RICH CITY WITH NO MONEY

Hooray to Squid Fry for “Money For Nothing” on Carmel-By-The-Sea, and for bringing to the public’s attention the latest fiasco involving Latham & Watkins’ $250,000 bill [Sept. 28- Oct. 4]. And for unmasking the city’s feigned “continued budget problems.”

Finally, some Carmelites are wising up to the City’s continued shenanigans and the City’s claims of budgetary problems…finally, Carmelites are asking “How could any city with only 4,000 people and an annual budget of over $11 million and over $8 million in reserves have “budget problems?” Will the denizens of this Poor Little Rich City ever demand “heads roll”? —LA Paterson | Carmel-by-the-Sea

AMERICAN WITH NO PARTY

Seeing all the “vote for me” signs and political attack ads reminds me that it is time to vote again. Yet, for whom shall I vote? Is there a modern politician that actually has the guts to put America above their campaign donors?

The two major parties have us playing a carnival shell game. They divide us with distracting and often petty issues, all the while destroying the nation with their selfish policies. I am certain that if one votes Democrat or Republican, at the end of the day it will yield the same result. Jobs will be shipped overseas to nations utilizing child labor and falsely valued currency. Wars will occur in lands of little or no interest to the security of the United States. Illegal aliens and drugs will continue to flow across our unmonitored border.

I was raised in a family of tough-as-nails Teamster Democrats, combat veterans proud of their service. Grandpa voted FDR, Dad voted Kennedy. Both fiercely American. I, it seems, have unfortunately inherited their values. I say unfortunately, because FDR and Kennedy no longer exist. So where do I fit into this age of party politics?

I call for closing the borders, and the neo-liberal calls me a hate-filled right-winger. I want out of Iraq and claim George Bush to be a failure, and the neo-conservative calls me an emotional hippie. Oh yeah? How about stop dealing with the Chinese. Abolish the death penalty. Bring all of our soldiers deployed on foreign soil home. Unionize. Immediately dump CAFTA, NAFTA and the WTO, and for God’s sake, support the entire Bill of Rights.

While we fight over gay marriage, some fat cat, silk-scarf-wearing Democrat with her own right-to-carry permit is working on a treaty with the UN to globally ban privately owned firearms. While we fight over the public display of the Ten Commandments, some cigar-smoking, checkered-pant-wearing country club Republican is shelling out no-bid contracts to his corporate donors.

I submit to you that neither party will do anything to cultivate a sustainable and responsible system of manufacturing our own wealth as a nation. Not as long as  these so-called leaders can continue getting rich by selling the rest of us out.

I will reserve my vote for leaders who will put America first. Hold fast. —Larry Thurman | Salinas

The letter-writer is co-owner of the ACME Coffee Roasting Co.

CRIME WITH NO DEFENSE

The fact that Congressman Mark Foley has been sending inappropriate e-mails to underage teenage boys participating in the congressional page program makes me sick. Even worse than his e-mails is the possibility that House Speaker Denny Hastert had been told about his actions and not only did nothing to stop it, but participated in a five-year cover-up.

I am equally dumbfounded by Conservative TV Pundit Newt Gingrich’s attempt to compare Mr. Foley’s actions to Monicagate. While inappropriate, former President Clinton and Ms. Lewinski were both consenting adults.

There is no spin for pedophilia; and contrary to claims from his lawyer former Congressman Foley is a pedophile.

I find it hypocritical that he was actually co-chair of a committee whose sole purpose was to protect children from online predators. This issue is not about homosexuality, it not about alcoholism, nor is it a election year political attack. This is a non-partisan issue about abuse of power, violation of public trust, and the sexual exploitation of children. The only question left is: How will the politicians deal with this issue? Let’s hope they do better than the Catholic Church. —Todd Hurlburt | Marina

CORRECTION

In “Big Sur Will Burn” [Sept. 28-Oct. 4], Big Sur Fire Brigade Chief Frank Pinney was incorrectly referred to as Frank Penny. The Weekly regrets the error.