Letters to the Editor

Re "Jury's out on computerized essay grading" (Page A1, April 5): Harvard and M.I.T. have designed a computer program to grade essays at the college level.

Re "Bill opens CalPERS mailer list" (Jon Ortiz, April 4): How much is Assemblywoman Shirley Weber being paid to push Assembly Bill 785 through the Legislature?

Re "Obama again treats state as a cash register" (Editorial, April 4): I was astonished to find myself agreeing for once with The Bee's editorial board. President Barack Obama has taken far more from California than he has given back.

Re "North Korea's bluster creates an edge" (Page A1, April 5): Who is sitting at their kitchen table and reading about sports and worrying about the Kings and the immature bratty players leaving town when a real juvenile brat is playing with deadly nukes in North Korea?

When did it become an employer's responsibility to provide health care for employees?

Re "New Nevada psychiatric dumping cases found" (Page A1, April 2): This practice is disturbing but not surprising, given that one side of the political spectrum thinks that food, shelter, and even voting is an entitlement, and the other side expresses dismay, talks a lot and does nothing. And what of mental health? If we could trust people, corporations, and agencies to act morally, ethically, or legally, then we woulnd't need a big government. It has become every person for themselves. Homelessness is epidemic. Helping anyone has become social welfare. So it is not surprising that state agencies palm off human beings.

Re "Obama again treats state as a cash register" (Editorial, April 4): It seems as if The Bee's editorial board has forgotten who it endorsed for president.

Re "Keeping Kings in Sacramento is in the best interest of NBA" (Editorial, April 3): The editorial saying that keeping the Kings in Sacramento is in the best interest of the NBA to was right on the money.

Re "Neighbors protest senior complex" (Our Region, April 4): It is indeed encouraging to learn that the good folks of Orangevale have a comprehensive plan to care for their elders within Orangevale.

Re "Arm School guards, NRA panel urges" (Page A6, April 3): Big surprise. The NRA's proposals do nothing to deal with the proliferation of WMDs in American households. In fact, they compound the problem.

Re "Arm School guards, NRA panel urges" (Page A6, April 3): It's about time that NRA members who realize the need for background checks and other minimum restrictions that protect the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all of us to begin resigning their NRA memberships. Loosing members is about the only thing that will get the NRA's attention.

Re "Arm School guards, NRA panel urges" (Page A6, April 3): The NRA has spun the tragedy of the Newtown school shootings into a way to sell more guns. Lots more guns. How clever.

Re "State's big reservoirs do the job" (Dan Walters, April 2): Dan Walters, one of the deepest wells of California political history, should know that the dams and reservoirs that protect the Sacramento Valley were built for flood protection, not for supplying water.

Re "Columnist was duped by Army Private's actions, Wikileaks" (Viewpoints, April 4): I'm thankful for the courage of Pfc. Bradley Manning and Julian Assange for exposing the slaughter of innocents carried out - in our name - by our civilian and military leadership. Hiding war crimes behind some pathetic interpretation of National Security is morally reprehensible.

Re "Protecting region's special places is good for tourism, businesses" (Viewpoints, April 2): Protecting special places increases recreation opportunities encourages tourism, and supports local businesses. That's why I was pleased to see that Winters business owner John Pickerel wrote in to show his support for protecting the Berryessa Snow Mountain region as a National Conservation Area.

Re "Suit to block arena deal planned" (Our Region, April 3): Sen. Darrell Steinberg joined Mayor Kevin Johnson and the billionaires in New York to assure league officials of the community's commitment to the Kings.

Re "Theft databases target employees" (Business, April 3): Companies are allowed to keep a vast database of workers accused of stealing--accused but not convicted.

Re "New Nevada psychiatric dumping cases found" (Page A1, April 2): The policy of busing transient individuals out of big cities is Nevada's standard operating procedure, and is not limited to one hospital.

Re "A big hooray for the lowly apostrophe" (Foon Rhee, April 2): Your support for the lowly apostrophe was gratifying on Monday. That made Tuesday's headline on the editorial, "Where is citizens (sic) panel on sales tax?" especially troubling.

Re "New Nevada psychiatric dumping cases found" (Page A1, April 2): The front page of The Bee has a headline story saying that Nevada is using California as a dumping ground for its mental patients.

Re "New Nevada psychiatric dumping cases found" (Page A1, April 2): California cannot be self-righteous about the shameful actions of a neighboring state. In 1959 when I was a clinical psychologist for DeWitt State Hospital in Auburn, these disgraceful rules were in effect: Admission to a mental hospital required one year of California residence, and deportation trains transported alien mentally ill patients back to states they had left.

Re "Easter egg hunt turned rough" (Letters, April 2): The Kiwanis Club of East Sacramento-Midtown has hosted our annual pancake breakfast and Easter egg hunt at McKinley Park for 28 years. We were as disappointed as Connie Greening was to witness the behavior of a few parents at Saturday's hunt. We understand that such conduct reflects poorly on the good name of Kiwanis and the Sacramento State Circle K Club which staffed the event.

Re "California offers lessons on how to make a comeback" (Viewpoints, April 2): I usually do not agree with Paul Krugman, but today's article topped them all.

Re "L.A. hopes synchronized lights smooth traffic" (Capitol & California, April 2): Los Angeles is spending $400 million to save three minutes of driving. It may reduce some car emissions, but so would buses.

Re "N. Korea's nuke test concealment sparks worries it has enriched uranium" (Page A6, April 1): There is a history of North Korea making feeble attempts to appear threatening as a bargaining chip for the food and economic aid that they depend on, and we fall for it every time.

Living in coastal North San Diego County, our water authority recently authorized the Carlsbad Desalination project, to supply 50 million gallons of water per day, to our region. It leaves the untapped resource of billions of gallons of municipal waste water, to be dumped into the sea. It will also consume huge amounts of power forever. That's now dumb we are. To you in Northern and Central Californaa, don't think of desalination as an alternative to the Delta tunnels. Have your legislators demand and fund more recycled water reuse.

Re "Gays can offer stable home" (Letters, April 1): Regard Margaret L. Munson's letter, few people would argue that gays cannot provide a stable home. That's really not the problem, or question.

Re "Marriage is not religious" (Letters, April 1): I can appreciate some of the the comments by letter writer Elizabeth Rowell regarding some historical aspects of marriage. But to imply that Christianity found marriage as a distraction, and encouraged celibacy for the general population, is to ignore the iron law of biology.

Re "Inmate realignment can succeed, but it make take more time" (Viewpoints, March 30): Professors Joan Petersilia and Robert Weisberg explain that realignment was necessary to cure unconstitutional overcrowding in California prisons, and predict that recidivism can be reduced.

Re "Marriage is not religious" (Letters, April 1): Letter writer Elizabeth Rowell said the institution of marriage was never religious. This was true about pagans and early Christian Europe, but was never true about Judaism, which always treated marriage as a sacred religious union.