Right to health care

Re "Inmate health at issue in trial" (Page A1, Nov. 18): As a student of health policy and an aspiring doctor-to-be, the health and wellness of all California residents is one of my top concerns. Yet, I found the report on prisoners filing a class action suit against the substandard medical and mental health care they receive utterly ironic. While prisoners have at least minimal access to care, many Californians do not.

I do not contend the prisoners' claims of inadequate conditions nor their claim that it is a matter of their civil rights to obtain proper medical care. I only wonder why prisoners cry out for their civil rights while the rest of us stand silent. Is it too much to ask that every Californian, every American, demand the same civil right as our prisoners? The right to quality medical care.

As a new administration enters the White House on promises of an improved health care system, now is the time for all of us to hold them accountable to those promises and demand our civil rights too.

– Sarah Zitsman, Oakland

Put Congress on equal health footing

I hope that each U.S. senator believes that all the people in this country deserve and are entitled to the same health care that you enjoy, which is provided you by those same people – millions of whom are uninsured, and millions more who are underinsured. If you do believe, then you and your colleagues have to get off the dime and enact legislation that will provide it. Obama will sign it.

"Too expensive," you say. "Then cut expenses elsewhere," I say. Iraq, Afghanistan, big oil subsidies, agricultural subsidies for corn, sugar, cotton wheat, etc. You don't, or shouldn't need a list of where cuts can be made.

Taking care of the citizens of this country should be your first priority. An adequate health care plan for our citizens should and must be enacted. If you don't agree, then I suggest that you give up the plan which is provided to each of you and buy one on the market.

– Clarence Dilts, Placerville

CSU cuts will hurt work force

Re "Budget crisis forcing CSU system to cut enrollment" (Page A4, Nov. 18): As a high school senior applying for college, I am highly concerned about California's budget and its impact on the California State University system and state community colleges. There has always been a push to send students down the college path. The educational system has improved over the past years to include more college courses for college-bound students. However, 10,000 seniors will not be accepted into CSU due to the devastating budget cuts. That's 10,000 less qualified people in the state's work force. Students are taking the biggest hit from this messy budget. We should not be deprived of higher education.

– Robyn Leong, Sacramento

Marriage not a constitutional issue

Obviously an important role of the Constitution is to protect minority rights. Basic human rights of life, liberty and property should be provided to all people regardless of sexual orientation. Whether people of the same gender should have the right to marry, however, is not a well-delineated or long-recognized constitutional right. The concept of marriage being between a man and woman is fundamentally rooted in biology – not just most religious traditions. The No on 8 leaders are, in fact, scared to death to assert that the Constitution's equal protection clause provides a right to same-gender marriage because they strongly suspect that the U.S. Supreme Court would disagree that such a right exists. For the voters of California to use the means provided by the California Constitution to amend that constitution in a murky area is certainly a reasonable exercise.

– George Ferguson, Granite Bay

Same old Republican smears

Re "Holder top choice for AG" (Page A1, Nov. 19): With all the talk from the Republicans about what they can do to get their party back on track, I have a suggestion. How about trying some honesty? The comment from Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., that the pardon of Marc Rich was "a factor … that will be on center stage" of Eric Holder's nomination for attorney general shows that the Republicans want to play the same old smear game. I'm sure that Specter is well aware that the Republicans have already conducted a thorough investigation of this matter. It was conducted by James Comer, a Republican critic of the Clintons, and no misconduct was found.