Energy monsters

Paper: San Gabriel Valley Tribune ( West Covina, CA)

Date: July 14, 2007

Once again we are asked to conserve water because of a very dry year. And hopefully we all do so. A little drier lawn and a shorter shower? No big deal.

The same with electricity for our air conditioners on these high demand days - maybe it's a little less comfortable, but we can cope.

But when one gazes at the endless amount of huge apartments clouding up Pasadena's skyline, one wonders what sacrifices these developers and the city are making.

Surely they must realize the enormous drain on water and electricity these monstrosities demand.

Oh, I get it, their answer is to build to the sidewalk so it doesn't have any landscape to water, and maybe the size of the building will shade the rest of the street.

Paul Cimarusti

Pasadena

Flying Italian flags

Letter writer Bill Dunnicliff of West Covina was correct. I'm sick and tired of seeing all those Italian flags flying outside American homes, especially when they win the World Cup.

Bob Ginn

Arcadia

Loss of family docctors

Those who beg freebies from the government used to be called socialists.

Those are people who never learned the universal principle, "there ain't no free lunch."

The medical mess we are in is directly attributable to government meddling in the past. Socialized medicine by any name will be the same disaster here that it is everywhere else.

Why else would Canadians flock to America to pay cash to American doctors?

Until the 1980s most people paid cash to a now-extinct type of doctor in general practice. G.P.s did everything from minor surgery to delivering babies. They were the true "family doctors" and they oversaw everything that specialists did to ensure that care was properly coordinated. They took care of the vast majority of health issues. Specialists were there only for the most complicated cases.

G.P.s weren't generally rich and they worked very long hours, usually taking emergency calls 24/7. Sometime in the '60s the American Medical Association (with the help of government policies) decided to eliminate G.P.s and make us all use specialists for everything. The result is vastly more costly and not necessarily better health care.

The elimination of the true family doctor has caused emergency rooms to overflow with all kinds of non-emergencies because doctors are no longer available on short notice and after hours. This, along with many unnecessary government regulations, has caused the closure of most of our small hospitals.

As costs spiral upward and Americans demand professional help for minor problems from expensive specialists, insurance companies demand higher and higher premiums.

If car insurance paid out like health insurance for every oil change and dead battery, no one would be able to afford car insurance either.

Martin and Carolyn Forte

Monrovia

Nuñez's remapping plan

Re Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez's proposed redistricting plan:

So Assembly Speaker Nuñez is now on the redistricting bandwagon; too bad he actively participated with the anti-Proposition 77 coalition that through their misrepresentations helped defeat Proposition 77. Now the legislation that Nuñez supports looks a lot like Proposition 77 with two big and glaring differences:

Nuñez's plan gives redistricting (power) to the Little Hoover Commission (which is comprised of political appointees from the governor, Senate and Assembly) and the vote to green-light their plan is given to the Legislature (the very people whose "job" will be affected by the plan.) Proposition 77 would have had a panel of three retired judges (that would have been recommended by the Legislature) and the green-lighting of the plan would have been in the hands of us - the people.

It's just a shame that Nu ez and so many other entrenched career politicians helped defeat Prop. 77, because with their support, Prop. 77 would have most likely passed and we may already have had the districts redrawn.

Of course, this may have meant a lot fewer "safe" seats for politicians and actually made for a more interesting election for us, and may have allowed us to perhaps elect representatives more reflective of us. Now this would have made for a welcomed change.

Genevi ve M. Clavreul

Pasadena