›› LETTERS They shoot horses, don’t they? Every time I see the same old (not very) SMART story in the news [“The Mansourian Candidate,” Aug. 26], I mutter to myself, We hope SMART has factored in an uptick in other rail hazards, “I can’t believe as well. we’re still beating that longdead iron horse!” The SMART horse should have died 15 years ago. That old nag simply can’t drag 21st century travelers from their widespread neighborhoods to their farflung destinations. Suppose we had been really smart and stopped beating the poor thing way back then. At far less money and far greater efficiency, we could now be out of our cars and sailing along quietly between our neighborhoods and workplaces. We could be journeying (sometimes literally door to door) in smoothly riding, clean, energyefficient, buses. No driving to and parking at the station. No hustle and bustle at the Larkspur ferry, which dumps us out at the S.F. ferry terminal, whence we must grab a bus or cab to our intended destination. We don’t want a railroad. We want efficient transportation! But the beat (this time, of the drum) goes on. We vote for a railroad. Can’t fund it. Cut off a major part of it. Then try to pass it off as the original deal. When will we get it: The horse is dead!
I’ll take a SMART bus any day. P.S. Google the statistics on railroad grade-level (vehicle or pedestrian) accidents, most of which are fatal. Apparently there is one such accident, somewhere, every two hours. Our SMART train plan includes 73 such crossings. Joan Nelson, San Rafael
But Mencken also wrote, ‘The cynics are right 9 times out of 10’ H.L. Mencken, the original player hater.
›› TOWNSQUARE
TOP POSTINGS THIS WEEK Marin10: A voice for ‘reasonably priced housing’ When housing debate turned nasty, San Marin woman turned ‘neighborly’ Read the full story here posted Friday, August 2... Single in the Suburbs: Terms of endowment I have a drawer full of bras. Expensive brands from Nordstrom. Cheap ones from GapBody. Lacy, plain, stretchy, sporty, strapless, demi and wired bras in a collection of colors... Marin 10: Ms. Hubsmith goes to Washington A tireless advocate for nonmotorized transportation, Deb Hubsmith recently left her position as advocacy director at the Marin County Bicycle Coalition (MCBC) to work as direc...
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‘Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?’
I am gratified that my theory on the election and re-election of George W. Bush and the adoration of the likes of Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin coincides with the letters to the editor by Lynn Scott [“Barium Heads in the Sand,” Aug. 5], Yvette Wakefield [“Smart Dust in the Wind,” Aug. 26], Sangita Moskow [“The Harder They Chem,” Aug. 26] and others regarding—I love this name given to the conspiracy—the “High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program,” that apparently is a government effort to do, I’m not sure what. These phenomena are concisely explained by the H.L. Mencken quote: “No one in this world has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.” Robert Bock, San Rafael
The Cratchits have been living it up off the backs of the rich since 1843!
from people who can afford it) get more bang for the buck and are more discriminating in who they help and how they help. They have tax-exempt status now, along with churches, etc., and they should be in the business of “helping the poor and needy.” If Warren Buffett thinks that by giving the government more money by taxing the richest will end our financial problems and growing debt... he’s got the beginnings of Alzheimer’s. Marcia Blackman, San Rafael
For the people who think I’m “rich”... no [“Government of the Mooches, by the Mooches and for the Mooches,” Aug. 19]. I’ve been working since 16 and at 72, am still working. I’m “rich” in that I live in Marin, live in a house that has a reverse mortgage on it and that allows me the money to live here. But my personal experiences with the mooches who suck off the government tit is this: There is a whole lot of people who would like jobs for $50,000 a year, but can only qualify or find jobs for $20,000. Out of that paycheck, comes taxes, food, housing, health insurance, transportation to work, childcare (sometimes) and not much is left. They’ve figured out the government will give them Section 8 Housing/food stamps/Medicaid and a check every month if they don’t work. Of course there’s a lot of lying, deception, fake illnesses and some price to pay for this initially... but once they’re “on the dole,” they’re not going to work. As long as the government keeps paying them as much as they’d make working a low-paying job—why work? Now, if the government added a stipulation to this free hand-out like “you have to report to a government office every day for eight hours of work” (whatever “work” is), we’d see how many of them would opt out. But the government keeps growing new ways to give out money to support this mess— and hires more people whose jobs depend on finding people to “help” with the free hand-outs. The argument isn’t taxes for the people who do work—we need government services... we don’t need government waste. Private charities (supported by donations
Editor’s note: Thanks for writing, Marcia! We always relish it when readers challenge us with reasoned debate set upon firm factual ground. This, however, is not one of those times. First, let us agree with you on an important point—welfare fraud exists in every country whose government provides benefits to its poor. Such fraud should be investigated and, when found, penalized on whatever legal grounds are necessary. But we must take you to task on your assumption that the vast majority of welfare recipients receive unwarranted government assistance—or, as you put it, are “moochers”— or that “helping the poor and needy” is some kind of excessive burden on the not-poorand-needy. Let’s look at the numbers. In most recent years, about 12 percent of our $3.5 trillion federal budget has gone toward “income security”—that’s what the government calls welfare—and about half of that goes toward pensions and unemployment compensation, two programs already paid into by its recipients, as a safety net in case they, god forbid, retire or become unemployed. That leaves 6 percent—or about $207 billion—to line the pockets of the champagne-sipping, caviar-gobbling recipients of low-income housing subsidies, food stamps and healthcare for disabled children. Now, the U.S. Department of Labor estimates that about 2 percent of all entitlement claims are fraudulent. That means there’s about $2.1 billion we taxpayers are being bilked out of by the “moochers.” With about 278 million people paying federal taxes per year—yup, 90 percent of Americans pay taxes, despite what Rush Limbaugh says—that’s about $13.81 each of us gets bilked out of each year by the moochers. It’s nearly enough for a 12-inch cheese pizza at Extreme. Hey, there is such thing as a free lunch!
Put your stamp on the letters to the editor at ›› pacificsun.com SEPTEMBER 2 - SEPTEMBER 8, 2011 PACIFIC SUN 7