Nurses Need Each Other

I agree with the sentiment of Shirley [Granstrom]'s regarding sticking together [Letters, Aug. 21-27]; but I'd rather be stuck together with a binding contract then be at the whim of administration.

I've been a working RN for over 40 years, and know first-hand that nurses need a contract.

It isn't CNA who has divided the RNs at CHOMP--division is a tactic used by administration to divide and conquer.

It is the nursing staff who do the nitty-gritty care of our patients. We need a contract like other professionals--teachers, firefighters, police officers and 50,000 sister RNs throughout the state, each of whom have a binding contract. Paternalism no longer has a place. We RNs at CHOMP need to catch up with other RNs and chart our own course.

Sheila Morgan-Thigpen | Monterey

Leave God Out Of War
Of the millions of billions of living creatures on our Earth, only one species, Homo Sapiens, has been privileged to claim an agreement with God, to be rewarded with an everlasting vacation in Heaven. Doesn't that seem a bit discrimnatory?

What about all of the other creatures--cows, horses, household pets, whales, seals, giraffes, eagles, lions, tigers, chickens? Wouldn't God want some of those creatures in Heaven?

Dare we suggest that almost all wars between today's nations use the "religion angle," as a means of obtaining popular support? Who, even in America, would dare not applaud, when our President says "God Bless America" in the middle of a war promotion speech?

There must, surely, be some more honorable way for self-serving nation-leaders to show concern than to pretend their personal or financial interests have something to do with a Supreme Being.

Melvin J. Vercoe | Marina

Commie Diatribe's Logic Ignores Dark (Ahem) Truth

Mr. Poehner's commentary seems like a beautiful piece of political thought copied from the pages of Robin Hood: "Take from the Rich and Give to the Poor!" [Letters, Aug. 21-27]. Unfortunately, the reality is much more complex and solutions do not lend themselves to such over-simplified drivel.

California's tax system punishes hardworking individuals by taking the fruits of their labor from them. According to a Cal-Tax fact sheet (www.caltax.org), in 1999 less than 10 percent of tax returns accounted for almost 75 pecent of the revenue gathered from the California Personal Income Tax. These "rich" had an Adjusted Gross Income of $100,000-plus. However, a couple of married high school teachers trying to put their two daughters through college could have an AGI of $100,000-plus.

Yes, they are in the top 10 percent, let's tax them more and give to those who lacked the discipline to put themselves through college!

On the other hand, what about the 70-year-old widow who lives on an annuity of $30,000, but her husband left her a house in Pacific Grove, appraised at $750,000. Is she rich? I believe Mr. Poehner's logic fails us here.

Communism proved that equality of income leads to equal poverty. Society must have a way to reward those who work hard and take risks. Government should not punish them. It shouldn't reward them either. It should just get out of the way.

Thomas Strenge | Monterey