Letters to the Editor

McCain Gives True Picture of Iraq War

Dear Editor,

The nation owes a debt of gratitude to Sen. John McCain for pointing out we are not getting a true picture of what is happening in Iraq. He has demonstrated how we can protect Iraqi citizens in Baghdad and nationwide. Provide each Iraqi with body armor and 100 American troops to escort them. It probably will not be necessary to have Blackhawk helicopters backing up the troops.

Frank Crosby, Morgan Hill

Public Transit is Failure

Dear Editor,

The failed experiment we call public transit cannot be fixed. Band-aids, “tweaking,” “adjusting,” hocus-pocus, ipso facto mumbo jumbo (a legal phrase), will get us to the same place, after much more blood-letting from taxpayers’ diminishing veins and arteries.

Tweaking the Articles of Confederation, slavery, the gold standard, prohibition worked about as well as the Pope’s Bull Against the Comet, and Lincoln so artfully noted. Our leaders’ tweaks on the dead animal of public transit will be just as ineffective. How long do we keep pumping blood into a dying animal suffering a fatal poison (in this case socialism/communism)? Why did Mexico, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and many other countries de-nationalize their transport industries in the last three decades (not to mention the Soviet Bloc)?

As we overthrew the Articles, slavery, gold standard, and prohibition, so, too, must we de-nationalize (privatize) transit, as recommended by the Ad Hoc Committee on VTA Reform, which was chaired by Hon. Jim Cunneen when he was CEO of Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce (and I think now works for Cisco). Your readers deserve to hear the truth.

Joe Thompson, Gilroy

School Superintendent’s Column Ironic

Dear Editor,

I found Dr. Alan Nishino’s March 30 guest column in the Morgan Hill Times’ op-ed page ironic if the goal is “clean, safe … schools.”

On April 2, at 8:30am, room 23 of Martin Murphy Middle School was a nightmare.

After moving a couple of boxes under the desk, dozens of roaches went scurrying. The janitor spent 10 minutes vacuuming them up. Total, there was probably around 75 roaches along the front of the classroom.

This is the condition of the school after fumigation just two weeks ago. The sewers are ridden with vermin and the walls are infested. There are mice that run through classrooms. 

Following notification, with pictures, facilities is coming tomorrow to put landscape cloth over the sewers and weather stripping on the doors. Our janitorial staff requested this minor fix more than a year ago. This may slow some insects down; however, this will do nothing to take care of the problems in the walls. 

Ceilings are leaking in the main office where the secretary has to keep a garbage can on the counter to keep water off the computers.

“Modernization” for Murphy will not come soon enough.

Jan Martin, Morgan Hill