Letters from our Readers: Speed bumps on bridge would save drivers’ lives
November 10, 2009
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On Monday morning, I was shocked again to learn about the truck driver’s tragic accident on the Bay Bridge S-curve.
All vehicles approaching that hazardous, temporary section could be made 100 percent safe from accidents by simply placing a traffic bump every 20 feet.
Yes, it’s inconvenient for drivers, but it would save lives effectively.
Romeo Talam, San Francisco
Democracy is still good
I’m baffled by that 16 percent San Francisco voter turnout. We know that democracy and freedom are not the same thing, and sometimes people choose tyranny. We know that consensus is not validation of truth.
Still, I’m a big fan of democracy. Partly it’s “consent of the governed,” but mostly it’s the “collective wisdom” thing.
Paul Burton, San Francisco
Military logic is nonsense
Can someone explain the logic behind the military’s firing of gays and lesbians for no good reason at all, while someone like Nidal Hasan is not only kept in the military but promoted all the way to major despite poor performance reviews?
It should have been clear that he was deranged and a safety risk both at Fort Hood and, heaven forbid, in the Middle East. While homosexuals as a group pose no risk as civilians or military personnel, someone who maintains an anti-American Web site and becomes an extremist after Sept. 11 should be checked out very thoroughly.
If that had been done, dozens of casualties at Fort Hood certainly could have been avoided. On the other hand, if homosexual Americans fluent in Arabic had not been fired, additional intercepted documents could have been translated and might have unveiled clues to Hasan’s plot.
Who jeopardized the nation’s security by firing the stable and capable, while retaining the unstable and incapable?
Jorg Aadahl, San Mateo
Where is the evidence?
Your Washington columnists claim that Democrats want to “nationalize” the entire health care system, yet provide absolutely no evidence.
Can you provide any quote in the bill currently before Congress that calls for nationalizing the entire health care system? And did you poll low-income women who currently have Medicare and Medicaid to ask them whether they would prefer expensive private insurance over their single-payer government insurance coverage?
Brian T. McCall, San Francisco
Impact of GOP victories
It does not require a partisan Republican to recognize the significance of the statewide election results from New Jersey and Virginia. Both states replaced Democratic governors with Republicans in states that President Barack Obama carried only 12 months before.
What made these outcomes most noteworthy was the huge shift in voter preferences in these two states, particularly among independent voters. While Obama had carried independent voters narrowly in 2008, they voted decisively for the GOP gubernatorial candidates.
The result was a GOP landslide for the three top statewide offices in Virginia and a solid Republican victory in normally Democratic New Jersey.
While political “spinners” may discount those outcomes, the election’s message must have been clearly received in the White House and on Capitol Hill.
Jim Hartman, Berkeley
