Letters to the editor

Editor,

I would like to thank Mr. Eddie Alexander for his thoughts in "California’s next governor?” in the June 18 guest perspective in the the Daily Journal. I agree Steve Westly would be an excellent choice for state governor. Clearly California must move beyond budget triage to long-term institutional planning for our powerful, once economically solvent California. Required-reading for all high school students should be: "For a New Thrift: Confronting the Debt Culture,” a report of Institute for American Values at www.newthrift.org. Also look at the summary "A Nation in Debt” by Barbara Dafoe Whitehead at www.the-american-interest.com.

Marcy McCrory

San Mateo

Know the truth

Editor,

The San Mateo Daily Journal ran a recent letter from a Joseph Locasto, who has repeated often misquoted portions of Barack Obama’s two books, apparently in an effort to smear the senator and cast his words in the worst possible light. His message was most likely taken from a couple of e-mails that are popular among the people in this country who are specialists at trying to damage Obama’s reputation and mischaracterize what he stands for and believes.

The Obama campaign has recently set up a very easy to read and comprehensive website that specifically deals with these kinds of smears, urban myths and outright misrepresentations (www.fightthesmears.com). Rather than quote from the site, I would suggest that people who are ignorant to the truth or choose to believe made-up information about Barack Obama visit this site. It lists many of the more popular misquotes or information taken out of context and places the words in context and/or simply reprints the entire passage to demonstrate that he simply did not say what Locasto said he said.

I honestly wouldn’t mind as much if people would simply say that they just dislike Obama because they’re racist, fear progressive change or refuse to listen to news that covers every perspective and fairly considers all viewpoints, but I must vehemently object when anyone chooses to believe misinformation and then disseminates it in the hope that others will also just choose to believe it without verifying its accuracy.

Mark Brickman

San Mateo

Steroids in horse racing?

Editor,

The gas crisis is more serious than a few people driving SUVs. It isn’t just gasoline it is petroleum. Petroleum is more than gas and oil. It is the base for many products such as plastics and a host of others. Oil in the form of fuel delivers every product that we purchase. Boats, trains and trucks use diesel oil or gasoline. Air craft use jet fuel another form of petroleum. Food production also requires diesel or gasoline for tractors and trucks. Other products such as cotton require the same equipment as food production. Nearly all plastic and polymers are petroleum based. The cost of everything that we consume will cost more according to how much petroleum is required to produce or transport. What are our elected officials doing about this serious problem? They are holding hearings about possible steroid use in horse racing.

Keith C. De Filippis

San Jose

Thanks to Aleo for sharing his racehorse

Editor,

With all the negative opinions being kicked about these days with regards to horse racing, I would like to reflect on the recent loss of Harry Aleo. Wow, what a man, a man with the values of the glamour days of horse racing. When big name owners and breeders were involved in the day to day lives of their horses, not just on race day. I never met Harry, I grew to know him through my sister who had many occasions to chat with him. Harry, a late life entrant into the game loved it and enjoyed it with a passion. He was also just every man, a man who grew to love a sport and then went about finding a way in. And boy did he! When Lost in the Fog burst out of gate and on to the National picture.

We in the Bay Area were given a gift. This horse was so talented and lightning fast it was actually sort of scary. And Harry shared that horse with the Bay Area. He could have sold him many times, but he chose to let the millions go and keep him here. We were able to share in the joy of each of his wins during that spectacular run in 2005 and also share the sadness of his diagnosis and death in 2006.

Thank you Harry and say hello to Foggy for us. You were both good for the game.

Roger W. Slocum

Hagerman, ID.

Bank woes ahead?

Editor,

2008 marks the 75th anniversary of the Federal Reserve Insurance Corporation. On March 6 1933, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt declared a banking holiday. In it, Roosevelt closed the doors of banking institutions nationwide. According to Colonial Statistics, from 1920 to 1934, a total of 9,812 banks either failed, merged, were suspended or closed. With the FDIC taking out advertisement in newspapers, is this a signal of hard banking times to come, and why have not either McCain or the lovable communist Barack Obama mentioned a word about this? Do they want us to miss a few meals and then sort of spring it on us easy like? With the price of food the way it is, local food banks are having a hard time maintaining their shelves stocked to feed the poor.

1. "Resist the Impulse to Panic Over Finances,” by Alina Tugend, New York Times, March 22

2. The Financial Sector is Still in Big Trouble,” uspolitics.einnews.com/news/fdic, June 2008.

3. "Paulson to Push for New Federal Reserve powers,” uspolitics.einnews.com/news/fdic, June 21.

4. "Fed, SEC boost bank supervision,” uspolitics.einnews.com/news/fdic , June 21.

5. "Wall Street Reform Needed Now,” unpolitics.einnews.com/news/fdic , June 21.

6. "A Rush to Pull Out Cash,” LA Times.

Did the FDIC send consumers a busy signal?

Albert B. Franklin

Redwood City

Stop the speculation, reap the benefits

Editor,

Senator Barack Obama has jumped on speculation as the factor in gas price increases. First let’s ignore the massive benefits accruing from high gas prices such as better air quality, more people walking and biking, and taking transit, for better health, which means reduced health care costs, etc.

Instead why not go with the flow and tax speculation? The public likes a scapegoat. We have one in future oil speculators. Nobel prize winning economists like Stiglitz have pointed out the benefits of a tiny, on the order of .2 percent, tax on financial transactions, that can raise on the order of $150 billion a year which can be used to benefit transit; which just when the public wants to use transit more is found short of cars and capacity because of years of abuse by the governor who has constantly been robbing the transit funds to pay for his hydrogen toys and other extravagances. Others like Rob Gelbspan in the Boiling Point have also proposed a tiny tax on speculation and currency transactions in the big casino to offset global warming.

We obviously don’t want to help national security and public health by adding to the benefits of high gas prices with higher gas taxes. So let’s help public transit and bicycle infrastructure with the latest dog that politicians want to flog.

Gladwyn d’Souza

Belmont

Westly can handle the mess

Editor,

Just wanted to say that I enjoyed Sue Lempert’s piece "Will the next governor be a Republican?” in the June 23 edition of the Daily Journal. You’re right, I’m not exactly sure why anybody would want to take on this mess. Nevertheless, I think Steve Westly has the best chance to actually push aside the partisan divide and make the legislature work for the people again. I think it’s time for innovative, smart government combined with focused (yet compassionate) fiscal restraint and spiced with just a touch of good old social issue liberalism - shaken not stirred of course.

Eddie Alexander

San Mateo