A Blakeslee Voter Speaks

JOHN LAIRD seems to believe the public memory is about as short as the list of his positive accomplishments while in office. Why else would someone who served as chairman of the Assembly Budget Committee, and in that role was a significant architect of the financial mess in which California now finds itself, decide to run again for statewide legislative office? Can't we do better? Recycling is good for the environment, but recycled politicians are societal pollutants who just recycle our legislative mistakes.

It is (past) time for someone new to represent us in Sacramento. Not a recycled-career-politician who should be politically banished for his involvement in bankrupting California. Sorry, Mr. Laird, I have not forgotten and will vote for Mr. Blakeslee rather than give you a new opportunity to further degrade California.

Harding D. McCrat,

Freedom

Laird, Brown Better Choices

HEY, SARAH PALIN, "is that drill, baby, drill" still working for ya? Now with all the trauma of the gulf spill, Palinites, like Meg Whitman and Sam Blakeslee now running for office, are saying "kill the bullet train."

This reminds me of former football coach George Allen of the Rams, then the Redskins, and father of former Republican Sen. George Allen. He had the mantra "the future is now," meaning he traded his future—his draft picks—for veteran players, for his now, and those teams lost their future for his now. He then left his mess for another coach to fix. I call that reactive. The bullet train would save millions of gallons of wasted aircraft fuel and could be the beginning of weaning ourselves off of fossil fuel. Many countries have already done this. I believe Jerry Brown and John Laird are more proactive about our future.

Bruce Gabriel,

Santa Cruz

Dispersant Damage Hidden

BECAUSE of the dispersant Corexit, which is deadly poison to aquatic life, the animals are not immediately washing ashore, and most are on the bottom of the Gulf. The only way we will truly know how many thousands of whales, whale sharks, dolphins, birds, turtles, etc., died is to go to the bottom. Also, animal rescue teams are restricted to look for impacted wildlife on the shores—not to go out on open waters to find them. We'll never really know the extent of the damage to wildlife from this disaster.

Why are there no tankers sucking up the oil? It worked in Saudi Arabia (Google "gulf tankers Saudi") and could control the leak and prevent the underwater oil plumes from reaching land. Also why is there no bioremediation? It worked in Texas on a large spill (see spillfighters.com). And why is EPA allowing BP to poison the Gulf with the deadly dispersant Corexit? If we don't demand an end to all this now we probably deserve to go down the toilet. Fight for the earth, she supports you in every aspect of your life. Now she is dying.

Michelle Waters,

Redwood Estates

Requiem for Helen Thomas

SHE SAT front row center at every press conference for as long as I can recall as the first woman to be selected in the White House press corps. Helen Thomas is gone, she answered a question instead of asking one and was so bold to criticize or even make a comment on the situation in Palestine. At rare Republican press conferences, Helen was the best part of the long and mostly boring question-and-answer sessions, especially during the last administration. The last four Republican presidents avoided her like the plague, and her latest question to George W. this week went right for the throat as too direct and honest about the two wars he left behind, the kind of questions most progressive thinkers hope are asked so we can speed up political evolution and end this era of spreading fear to garner votes. 

"Bern," my mother, is the same age as Helen and slightly better at applying lipstick. She asks the most pesky questions and just blurts out what is on her mind, harsh or kind but from the heart. As children are so direct and honest, so are the elderly, the fear is gone and honesty is the only thing that is true and perfect. Helen was the last brutally honest, fearless reporter in the whole crowd. When you are fearful of losing your job for doing the right thing as an investigative journalist then the free speech era is over as we knew it. Corporate-owned media controls it all.

Helen is a hero but she went up against wrong adversary. Sixty years of brilliant journalism should not be marred by a disagreeable statement blown up by media hysterics. We will miss her fidgeting and waving her hand trying to get presidents' attention while they look everywhere in the room but in her direction. She went out with style by daring to question Israel's motives. No politician would ever touch this subject with a 10-foot pole. Thanks Helen, Many of us love you and thank you for all the good work by questioning authority.

S. Rudzinski,

Soquel

Corrections

In last week's article about Santa Cruz's loud and unruly party houses ("Houses of the Holy Moly," Currents), we incorrectly reported that the group Santa Cruz Neighbors sued landlords Constantin Gehriger and Thomas Foster. The group that sued was the Archer Drive Neighbors. We regret the error.

Also, last week's coverage of funeral services for the late Patrick Dignam included mention of two persons, Messrs. Stephen Dedalus and C.P. M'Coy, erroneously ascribed as attending but who did not, and the regrettable notation as present of a Mr. "L. Boom," whom we wish to correctly identify as L. Bloom. We extend apologies to parties aggrieved by our lapse, and as well our continued sympathies to members of the Dignam family.

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