Letters to the Editor

Compiled and Edited by Jim Buckley

(The Comment section after every featured article is always active with opinion, but often we received letters via e-mail that never appear as Comments. What follows are a selection of those recent missives.)

 Repeat the Sounding Joy

Mainstream journalists have been even more insufferable than usual since Kamala Harris sent a thrill up their legs. Like a bunch of clapping seals or North Korean propagandists swooning over the angelic aura of their Dear Leader, the media have been giggling in unison about how Harris is such a "joyous" "joyful warrior" "bringing the joy back" to American politics. It's basically a roundabout way of expressing their relief now that they no longer have to lie to themselves and their audience by pretending Joe Biden is fit to serve as president.

Andrew Stiles

Washington Free Beacon

(The Stiles Section newsletter)

Failing Schools in a Failing System

A few decades ago, in the face of declining enrollments, several of our local neighborhood schools were converted to other uses, including becoming Santa Barbara Housing Authority "affordable" housing. Did they “solve” our local housing "crisis"? Who benefited from this schools-to-housing conversion and how did this conversion benefit our local community?

What has been their occupancy turnover rates?

Are there local school sites today that are not only under-utilized, but also have no projections for future growth in student enrollments that can also be shed of the burden of ongoing capital maintenance demands?

The days of simply writing blank checks to the government school industrial-complex with nothing more than emotional appeals are over. We must be more hard-headed when linking these ongoing huge fiscal outlays to a state education system that ranks only #45 in the nation, when in the past it was ranked as one of the best. That was back when voters agreed to fund our state schools with 50% of general funds off the top automatically, no strings attached. Look what this automatic Prop 98 "free money" to just this one state system got us in return. 

All educational monies are fungible; construction and capital funding should be a guaranteed part of the current funding our public schools now enjoy under Prop 98, not an afterthought. We are not being told the real story when schools make constant demands for more capital funding when they are already automatically getting a generous 50% stream of revenues.

 Where is that money going? Should this current funding misallocation continue in the face of declining enrollment numbers and appalling lack of educational outcomes?

Over fifty years ago, state leaders created the Master Plan for Higher Education to streamline and coordinate the various branches of higher education: universities, state colleges and community colleges. We critically need a wholesale revision of our entire K-12 system before pouring any more money into this ever-demanding system whose only known product is failure for the vast majority of its constituents. 

Teachers need to loosen the tethers of their rapacious teachers’ unions, and re-create the best model from the bottom up, from the classrooms themselves, where the real learning takes place, not from the Sacramento education-industrial complex.  

Joan Livingston

Santa Barbara

(Editor’s note: Of course, there is always the time-consuming alternative called “Home Schooling” that more people are choosing – including my grandchildren – every day. – J.B.)

Nowhere to Go

There's no way I would ever vote for Trump; my freedoms mean too much to me. You are unpatriotic.

Cyndi Lees

Santa Barbara

(Editor’s note: Let’s see, if voting for Trump is “unpatriotic” – and we certainly don’t want to do anything “unpatriotic” – there is apparently only one person one can “patriotically” vote for and that would be your favored candidate. And, if that’s the case, why hold an “election”? However, if we don’t hold an election, that would be considered “unpatriotic” too. Ah, decisions, decisions… I think I’ll just go ahead – as long as I still have the “freedom” to do so – and vote for Donald J. Trump to clear up the confusion.  – J.B.)

God Only Knows

No one knows what's going to happen. Only God Almighty knows who will be sitting in the White House. But people are praying around the world. They want to see new leadership for America not the same leadership. That pretty much sums it up.

Mary Lem

Santa Barbara

(Editor’s note: Ms Lem was unable to post this comment on the “Meet & Greet with the Democrat Elite” column and we believe it deserved to be read by a wider audience. – J.B.)

Lie When You Can; Never Retract

Before he left the campaign trail for the last time, Biden's outrageous lies reminded me of the late Senator Harry Reid, who, when challenged on his nonsensical statement that Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney didn't pay his taxes (Romney had paid $1.9 million in taxes the previous year), justified his lie by saying “Romney didn't win, did he?”

These people have no shame.

Incidentally, Reid never retracted the statement.

Harold J. Baer, M.D.

(Editor’s note: They not only have no shame, but they also have no scruples, and that sums the Democrat game up completely. Unfortunately, they often beat their opponents with outright falsehoods, Representative and now U.S. Senate candidate Adam Schiff being a prime example. – J.B.)

Deep State Collusion Revealed… Four Years Too Late

Four years later, this guy – Facebook head Mark Zuckerberg – admits under pressure to his evil deed of squashing the Hunter Biden laptop story. Everyone knows that if this story went forward throughout all the media, it would have capsized Biden's bid for the presidency. Eleven percent of Biden voters said they would not have voted for him had they known of the chicanery and skullduggery inherent in this scandal.

What this proves is that lying and censoring works at crucial moments. Mark Zuckerberg et al will not be punished at this late date. So, in effect, there's no drawbacks to lying and censorship. These people are willing to do anything to protect The Cause. They'll do it again when the situation calls for it. They have no remorse or repentance. In their view, why possess all this power if they don't use it? That's why they acquired power to begin with. Money means nothing without the power attendant to it.

David Samuel McCalmont

Santa Barbara

Home Ownership Can Still Be Within Reach

In the past few days, housing policy has taken an unusually high profile in our national political conversation. Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris put pledges on housing in her first (and so far, only) policy announcement. 

While there is no question that addressing our housing crisis is a top priority, critics have questioned the substance behind the headlines of the Harris announcement – and even whether this issue is best addressed at a federal, rather than a state and local level. 

For our part, at Golden Together we made California’s housing crisis our first priority. California now has the highest housing costs in America and the lowest home ownership. The housing crisis underlies so many other problems: the cost of living, homelessness, the exodus of people and businesses from our state… 

The typical California home price is now nearly $1 million, something that barely 15% of California households can afford. For so many Californians, the dream of owning a home has become totally out of reach, and the rising cost of rent continues to strain people’s budgets. 

None of this is inevitable. Our housing crisis is the direct result of bad policy. Policymakers and bureaucracies in our state are making regulations and taxes on housing more and more burdensome, in turn making housing less and less affordable and available. 

Our Golden Together policy report, “Universal Housing Affordability”, not only highlights these issues but offers concrete steps to address them, laying out a specific plan to make California a model of success, not failure, on housing. 

Our report outlines several key strategies: 

● End bogus environmental lawsuits under CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act), and reform environmental regulations that block new home construction where it has been approved by local communities.
● Limit “Impact Fees” (effectively a tax on new housing) and other permitting costs that add hundreds of thousands of dollars to the cost of a home.
● End the scam of “affordable housing” by government cronyism and diktat, and instead allow the market to provide truly affordable homes where they are needed and wanted.
● Balance streamlining of urban “infill” permits with permits to build new cities and suburbs.
● Restore infrastructure investments in transportation and water to facilitate the development of new housing, new cities, and new suburbs. 

We can solve this! We just need to change our mindset: from scarcity to abundance, from austerity to growth. With a concerted effort and a focus on positive, practical, common-sense solutions, we can ensure that all Californians can afford a home of their own. 

Golden Together is committed to making California a place where everyone can thrive. Please download our housing report [here] and share it with your networks. If you’d like to support our mission or learn more, please visit our website or consider making a donation.

Thank you for your ongoing support and commitment to a better California for all!

Best regards, 

Steve Hilton

Founder, Golden Together

(forwarded to SB Current by Bobbi McGinnis)

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