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Letters (January 22, 2020)

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HEALTHCARE INJUSTICE

Editor,

I was struck by a common thread in some recent local news, which helps illuminate the very sorry state of healthcare racketeering we have going on in this country:

1) Mendocino County Today, January 20, 2020: A pickup careens off the highway near Yorkville. First responders find the truck without occupants. They later locate the driver who is "walking wounded" but declines medical treatment.

2) Mendocino County Today, January 19, 2020: A vehicle veers off the highway and sinks in the Navarro River. Driver swims to shore, declines medical care.

3) Redheaded Blackbelt, January 8, 2020: A man commuting home in his truck is run off the road, crashes down a steep incline, and survives (with his two dogs) by wandering all through the night. The story concludes with him declaring from his hospital bed: "Now I’m looking at hundreds of thousands of dollars in bills."

Martin Luther King once said, "Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhuman." That was 54 years ago. It's past time for a non-profit single-payer national health program in this country. Please register to vote and help make this place a little more humane. Vote for Bernie.

Mike Kalantarian,

Navarro

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REPORT FROM OAKLAND

Dear AVA,

I've been a long time reader of your fine periodical since my days at Arcata High up north. I remember buying every issue of the Bear Lincoln saga and learning so much about rural California history, culture, politics and government. I was hooked and I've been reading the AVA off and on ever since. 

After growing up reading the Eureka Times Standard and The Arcata Union, the AVA was truly mindblowing to me as a kid. The in-depth reporting of local events was something I'd never seen then, nor since. The Arcata Eye is about as close as anyone has come to that level of focus on what matters to the community. And obviously there's nothing of the sort down here in the Bay Area. 

My family got me a subscription for Christmas, so now I'm back to reading these hallowed pages on a weekly basis, now down here in Oakland. Off the record, letters to the editor, DUI's,and detailed descriptions of court hearings, water controversies and the endless criticism of politicians all feels so familiar and comforting. Keep up the good work bringing fire to the palaces and peace to the cottages. And as a great man once said, "Be As Radical As Reality". 

Sincerely,

Jess O'Brien

Oakland

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WHY NO BIDEN ARTICLES?

To the AVA:

I really like the AVA for local news. It seems unbiased enough. But when it comes to national news I listen to NPR, the only radio I get from my home. I also get Time Magazine which did a nice piece on the Iran hit. What I've been waiting for and not getting is an in-depth article about the Bidens’ involvement in the Ukraine. Some of the questions I would like to be answered are:

Does the United States send welfare checks to every country in the world or just favorites? Who are they? And how much?

What was Biden's son doing with the job that paid $80,000 a month yet he knows nothing about the Ukrainian oil company and stays in the United States most of the time and doesn't even speak the language?

Is this just the tip of a very corrupt government iceberg?

The subject seems to be taboo among most of the media.

I want to hear about it, talk about it and explore it. But the facts are hidden as the most useless people gravitate to the top of government especially in California where the most elite position candidates are selected from a group of interconnected and related people just like a third world country.

A new far-reaching Proposition 13 would be nice to keep our money out of their hands.

Tom Madden

Ukiah

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THE END IS NEAR

Editor,

When John Kennedy was shot you were at San Luis Obispo junior high school and I was a senior at San Luis Obispo high school nearby.

That must be the connection I've always felt toward you, or is it your anarchist syndicalist views?

I well remember the old baseball field at Cal Poly by the railroad tracks. I grew up there. Since then you have accomplished and experience so much more than I have. Me? I hopped a few freight trains!

Every day I am grateful to be alive and every week I am equally as grateful when your paper arrives. I am well aware that it is all going to end soon – you and I, I mean.

People like us will be gone soon but everything will go on without us. What a concept.

One of your many connections,

Dale Carey

Oakland

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COMIC BOOKS

Editor,

Governor Newsom is at it again down by Livermore proposing to buy a big ranch for $20 million and turn it into a park and keep the public out instead of fixing our highways, or helping the homeless. He can't even control or manage our cities, let alone spend $20 million on another unnecessary thing like the train to nowhere and the other crap that Jerry Brown thought up. How can we have a character like that running our country?

The liberal wacko far left anti-American Democrats have had 24 years to worm their way into our society, the media, politics, and schools. That's why they are so crazy and wild to get Trump out of office. They know he will expose all the corruption. In his next four years Trump will bring things into focus and will leave a lot of people flat on their backs. Just wait. What I predicted five years ago has happened and this will happen too.

God bless Donald Trump for four more years.

Jerry Philbrick

Comptche

PS. To Mr. Rob M. of Covelo. Thank you for the offer. I do read a lot of books — comic books. I see you in there all the time. Every page. Thanks again.

PPS. The filthy Democrats are blocking people who try to turn in their petitions to get Gavin Newsom recalled. My wife tried to send in a petition and she was forced to call a woman in San Diego who we never heard of before and have a letter sent back to her. They are making it almost impossible for people to send in their petitions. So a lot of us believe that Gavin Newsom never won the election at all. He needs to be recalled. And if it's not this time there is another one right behind it. So sad.

PPPS. Mary Nichols of the Air Resources Board has put about 10,000 people out of business in northern and eastern California and lots of other places. To her and the Liberal Democrats who support her and these rotten scams like climate change and global warming and the Air Resources Board: it's all a giant hoax! It’s costing us millions and billions and trillions of dollars! It would be very strange if next summer we had 10,000 lightning strikes all around California, especially in Sacramento, one for every business they ruined or family they put out of business.

PPPPS. That famous movie star Alec Baldwin is a complete jerk. You can take his words and… 

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POLITICAL WILL IS MISSING

Editor: 

Kate Haug’s solution to homelessness is to make the federal government responsible. She says that California has a housing shortage, and it is extremely expensive to build here (no kidding). How is that a federal problem?

California has more space than any state except Alaska and Texas and a mild climate. It has local sources of building materials like wood and cement. It has experienced builders and developers. There is enough food to feed every homeless person in the country.

State and local governments are responsible. Ridiculous zoning ordinances, incredibly complex building regulations — those are the culprits that prevent us from housing the homeless.

Haug says that one can buy a mobile home for under $50,000 in many states. In California, it is $142,000 (state data). Is there anyone who thinks that is reasonable? Homelessness will be resolved when local governments get rid of the artificial barriers that cause homelessness in the first place. Fat chance.

California has the resources it needs to fix homelessness, but not the political will.

Michael Burwen

Petaluma

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