- Palestinian Children Still Suffering In Gaza
- Insurance Regulation By Insurance Companies
- Smart Train Needs More Time To Grow
- Bad Burn Pile Behavior
- Only Fair
- Stand Up To Trump
- A Cynic Might…
- Fear And Loathing From The White House
- Read The Print Edition
- Pandering To The President
- How Can Trump Square Pardon With Boat Attacks?
- Let’s Get Full Value From Electric Vehicle Batteries
- Create Public Utilities
PALESTINIAN CHILDREN STILL SUFFERING IN GAZA
Editor:
I enjoyed a bountiful Thanksgiving celebration with food and friendship in abundance. How grateful and fortunate am I. How can I hold onto the feeling of joy when seeing the horrific images coming from Gaza? Children standing in the rain, knee deep in water and crying for help. Parents holding little ones, trying to protect them and pleading for someone to listen and show mercy. The ground their tents were originally pitched on has turned to mud in the unrelenting rain. Their clothes and bedding are soaked, and it is winter there and cold. Surely there is something that can be done. How can they possibly survive in these conditions?
Palestinians have endured such immense suffering for the past two years. Loss of homes, death, disease, hunger, thirst, pain, fear and now this. I feel so helpless. Yes, I have donated a number of times to organizations on the ground there working to relieve the suffering, but what’s being done about this? I see the heartbreaking images but don’t hear of any solutions. It’s so hard to even write about without crying. Spread the word on social media. Their suffering is no longer front-page news.
Joan Mc Auliffe
Santa Rosa
INSURANCE REGULATION BY INSURANCE COMPANIES
Editor,
Regarding “California is drafting new rules for wildfire smoke cleanup. Are home insurers calling the shots?” The story documents the clear conflicts of interest for several members of the state task force who have worked on behalf of insurance companies.
With climate change, many more of us will be affected by wildfires in the future, so we need to sit up and pay attention now.
I was struck by the quote from the California deputy insurance commissioner and task force chair, Tony Cignarale: “It would be irresponsible of us to just bring in all consumer-oriented hygienists, so to speak.”
How would that be “irresponsible?” The Department of Insurance is supposed to be working for the public, not the insurance industry.
Given what we already know about the chemical composition and persistence in the environment of third-hand cigarette smoke, shouldn’t the department want to have strong public health experts on such a panel?
There is a term for this: regulatory capture. Shameful
Ruth Malone
San Francisco
SMART TRAIN NEEDS MORE TIME TO GROW
Editor,
In a letter published locally Dec. 3, Jeffory Morshead recommended that the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit tracks be “paved over” to be used by buses and trucks. By making that suggestion, I think Morshead aligns with those who disappointedly jettisoned useful rail systems back when cars first came into universal use.
Many have tried to restore continental train travel with little success since then. Additionally, I think Morshead should remember the effective ferry system we had in the Bay Area before ditching it, only to rebuild it at great expense.
SMART is underused now, but so was BART in the East Bay when it started. SMART is convenient and comfortable. What a joy it is to look out at the jammed highway as the train whizzes along.
Let’s not jettison our rail system. Instead, let’s jettison the blinkered and short-sighted attitudes that resulted in destroying so much that was useful.
Elaine C. Johnson
Greenbrae
BAD BURN PILE BEHAVIOR
Editor,
I live near Fort Bragg and would like to address burn piles. They’re necessary for living in our area for many reasons. However, I have neighbors who have no respect for their community or haven’t read the regulations. I’ve witnessed neighbors burn extremely oversized wet piles, keeping them going with leaf blowers, billowing black smoke for months!
Another neighbor trailers in wet vegetative material from another location and burns. Neither ever completely put their fires out.
With the rate of development in the area, the air quality has been terrible. Some days, it is comparable to the burn pits I experienced in Iraq.
I gave my neighbor the benefit of the doubt because he had lots of overgrown brush, so I didn’t say anything. Eventually, I asked him if he could please reduce the smoke and ash. The next day, he burned wet dirt and leaves with a roofing torch. I got angry, and I let them know I was angry, but this didn’t help.
As a last resort, I complained to the air quality control board. While the employee was understanding, this did nothing. Why have rules if they aren’t followed and aren’t enforced?
My neighbors don’t seem like bad people, they’re very hardworking and have many positive qualities. I just wish that people would burn as respectfully as possible so the community won’t have air quality issues. Your neighbors shouldn’t have to breathe in cancer because you are rushing to develop a property.
Ian Butler
Fort Bragg
ONLY FAIR
Editor:
I just read the Dec. 7 article about the unfairness of Proposition 19 and the campaign to roll back the law. Unfortunately, the example of two siblings inheriting their parents’ home worth more than $2 million did little to advance the argument. The article recounts the story of the family home, a few blocks from Apple’s headquarters, which had a property tax base of $1,300 per year being reassessed to $18,000 per year and the siblings being forced to sell because they could not afford the taxes. So, they could not rent it out to cover many times the $18,000? They were forced to sell for more than $2 million, leaving each with the lowly sum of more than $1 million in pocket change. I am 81 and my daughter and grandchildren will someday inherit our house. I would expect them to sell it. If they choose to keep it, I expect them to pay their fair share of taxes.
Michael Hoevel
Healdsburg
STAND UP TO TRUMP
Editor,
The news media walks a fine line between holding public officials to account without alienating them and losing access.
However, it is infuriating to see Trump and his team routinely lie, gaslight and bully reporters with hardly any pushback or follow-up. It’s a terrible look for journalists.
At some point, the press has to stand up and fight for its self-respect, either directly during an interview with administration officials or indirectly by sending a collective message to the public that they won’t take this abuse anymore.
John Brooks
Fairfax
A CYNIC MIGHT…
To the Editor:
A cynic might not believe that the seizure by the United States of an oil tanker or its more than 20 deadly drone strikes on boats in Caribbean and eastern Pacific waters since September have been carried out to prevent the smuggling of drugs.
What a cynic might believe, though, is that the next step is to cause the downfall of the current Venezuelan government, possibly by way of a United States military invasion. A cynic might also believe the next step after that is to have American oil companies invited to “help” Venezuela take advantage of its huge oil reserves.
Thomas Schneider
San Diego
FEAR AND LOATHING FROM THE WHITE HOUSE
Editor:
After calling a woman “piggy” and attacking others daily as failing and stupid, Donald Trump sides with murderers, pardons drug kingpins and protects pedophiles. He has broken as many of the commandments as he has sold autographed copies of the Bible and wants little to do with helping the tired, the poor or the huddled masses. And yet he always seems to save his greatest hits for ignorance and racism. Somalians were a recent target. He called them “garbage” from a place that “stinks” — not even a real country. Fear and loathe thy neighbor, I suppose. When it comes to small-minded cruelty and un-American behavior, we already have our true king.
Jay Klosevitz
Santa Rosa
READ THE PRINT EDITION
Editor,
A recent story about healthy aging inspired a holiday gift-giving idea.
Since I started teaching digital literacy, I’ve encouraged young families to get a print subscription to a newspaper. Older people can also benefit.
As the story says, fewer older people are reading for pleasure even though it appears to boost memory and brain function. Only 30% of those 66 and older report reading every day. Like young people, elders are spending more time on their phones.
Consider giving a print newspaper subscription to someone who is getting up there in years. It might kick-start their healthy habit.
We need to lean less on social media and more on traditional media sources. Reading in print slows us down and makes us less likely to jump to rapid-fire conclusions.
The story points out that a daily newspaper strengthens connections with the local community and helps older people who may feel isolated. A newspaper also allows grandparents to talk with grandkids about stories for school projects, do puzzles together and share comic strips.
More than ever, youngsters and older people need to stay focused and engaged, so print media is the place to begin.
Jane Gould
Tiburon
PANDERING TO THE PRESIDENT
Editor,
Regarding the recent story titled: “UC Berkeley suspends pro-Palestinian lecturer over political advocacy in classroom," UC Berkeley’s administration has sacrificed one scrupulous and brave member of what it so loves to call “our community” to its own shameful wish to curry favor with President Donald Trump.
I’m a retired UC Berkeley professor, and if every teacher who is trying to do an honest job carefully obeyed the provost’s interpretation of the UC regents’ rules — checking and silencing themselves at every turn — UC Berkeley ceases to be a university and would be nothing more than a Trump hotel.
Ann Smock
Berkeley
HOW CAN TRUMP SQUARE PARDON WITH BOAT ATTACKS?
Editor:
How can Donald Trump justify killing men in small boats in the Caribbean and Pacific using the excuse, without any proof, that they’re smuggling drugs into the U.S. and then pardon Juan Orlando Hernandez, the former president of Honduras, who was convicted of bringing 400 tons of cocaine into the country?
Annette Flachman
Windsor
LET’S GET FULL VALUE FROM ELECTRIC VEHICLE BATTERIES
Editor:
Electric vehicle batteries taken out of a car are still valuable as batteries. In a car, one wants the greatest charge per weight and volume. For standby power, the weight and volume are irrelevant; two old batteries with 50% capacity equal one new battery pack. Battery recycling is ramping up slowly because there’s a use for “used” EV batteries. But recycling is happening, because the “good stuff” in an old battery is much easier to recover than the small amount of good stuff in a ton of dirt.
Ken Nethery
Sebastopol
CREATE PUBLIC UTILITIES
Editor,
Regarding “Has PG&E finally learned its lesson on helping to prevent wildfires in California?” Open Forum offers a good summary of the damage caused by PG&E’s negligence. It begs the question: Why do we allow a company with a known record of harm to continue to run our utilities?
Utilities are a necessity and a public good and should never be run by a for-profit company; they should be public entities.
PG&E’s legacy of destruction in pursuit of profit proves that.
Robert Leeds
Oakland
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