Solar power vs. desert tortoises; KCET leaving PBS; Sacramento’s late budget

In case you missed it

Re “Tortoises make way for solar site,” Oct. 9

Where were the activist groups speaking out and demonstrating against this uprooting of the tortoise population?

Did anyone ask the tortoises if they were OK with this upheaval of their daily lives, particularly during mating season?

No, nobody out there is complaining because this is a “green” effort.

I’m all for solar as an additional energy source, but face it, there is an environmental impact and nobody wants to talk about it because it is green.

Bob Filacchione

Buena Park

The irony inherent in this headline is overwhelming. I’ll bet that if these chelonians could express their views on the subject, they would be avid supporters of offshore drilling.

Robin Swenson

Sherman Oaks

Here is a clear case of supposedly green energy gone wrong.

Havoc ensues by blindly following the outmoded, centralized, corporate model of producing energy for profit and continues by transmitting it over intrusive power lines.

If every house and commercial building had the proper solar panels to provide adequate electricity, there would be no need to endanger the tortoises by so ruthlessly intruding on their natural habitat and whining that the “problem” is that the tortoises try to return to their former homes.

We’ve got to find a way to develop less-destructive, truly pro-life alternatives.

Margot Eiser

Montebello

Changing the channel

Re “Public dispute: KCET bolting from PBS,” Oct. 9

I suspect that KCET, which bills itself as the station of “infinitely more,” will soon become the station of “infinitely less”

That is sad, as it had become the go-to station for so many of us for so long. I certainly would be interested in the back story.

Stuart Simon

Venice

Let’s see: no “Masterpiece,” no “Great Performances,” no “ Washington Week,” no “ Charlie Rose” — but lots of old movies.

I guess all of those membership checks that have been going to KCET for 35 years will now be going south to KOCE.

Beryl E. Arbit

Encino

If KCET abandons its viewers to television without PBS, there surely will be a dark place for KCET’s leadership in the hereafter, doomed to spend eternity watching a flickering screen of endless KCET appeals for donor support.

For the many thousands of us beyond the reach of other PBS broadcasters, owning a television will be virtually pointless.

Pierre Hartman

Tehachapi

I remember when my classical music station tried to alter its format and play less classical music. The station nearly went under when many listeners, including me, stopped our contributions.

KCET management may wish to ponder this experiment before taking a big leap off the edge.

Alan Coles

Long Beach

So the strings attached to the grants “from oil giant BP and other sources”seem to be forcing KCET to sever its ties to PBS and its popular programs?

Viewers didn’t get asked about this change because, in early 21st century America, only money talks.

I’m going to ask my cable provider about getting a PBS feed elsewhere.

Ed Maurer

Mission Viejo

“NewsHour” accompanies our dinner every weeknight. “Charlie Rose,” the best interview show on TV, gets me though an hour on the exercise bike. And then “Masterpiece Mystery” and “MI-5” fill in any extra time.

For that I’m happy to let KCET charge an automatic payment of $20 a month to my credit card, and I was on the verge of increasing that amount.

If KCET quits showing “NewsHour” and “Charlie Rose,” then I’m canceling that payment. Perhaps my wife and I will learn the art of conversation over dinner again. But I’m not sure how I’ll get through the bike rides.

Bill McIntyre

San Clemente

Budgeting their time

Re “Budget dodge delays the pain,” Oct. 10, and “Lawmakers sweat the small stuff,” Oct. 9

I find it difficult to generate sympathy for the harried, yawning California lawmakers who had to stay up until the wee hours to get a budget passed because of having to hash out really tough decisions like advertising on electronic billboards, political appointees and creation of a secretary of volunteerism.

All I can think about are the thousands of parents, elderly, sick and handicapped who will suffer through numerous sleepless nights wondering how they or their children will survive from one week to the next without the minimal services they were receiving before the new budget.

I suggest California lawmakers volunteer to be Wizards of Compromise instead of Wizards of Partisanship. Maybe then they will be able to finally pass a moral budget.

Rebecca Nunnelee

Santa Monica

So Mike Genest, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s former budget director, blames the voting public for not understanding political and financial reality.

“Politicians have made it sound like there are other alternatives, like we can simply get rid of fraud, waste and abuse and [have] a spending freeze and … have the same kind of government we’ve always had.... That’s just not true.”

Really? Where could the voting public have gotten such a crazy, false idea? Which politicians would dare to make such unfounded claims?

Oh, wait, now I remember. Not many years ago, Schwarzenegger famously promised to get rid of fraud, waste and abuse and have a spending freeze. He made a sweeping vow: “Audit everything, open the books and then we end the crazy deficit spending.”

Tell us again: Who’s to blame for the public not understanding political and financial reality?

J. Berinstein

Northridge

Schwarzenegger’s line-item vetoes of temporary childcare assistance for poor working moms and welfare-to-work program support sends a clear message to mothers:

Don’t work, don’t succeed, just suffer.

Paul Tepper

Los Angeles

Senate leader Darrell Steinberg (D- Sacramento) stated: “Everything in the budget is give and take.”

He is correct. The people of California give and the pals of the legislators and governor take.

Joan A. Maggs

Granada Hills

A worthy winner of the Nobel

Re “Chinese dissident wins peace prize,” Oct. 9

I was very pleased to read that for once, the Nobel Peace Prize was not awarded to someone for their public disdain and vitriolic rhetoric against America and our founding principles.

It brings home the point that even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

Bobby Florentz

La Habra

As of late, China has had an abundance of headline problems including natural disasters and environmental degradation.

It will be interesting to see how its latest human rights test will be played out in front of the world community.

Few people in the West can even pronounce Liu Xiaobo’s name properly, let alone know who he is, yet mention human rights and everyone beyond the Great Wall will take notice.

If nothing else, Liu restores respectability to the prize.

Theodore Carl Soderberg

San Francisco