Time for Healing, Not Bickering

Bravo to Christina Julian ("Beams of Honor," July 6). I don't see why this is a controversial issue. If you were offered steel from the World Trade Center to honor the dead from 9-11, and had free shipping, a downtown site and an artist with a good design, wouldn't you accept the offer too?

It's not costing the city of Napa any money to build this sculpture, and if the Napa Valley Register wants people to donate money to build a WWII memorial instead, maybe they can host some fundraisers themselves. People have different reactions to tragedy, and some could think the sculpture is tacky, but every public art project ever made has been called tacky by at least some people. It's art, and it's all subjective.

I vote that the memorial gets built, and the healing begin.

Sherri Newman

Calistoga

Jane Austen Is Rolling in Her Grave

The tone of this article ("Twitterature," June 22) suggests that a woman who has a husband and children cannot be taken seriously, is not intelligent, and is someone that would best be ignored. It suggests that young women in their 20s are ignorant and tasteless.

The internet and Twitter have really opened up a world for women in these groups who do not have to answer to the prejudice held against them that they are unintelligent, inconsequential creatures. Their opinions and voices are making a difference, and if it puts more control into their hands to affect society, all the power to them.

I do not have children or a husband, nor am I in my 20s, but I see no reason to sniff my nose at women in those categories.

Cee Martinez

Online

Radio, Radio

I'm not sure what NPR has to do with the issue ("Bumper," June 22). My understanding is that American Public Media and National Public Radio are competitors in providing programming to public radio stations. There are, in fact, no NPR stations; there are only public radio stations that buy both NPR programs and some APM programs. People generically refer to these stations as NPR stations, but they're wrong. My understanding is that NPR had nothing to do with any of this.

Bruce Winn

Pittsfield, Mass.

When You're Rich

California Democrats last month closed the remainder of what had been a gaping budget deficit by a combination of deep spending cuts, optimistic revenue projections and new fees that are sure to be challenged in court. This will include $100 million in cuts to the in-home services program.

When you're rich and lose money on a leveraged investment, you are a victim of the bad economy and deserve to be bailed out; when you're poor and lose money on a risky investment, you're a financially incompetent yahoo who chases get-rich-quick schemes.

Ted Rudow II

Palo Alto

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