Black Friday is a dark day
Re "Stores are mobbed before the turkey cools" (Page A1, Nov. 26): The buying behavior of Black Friday should convince the Occupy movement that it is wasting its time. So long as the 99-percenters enable and enrich one-percenters through their compulsive need to acquire things, the one-percenters can rest assured that their one-percent world will always be there for them.
– Richard Sickert, Sacramento
'Occupiers' should butt out
How dare those "Occupy" idiots tell me where I can and can't shop? Enough already.
Do the fools not understand that evil corporate entities actually provide jobs and paychecks for people who live in Sacramento?
– Renae Radovich, Folsom
Give us bread and circuses
Is it time to remove Thanksgiving Day from our calendar and culture? It is ironic that the one day of the year that our country sets aside to acknowledge our blessings is followed by the day we deny them: Black Friday.
Chief executive officers of the big-box stores enjoyed a turkey dinner with their families while peon employees manned midnight registers.
No one was thinking of buying Tiny Tim a new cane, educational books, new underwear, and gifts that focused on the Christ child.
Please, don't try to excuse mayhem at the malls with pretensions of altruism and false humility.
How about a new holiday for 2012: Bread and Circus Day.
– Lisa Geibel Finn, Sacramento
Reassess funding for rangers
Re "Cuts could affect wildlife" (Page A1, Nov. 28): Requiring the Department of Fish and Game to eliminate vehicles and aircraft is penny-wise, pound-foolish and won't necessarily save state taxpayers or the general fund any money.
During the 1980s, the Legislature authorized DFG to raise hunting and fishing license fees so that its budget would have a reliable revenue stream shielded somewhat from inflation. Hunters, anglers and commercial fishing interests agreed to this policy and now pay some of the highest license fees in the country.
If losing vehicles and aircraft would handicap DFG's ability to operate fish hatcheries, plant trout, manage California's wildlife resources or enforce anti-poaching and anti-pollution laws, this annual indexing policy should be re-evaluated and perhaps repealed.
– Jeff Shellito, Sacramento
Stop messing with our cars
Re "Give consumers the choice of clean car future" (Viewpoints, Nov. 25): Giving consumers the choice of electric cars or forcing them to buy electric cars is a further erosion of our freedom. The California Air Resources Board is pursuing the elimination or reduction of the hydrocarbon-fueled automobile.
CARB, in collusion with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is choosing what automobiles we drive, food we eat and our energy choices.
Coal and oil producers are vilified. We all love fresh air, clean water and a toxin-free environment, but it is only the oil and coal companies that are attacked.
Toxic byproducts in producing solar panels and electric batteries are not addressed. I suggest Volvo drivers swap their cars for the electric green cars.
– Bob L. Yeager, Orangevale
McClintock shoots self in foot
Re "The Buzz" (Capitol & California, Nov. 26): It only takes a few moments of thought and reflection to see the fallacy in Tom McClintock's statement, "A concealed weapon in the hands of honest and law-abiding citizens makes us all safer."
When selling a gun, how does the salesperson determine that the person making the purchase is, has been and will always be an honest and law-abiding citizen?
– Bob Petrauschke, Lincoln
Too many trust in Norquist
Re "Let's debunk myth that Grover Norquist controls Republicans" (Viewpoints, Nov. 25): Some 236 representatives and 41 U.S. senators have signed Grover Norquist's anti-tax pledge.
The oath of office is also powerful: "Faithfully discharge the duties of the office, so help me God." If giving a proxy bloc of votes on one of the most important duties of an elected official is faithful, I am very sad. Reps. Dan Lungren and Tom McClintock should tell us which of these has precedence.
– Bob Tiedeman, Auburn
Tax cuts haven't produced jobs
Charles Krauthammer's assertions about the economy are flawed. In the summer debt ceiling crisis, Democrats gave up $917 billion in cuts over the next decade without a single penny of revenue increase. Democrats are now waiting for a compromise on revenue or tax increases before surrendering any more.
Letting Bush tax cuts expire would yield $3.8 trillion more over the decade, not $800 billion.
The rich have pocketed this gratuity from Bush for the past decade. If tax cuts stimulate jobs, where are those jobs? Tax cuts haven't worked; neither will extending them.
– Kuo Liang Yu, CarmichaelWRITE US A LETTER
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