Letters (May 27, 2020)

• Affluenza
• Get Used To Them
• A Salty Writer
• Not As Simple
• How About It, BOS?
• Not Coming Back For A While
• Homelessness In The Rose City
• The Worst

AFFLUENZA

Editor:

In recent times you have made a few comments about nutrition that reveal your ignorance on the subject ("we know all we need to know about nutrition," "the Adventists are a bunch of vegetarian cultists"). It is obvious you have spent too much time watching sporting event commercials and are a victim of consumerism. Since I like your paper so much and want you to be around to keep it going, I have decided to provide you with some real science on nutrition. It is more in denial than that of Global Warming. 

T. Colin Campbell is a professor at Cornell University. He got his doctorate and started his career doing research in developing nutritious foods for animals in our meat production system. His book The China Study is one of the largest and most comprehensive studies ever done. He compared the health of peasant farmers to the health of the urban Chinese who are benefiting (?) from new wealth. He established that our major chronic diseases are diseases of affluence. I like to phrase this as a consequence of eating too "high on the hog." 

I would recommend reading the newsletter below and getting on the list. Unlike most medical advice it is free. 

Thanks for your tolerance.

Don Cruser

Little River

VEGETABLES: Top 10 Plant-Based Research and News Stories of 2015 - January Newsletter and the Ethics of health

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ED NOTE: Not that I'd dare presume to speak for Him, but from what we know of the guy, I doubt JC would approve of a church dedicated to Him and His dad operating a chain of for-profit hospitals, not that this opinion pertains to your rutabaga recommendation, which I probably agree with without reading T. Colin Campbell's findings, mention of whom compels me to reveal another prejudice — names that begin with a single letter to give the bearer, I guess, the gravitas he fears he lacks. Never knew anybody who did that who wasn't a crook or a crank and, similarly, while we're in the patronymic aisle, I never knew a hyphenate who didn't live in Masterpiece Theater. (Or is that theatre?) Of course that's only my experience which, admittedly, is limited.

GET USED TO THEM

Editor,

In December, I retired after 46 years of practicing dentistry. The first 10 or so of those years were spent being a “wet-finger” dentist — not wearing gloves or a mask. The AIDS crisis changed all that. We soon learned that our only way through it was to practice “universal precautions” — wearing gloves, masks and other personal protective equipment, and assuming that everyone was potentially infectious.

This wasn’t without some difficulty on my part. The loss of tactile sensation, the constant fogging of my glasses under my mask, etc. were annoying and frustrating. On more than one occasion I tore off my gloves in the middle of a procedure so that I could more accurately feel what I was doing. But I got used to it over time, and I spent the next 35 years practicing in a manner that was safe for my patients, my staff and for me.

So given that we’re all looking forward to wearing masks all the time, let me say how important it is for them to be worn properly — that is, covering the mouth and nose. I know how uncomfortable this can be at first. But you’ll get used to it, too. And we’ll all be healthier and safer for it.

James A. Abbott

Santa Rosa

A SALTY WRITER

Editor,

Don't jump to conclusions regarding Joe Biden. He ain't scared of anybody. He is not a pragmatist. He could pave the way for a progressive Democratic victory in 2024. I think Mike Bloomberg would make the best president based on two and a half hours of interviews I've listened to. 

One of the best fiction writers in the New Yorker, William Trevor, has died. 

Alan Gurganus’s piece was little better than the usually bad ones. 

I have read all of Proulx’s writing except for “Barkskins” which I could not find. I have also read all of Bill Bryson books. I like Proulx better. She's a salty writer. Her first five books were about Vermont starting with “Postcards,” then “Accordian Crimes,” “The Shipping News,” about a weekly newspaper in Newfoundland which won a Pulitzer. It was well-deserved prizewinner. Each week the paper devoted one full page to sexual assault. Most of the rest of her books were about Wyoming, up to “Fine just the way it is,” from “Close Range,” a young man keeps losing things. Proulx says "You would lose your balls to if they weren't in a sack." While talking to a man about lesbians he says "Those are the tongue and groove women, aren't they?" Proulx spent a good deal of time on research before writing, especially “Shipping News” and “The Old Ace in the Hole.” She lives close to Rawlins, Wyoming on a ranch closed in winter.

The verdict: For involuntary manslaughter Trump will spend 30 days in jail. For being an asshole he will be transported to a funny farm in upstate New York where he can perform at will, although locked in. He will leave DC on January 20, 2021. Keep an eye on him during the lame-duck period. He may have something up his sleeve.

PS. $1200 up until 5/13 was based on those who paid income tax in 2018, 2019. Direct deposit. Now they will receive checks. Now Social Security pays everyone with a Social Security number based on form 1099 mailed each December. Direct deposit. If trouble, send letters to Jared Huffman.

Ralph Bostrom

Willits

NOT AS SIMPLE

Editor,

Much has been written about how removing Scott Dam on the Eel River will provide miles of fish habitat. I have not read anything about what will happen when the mercury and cinnabar mines that are currently sealed under the lake are exposed.

Tons of silt behind that dam are contaminated with mercury. How will releasing/exposing that silt impact downstream fisheries, farming, groundwater supplies and the health of our communities?

This isn’t as simple as remove the dam and the fish shall return. There is an ecosystem that has been in place for almost 100 years. What is to happen with the bald eagles, ospreys, bears, otters, beavers and elk that rely on this lake to survive? And the fish that reside in the lake?

All of our Northern California rivers have seen a serious decline in salmon populations; removing this dam isn’t going change this. While I applaud you supporting conservation, please don’t rally behind this cause without investigating all impacts to our community and rivers.

David Chase

Santa Rosa

HOW ABOUT IT, BOS?

Hello BOS;

 I see you do not intend to allow elective medical procedures until stage 3 or 4. Whenever that is. 

I just had a call from a customer from Lodi who was diagnosed with kidney cancer 4 days before the shutdown. He was supposed to get a follow up within 2 weeks. It has now been over 2 months. His doctor called yesterday to tell him it was his last day at the hospital annex. They have closed 7 medical offices with multiple doctors and his doctor is being send to the unemployment office. 

They have laid off 75% of the emergency room staff and 50% of the nurses in the hospital. They are going broke. 

Like us, they have NO ONE in the hospital with COVID and NO community spread. 

Are you going to let our doctors and nurses and hospital go broke, too? This is not caution, it is insane. People are dying because they cannot get treated all over the country. Another doctor I saw on TV said she had a patient who needed a hip transplant. NEEDED! Now a blood clot formed and has gotten in her lungs and she will probably die. We need to SAVE OUR HOSPITAL! 

Get with it folks. You are literally killing us! What if it was your kid with cancer?

Capt. Cass Forrington

Sea Glass Museum, Fort Bragg

NOT COMING BACK FOR A WHILE

Editor,

I drove out to Point Reyes Station on Friday night a few hours before sundown. It was the first time I had been there since the Shelter In Place had begun in mid-March.

I saw a large handmade sign as I entered town that said, "Stay Home." After reading some articles and letters to the editor in the local Point Reyes Light newspaper, I believed the sign’s intent was telling tourists to "go home" or, "Normally, we'd want your business, but now we're worried you are carrying the coronavirus so please go home and don't come back."

I think it will be quite a while before I return to Point Reyes Station.

Keith Bramstedt

San Anselmo

HOMELESSNESS IN THE ROSE CITY

Editor: 

Growing homeless encampments under Highway 101 have made it nearly impossible to walk downtown. To maintain social distancing, we must run the gauntlet in the street with the traffic.

Derelict RVs and campers are parked along our streets. Now the city has opened an encampment at the Finley Center. The West End is already a magnet for the homeless due to various social service offerings. The Finley camp is another amenity to attract still more unsheltered. Enough is enough.

The quality of life in our neighborhood is poor. We deserve the ability to move about freely without fear and to enjoy our neighborhood without dealing with the disease, addictions and unstable behavior that brought these people to the state they are in today.

It seems as if the homeless have more rights than law- abiding, taxpaying citizens. Other parts of the city and county should be considered for any new encampment or homeless services. Moreover, moving to a sanctioned encampment shouldn’t be voluntary, nor should campers be handpicked, leaving the most needy and incorrigible behind.

The city and county should ensure the safety of our West End neighborhood and other neighborhoods. It’s time to address the underlying conditions that led to the problems of the unsheltered in Sonoma County.

Cynthia Toran

Santa Rosa

THE WORST

Editor,

Remember Hitler? Stalin? Mussolini? Tojo? The rottenest people in the world. But they could never be as bad as the liberal Democrats, by far the worst thing that has ever happened to this country. When he was the mayor of San Francisco Gavin Newsom absolutely ruined it. Now he is the governor and has almost ruined California. Jerry Brown helped that out also. Brown left office with $385 million missing, no receipt, no accounting, probably in his pocket. Nancy Pelosi got a champagne glass for being the worst person ever in Congress. Chuck Schumer got the stained coffee cup for being the worst senator ever. Adam Schiff got the cigar ash tray with ashes because he is a stupid ass. 

God bless Donald Trump. He will win by a landslide.

Jerry Philbrick

Comptche