California Forum letters: McClintock’s hypocrisy on COVID relief shows his true colors
Deep knowledge
“An endangered wolf was shot to death in California. Then the armed agents showed up” (sacbee.com, Dec. 23)
I want to thank The Bee for the series of articles by Ryan Sabalow on the issues impacting the northeast corner of our state. In regard to the one on wolves, I thought Sabalow did an excellent job of presenting the varied issues involved, including the roles played by the ranchers, Department of Fish, Game and Wildlife and those of us who would like to see a sustainable wolf population in California. In all three of the articles I have read in this series, you can tell that Sabalow has a deep knowledge of the area and the people.
Tom MonPere,
Sacramento
Anti-horse greed
“In Devil’s Garden, California’s majestic wild horses trapped in no-win fight for survival” (sacbee.com, Dec 21)
The article about the majestic wild horses of Devil’s Garden, and their being trapped in a no-win survival fight, sadly omitted facts before morphing into an anti-wild horse promotion exacerbated by profiteering interests’ spurious claims.
Modoc Forest’s land use decisions are made without regard for public animal welfare input. Instead, they unilaterally favor opportunistic ranchers who both graze our public lands for a pittance and reap huge taxpayer subsidies.
Worse, the anti-wild horse bogus assertion of “unsustainable” levels of horses is code for “unattainable” greedy profits. There is no horse overpopulation problem on 258,000 acres! If there were, an obvious solution is humane contraceptive vaccines.
The agencies cry “too expensive” yet they’ll spend millions rounding up, feeding in cruel holding pens, adopting attempts, transporting, etc.—along with death and injuries to innocent horses—to benefit livestock industries. Unacceptable barbaric roundups must stop and comply with federal and state horse protection laws.
Marilyn Jasper,
Loomis
Christmas spirit
“A plea to members of Rocklin’s Destiny Christian Church: Stay home this Christmas” (sacbee.com, Dec. 24)
Thank you Hannah Holzer for aptly recognizing the absolute hypocrisy of Greg Fairrington’s immoral actions flouting the COVID restrictions meant to save lives. His interpretation of public safety warnings as contrary to religious constitutional rights is ridiculous, as other churches have found ways to worship safely.
Fairrington has claimed victim status and wants to whip up rebellion to the governor’s recommendation. What a crock. This hypocrite is behaving in the most un-Christian way. People will die because of his arrogant stance on meeting in public and declaring there’s a war on religious expression.
Even as a recovering Catholic, I know God lives in our hearts and worship can take the simplest forms, like loving thy neighbor as thyself and not putting their life at risk because of self-interest. He should spend time reflecting on the real Christmas spirit.
Theresa Lown,
Sacramento
McClintock hypocrisy
“These California Republicans sold their souls to Trump and betrayed American democracy” (sacbee.com, Dec. 15)
In voting against the COVID relief bill, Tom McClintock has once again demonstrated his hypocrisy.
He claims concern for the federal deficit, but he had no such concern when voting for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. In spite of creating a net $1.9 trillion deficit, he supported it.
His “solution” instead of the COVID relief bill is to simply end all “lockdowns.” But this is a false promise. Consumers drive 70% of our economy, and many of those are not ready or able to resume their prior expenditures on restaurants, entertainment venues, planes, etc., regardless of their allowed seating capacity.
You can increase the supply of those seats, but if there isn’t the demand for them the economy will remain stalled. When it comes to returning money to his donors, McClintock doesn’t worry about deficits. He only worries when it comes to helping those in need.
Corley Phillips,
Granite Bay
Restitution
“California Supreme Court must decide fate of state’s unjust money bail system” (sacbee.com, Dec. 29)
Erwin Chemerinsky proposes limiting the bail system. It would allow people who have been accused of a crime to live freely until conviction. While I agree that rich people accused should not have more liberties than poor ones, it is preposterous to allow potentially dangerous people into society.
While Chemerinsky concedes that people being held for the most destructive crimes should not be let out, he is essentially proposing to allow “lesser” criminals into the public sphere. A killer must stay in jail, but an identity thief is free to continue ruining the lives of decent American citizens.
I do agree that our current system is not working. Instead of allowing potentially harmful people to roam free, we should offer restitution to those eventually found innocent.
Eitan Gelb,
Los Angeles
Speed up
“Biden says COVID vaccinations will take ‘years at this pace’ and vows to speed it up,” (sacbee.com, Dec. 30)
Joe Biden’s plan to vaccinate 100 million Americans in his first 100 days in office is doable. Candidly, I thought there was no way we can inoculate 1 million people a day. That is, until I ran the numbers. Now, I know it is possible. Here’s how:
Every one of our 50 states must vaccinate 20,000 people a day. Here in California, that is less than 350 people daily in each of the state’s 58 counties. If doctors and nurses in local hospitals can’t administer the required number of daily shots, then neighborhood pharmacists and/or major health care organizations should be able to easily fill in the gaps.
Denny Freidenrich,
Laguna Beach