Delta tunnels, State Fair and Minions

Confusion on Delta tunnels

Re “Brown revises water plan” (Page 1A, July 10): I voted for Gov. Jerry Brown and would again, but could someone please explain to me how moving millions of gallons of fresh water out of the Sacramento River will have a positive impact on the Delta? It’s counterintuitive.

People need a voice on tunnels

I don’t understand how Gov. Jerry Brown can build the tunnels without public approval when we are paying for it. We pay taxes so we should have a vote on what our money is being spent on – especially something that costly – both in money and to the Delta environment. His father already ruined some of the Delta with his California Aqueduct. We need to stop another Brown from ruining more or all of our Delta.

Ode against the twin tunnels

(Song to be sung to the tune of “When the Saints Go Marching in”)

Metropolitan wants you to pay with no say/ Westlands too wants you to pay/ Voters, billionaires want to take your vote away/ Letting Jerry’s Tunnels take your water away

When water tunnels dry your tap/ You wake up ’cause you are paying for this crap/ No doubt you’d wish you’d had a say/ When Jerry’s Tunnels take your water away

Congress wants to join in the give-a-way/ Yes Nunes and Valadao will legislate your vote away/ Cortopassi says you’ll have a say/ When Jerry’s Tunnels take your water away

Westlands and Metropolitan rigged it to benefit a few/ Selling false security too/ Politicians are playing this game too/ Letting Jerry’s Tunnels take your water away

Tell Sec Jewell the fish will be fryin’/ Tell Pres Obama the Pacific Flyway is dyin’/ Stand up and say/ Gov I want to vote before tunnels take my water away

Brown has wrong tunnel idea

Gov. Jerry Brown wants to build tunnels to share water with Southern California.

North to south? Wrong orientation. Try west to east. That would truly help Californians.

Switzerland, tired of the pollution left behind by heavy truck traffic, bored a tunnel all the way through the Alps. Surely California, the seventh largest economy in the world, could do the same. A tunnel from Auburn through to Minden would make the Sierra crossing a 45-minute drive.

The railroad crossed the Sierra in the 1860s. A four-lane highway was the miracle of the 1950s. The tunnel through the Sierra should be the transportation wonder of the 21st century.

Sen. Glazer is politically correct

Re “Fort Bragg shrugs at call to shed Confederate link” (Page 1A, 14): Sen. Steve Glazer wants to rename Fort Bragg. He is one of those politically correct people who thinks it is better to rewrite history than to teach our children about the errors of the past, and the terrible consequences caused by those errors.

Change Stanford’s name

California supported the Union. But it's not without own racist baggage. For example, in his 1862 inaugural address, Gov. Leland Stanford stated, “Asia with her numberless millions, sends to our shores the dregs of her population. ... It will afford me great pleasure to concur with the Legislature in any constitutional action, having for its object the repression of the immigration of the Asiatic races."

In the same address, Stanford called out other "undesirable" races, presumably Native Americans who, it was implied, were interfering with important mining and timber operations.

Perhaps Stanford University, as gesture to this sanitized new order, should change its name.

Trump is crass but has a point

Re “Trump is silly, but his message is seriously dangerous” (Erika D. Smith, July 14): I agree that Donald Trump may be silly and crass. However, his message is indeed serious and not seriously dangerous as Erika D. Smith states. Does Smith dispute that there is a problem when non-law abiding people enter a country illegally, in a non-law abiding way?

What message are we sending when we give citizenship rights to individuals who refuse to follow the legitimate path to citizenship? We as country can hardly handle our own non-law-abiding citizens of all races. This is not a racial issue at all. The issue is this: why have laws if there are no or little consequences for people who break them?

This is the real seriously dangerous message.

4-H teaches kids wrong goals

Re “Family traditions, love of animals keep kids competing at State Fair” (Page 3A, July 13): Most young people who join the Future Farmers of America or 4-H programs do so because they’re interested in animals. But the goals of these programs demand that children develop a harmful disconnect from those very animals.

These programs force children to close their eyes to the fact that they are betraying an animal they’ve befriended and whose trust they’ve courted. They’re told to celebrate as their friend is auctioned off to the highest bidder.

Teaching kids to respect animals instead of focusing on how to profit from them is the kindest lesson of all.

Forget Minions, worry about meals

Re “Minions’ cursing is Just your imagination” (Page 11A, July 11): I feel that worrying about the nonsense language coming from a Minions toy that could be interpreted as cursing is not the problem. What is more troubling is that a 1-year-old child is getting their nutrition from a McDonald’s Happy Meal. That is more harmful in the long run.

This story was originally published July 14, 2015 at 5:01 PM with the headline "Delta tunnels, State Fair and Minions."