Friday's Letters to the Editor

<p class="bold allcaps">Back on track</p> <p>EDITOR: In response to those who say it was a Republican-led deregulation of business that led to the financial mess we are in: The Clinton administration passed the Financial Services Modernization Act in 1999. It did away with restrictions imposed on banks by the Glass-Steagall Bill of 1933. So let's stop trying to place the blame on just Republicans and move forward to solve the mess we are in.</p><p>If you haven't noticed yet, California is the least — yes, 50th — favorite climate for business due to taxes, restrictions and regulations. Wealthy people are moving to Nevada, Texas and Florida to escape escalating taxes. If we don't do something quickly, businesses will continue to leave, and along with its exodus, jobs and money will also leave.</p><p>Giving them tax incentives to stay does help you and me. More Californians employed means more people paying taxes, so I don't have to pay my share and theirs. I will vote for the leader I believe we need to help create businesses so we can become the great state we used to be. I do not consider it the lesser of two evils but rather an opportunity to help us get back on track to being one of the best again.</p><p>SANDY BARKLOW</p><p>Windsor</p><h3>Queen for a term</h3> <p>EDITOR: Denny F. Whiting is so right about the benefits Meg (moneybags) Whitman will bring if elected (“Time for a change,” Letters, Wednesday). We cannot allow “professional politicians” to run our lives, as Whiting said. Queen Meg deserves credit for going deep into her checkbook to purchase the election. How can anyone hold it against her if she has the courage to outspend Jerry Brown? America is all about electing millionaires. Maybe billionaires. It's capitalism at its best.</p><p>If elected, the queen of the rich CEOs will not offer us the moon as Whiting suggested Jerry Brown would. She has scruples. She would never think of making promises. So let's get behind Whitman and overlook her abysmal voting non-record. She was simply too busy creating jobs at eBay to register. We need a queen for a term. Elect Whitman.</p><p>JOHN FLAHERTY</p><p>Santa Rosa</p><h3>Zane's remarks</h3> <p>EDITOR: I was pleased that Sonoma County Supervisor Shirlee Zane affirmed that Democrats “need to be unabashed liberals. About jobs. About immigration. About education. About health care” (“Boxer touts her record in speech to Santa Rosa Democrats,” Sunday).</p><p>The fact that she recently expressed some sympathy with victims of 9/11 who may be confabulating Islam with terrorism in relation to the New York mosque simply puts her in the same camp as Howard Dean in advocating more dialogue and less confrontation. We need liberal champions such as Zane and Sen. Barbara Boxer to get the kind of immigration reform that will be fair to workers in two of Sonoma County's most important export industries: wine and tourism.</p><p>ARTHUR WARMOTH</p><p>Rohnert Park</p><h3>Online payments</h3> <p>EDITOR: I'm responding to Patrick Brady's inquiry (“Going green?” Letters, Sunday) about North Bay Corp. and electronic billing. Customers who want to sign up for electronic billing can go to the Web site of North Bay Corp., www.unicycler.com. Click on “pay bill” and type in the requested information.</p><p>ROSE NORRIS</p><p>Santa Rosa</p><h3>Equal treatment</h3> <p>EDITOR: Yes, I admit to “bike-phobia” (Letters, Thursday). It is not a causeless disorder. It is occasioned when a group of 20 or so bicyclists run a stop sign and cut off several cars. It is caused when an adult male cyclist cuts sideways across oncoming traffic to get to a store. Its roots are in watching an adult cyclist ride down the sidewalk causing pedestrians, including children, to scramble out of the way. Every time a cyclist runs a red light, the symptoms get worse.</p><p>If cyclists want respect, they must obey the laws. How about a registration process to show they know the laws? A small fee, a brief class, a test, a license. Oh, wait. That's cars and drivers who have to prove they can drive correctly on the roads. Why not the same for bikes and bikers?</p><p>LUCILLE DUMBRAVA</p><p>Santa Rosa</p><h3>American virtues</h3> <p>EDITOR: I read Rod Miller's letter (“No mosque,” Tuesday”) in which he used “tolerance” and “inclusiveness” as epithets. While I would be proud to be considered tolerant and inclusive, it is not really the issue.</p><p>We have a history in America of holding the criminal accountable for the crime. We executed Timothy McVeigh for the Oklahoma City bombing. We left all the other gun-rights supporters alone, no matter how extreme their views. We prosecute priests for the sexual abuse of children. We do not attempt to limit Catholics' ability to build a church or to educate children.</p><p>I believe we should hold people accountable for their actions. I hoped this view was shared by people on both sides of the political divide. I am disappointed.</p><p>DANIEL DEARDORFF</p><p>Petaluma</p><h3>Credit for Bush</h3> <p>EDITOR: After listening to the Oval Office address by President Barack Obama, I would like to say to former President George W. Bush: It's your fault for the success in Iraq. If it wasn't for your steadfast determination and loyalty to the troops, I wouldn't have been robbed of hopelessness in the face of the enemy by the Democrats in Washington. I was reluctantly able to have pride and not feel like my father's generation after Vietnam. Regretfully, I was able to come home and transition successfully back into society.</p><p>It was because of Bush's stubbornness that I had no choice but to have pride in a job well done. It is also Bush's fault that Obama had to model the surge in Afghanistan after the surge in Iraq. I hate to give credit where credit is due, but if it weren't for Bush, we wouldn't have been cheated out of losing a war and humiliation.</p><p>Thank you, President Obama, for continuing to take credit for the success in Iraq. But then again, it's President Bush's fault that we won.</p><p>JAMES PERA</p><p>Petaluma</p><h3>Roadside dumps</h3> <p>EDITOR: Congratulations to Mayor Gavin Newsom and the people of San Francisco for keeping such a large percentage of their waste out of the landfills. We in Sonoma County also keep large quantities of trash out of our landfills. We achieve this by dumping it along our roadsides and in our creekbeds.</p><p>BERYL F. ZIMBEROFF</p><p>Santa Rosa</p>