Apr 11, 2008

Letters

Cruel seal hunts

Dear Editor: I am writing to spread the word of a terrible massacre that is currently taking place in Canada.

This year alone, the Canadian government has approved the hunt of 275,000 seals. They will be hunted and clubbed to death so that their fur may be sold.

Canada issued statements that the hunt is humane; however, hundreds of journalists have documented the hunt and have shown that it is as inhumane as ever. Additionally, veterinarians have discovered that the majority of seals are still conscious (though bludgeoned to the point of immobility) while they are skinned alive for their fur.

Seals (ages 12 days to 12 weeks old) are bashed in the head, stabbed with a fishhook and dragged to a boat where their still conscious bodies will be skinned.

We can make a difference. You can sign petitions boycotting Canadian seafood, ask your grocer where their seafood comes from (Whole Foods and Trader Joe's have signed the petition boycotting Canadian seafood) and sign petitions addressed to the Canadian prime minister and the Canadian minister of international trade. You can boycott clothing companies that buy seal fur such as Versace, Annika, Birger Christensen and Odette Leblan. All of the petitions and more can be accessed through the Humane Society's Web site: http://www.hsus.org/protect_seals.html

When I saw these innocent seals being mutilated, it broke my heart and I cannot stop hearing their little cries. Please, inform people so we can band together and end the hunt.

Jessica Lockwood,

Woodside



Sara Jane Olson

Dear Editor: Sara Jane Olson, a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army, holds the government to a higher standard than she has held herself to (March 23 Daily News, "Ex-radical held after mistaken release"). Because of a parole-calculation error, she now "thinks" that she is on the lam from Minnesota and that California is preventing her from uniting with her husband, children and friends. Never mind her creed and those who were killed in the name of the SLA, kidnapped or threatened by this mad individual.

The Minnesota Department of Corrections should have denied an interstate compact parole to Olson and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation should have paroled her to Palmdale to do her three years with no early discharge. Minnesota was too kind to add another felon to its state rolls even if she has family there.

Is she rehabilitated? No, just another caught street terrorist wanting to be free, who was married with children before being held accountable for her crimes. Olson now attempts to keep government "honest." Lucky her; in another country, she might never have received the rights that were extended to her; the same ones she disavowed.

I urge Minnesota's parole department to rescind its acceptance of Olson's parole. A lot of public money was spent capturing her after 20 years on the lam; she doesn't yet deserve transfer until we can see she performs well on parole in California by working. Let her family move to California, if Olson wants to be reunited.

Jack Kirkpatrick,

Redwood City



Drug recycling

Dear Editor: Your Associated Press article "Drug 'Recycling' programs to help cure budget ills" (Monday) inspired me to write this. It appears that so far California is only distressed that drugs are finding their way into our water.

Well, that is a concern; however, the price of drugs for many citizens is a large problem, too. Since about 33 states are working on making the recycling of unused drugs possible, why not California? I see no reason why all pharmacies cannot collect unused drugs to start with.

Why can't these drugs be made available to those among us who sometimes live without their needed medications or use only half of the doses they should be taking? For many reasons, many perfectly good prescriptions go unused. How about changing that?

Carol Gilbert,

Palo Alto



China and Tibet

Dear Editor: To the pundits, TV talking heads, senators and Congress members who commented on the current Tibet tragedy in condemning terms such as "gross human rights violation," "murderous regime," "relentless oppression," "brutal occupation" and "cultural genocide," and particularly to those who suggested that President Bush should boycott the Olympics opening ceremony to teach China a lesson, I have only one word: "Iraq."

Simon Chiu,

Palo Alto