Dot com bomb

As a long-time supporter of the Hornets, it pains me to see the school making bad decisions. The school?s decision to shut down the only Sacramento State fan web site was just embarrassing. Not only did they shut out the fans, but they made the school look greedy in the process.

Sacstate.com was the only place Hornet fans could go to talk sports, as well as have an alternative to the school for Sac State news. Now, the school has effectively made that impossible. This school is not Duke or Florida State. It does not have a large following, although it is making progress. There are literally thousands of unofficial web sites throughout the nation, and each school counts these as a blessing, since they are evidence of a fan following.

Why in the world does the school think shutting down its only fan site is beneficial to the school? Let?s see, they shut down the site, making it impossible for fans to interact and see things from a non-school perspective. That?s clever. Now there?s nowhere for us fans to go, and there?s no longer any evidence of fan support on the Internet. This was a terrible idea.

Brian Flannigan

Class of ?97

Horrified

I read Matt Wagar?s piece last week and was horrified. I disagree with his stance that the United States “start lining them up and blowing their brains out,” referring to Taliban and Al-Qaeda prisoners.

He is correct when he stated that there is no legal requirement for the United States. to treat these prisoners by the constraints of the Geneva Convention. I am somewhat disturbed by the fact that our president has expanded his duties as commander-in-chief to undeclared warfare, which is what Operation Enduring Freedom amounts to (perhaps I am more affected by Congress? allowance of such unconstitutional actions). But if these prisoners are not treated with a modicum of humanity, terrorist cells and enemy militaries around the world will have no reason to treat captured Americans with such respect. Islamic faith dictates that justice means “an eye for an eye.” If we torture and dehumanize their comrades, they will do the same to their captives. On the other hand, if we do treat these prisoners humanely, and our opposition does not, they will be demonized and reviled. Our actions may also force them to conform, making Americans abroad safer. Wagar was obviously disturbed by Pearl?s execution. I will not defend it. But to return like to like is to descend to the moral level of a mindless drone who chants dogma. I am certain you will not liken American morals to those of the Taliban. The only way to prove this is if we as a nation act differently than they do in the same circumstances. We cannot step down to their level, since we will never again be respected for our moral character in the international community.

Joel Sepulveda

How sweet of you

How sweet of Ryan Flatley to suggest a raise in parking fees in the Feb. 20 Forum. What a thoughtful little coward he is. Since he is a graduating senior, he shouldn?t care what fees the rest of us get stuck with. That is like a man lying on his deathbed telling us all to start a nuclear war. What the hell does he care if we all die? Flatley should think before opening his mouth next time.

Besides, a fee increase will not discourage students from driving to school. It will only make them angrier at guys like Flatley and the University itself.

Strati Vourakis

Traffic solution

I think I speak for most Sacramento residents when I say to Matt Wagar in response to his Feb. 20 column “Sacramentans: try a real city,” If you don?t like it here, leave.

How can he say he enjoys walking down streets where no one bothers to look at you or cares if you?re dead or alive and write for a newspaper? He obviously wants people to hear his opinion. Now I don?t know about Wagar, but I certainly have not been “displaced” here due to economic disparity. I am choosing not to move back to the Silicon Valley, because I will clearly get more for my money here. I feel we Sacramento residents should enjoy the fact that our landlords don?t rob us blind.

I realize Sacramento has its problems, the traffic being a particularly horrible one, but for the most part, I like this city. So please, move to San Francisco so Sacramento has one less car on the roadways.

Katie McGrath

CFA? No way

I appreciate Samantha Hinrichs? concluding sentiment that “we need to stand with our professors,” in last week?s Forum. But I think that raises a significant question: With which professors would the students stand? The superficial answer is “with the union leaders or activists.” But you might find it interesting to inquire into how many of the faculty actually support those leaders.

Consider the possibility that there may be many of us who, while agreeing that there are significant improvements in working conditions that should be made, feel that the way the union is trying to go about that has generally been counterproductive. Specifically, while I think it pretty unlikely that there will eventually be a full-blown strike, if such a thing were to happen , I predict that a large segment, perhaps a majority, of faculty that would continue to meet their classes.

I certainly would myself, feeling that my commitment to proceed with students? education far outweighs any reason the union has given me to break that commitment. So I would encourage Hinrichs to ask around quite widely to determine faculty opinion about the numerous issues involved here, and be careful not to assume that union positions are truly representative of the whole faculty, or that they are entirely accurate with respect to the statistics involved.

Donald E. Hall

Physics professor

A Sac of…

If Matt Wagar doesn?t like Sacramento as he stated in the Feb 20 Forum, and he has every right not to, that’s fine. But he shouldn?t to put down others who live here. And he could leave for that matter. This is a free country. Matt could go to his precious bay area, with its freezing cold weather, hippies and beggars, over-inflated cost of living, and parking that you must hunt for hours for and pay dozens of dollars for it. Sure I don’t plan on staying here in Sacramento forever, because there’s so much more out there to see. But Sac does have plenty of cool people in it, and nice things about it, and you are Matt Wagar is definitely not one of them.

Also, this little “hole in the ground called the central valley,” as you state, is actually the most fertile farmland on the planet. Obviously you do not know that if we properly farmed this land here, that California alone could easily feed the entire world. This little “hole in the ground” is also home to the wine country of Napa, which now produces wines that rival, and actually beat, wines from France in terms of quality.

Finally, the county of Tulare (also in this “hole in the ground”) recently surpassed the entire state of Wisconsin for number of cattle and cheese and milk production. California and the central valley truly is the breadbasket of the world. And don?t forget that Sacramento is also the capital of California. That means that all sorts of important politicians live here, including the Gov. Gray Davis.

Strati Vourakis