The latest legislation passed by our completely out-of-touch supervisors is yet another example of how full of themselves they are and how deaf they are to what the residents of this city really expect of them (“Pharmacies fired up against ban,” July 30).

Anyone hear the callers on the Ronn Owens show (KGO Radio, 810 AM) July 30? Hardly a one was in favor of what the supervisors did, and nearly all of them stated how pathetic it is to single out drugstores. The board’s reasoning is as off-base as its list of priorities.

The problem with cigarettes is that no one will declare them a drug and ban them completely. Instead, individual states and cities attempt to legislate what they think are good health decisions. As long as cigarette smoking remains legal, people are going to smoke. Limiting where they can buy those smokes is only hurting local businesses. Perhaps the board should vote itself out of office? Now that would be a worthwhile exercise in good government!

John Schambre

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San Francisco

No surprise with McCain

I would like to encourage my fellow independents, disenfranchised Democrats and Republicans to vote for Sen. John McCain this November.

McCain has the leadership background, judgment, integrity and mental toughness to be president.

We know where he stands on issues. There are no hidden surprises. He has been vetted. He is the best choice for president, and as a fellow veteran I proudly support him.

Donald A. Moskowitz

Londonderry, N.H.

McCain running down

What makes Sen. John McCain run? His Eveready batteries have been losing power for some time now, and he obviously has no recharger. In the young person’s game of YouTube-driven politics, an old guy better have new (young) ideas or he’s finished.

Well, does McCain have youngsters around him, whispering the unvarnished truth in his ear? Why, no. He has Henry Kissinger, the raspy-voiced, mummified warmonger who defends the Iraq war and would still have us in Vietnam if he had his druthers.

Until recently, McCain had Phil Gramm enlightening him on the strategies of greed economics. Gramm is that compassionate soul who said we’re a nation of whiners for believing there is an economic crisis and complaining about it.

While advising McCain, Gramm had been a paid lobbyist — paid to downplay the mortgage crisis and get Congress to roll back tough state rules that were put in place to stop the predatory tactics used by banks and brokers to burden homeowners with high-cost mortgages.

Gramm and his clients found those tactics very profitable, and old man McCain went right along with the crooks — although it’s doubtful he understood any of the economics involved. He can plead ignorance, and he may even be able to plead insanity with some credibility.

It’s not just that McCain and his advisors are too old for today’s political arena — they’re also morally bankrupt.

Sometimes the physical muscles aren’t the only ones to go soft with age. In McCain’s case, his moral “muscles” have also gotten flabby. He’s a former hero who has sold his soul for one last chance to grab the brass ring. How pathetic!

Michael J. Gorman

Whitestone, N.Y.

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