Letters to the Editor: Aug. 7, 2008

Hooray for John Chiang

If you want to see the difference between Democrats and Republicans, look no further than the fight between Democratic Controller John Chiang and our governor who (despite sometimes pretending not to be) is a Republican.

The Republican ideologues in the legislature have no productive agenda on the budget and want to hold the entire state hostage to their radical agenda. Meanwhile, our governor decided to take some hostages of his own by trying to withhold most of the paycheck of over 200,000 state employees.

John Chiang is standing up to Arnold and fighting for our hard-working public servants. They deserve to be paid the wages we owe them, not be forced to involuntarily loan money to our state while our state legislature cobbles together some sort of budget deal.

I applaud John Chiang for showing real leadership in this fight.

Florence Friedman

La Jolla

There ought to be a law

I cried on Sunday morning when I visited Casa Beach and discovered the strangling pup I’d seen the day before had finally been rescued by Sea World.

This was after spending much of my four days in La Jolla watching (from the sidewalk) the controversy regarding the seal presence in bafflement and frequent frustration.

While I’m thrilled to hear that he’s being treated for his injuries, I can’t help but think about the scene I witnessed Saturday morning as a possible rescue was thwarted by the willful negligence of a man with two small children who disregarded not only general federal protection of marine mammals but also the public’s request to avoid the beach due to the injured seal and approached too closely, scaring all the seals into the ocean.

I urge the City of San Diego and other responsible parties to amend the laws responsible for encouraging such high-cost whims and to enforce those meant to protect against them.

Kristen Renzi

Bloomington, Ind.

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