Is that really all the Red Phone caller can find to complain about?
Dear Editor,
The Red Phone does a great job in showcasing issues in Morgan Hill, such as speeding in downtown and the use of crosswalks. There have been articles that bring attention to garbage-filled vacant lots, fire dangers, traffic situations and other issues. This column has been good for the paper and good for the citizens of Morgan Hill, allowing us to express concern about unsafe conditions and other real life issues.
Imagine my surprise and dismay when the May 4 Red Phone spent the whole column (with a color photo) talking about campaign signs placed on Butterfield Boulevard and Dunne Avenues. Did the “Good Caller” ask about removing a road hazard? No. Did the caller report an issue that could cause a safety concern regarding these signs? No.
The caller complained about two campaign signs that were placed on or near a fence owned by the Santa Clara Valley Water District. Were the signs a threat to water safety? No. If you have lived here as long as I have (23 years), you know all too well that this intersection has been used in every election year for political sign placement. This has been a common community practice that has never posed a health or safety issue.
With all of the important issues in Morgan Hill – a teenager missing for two months, yearly flooding downtown, the loss of the RDA, and on and on – this is what this caller is concerned about? A political sign that will be gone 10 days after the June primary and permanently gone by the middle of November? A sign that causes no fire or safety issues? A sign that informs, as well as reminds us of who is running for an important political position?
I am just amazed at what folks do when they have too much time on their hands. So there you have it Good Caller!
Swanee Edwards, Morgan Hill
Are voters really dumb enough to buy Gov.’s latest budget, tax schemes?
Dear Editor,
According to Gov. Moonbeam, the state is going to run a $16 billion deficit this fiscal year. They increased the budget (i.e. spending) by 11 percent with no way to pay for it, despite calling it “austere” and offering other lip service like the budget lie known as “projected income.”
With inflation at 2 percent and no added population, there was no excuse for such an increase ($10.5 billion)! But they think we the people will be dumb enough to further tax ourselves to cover for the the lies of our “leaders,” or to fear their threats.
This year, they have re-hashed the “tax the rich” cry. In 2005, they already added a tax on millionaires; but that was quickly budgeted (spent) and forgotten and diverted, so they need to breed and spawn more class envy.
With most state employees paying “union” dues to fund various Democrat campaigns, Moonbeam needs to keep their benefits and pensions at a premium at the expense of the rest of us, who spend thousands out-of-pocket on medical needs and have no pension. So as a punishment for refusing to pay even higher taxes, he cuts the schools and the roads (but keeps free tuition and welfare for illegals).
The government has a long and proven history of taking the people’s money for their own, creating dependency institutions and “entitlements.” Said entitlements take precedence over all else, so for every dollar you pay when they tell you it’s “for the schools,” five cents goes there, and the other 95 cents go to keeping state employees fat.
When times are good, they hike spending (remember Gray Davis and the prison guards union), and when times recess, they come crying for tax hikes that never go away. That has been the cycle in California with every Democrat governor since Pat Brown.
The state budget is supposed to be finished by July. The voters will have at least three tax hikes on the November ballot. If polls even come close to showing promise of even one of said propositions passing, the state legislature will “project” such future income as an excuse to hike spending even more.
So, fellow voters, if you get polled, tell them no. Only if they know the tax hikes will fail will there be a chance of them coming to grip with reality.
Alan Viarengo, Gilroy
Proof of American voting insanity: 94 percent of Congress is re-elected
Dear Editor,
Insanity is when we continue to do the same thing and expect a different result. Isn’t that what we’ve been doing by re-electing the Congress that 90 percent of Americans disapprove of? We have re-elected 94 percent of Congress for the last 50 years!
We are in debt up to our ears and we have no plan to pay it off. We spend billions on controversial bailouts and earmarks rule despite promises of change. The economy is tanked.
The solution is as simple as voting against the incumbent. We can send a message to every politician that we will not accept this. We can refuse to re-elect the people who have failed us. There are excellent challengers on the ballot in almost every district and really … it would be impossible to pick representatives who could deliver worse results.
The time is now. Own your future.
Cecilia Rice, Texas
