No budget? Less pay for you

I want to take the time to let the people who are in charge of state government know I feel abandoned and unimportant in their eyes. Year after year they are self-serving while sitting in their leather chairs with their feet propped on my back.

You knew this crisis was coming and still some take vacation. The blame lays completely with those politicians fighting and spending in Sacramento.

This is what I would, as your employer, have seen happen as of July 1 when there was no budget: There should be half pay for full time working on the budget. As of July 15, one-quarter pay for a full day's work. As of July 31, no pay for a full day's work.

I do not understand how you all can intentionally break the constitutional law year after year and not be arrested. Being in government should not be about having the ability to strut around all important because you have control over people who you can ruin so callously and easily. Do you even hear or care about the tears?

– Terri Brown, Redding

Long-term solutions are needed

We Californians are foolish. We send politicians to Sacramento who don't want to do the real work of politics: Solve complex problems through compromise. Ours hold to ideologies so they will not have to think of real solutions for the common good. Too many of us believe that California life (at least partly due to government services) can be had for low cost and low taxes.

This crisis needs solutions now to keep the state operating. And, long-term solutions soon to create a fair and consistent revenue system to help us avoid future budget crises. Reductions place most of the burden on those at the bottom economically. Severe cuts create negative effects that will cost us more in the future. Justice requires reductions (or wise spending) and new revenue.

Let's stop the new $2.5 billion corporate tax cut, pursue tax cheats who owe $6 billion, restore Reagan-era tax rates on upper-income earners, and raise fees. An oil and gas severance fee should be passed immediately.

Let's demand our representatives set ideologies aside to solve California's immediate problems and address long-term funding needs through reform.

– Michael Kotar, Paradise

Immigration piece disappoints

Re "State problem but a federal responsibility" (Forum, June 21): I am disappointed in The Bee's publication of Daniel Weintraub's commentary on immigration, which employed scare tactics to persuade its readers to believe that the government spends too much money on services for undocumented immigrants.

He stated that immigrants "probably" only pay $1 billion to $1.5 billion in direct sales and income taxes to the state. However, Walter Ewing ("Immigrants are not a fiscal drain," Forum, June 28) stated, according to the California Immigrant Policy Center, that figure is closer to $5 billion.

I understand that The Bee attempted to provide contrasting arguments on the issue of immigration, but if Weintraub relies on distorted figures, then his article is more deceptive than it is helpful.

I was also stunned to read Weintraub's dehumanizing comments on the state's burden of providing education and health care for immigrants and their children. He seemed to only support the distribution of contraceptives to prevent the birth of new citizens, only furthering devaluing the lives of immigrants.

If immigrants don't deserve access to education or health care, then U.S. citizens don't deserve the fruit on their table picked by the hands of immigrants, nor the schools and hospital buildings constructed on the backs of undocumented workers.

– Jessica Damian, Sacramento

Boo, Bee, for dissing pop star

Re "News judgment's off the wall" (Letters, June 30): I too was deeply disappointed with The Bee's coverage of the sudden death of Michael Jackson.

I woke up early the day after his death to read The Bee and expected the front page to be covered with his picture. I anticipated keeping the newspaper as I did with Princess Diana's death, in my memory chest. Instead, The Bee decided to cover the daily death of the Kings instead of the one-time death of the king of pop.

– Cathy Patrick, Sacramento

Bravo, Bee, for local emphasis

Re "News judgment's off the wall" (Letters, June 30): With all due respect to Jim Glen, his letter is typical of today's readers who think good journalism consists of sensational stories, whereas their sole purpose is to sell papers.

I, being of the old school, wholeheartedly disagree with Glen on the way The Bee laid out its front page on the day in question. The Bee is a local Sacramento paper, and by all means should have emphasized the Kings' draft picks over Michael Jackson's death.

Of course Jackson's death was the bigger of the two stories, but which was of more interest to the people of Sacramento? Sacramento is a huge city, and its citizens love their Kings. I applaud The Bee for putting local news ahead of the death of a celebrity. If Glen wants sensationalism, let him read USA Today or watch the news on TV. They will absolutely give him all of that kind of news he wants.

He asks, "Are your news editors aware that The Bee has a separate sports section?" Is he not aware that it also has a page for obituaries?

Again, I applaud The Bee, and suggest it keep that local news front and foremost in order to maintain its readership.

– John Key, Woodland