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State bond measures
keep racking up debt
Reading the election results I see that voters have once again authorized California to take on more debt, with very vaguely stated objectives regarding how the money will be allocated.
Proposition 2 is $10 billion for “education.” Proposition 4, a $10 billion jackpot of money for the never-achieved goals of “clean water” and “wildfire prevention.”
After these measures are enacted the Legislature will request a summary of where the money has been spent. Regularly, the governor will feign ignorance, or if an audit has been done, he will refuse to make public the findings.
Previous ballot measures have passed as panaceas for everything that ailed our poorly managed state. I have asked my elected representatives if they might know where the monies have gone, and if the funding has produced any tangible results.
I am still waiting.
Clifford Sanburn
San Ramon
Coastal agency showed
spite, not spine
Re: “Musk vs. Coastal Commission shows agency’s effectiveness” (Page A6, Nov. 8).
I strongly disagree with Joe Matthews. What do 12 Democrat commission members have to fear when they reach a decision that they know will be lauded by the Democrat governor and Democrat leaders of the legislature who appointed them? How is that courageous?
The commission properly performed its duties in cases against David Geffen, the Edge and Vinod Khosla. By Matthews’ own definition, they are “safeguarding coastal ecosystems and enforcing the public’s right to access the coast.” The launch site at Vandenberg does not meet these criteria. It just happens to fall within the commission’s boundary. Matthews devotes one parenthetical sentence claiming rocket launches hurt coastal wildlife. Show me the data.
It’s true most of Musk’s launches are not for the government. He does personal things like launching satellites over Ukraine and North Carolina to provide a much-needed ability to communicate.
The commission didn’t show spine. They showed spite.
Eugene Paschal
Danville
Non-voters put Trump
back in White House
Donald Trump got 74 million votes in 2020. He got 75 million votes in 2024. Joe Biden got 81 million votes in 2020. Kamala Harris got 71 million votes in 2024.
Trump didn’t win this year because he netted any new voters. He won because 11 million Democrats and other non-Trump voters didn’t vote. Why they failed to vote remains a mystery to me. Perhaps it was progressives disgusted about Gaza, though Trump will be worse regarding that than Biden or Harris. Perhaps it was progressives disgusted about Harris’ tack to the middle, but progressives cannot win a national election on their own.
Whatever the reason, I hope that four years from now, they are happy. But I doubt they will be. I foresee then a defeated Ukraine, a disbanded NATO, a ballooning national debt, a U.S. credit downgrade, and a crashing economy and stock market.
Jay Chafetz
Walnut Creek
Election results indict
American character
With the election of Donald Trump, Democratic politicians, pundits and talking heads seem obsessed with self-condemnation. However, that obsession is misplaced. The results were not an indictment of …read more
Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
