Was it necessary? Was it fair? Was it productive in a good sense? I found your coverage of the passing of former Archbishop Robert F. Sanchez totally offensive. Was it really necessary to bring up all of his past alleged, true or imagined transgressions while covering his departure from this world?

I believe that all the articles I read about his passing contained coverage of his negative past. Anyone would think that you are owned by Fox News. Your coverage showed total disregard and disrespect for his grieving family members, as well as members of the clergy, who are also part of his family, and to the Catholic community as a whole. How did this type of coverage benefit anyone? I thought your job was to report, not sensationalize. You might as well have cast stones at his coffin. Shameful!


Stimulus worked

The Jan. 30 letter, "Since stimulus, we're deeper in debt," contained inaccuracies and draws misleading inferences. The stimulus produced 3.7 million jobs, according to the Office of Management and Budget. Under George W. Bush's eight years, we suffered a loss of 653,000 private-sector jobs. Under Obama's first three years, about 2.4 million private sector jobs were created. Instead of hemorrhaging jobs, we are now creating them.

Nonpartisan studies have attributed the growing debt to the Bush tax cuts, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the recession, Troubled Asset Relief Program and the stimulus. The Dow Jones was at 7,949 when Bush's presidency ended. It is now at 12,653. Since we are still in an economic recession precipitated by Republican policies, it's no surprise that food stamps must serve needy families, in particular, children. Of course, an alternative for those without bread would be to "let them eat cake."




I'm baffled by Annette Coffman's letter castigating President Barack Obama for the high unemployment rate and the high price of gas. There is no mention of his inheritance from the previous administration of a record deficit, two wars fought off the books and a financial crisis brought on by an under-regulated Wall Street.

I wonder if she has any statistics on what our economy would look like right now if President Obama had not made the moves he did.


Annette Coffman's letter notes that since President Barack Obama was elected, the national debt has increased from $9.5 trillion to $15 trillion. Well, she got her numbers right, but does not seem to have asked why this has happened.

Looking at fiscal year 2010, the deficit was $1.3 trillion. $449 billion of that was due to lowered tax revenue caused by the Bush recession. $338 billion was due to the Bush tax cuts. $188 billion was due to the Bush wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

These numbers include the cost of paying for borrowing to finance the above. The total -- $975 billion, about 75 percent of the deficit. All of these have a major impact on the federal budget, and all due to Bush-era policies. This does not even include Medicare Part D, which is estimated to cost $727 billion from 2009 to 2018.