The Central Valley is the world's premier producer of food and fiber. Every acre of Central Valley farmland produces many times what an agricultural acre produces in most other countries. Food and fiber that we produce feeds and clothes millions of people all over the world. We are faced with a serious water shortage that has idled thousands of acres and eliminated thousands of jobs. We are a "hands-on," hard-working, highly-productive area and we desperately need more water and more efficient irrigation systems to do our job.</p><p>Our cities and counties, faced with record unemployment and diminished tax bases, are desperately short of funds.</p><p>I read in the Aug. 20 edition of the Enterprise, page B2, the story on Rep. Dennis Cardoza's $46.6 million in federal funds to improve high-speed Internet access in the valley. I also noted that the project will require an additional $20 million in "matching funds" from our cities and counties.</p><p>High-speed Internet is, essentially, a hi-tech toy. We don't need it very much, especially now.</p><p>The only folks who will benefit directly from these huge Internet outlays are the people who own the telephone companies that will get money to upgrade (and then will, inevitably, charge us more for service), as well as the manufacturers of fiber optics who build the components for the new system (companies which are largely based in India, Korea and Taiwan). </p><p>If I owned a telephone company here in the valley, I would be glad to donate a whole bunch of money to Rep. Cardoza's campaign ...</p><p>The cities and counties of the San Joaquin are close to bankruptcy. Will it be cost-effective for them to invest their scarce "matching" dollars in faster Internet connections?</p><p>How about an honest "bailout," something that really means something?</p><p>Wouldn't it be more prudent to invest our federal "bailout" funds in developing and deploying efficient water-use and irrigation technology. That kind of wise investment, an investment in what we do best here, would pay off directly and immediately in jobs and profits and taxes that would put our people and cities and counties back to work. We can get our "high-speed Internet access" after we've put everyone back to work.</p><p>I, for one, believe that Rep. Cardoza is way, way out of line, and terribly out of touch, as well.</p><p>Joel Whitehurst</p><p>Los Banos</p><p>Whitman cartoon was in poor taste</p><p>I was appalled and disappointed to see such a crude, crass, sexist -- and might I add poorly drawn -- depiction of Republican Gubernatorial Meg Whitman dressed as a scantily clad "dominatrix" whipping a kneeling (and fully clothed) Democrat candidate Jerry Brown in your Aug. 20 newspaper.</p><p>Even if Ms. Whitman makes history by becoming the first female governor of the state, apparently everything goes as long as she has an "(R)" after her name. </p><p>I am not a Los Banos resident, but I stopped in town briefly to have lunch at Ryan's Place diner, and I purchased your newspaper from the newsstand. Needless to say, I am not impressed with your small-town newspaper, or your inappropriate sense of humor. </p><p>This cartoon certainly does not live up to your so-called mission to "perpetuate the qualities of tolerance, humility, sharing and respect."</p><p>Mark van Wyk</p><p>Gilroy</p><p>City can't track bill paid by cash</p><p>II recently bought a Los Banos home and I have been paying my water bill every month. This month I received my statement and it was around $127 for a single man in a five-bedroom home. I never wash my car at home, I do laundry once a week, I have a small lawn and a small garden. That seems like a lot of money for one month.</p><p>I called the city and spoke to a clerk. I asked why my bill was so high. She said I didn't pay my bill last month. I told her I did. She asked how I paid. I said cash. She stated that it's not in the system and asked if I had the receipt or the date I made the payment because, if I did, she could look it up in the system for any double payments made to the wrong account on that date.</p><p>But, because I didn't have the date it would take forever for her to check the entire system for double payment for the whole month.</p><p>I thought this issue had been corrected already and we had a good system in place to ensure our money isn't stolen and that our payment could be traced if made by cash or debit card?</p><p>I had to give my debit information to the city, so I could pay this bill again. Now I must monitor my account transactions to ensure that my card isn't used by an employee from the city? I know, most likely not. I'm pretty sure that all employees that work for the city are good people. So, please don't take this the wrong way.</p><p>I just wanted to raise an awareness that we should have some kind of system in place to account for all bills being paid with or without cash.</p><p>Jacob Aguirre</p><p>Los Banos</p><p>Don't forget what we stand for</p><p>Many who came to America seeking religious and political freedom are now practicing the oppression and terror that they escaped. Those brought to America in irons and chains, as indentured servants and to work the railroads became the targets of hate-filled laws and hate-filled people. We have forgotten that we are a nation of immigrants, except for Native Americans. Many of us continue to struggle with laws that do not see us or understand us and in many cases don't care to.</p><p>As a country, we take pride in democratic achievements and struggles for independence, but we must also address how our past and present scapegoats, blames, ignores, denies and victimizes many of our citizens. As a county and as a people we have terrorized, and denied freedoms for many of our citizens, but we don't want to be called terrorist or racist or held accountable for the injustices of our history. Those who perpetrate terrorism want to be able to deny that they are terrorist or racist, but continue to terrorize and dominate others.</p><p>We know history is written with omissions, distortions and deletions that only give half the picture. Our history must be a truthful account of what has really taken place, as well as what we must do to improve as a people and as a country.</p><p>In addressing the injustices of the past, we can begin to change the injustices of the present. We must address the individuals that fled England for religious freedom, the uprooting and taking of native American's lands, when African Americans were sold as property, how Protestants treated the first Irish immigrants, how Chinese Americans were brought to American to work on the railroads for low wages, anti-Jewish sentiment in America, discrimination toward Mexican and Spanish speaking individuals, the emergence of the klan, the placement of Japanese Americans in internment camps, anti gay and lesbian sentiment and the continuing hostility between ethnic groups. We cannot ignore these events; they cannot be rationalized away. We must be accountable, and hold others accountable. We must be outraged when violence and terrorism happens, and we must give voice to this outrage.</p><p>Therefore if we are discussing as a country whether to profile certain groups, and people coming from other countries, should we not profile white people too? Let's not forget our history and Timothy McVeigh among others. To those who say that they want their America back, I ask what America are you speaking of. And to those who want to rewrite history, I ask for what purpose, and to those who want to undo the Civil Rights Movement's achievements. I say that you will try, but there are many of us who remember what America was like before the civil rights movement. </p><p>Lorene Garrett-Browder </p><p>Los Banos