Were donations to fight breast cancer redirected to fund abortions?
Dear Editor,
The letter from Margaret McCann, President of American Association of University Woman, regarding the topic of the Susan G. Komen foundation’s desire to cease funds directed toward Planned Parenthood and either her stance regarding this issue, or the AAUW, failed to demonstrate how a certain Congressman, 32 in number, turned this into a political debate and unknown to most is the Komen Foundation has been donating money from donations to what I consider an abortion clinic that supplied more than 330,000 abortions last year.
This is not propaganda, but fact. Money I contributed in what I thought was a fight against breast cancer was being redirected to an organization that provides abortions. And please, do not tell me it is about a woman’s right to choose and birth control. Planned Parenthood does not provide breast cancer screening. Not at any of their locations, but you can get an abortion. You can buy a variety of birth control devices at the local drug stores.
Margaret might be right, permanent damage might have been done as I expect there are others that think as I do and will cease any further donations to propagate abortions. More than $300 million is funded by the U.S. government to Planned Parenthood and by law cannot be used to provide abortions. Of course, this frees up other funds for this purpose. I have to wonder who the thousands of Americans are that took a stand against the Komen foundation.
Fred Oliveri, Morgan Hill
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Now is the time for the city to rename Watsonville Road
Dear Editor,
Watsonville Road isn’t. Normally a road bearing the name of a location indicates the road leads to that location. Which Watsonville Road does not; not until you come to a stop at the intersection of the road more correctly designated Watsonville Road, Hecker Pass Road, and make a right turn. That’s the road that leads to Watsonville. But if Watsonville Road in Morgan Hill should have a different name, what should it be? Easy; now under construction is an extension of Butterfield Blvd. which will intersect with Monterey Road at…. Watsonville Road. In the interest of logic and clarity it would make sense to continue the name Butterfield past Monterey Road so that the incorrectly named Watsonville Road becomes just another section of Butterfield.
I don’t know if the city’s leaders have already arrived at this conclusion but, if not, I hope they’ll consider it.
Ray Morris, Morgan Hill
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Gov. Brown’s plan to mothball a 150-room residential care home for veterans frosts his wings
Dear Editor,
So, what do you do with a brand spanking new $88 million dollar, 150-room, veterans residential care facility you can’t afford to open?
Although 98 percent complete, the Redding veterans’ home probably won’t open until around January 2014, if then. Gov. Brown says there’s no money to hire the required staff and operate the facility.
Even by government standards of inefficiency and ineptitude, this screw-up rises to a new level of incompetence and lunacy. Heads ought to roll for making a decision to construct such a facility without guaranteeing funds were going to be available to actually use it.
The governor’s solution is to put the home in “mothball” status until the state can afford to officially open it. This includes paying a cadre of folks to babysit the facility even though no one’s going to be using it for quite some time.
For the 2012-2013 fiscal year, according to my sources, California taxpayers get to pay a tidy little sum of $1.4 million to implement Brown’s “mothball” plan for the Redding home. That’s roughly $140,000 a month! What an absolute waste! Nothing like pouring good money down the proverbial rat hole and getting absolutely nothing in return. It’s an insult to every taxpayer in the state. And voters ought not tolerate it.
If the state can’t open the Redding Veterans Home on schedule for its intended purpose of serving California’s veterans community, then it needs to find another good use for it … at least in the short term.
Frankly, it seems unconscionable to me to have such a beautiful housing facility sit idle and empty when so many of our brothers and sisters find themselves without shelter from the elements during these hard times. Perhaps a partnership between state and local philanthropic groups could be formed to make something good out of an otherwise very distressing situation.
Dare I say, it’s the right thing to do.
Colonel Pete Stiglich, USAF, Retired, Cottonwood
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