Web Letters | The Nation

Web Letter

"Schrag looks out on his state and sees...a place where racial and economic groupings are retreating into their own corners, where the social bonds that give people confidence in their futures are disintegrating." The author completely ignores the population issue: the state is growing by 400,000 per year. Why? One out of four in the state were born in another country. Now add in the millions of children of these Nuevo Californians. The result is huge demand for new schools, social services, jobs, energy, water, homes, etc. We are paving over the state for foreigners.

The sense of being "a people," of sharing history, and similar language, indeed humor--all have been gutted. At the same time the brainwashing continues unabated, as we are exhorted to "Celebrate Diversity" from every newspaper, every PBS station, every magazine writer. In the interest of honesty, it should be "Celebrate Overpopulation."

Web Letter

Thirty years ago California could do no wrong. What a huge difference just a few years make. Sometime I wonder, What are the citizens and politicians of California thinking? Everyday something new: ERs closing, the jails clearing due to no funds--that will make your streets safe. College tuition over the top. A while back, the state stopped licensing pharmacists, for some bogus reason.

Did the state or any government agency have a rainy-day fund? Did the colleges keep building more buildings with no regard for the future? Did anyone even think during the past fifteen years?

You always get into trouble during good times, not bad times, and California is the poster boy for this principle. Now everyone will pay a harsh price due to incompetence.

Web Letter

This article is total garbage. If you believe this article you are a moron.

California is a disaster. Government spending has gone through the roof on handouts to the illegals. They get food stamps, section 8 housing and welfare. I teach at a school in Pomona that is overrun with them. Ninety percent Hispanic, of which only half speak English. Twelve hundred who do not speak our language. The classrooms are trashed with gang slogans. They tear up textbooks.

The real problem is too many giveaways. We had a speaker of the house who was born in Mexico. You know how he voted! There are many more, like one Bill Gill, who every year tries to push through drivers' licenses for illegals.

Term limits help clear the trash running this state.

Los Angeles is the second-biggest Mexican city; only Mexico City has more Mexicans.

Twenty-three percent of the residents of Los Angles are illiterate!

Hospitals have closed their emergency rooms because of the volume of nonpayers.

Your liberal solution is for US citzens to pay more. How can you be so dumb?

Web Letter

All the resources needed to keep California as a wonderful place to live are in the state, right this minute. The people are able to provide all they need. The political will described in the article is a red herring for the political will to continue policies that do not work, and are not sustainable, nor supported by taxpayers. Taxpayers and citizens are not always, and less frequently than twenty years ago, the same people. When the illegal alien population estimated to be in the state is added, there is a clear dichotomy between producers and consumers that can no longer be ignored.

The term "savage" is used in the lede for this story. Right now, that is hyperbolic. If Californians do not move to correct the imbalance in the system, the hyperbolic will become real, and common. I have great confidence that Californians will rise above their foolish political leaders, and reassert some common sense. From San Diego to Eureka, and the coast through the Sierras and deserts, Californians will soon greet better days, but only if they do it themselves. It is time they all make it happen.

Web Letter

What this article leaves out is the detrimental effect illegal aliens have on the current problems of California--I know it's not politically correct but it is the truth. I have seen the state go from cutting-edge to Third World. I would invite a writer from The Nation to visit Panorama City, Sunland, Sun Valley and other such towns in the San Fernando Valley and they will find Third World neighborhoods.

Again, I know it's not politically correct and it's hard to look at, but it is the truth. I blame the politicians who covet the money from companies that feed off the illegal alien labor market and those who want their votes.

And if you think that illegal aliens are such a benefit, then you should move to Pacoima and get a nice one-bedroom apartment on Van Nuys Blvd. and tell me how you are enjoying the American dream.

Web Letter

What is most upsetting is this cohort of the population, all of whom benefited greatly from the very government programs they denounce. How many of them went to public schools, are collecting Social Security, are enjoying medical security with Medicare--how many?

Since they are so adverse to government I suggest that each and every one of them immediately forgo all of the benefits they are currently receiving. And oh, by the way, yes, I know you paid into the system, I have too, and as a woman I can be pretty sure that I have worked longer and harder than most of these 70+ women who are standing on street corners screaming and yelling. And yet their selfishness and their ignorance and, yes, racist behavior surely threatens my future and my children's future. Disgusting, selfish...

Finally, Proposition 13--not a liberal idea--will go down in history as a classic example of why the "majority" and the raging masses should not be put in charge. The Catch-22 is that as long we continue to defund education, there is little hope that next generation will understand the social compact of paying taxes, participating in--and yes, that means paying for--your government. Everything you do, the food that you eat, the water you drink, the roads you drive on, are paid for by taxes, run by the government--and the Ronald Reagan mantra that "government is the problem, not the solution" will go down as the beginning of the end of what we used to know as the public good, community, neighbors and believing in our greater good.

Web Letter

Earth to liberals: California is an experiment in liberal-dominated priorities: government with too many workers, government unions with pay and certainly benefits that are way too large, programs that sucked more and more money away from taxpayers and, finally, a state mindset of being anti-business. How much energy is California allowed by its own legislators to produce on its own, by its own private-sector workforce? How much oil is allowed to be drilled? How many nuclear reactors were allowed to be built in the last thirty years? Answer: not much/not enough. So the reasons for California's collapse is no mystery at all. It's right in front of everyone who wishes to look. Look at how many retired California government workers get over $50,000 a year in pensions that even started too early--way before age 65. Look at average pay and lifetime health-ins. Taxes paid by private sector workers, that go to the goverment, should always be minimized, because taxes are drains on jobs. Liberals don't understand this simple truth.

Web Letter

I was at UCSF dental school interviewing twenty months ago. UCSF dental school facilities are about thirty years behind on renovation. Trying to find my son, who was visiting a friend, I was told that there were about 100 "breast cancer research laboratories" at UCSF, and good luck finding my son.

Stating this story illustrates California's biggest problem--priorities. Your article is decent, but what about all the state employees on bloated wages? Why not mention sweet pension deals that allow state employees to retire in their early 50s, on 90 percent of full wage? Many of these employees then receive disability benefits.

I am convinced that California's problems are not due to insufficient money. To pretend this is the case only makes matter worse.