Letters for March 21, 2019

Who’ll get the ax?

Re “Oak grove chainsaw massacre” (Newslines, by Evan Tuchinsky, March 14):

I’m waiting to read which city of Chico government supervisor is fired for the incompetence of allowing a work crew to cut down 27 valley oaks “accidentally.”

Bob Mulholland

Chico

The trashing of 27 oaks in Bidwell Park is a highly visible manifestation of trash government, at all levels—the kind of government fouling Chico since former City Manager Brian Nakamura and former Councilman Mark Sorensen began “saving” our city in earnest, seven years ago. Our saviors brought us the standard right-wing model: Fire as many city workers as possible, privatize all services, ignore infrastructure decline, maximize spending on police and never allow a serious discussion of revenue enhancement.

The question is: Will our new City Council grasp the depth of the damage done, clean house and chart a new course? There must be some talented, young, progressive managers out there, just waiting for an opportunity to serve a city like ours. Let the healing begin.

Patrick Newman

Chico

Diplomacy, not war

Re “Condemn interference” (Letters, by Lauren Ayers and David Kiefer, March 14):

Thank you, Lauren Ayers and David Kiefer, for your excellent letters about U.S./Venezuela. I’ve never seen our country so blatant about its internationally illegal plans for regime change in Venezuela. With each step, the U.S. is going against the civilizing tenets of the United Nations, Organization of American States (OAS) and Geneva Accords (i.e., interfering with internal affairs of another sovereign state, military invasion of a sovereign state, and collective punishment through economic sanctions).

The United Nations forum to solve problems through diplomacy rather than war is dying. Who’s killing off this dream? Donald Trump, the inept; Elliott Abrams, “Iago” to any shred of decency in the U.S. State Department; John Bolton, the “Deep State’s” errand boy; and the slick Venezuelan president pretender, Juan Guaidó—funded by organizations like National Endowment for Democracy, etc., and leader to organizing and fomenting violence in anti-Chavista demonstrations across Venezuela since 2007.

Linda Furr

Chico

On cameras: hear, hear!

Re “Bust the light-runners” (Letters, by Daniel Lassotta, March 14):

While stationed in Europe in 1975, I received the most unexpected and stunning piece of mail ever from the German polizei. It contained an ugly photo of me inadvertently speeding through a red light. The penalty cost more Deutsche marks than a teenage soldier could afford or even calculate at that time. Total terror assured it never happened again.

If cameras were installed along Highway 99 between Los Molinos and Chico—where mindless imbeciles risk lives daily by passing each other at 100 mph, regardless of weather, while tailgating constantly—there would be plenty of excess revenue available. Then officials could siphon what is necessary to satisfy their demented greed, repair all of the state’s infrastructure, and feed and shelter everyone. Perhaps Americans still are not as practical and innovative as the Germans, even half a century later.

Kenneth B. Keith

Los Molinos

Cleanup worries

With the weather changing and things drying out, it’s time to wonder what the truckloads from Paradise will bring. I saw a picture of an accident on Neal Road, where a truck from the Camp Fire overturned and spilled the load. There on the ground lay concrete, dirt and ash. I thought that all loads leaving Paradise were to be washed, nontoxic. We were told this in public meetings.

Knowing that dirt and ash have a high probability of carrying toxic chemicals, I was alarmed. I sent a letter to Butte County supervisors expressing my concerns regarding public safety. I feel when dry, we will see possible toxic clouds everywhere. I talked to the [agency responsible for] debris management and they told me they only monitor using CHP to see if anything falls from the trucks.

The Butte County Air Quality Management District told me that air-quality monitors are supposed to be placed along the routes and at the sites receiving materials. This has not been done. We have no idea what our exposure will be once the wind blows. The cement is going to be crushed and reused and I think it is very toxic, too. In all, this is very dangerous to everyone.

Zane Libert

Palermo

‘Lifesaving reform’

People are waking to the possibility of Medicare for All, a transformative health care reform that would provide quality care to all people, regardless of wealth, age or employment.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal has introduced the Medicare for All Act of 2019, legislation that has come at a time when upward of 70 percent of Americans support expanding this loved and proven program.

The movement for Medicare for All is snowballing, and no wonder! Millions of people in America are not receiving health care because they simply can’t afford it. We’ve heard enough stories: delaying a test because of high copays and deductibles; skipping doses because prescriptions are too expensive; or turning to bankruptcy and GoFundMe to deal with outrageous medical bills. People are dying unnecessarily.

To realize Medicare for All, health care activists like myself are organizing our communities to build our grassroots movement and persuade legislators to pass this lifesaving reform.

Join us! Call your congressional representatives and demand that they co-sponsor the Medicare for All Act. Show up at your local Medicare for All organizing party (medicare4all.org/actions)!

Now is the time to act. Do it for the health of yourself, your family, and everybody.

Pamela Stowe

Chico

American nightmares

Remember lying in bed at night knowing there was a monster hiding in the closet, or under your bed? You’d cry out for Mommy and Daddy, and they’d look in the closet, shine a light under the bed, and assure you that it was safe, plug in a nightlight, pat you goodnight, and with a smile say “happy now?”, then close the door.

The spiteful child-like president has his own monster: a “caravan” of drug cartels, murderers, rapists and sex traffickers smuggling duct-taped women into America, crossing the border so they can kill Americans in their sleep. Like a child’s fear of the night, the monster is coming so Trump pleads for a nightlight, aka “the wall,” because he told everyone there would be one and it would protect them from the monster.

The adults in the room see Trump’s monster as delusional, a waste of money and an affront to American dignity. Meanwhile, the Republicans in Congress have their own monster and it’s Trump. Their nightlight is capitulation: they’ll cheer his wall; he won’t tweet nasty things about them to his base; they’ll keep their jobs; and they will sleep like children safe from the monster. Happy now?

Roger S. Beadle

Chico

‘Fascist legislation’

Forget the gender pay gap. Racial pay gap is passé. You’re suffering from the opinion pay gap today. It’s not what you look like, it’s who you like.

Thanks to our government and the Israeli lobby, if you don’t like what some regime is doing a world away and choose not to buy their products, you can be docked in pay.

Companies are required to sign a pledge promising not to support financial boycotts of Israel in order to be considered for employment. Or they can support a boycott of Israel, but bid at least 20 percent below competitors for the same work. That’s some modern fascist legislation that takes freedom away from Americans that they’ve had for centuries: the ability to choose your associates—it’s literally written in the U.S. Constitution! But no surprise coming from a government actively and conspicuously overthrowing several legitimate (and oil rich) countries around the world, while stopping humanitarian aid to Palestine.

Specifically punishing typical American people for their belief in peaceful nonviolent interaction with fascist businesses—Zionist governments and corrupt entities in general—turns those Americans into de facto Palestinians.

David Kiefer

Chico

Discussion, not attacks

Speaking as a refugee from Somalia with life experience of real hate, including death threats and Islamophobia, Ilhan Omar recently gave everyone their latest crocodile-tears moment. She was talking about the tightrope you have to walk when presenting the Palestinian plight in the ongoing conflict in Israel, and the inordinate influence American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and other pro-Israel lobbying groups have on our government. It is “all about the Benjamins”—isn’t everything in Washington?

One doesn’t have to be antisemitic to question the Israeli/American foreign policy. We send $3.2 billion (according to usaid.gov) in foreign aid to Israel, more than all but one other nation. The United Nations recently reported that Israeli Security forces “may have been guilty of war crimes” in their injuring 9,000 and killing 189 unarmed Palestinians in recent Gaza protests. The corrupt, right-wing government of Israel is one of the big issues in the problematic region. The settlements. Israeli nuclear weapons.

Maybe we could have a discussion about the policy issues instead of attacking a United States congresswoman because she scares you.

Rich Meyers

Oroville

Correction

Last week’s Greenways (see “Hashtag movement,” by Evan Tuchinsky) incorrectly stated that filmmaker Nirvan Mullick had traveled to Washington, D.C., with Camp Fire survivors who met with lawmakers for a town hall and other meetings related to climate change. The story has been corrected online. —ed.