Dublin

The unborn lost, too, on Election Day

I believe one group was omitted from the "losers" list in your article.

The re-election of President Obama and other pro-abortion politicians means a continued "loser" status for one overlooked group of American citizens, the unborn. Obama is the most pro-abortion president we have ever had, as is evidenced by his threat to veto any legislation seeking to restrict abortion (for example, opposition to H.R. 3541, which would prohibit sex-selection abortion), his appointment of pro-abortion Supreme Court justices, his support of the number-one abortion provider in America, Planned Parenthood (which gratefully provided Obama with a 100 percent approval rating) and, of course Obamacare, which will result in federal funding for abortion.

Consider for a moment the similarities among three different instances of injustice against certain groups of people: there was injustice against black people (slavery, Jim Crow). There was injustice against the Jews (Holocaust). Since 1973, there has been injustice against the unborn because of their location (inside their mothers) and their helplessness. We now know how wrong the first two instances of injustice were; when will we learn the wrongness of taking the life of an unborn child?

Mitzi Turpin

Pleasanton

Thanksgiving sales should face boycotts

Money talks. Want to stop Target and others from opening on Thanksgiving night? Boycott the Thanksgiving night openings.

Isn't 363 days of shopping enough? We talk about how Christmas is so commercialized -- Santa coming to the mall after Halloween, Christmas decorations out before Halloween. Let's regain some control by saying, "enough!" Let retail workers enjoy time with their families. It may not happen this year, but when they lose money by opening on Thanksgiving this year, the stores should remember that for next year.

Thanksgiving is a time to thank God for His many blessings to us. And Christmas is a time to be joyful for God's great gift to us. Let us regain the true spirit of the season by not letting the commercialization of the holidays take control of our lives.

Marilyn Ludt

Pleasanton

Letter a fine example of GOP problems

Your writer on Nov. 8 provides a perfect example of why the GOP will continue to shrink in relevance.

She seems to think that Mitt achieved the American dream when in actuality he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and has no idea how to relate to real working men and women. She lists her family's accomplishments, and she should be proud of those, but backed a candidate who would slash funding for job training, college tuition expenses and child care. If we don't provide for the educational needs of the next generation we are doomed to fall behind the nations who do.

I am glad your writer has saved for retirement and wants to live modestly, but unless she is taking in more than 250K, she won't pay any more in taxes. The vast majority of Americans will retire with a small 401(k) and Social Security, and the GOP wants to turn that over to the rapacious securities industry. Unless the Republicans can realize that people can work hard without being rich, that the social compact includes those less well off, they will continue their slide into meaninglessness. It would also help to have Donald Trump keep his mouth shut.

Brian Sanborn

Pleasanton

Why are some billionaires OK but others not?

The Times' endorsements in the recent election included a "no" vote on Proposition 32. The television ads supporting this proposition, which were paid for by a couple of the most powerful unions in the state, used the argument that the proposition would lead to "billionaire hedge-fund managers" exerting too much political influence. Yet the front page of the Nov. 13 Times included a very complimentary story about "hedge-fund billionaire Tom Steyer" and his political influence. Would you care to explain why a "top Obama fundraiser" hedge-fund billionaire is OK, but others are not?

Monte Dalrymple

Livermore

Is it R.I.P. for America after the 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