sanctimonious bullshit around the so-called "conviction of conscience" standard, and what you are left with is that these Catholic Nebraska psychiatrists believe being honest about being LGBT is wrong.
Here's a thought experiment for Jim Cunningham and his psychiatrist friends. Let's say the Pope is critically injured, and the only way to save his life is via an operation that can only be performed by one particular surgeon. However, that surgeon happens to be someone who sincerely believes it is wrong to use his or her specialized skills to save the life of anybody he or she considers a crusader. If Cunningham and his friends were serious about respecting someone's conviction of conscience pledge, they would have absolutely no problems with said surgeon withholding his or her skills and allowing the Pope to die.
Or do Cunningham and his friends seek the right to selectively withhold their services from groups of people they don't like? What next, shall professional organizations eventually restart the ages-old conflict between Catholics and Protestants, for starters?
Peter Wong
San Francisco
To the Editor:
If Fresno is SEIU's Vietnam, then Mr. Sal Rosselli & Co. are Richard Nixon, Robert McNamara and the Generals who said that Vietnam had to be destroyed in order to save it.
Rosselli is trying to pull workers out of SEIU thereby splitting the Union, weakening it, and potentially destroying it. It's a personal thing ... just like it was for Nixon, Kissinger and the Generals ... all in the name of Justice (Just Us.) Fortunately, the UHW workers aren't buying it and are voting against Rosselli and his phoney union. The workers are smarter than these guys. Perhaps these guys should send their resumes to UnionFacts.com ... They'd have a lot more in common with these folks.
Mark Hanna
You can submit letters to the editor by clicking on this link: feedback@beyondchron.org or by writing to:
Beyond Chron
126 Hyde Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
415-771-9850 (phone)
SEIU and Vietnam; Public Defender's Office; "Convictions of Conscience" ...
Jun. 23‚ 2009
To the Editor:
I found this article very interesting and well written. Its hard to imagine Andy Stern settling with either NUHW nor UNITEHERE until he is confronted again and again by people who tell him enough is enough. Everyone who thinks Stern should stop raiding other unions and focus on SEIU's core industry of heathcare and building services should speak up loudly and often.
Warren Heyman
To the Editor:
Just a numerical quibble here. "Nearly half of SEIU's Fresno homecare workers voted to leave their union"? How does the author arrive at this pronouncement? There were 10,000 workers. NUHW received 2700 votes. 2700 is 27% of 10,000. That means that, in fact, 73% of the workers did not vote to leave SEIU, even if only 29% voted to express that position. In any case, 27% voting to leave is far from "nearly half."
Did the author mean to say that nearly half of those voting voted to leave? That is an impressive figure, but how is the will of the 44% who did not vote to be interpreted? Is the author suggesting that a majority of those, if they had voted, would have voted for NUHW?
The more usual interpretation would be that they were fine with the status quo. Rather than Vietnam, perhaps a more apt (and timely) comparison for the Fresno election is the one in Iran. When people really want change, they get out there and vote for it, and no one can stop them, no matter how much money is spent in the endeavor.
That may well happen in Sacramento and San Francisco, but it didn't really happen in Fresno, did it?
Sherry Minson
Dear Editor,
"Is Fresno SEIU's Vietnam?" (BeyondChron, 6/22/2009) is an interesting effort to draw analogies between local/regional labor politics and the history of the Vietnam War, but this glaring fact of their difference remains:
In the Vietnam War, we witnessed from afar the limp bodies of infants, children, women, and men from the Massacre of My Lai; the defoliation of Vietnam's farmlands and forests from the spraying of Agent Orange; the napalming of Vietnamese villages and towns and their inhabitants; the thunderous bombardments from B-52 aircrafts and naval ships; the killings of untold millions of Vietnamese people and over 53,000 Americans; the disruption of the lives of millions and millions of Vietnamese and the separation of Vietnamese families from their loved ones, as well as the same for American families; and the wasting of billions of American taxpayers' dollars toward the war effort.
That is the story of the tragedy of the Vietnam War.
Sincerely,
Anh Le
San Francisco
To the Editor:
I have witnessed the assembly line justice, and wondered why the poor or even middle class that could not afford a good attorney were forced to make deals that usually ended them up in prison. If you look at what the Department of Justice spends to arrest, prosecute and incarcerate citizens on a graph it looks like the space shuttle taking off! But when you look at what we spend to defend those that can not afford an attorney, it is a flat line that runs across the bottom of the graph. It has been this way for decades, and reflects why we now have become the incarceration nation with more of our citizens in prison than any country in the world!
Frank Courser
To the Editor:
Sure, I understand. Religiously induced "convictions of conscience" trump just plain, ordinary common sense. Sure ... That is very sensible, according to the Catholic way of thinking.
Donald Havis
You can submit letters to the editor by clicking on this link: feedback@beyondchron.org or by writing to:
Beyond Chron
126 Hyde Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
415-771-9850 (phone)
Chronicle's Anti-Immigrant Reporting; Newsom Budget Cuts; Bob Bogle of the Venture; Hotel Workers Rally; Obama and the Banks ...
Jun. 22‚ 2009
To the Editor:
This article on the Chronicle is a smear of the fine work of investigative reporter Jaxon Van Derbeken. As a crime reporter, he could go beyond the tear jerker stories that typify immigration reporting.
Angela Chan and Martha Bridegam may prefer a San Francisco that welcomes murderers and drug dealers in the country in violation of federal immigration statutes, but many of us feel otherwise. Indeed, even Mayor Newsom was quick to back away from sanctifying these young criminals (if you are contemplating running for Governor, you have to at least appear to support the citizenry.)
So Chan and Bridegam, smear away. Meanwhile, San Francisco is much safer for the work of Derbeken.
Wanda G. Berger
To the Editor:
Under cover of a financial crisis, Mayor Newsom has proposed a mean-spirited budget. Remember, the media outrage about the "unsightly" inebriates, the rantings of the the mentally ill, and the homeless camping in Golden Gate Park, doorways and alleys. Prepare for more outrage if the Mayor's budget is passed.
For many of us who care, it may be unsightly, but it does remind us each day, that the richest country in the world is unable or unwilling to do little more than provide band-aid solutions for those who have already hit bottom or will shortly arrive there. The Mayor\'s proposed budget disproportionally cuts the public assistance programs serving as social safety nets for children, the poor, the homeless, the sick, and the elderly. Shame on you, Mr. Mayor!
Judi Iranyi, LCSW
To the Editor:
Good article on Bob Bogle and the Ventures, and thanks for keeping this great band in the news ... I remember many boyhood hours in the basement playing Ventures riffs over and over, trying to get "that sound" -- to no avail of course!
Mark Simons
To the Editor:
E. "Doc" Smith wrote one of the most -- if not THE most -- comprehensive and accurate articles about The Ventures I have ever read, and I have read quite a few.
Jose Bencosme
To the Editor:
The Local 2 rally at Le Meridien Hotel was big. The finale of which culminated with a music band by some activists who truly arrested passers-by attention. The Hotel Meridien retaliated by posting some of their scabs at strategic corners with huge signs saying: We the workers want Secret Ballot, NOT Card Check. Alas, our Union didn't know how to counter attack the vicious signs. They assumed that the people know the difference between Card Check and Secret Ballots. I was convinced that many outsiders thought that the signs belonged to us, and that we want secret ballot.
Sometimes, you can't just be too nice to achieve progress. The hotel played dirty, we should have at least stood next to those signs denouncing their duplicitousness. At any rate, we did well and the attendance was adequate.
Nafiss Griffis
San Francisco
To the Editor:
Mr. President, why are the banking and loan companies not making loans -- as you promised they would do for the American people. We are all hurting, and not getting any help. Time for them to answer to you for not helping us (the little people) that keep them in business. Maybe we should boycott their business.
Julie Marty
You can submit letters to the editor by clicking on this link: feedback@beyondchron.org or by writing to:
Beyond Chron
126 Hyde Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
415-771-9850 (phone)
Archie Green ...
Jun. 19‚ 2009
To the Editor:
Thanks for writing the story on Archie Green. My friend Elaine Purkey from Lincoln County, WV is one of the singers that will perform along with fellow West Virginian Hazel Dickens and non-West Virginia Mike Seeger, who did make a great film in West Virginia, "Talking Feet" (about the father of famous person "Dancing Outlaw" Jesco White, the subject of two new 2009 films, "Wild, Wonderful Whites" and "White Lightnin." The film is distributed by your local filmmaker Les Blank.) I loaned Elaine the West Virginia Library Commission's copy of Green's landmark book, "Only a Miner." Archie Green is one of the great people of our world, and it is so good that this ceremony will be taking place to honor all that he did for laboring people.
Steve Fesenmaier
You can submit letters to the editor by clicking on this link: feedback@beyondchron.org or by writing to:
Beyond Chron
126 Hyde Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
415-771-9850 (phone)
Rochelle Metcalfe; Obama and MoveOn; Recovering Religionists and More SEIU ...
Jun. 18‚ 2009
To the Editor:
I just want to say that I love Rochelle Metcalfe's column, and am so glad she "landed" at Beyond Chron. I find out so much about the communities in SF Bay Area ... only wish there was a way to hear about some of the wonderful music events before they happen. Keep up the great work!
Sheila Hembury
To the Editor:
After the election, I decided to join MoveOn instead of Organizing for America. I wanted to be with a neutral group that was separate from Obama -- so that pressure could be put upon him when needed. Right now, MoveOn is also campaigning for the public health care option and concerned about the co-op option. What are your thoughts about how effective MoveOn is?
Norman Degelman
To the Editor:
I applaud Darrel Ray (founder of "Recovering Religionists") for his courage in bringing this issue out in the open. During the 70s and 80s, we had physical and sexual abuse hit the front pages. Now it's religious abuse, from every known Christian group in North America. The West needs a cleansing from the irresponsible gibberish that has kept people cornered inside themselves with issues of guilt and shame - over what - caffeine, masturbation, sexual thoughts and whatever nonsense these so-called religious leaders can spin.
This is just another challenge and extermination of autocratic rule. Just like dictators around the world are falling prey to the sounds of democratic freedom, so too are religious indoctrinees finding their way out of that morass of convoluted make believe. The emperor has no clothes. It's the beginning of the end for all major religions.
Maurice Turmel, PhD
To the Editor:
This sounds wonderful. I hope every city, town, and hamlet will have "Recovering Religionist" Chapters by 2010. What a load is lifted when you leave the practice of superstition, and embrace logic and reason. There is a freethinkers group in Springfield that meets once a month, usually when I am not available.
B.J. Ross
To the Editor:
From a European perspective, it is good to see that there are some green shoots of rationality taking hold in the US. If people wish to hold to superstitious beliefs then by all means do so, but do not use fear or peer pressure to force your beliefs on others - that is the role of the Taliban.
Andy Crowe
Dear Tommi Avicolli-Mecca:
Thanks for the article on our work, "Recovering from Religion." We have received a great response, and are finding people in many cities that would like this kind of group. I plan on being in San Francisco sometime this fall to speak about my book and Recovering from Religion.
In the meantime, we are looking to have 25 meetings in 20 or more cities by the end of the summer. We already have 13 in 12 cities and counting. Leaving religion has social and psychological consequences, and we want to help people leave as safely and easily as possible.
Darrel Ray, Author of The God Virus: How Religion Infects Our Lives and
Culture and founder of Recovering from Religion.
Dear Randy Shaw:
Great article. The SEIU tactics in Fresno were the same in San Francisco, when the last contract was up for a re-vote. Now it has been discovered that on June 7, after the vote, a staff member changed the contract to allow all the airport workers to opt out of the contract if they wanted to, since SEIU 1021 is afraid of a decertification. Now there are charges filed with the NLRB, and a possible class action suit against this contract. SEIU will simply outnumber and outspend anyone.
Sad. It used to be such a good organization.
Nancy Snyder
SEIU 1021 member
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