Apr 20, 2008

Letters

Homicidal drivers

Dear Editor: There must be some special additive in the gasoline these days, as the quality of driving on the Peninsula has gone from bad to homicidal. I am a bicycle commuter. I take Caltrain and ride my bicycle home, as I find that these modes of transportation are typically far less stressful than navigating the traffic on the Peninsula, and I get some great exercise simply by riding home.

One recent night, I was on my normal route through Redwood City, and was hit by a Honda Insight hybrid. "Mike," the driver of the hybrid, later claimed that he didn't have room to pass me without crossing the yellow line. He was absolutely correct. Instead of waiting a few seconds for the oncoming traffic to clear, Mike chose to squeeze between me and the oncoming traffic. In doing so, he hit me with his passenger mirror.

By law, bicycles belong on the road, and by law and for safety reasons, cyclists shouldn't be hugging the curb, nor riding where they can be clipped by opening car doors, nor weaving in and around parked cars. No, most cyclists won't be doing the speed limit, as the speed limit is just that: an upper limit. As such, we will often be riding far enough to the left so that cars will have to slow down and pass carefully. It's the law, and it's the right thing to do. Please do so. Anything else is homicidal.

Jonathan Karpick,

San Mateo



Will Speier heed us?

Dear Editor: Jackie Speier did a fine job standing up like a good Democrat and speaking against the war in Iraq. Will she join the other good Democrats and follow the directions of the Democratic Leadership Council and vote in favor of continued funding of the war? I hope not. Will she go against Nancy Pelosi and put impeachment on the table? I hope so.

I hope Jackie will hear the people in the district as we ask for a change in the use of our tax funds. The people want to use our funds to take care of problems here at home. Our government needs to fund a project to create a new energy system and put people to work doing things to fight global warming and the ever rising cost of energy. The clamor of the people for universal health care is deafening.

I hope Jackie can hear us and heeds us - even if it means going against the current in the Democratic Party.

Patricia Gray,

Burlingame





School district discord

Dear Editor: In all the uproar over the principal change at Almond Elementary, the Los Altos School District board is missing the point. Most parents are realists; we know that the contract with Terri Stromfeld can't be unwound. The outrage we have expressed is driven by the way we have been treated during this process.

The LASD board and the superintendent have made it crystal clear that communication is a one-way street. Their responsibility is to send out information to us, and we are to gratefully receive the information they choose to share with us. Board member Margot Harrigan said on Monday that she knows of no other district where parents want so much input. That may be true, but other districts don't expect and achieve the results that we do. Los Altos, like Palo Alto, achieves those results because of the deep commitment of our teachers and the involvement of our parents.

The district has paid lip service to the public input process. The superintendent has gone to great lengths to tell teachers and parents alike that our function is purely advisory - that he is free to ignore our advice. That may be technically true, but in a district where parents raise millions in additional funding and volunteer thousands of hours each year, it's naive to think that our opinions - and our experience both on campus and in the outside world - count for nothing.

The Silicon Valley has been so productive an environment specifically because it fosters an inclusive, innovative work environment. The parents in LASD want nothing less from our schools. If the current administration can't deliver on that, maybe it's time for them to move on, too.

Douglas J. Smith,

Los Altos



Population pressures

Dear Editor: Sen. Barack Obama's remark that economic frustration has caused people to become bitter and to turn to blaming immigrants (as people unlike themselves) in response is very disturbing for the following reason.

He is denying the essential fairmindedness of Americans, who in large numbers seem nonetheless able to support him or a woman for president. The allegation of prejudice is unfair and demeaning. He is making the claim that opposition of open borders is essentially racist, so no other aspects of immigration can be discussed. This is both intellectually dishonest and bad for public discourse on the issue.

Population growth within the U.S. is the greatest threat to our liberty, our economic well-being and our environment. Population growth constrains us in every way and makes our environmental footprint grow. Mitigation efforts cannot improve things while we continue to grow. Eighty percent of our growth to 2060 will be immigrant-driven. Current immigration, especially illegal immigration, is actually decreasing our ethnic diversity while lowering educational levels.

No candidate shows any intention of addressing population growth.

Raymond R. White,

Palo Alto



Earlier war crimes

Dear Editor: Mark Peterson's letter of April 16 advocates an investigation into President Bush's use of torture. I support this, but such an investigation should refer to its historical context. The use of torture by American forces did not begin at Abu Ghraib; rather, it began at least as far back as Vietnam. In 2006, the Los Angeles Times published a series on U.S. war crimes in Vietnam (www.latimes.com/vietnam). The Times reported almost 150 instances of "detainee and prisoner abuse." The series was based mainly on the files of an Army task force, the Vietnam War Crimes Working Group. These files were declassified, but after the Times series, they were reclassified, so the public can no longer see them.

According to the Times report, Brig. Gen. John H. Johns, who was a member of the task force, wants the files to be made public. They quote Gen. Johns: "We can't change current practices unless we acknowledge the past."

The investigators of Bush's use of torture should demand the release of the Vietnam War Crimes Working Group files.

Finally, lest readers dismiss the Times series as sensationalism, the authors were Nick Turse, who uncovered the Working Group files during research for a Columbia University Ph.D., and Deborah Nelson, a Pulitzer Prize winner who now teaches journalism at the University of Maryland.

Bill Tucker,

Palo Alto





Israel and the West Bank

Dear Editor: Mary Morphy, [Letters] April 1, wants Israel to leave the West Bank. Israel would like to leave some of the Arab-populated areas in the West Bank, but cannot without security guarantees. Israel withdrew from Gaza, and since then Palestinian terrorists have fired thousands of rockets into Israel from Gaza. That was a test of Palestinian intentions that failed, and we knew Hamas has the goal to destroy Israel. In the process they are destroying themselves.

Norman Licht,

San Carlos