Good riddance to that dangerous cartoon ‘Dilbert’. We are safer without it.’ | Opinion

Good riddance to dangerous ‘Dilbert’

Somehow, the world will be safer without “Dilbert.” While we readers have enjoyed the strip for decades, we’ll all be safer without it. Thanks for protecting your readers from this insidious comic strip.

Dilbert can now hang out with Little Orphan Annie and Dick Tracy, two other dangerous characters who were also politically incorrect.

Now is time for equal pay for women

March is Women’s History Month. Yes, women have made tremendous gains, especially since getting the right to vote in 1920. More women are running for office and getting elected. More women are involved in leadership positions in formerly male-dominated careers such as firefighting, policing, construction, medicine and law. There is a big push for women to become involved in careers in science, technology, engineering and math.

However, we are still fighting the “equal pay for equal work” battle. This gap has ranged between 80% and 82% for the past 20 years. An example would be for a newly hired male manager to be paid $80,000 while his female counterpart is getting $64,000. Big difference!

Many people believe this is due to women being treated differently from men in the workplace. Others argue it is because women take time off from their careers to raise a family, or to fulfill family responsibilities at home. I’ve heard “responsible” bosses argue that they didn’t have to pay women as much as men because men were the primary supporters of their families.

Lots of gains, yes. But we still need to work on getting the respect demonstrated by equal pay for equal work.

DeSantis’ war against ‘woke’ America is a joke

Now that Gov. DeSantis is claiming to have enlisted Texas like some sort of tag-team in his death to woke campaign, we Californians must take the lead against the Dork (Dumb Outrageous Racist Kind) policies that are being promoted as conservative progress.

I feel that part of being an American is having to put up with people and customs that you don't like or agree with. Trying to undo the right to be different, look different, and to think differently than the majority is a direct strike at the principles spelled out in the Bill of Rights. To think all our ancestors got here the same way, that our heritage is the same, is willfully ignorant and not being allowed to even discuss that topic is a crime in itself.

Every citizen has the right to equality before the law. To pretend that has been achieved, that we don't still have work to do, abdicates our responsibility to the future to leave a better nation than we found. We need answers to those hard questions that remain, not silly slogans from those who mean to divide rather than unite. Progress is continually moving forward, not sliding backward.

Here’s a water-saving idea

With reservoirs rising and estimated to reach capacity, with record snow melt pending, with Temperance Flat still an unknown future factor; in lieu of drainage waters going directly to the sea, consider diverting waters to replenish the Tulare Lake basin aquifer.

This story was originally published March 12, 2023 at 5:30 AM with the headline "Good riddance to that dangerous cartoon ‘Dilbert’. We are safer without it.’ | Opinion."