Letters: Brown’s budget, diapers, Hiroshima

Don’t shortchange mental health

Re “Brown’s spending plan sees revenue slowdown” (Page 1A, May 14): Gov. Jerry Brown proposes to redirect millions of dollars from mental health funds approved by voters for other purposes.

This is part of a long history of redirecting specifically earmarked funds to suit the governor’s needs. Hopefully, voters will remember this when Brown seeks another tax for a specific purpose.

Inexpensive food comes at high cost

Re “U.S. poultry workers forced to wear diapers on job” (sacbee.com, May 12): Thank you for article on conditions in poultry-processing companies. The public is becoming more educated and aware of factory farming and its devastating effects on our health and environment.

Now, we need to be reminded of how cheap food is processed and what a worker does all day: stand in the cold, noisy warehouse, using scissors and knives to gut and skin 40 birds a minute all day long. And companies want to increase the numbers?

Public pressure can change these practices. Do you really want to contribute to this system?

War is a nasty undertaking

Re “A time to consider what U.S. did at Hiroshima” (Marcos Breton, May 15): Marcos Breton is all over the map with his recent piece. If the thrust was whether it was necessary to drop the bomb, the answer is a yes.

War is a nasty business and all who participate suffer. The United States and others were the victims of military aggression on the part of the Japanese.

Ending the conflict by any means possible is the responsibility of the commander in chief. There was no need to expend more blood or treasure than necessary to end the war. Dropping the bomb ended the conflict and requires no apology.

Don’t apologize for Hiroshima

In an effort to continue his cause of eliminating nuclear weapons, President Barack Obama plans to visit the Hiroshima bombing site.

His administration states he does not intend to deliver an apology. However, a gesture of bowing one’s head after laying flowers would be seen as just that. Moreover, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is not something for which the U.S. should apologize.

The bombings ultimately saved countless lives by ending the war without the U.S. invading Japan. Due to the fact this visit does correlate with the anniversary of Pearl Harbor or the nuclear bombings themselves, I believe this is political posturing by the Democratic National Committee to distract the public from Donald Trump’s success in the polls.

Pick presidential candidates wisely

Re “Trump is awful, but his policies make some sense” (Viewpoints, May 13): In the presidential election this year, in each major party there is an entitled candidate who is the presumptive nominee.

I’m advising my friends to not vote for the entitled candidate in the June 7 California primary in either major party. An open convention would be of best service to the nation. Open conventions are exciting and democratic. Closed conventions are dull, less likely to best serve the nation and more likely to serve the personal needs of the entitled candidate.

Treat marijuana like tobacco

Re “Tobacco tax set to join state ballot” (Page 5A, May 16): If smoking tobacco causes lung cancer and is out of social favor, why is it all right to smoke marijuana, which goes into the lungs, and why is it becoming socially acceptable? Both should be treated the same, shouldn’t they?

Anatomy should trump politics

“Bathroom fight is a necessary one for equality” (Editorials, May 16): Our foolish government has no common sense whatsoever. Its stance on transgender bathrooms is absurd. If a person has a penis, he should use the men’s room. If not, use the women’s room. It is as simple as that.

Feds ignore rights of majority

Attorney General Loretta Lynch stated after the Justice Department sued North Carolina over HB 2 that the case was about dignity and respect that we accord our fellow citizens, and laws that we enact to protect them.

How about the other 99 percent of the population who may not want to share a public restroom with a female who thinks she is a male or a male who thinks he’s a female? Don’t we deserve the same respect and dignity?

I’m old fashioned and prefer to share a public restroom with only people who have the same plumbing. Let them have all the transgender restrooms they want, but please give me my dignity and respect.

This story was originally published May 17, 2016 at 5:30 AM with the headline "Letters: Brown’s budget, diapers, Hiroshima."