San Ramon Valley letters: Enjoy re-election high while it lasts

Danville

Letter writer's ignorance was a tour de force

The recent letters to the editor on the outcome of the election provided a humorous way to start the day.

Mr. Greer and Mr. Morris intoned that the outcome was due to the ignorance of the electorate. They, on the other hand, have access to the all-knowing truth. What a delicious irony that their views were shared on the very same page by Mr. Crook's tour de force of ignorance that the president plans to hand the country over to the United Nations.

Jeff Patry

Danville

R.I.P., America, after Obama's re-election?

President Obama's re-election to a second term highlights the huge and growing division in our nation. The president failed to win the support of nearly half of the electorate because these voters are diametrically opposed to his political agenda. The ideological chasm between President Obama and the other half of the country is deep and wide.

During his first term, the president effectively burned all of the bridges over this divide by practicing partisan politics from the White House (health care reform is a case-in-point; his insistence on preferentially punishing successful people is another).

His hubris and condescension, nearly unbearable before the election, have increased tenfold since his re-election making any chance of bipartisan cooperation in our government highly unlikely.

We now look forward to four more years of petty one-sided leadership that leaves half of our nation shut out of the legislative process and continues to drive a wedge further separating the American people. Will the United States survive four more years of divisive leadership? I hope so; but the chances are not good.

Thomas Nelson

Danville

Truth distorted on Obamacare

Shame, shame on Thomas Sowell with his misrepresentation of presidential power to waive the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). An article in October's Journal of the American Medical Association dispels Sowell's partisan blather. It states clearly, 'The ACA does envision that certain provisions could be waived, permitting innovative state approaches to better fulfill the act's mission. The secretaries of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and the Treasury, for example, could waive provisions -- including the individual mandate -- if a state can show it would increase coverage and reduce cost without raising the federal deficit. States, however, must specifically request such waivers, which would not become available before 2017. President Obama has sought an ACA amendment to make innovation waivers available by 2014'. The waivers are solely for states to request. For a full JAMA account visit http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1387811#TheIndividualMandate.

Bob Algieri,

San Ramon

Open letter to Speaker Boehner

I am a constitutional conservative.

In the presidential campaign the candidates provided the voters with clear and stark political alternatives. The voters chose Obama's far-left agenda.

You and the GOP, therefore, have no moral authority to block or oppose Obama's basic "balanced approach." I believe the "balanced approach" will produce catastrophic consequences, but, no matter, the voters have chosen. If you oppose Obama's plan (or modify it in any way), when the inevitable calamity strikes, the GOP will be held responsible. You must allow the Obama plan to go forward largely unmodified and make it clear that the consequences are therefore completely and solely attributable to Obama and the leftists.

There is no third way. Any compromise you force will be blamed for the economic collapse. Any sequestration you force by refusing to compromise will be blamed for the economic collapse. Ultimately, unless you accept the "Obama way," the GOP (not the Dems) will be blamed for the economic collapse.

Good luck.

Dick Flasck

San Ramon

Thanks to the lab for reducing plutonium dust

This summer, the Livermore Lab built a pipeline going west through neighborhoods to Big Trees Park. There, a pumping station is intended to take polluted water out of the aquifer, put it in the pipeline and return it to the lab for cleanup.

The land along this route had been contaminated with plutonium. Disturbing this soil could have transmitted excess radiation to the residents. Therefore, about 150 neighbors and Tri-Valley CAREs asked the lab for wind, dust and radioactivity monitoring. The lab agreed to wind and dust monitoring. So we community members used a Radalert 50 to monitor radioactivity.

We monitored the pipeline construction every day. On the first day, we saw excessive dust and reported it. Lab officials had a special meeting with the construction crew. The result was that the wind and dust monitors were drawn in closer to the work area. Further, extra care was taken not to kick up plutonium-contaminated dust.

We in the community appreciate the care that the lab and crew took to minimize dust to protect our health. Thanks!

Beverly King

Livermore

Borenstein column raises questions

I have two problems with Mr. Borenstein's Nov. 11 column stating: "the majority of candidates had no understanding of what an unfunded liability was, and few understood the implications."

First, why didn't you tell us this before the elections? And second, what evidence did you have that President Obama has any better understanding of these issues before you endorsed him? I agree with you when you said: "elected officials can't begin to solve a problem until they understand it, and most don't."

Fred Brown

Pleasanton