Culture in crosshairs
Budget cuts hurt art lovers. Museums are also under attack in this White House budget. Trump’s budget cuts are wrong on so many levels, and Charles Desmarais’ article (“Cuts could block access to great art,” March 21) gave me insight into a little-known program for indemnification of major art exhibitions.
The Arts and Artifacts Indemnity Program’s costs and benefits are almost comical, as the monetary claim in 41 years has been less than $5,000, plus administrative expenses, while the economic and educational benefits are enormous, in the range of $420 million plus benefits that extend to patrons, businesses, cities, and the ability of the art institutions to carry these exhibitions at all.
Every major U.S. art museum has used this program basically a federally backed insurance for priceless art to mount extremely successful shows, such as the current Matisse/ Diebenkorn at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Better go soon before the feds wipe out the insurance. Lorraine Lerman, Berkeley
Preventive impeachment
Danger, danger Will Robinson! Our fake president has put himself into such a big box of lies, slander, corruption and possible collusion with the Russians that I am fearful that in order to deflect his guilt he will start a war with North Korea. In order to prevent this, Congress should immediately draw up articles of impeachment to prevent a global catastrophe. His sheer incompetence and disrespect for the office coupled with his narcissisticpersonality disorder are cause sufficient.
Daniel Konigsberg, Fort Bragg
Prepare for the worst
With rhetoric escalating between the United States and North Korea, North Korea’s alleged capabilities of firing a missile that can reach the West Coast of the United States, and a mentally challenged leader on each side with his hands on “the button,” it might be in everyone’s best interest for The Chronicle to publish a what-to-do list should the West Coast come under attack.
Phil Points, San Francisco
How many would pass?
If Dr. Phil and Maury Povich can use lie detector tests, why can’t we use them on politicians? I’m just saying! Chris Rayburn, Sonoma
Nothing new about it
It seems strange that Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye of the California Supreme Court should object to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arresting federal law breakers in California courthouses. State law enforcement officers and other federal law enforcement officers have done so ever since I began practicing law in 1956 in California and continuing during the 10 years I was a Superior Court judge this century.
I hope her letter was not politically motivated, since it surely isn’t historically based.
Quentin Kopp, San Francisco
Turn on your lights
Wipers = lights! It’s been illegal in California to drive in the rain without headlights for nine years. Without them, a car is almost invisible. Lights-on greatly improves traffic safety, especially for those of us on two wheels. This clueless behavior is so pervasive that I think we could balance the state budget by issuing citations for this infraction. Lincoln Cushing, Berkeley
End the discrimination
The laws that criminalize the behavior of HIV-positive people indeed ought to be changed (“Law must evolve,” editorial, March 21) to help remove the stigma that continues to surround the HIV virus. But another thing that would help decrease the animus toward our state’s and country’s gay people is to allow them to donate blood to the American Red Cross.
Current policy ridiculously requires gay men to abstain from sex for a year (and test HIV negative) before permitting them to give blood. No such requirement exists for heterosexual adults. This wrongheaded policy, along with criminal statutes concerning HIV transmission, needs to be changed to reduce discrimination against gay men.
Vincent McCullers, South San Francisco
Health care solution
The big question is: Why don’t all citizens have health care? Blaming Obamacare is not the problem, nor Trumpcare — it’s the insurance companies that drive the premiums costs. How about corralling them in, as well as prescription drug costs? On another note: I and every citizen would like to get the same medical benefits as our senators and congressional representatives. John Frankel, Alameda
The royal treatment
It took a while for me to roll around in my head the sad information from your article “Results on the plate for meal recipients,” March 18, regarding the removal of Meals on Wheels from the newly submitted Republican budget.
However, it finally dawned on me that while it is evidently just fine for my tax money to go toward our billionaire president’s weekly removal to his luxury Florida digs, it is not going to be fine for my or anybody’s tax money supporting a lifesaving program for the needy.
Judith Corning, Albany