Trump and conservatives, UC majors, San Joaquin River
GOP hasn’t been conservative
Re “GOP rejects conservatism” (Viewpoints, May 6): Republican leadership rejected conservatism years ago. For years the GOP has successfully utilized the term “conservatism” to hook voters, but has shown little commitment to it. Obviously Charles Krauthammer knows that because he accurately recaps the process.
Chicken Little’s “The sky is falling” cry has more credibility than the GOP touting conservatism. Need proof? There are many examples, but 12 years of Bush presidencies is a good start. Neither is conservative. John McCain isn’t a conservative. Mitt Romney is marginally conservative.
Voters finally see through the GOP “conservative” hook, so it should be no surprise that nobody cares whether or not Donald Trump says the word or even acts conservative. Thanks to the GOP, in today’s political arena, the word is meaningless.
John DeKellis, Rocklin
GOP acting like spoiled children
Re “Trump defiant as Ryan is ‘not ready’ to give backing” (Page 12A, May 6): Many Democrats and Republicans are rejecting their establishment parties by supporting Bernie Sanders or Donald Trump. Republican leaders have conceded that Trump is going to be the Republican nominee, and they don’t like it.
Is it the way Trump says things they don’t like, or the kernel of truth that is in his statements that upsets them, truths they refuse to admit?
They just don’t get it. Trump is the apparent nominee because a majority of Republicans want a change, want something new, while the establishment lost their support because they offered only their old ways.
Members of the Republican establishment are acting like petulant children not getting their way, spitefully threatening to assure an opponent’s election whose policies are against all their basic principles.
Its time they grow up, before they destroy their party and possibly our nation along with it.
Bill Jurkovich,
Citrus Heights
Cherry picking stats on UC majors
Re “UC majors see balance shift toward out-of-state students” (Insight, May 5): The article about majors chosen by nonresident students at the University of California cherry-picked statistics and skewed findings from an audit report to draw a grossly inaccurate picture of access to majors. Rather than attempting to understand the bigger context, the reporting strained credibility by concentrating on a small subset of majors at UC campuses.
The reality is that the percentages of Californians and nonresidents enrolled in the top five majors have remained unchanged from 2010 to 2014. The article also fails to account for student demand for new majors. At Berkeley, for example, the number of students in computer science has quadrupled in four years. And as nonresidents grow, so does the number of students in popular majors. That is not displacement, it’s common sense.
We hope The Bee’s future reporting incorporates a better understanding of statistics and strives for meaningful, accurate context to better serve your readers.
Pamela Brown,
UC vice president for
Institutional Research & Academic Planning
Call for more dams is short-sighted
Re “Surface storage is greatly needed” (Forum, Another View, April 24): The response by the California Water Alliance attacks the Natural Resources Defense Council’s efforts to restore the San Joaquin River, protect Delta water quality and ensure the state invests wisely in water supply solutions. Like the alliance’s failed initiative to gut protections for California’s rivers, its article is baseless.
The alliance’s sole answer to California’s water problems is to build a 10th dam on the San Joaquin River, at taxpayer expense. But dams and diversions already capture most water in the San Joaquin Basin, with devastating effects on rivers, fisheries and the thousands of jobs that depend on them.
Much better alternatives exist, including the two groundwater banks being constructed under NRDC’s settlement to restore the San Joaquin River. These projects provide real water at a fraction of the cost of new dams. California’s complex water challenges require thoughtful solutions that protect and restore our source waters, not short-sighted water grabs.
Kate Poole, Natural
Resources Defense Council
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This story was originally published May 9, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Trump and conservatives, UC majors, San Joaquin River."