Aug 10, 2007

Letters

Money for Iraq but none for our needs

Dear Editor: Oh, this president and his Republican backers. They spent hundreds of billions of dollars destroying the infrastructure in Iraq, and it's our bridges falling down because money wasn't spent to maintain our infrastructure. Now we hear them complain that a few million dollars to provide medical insurance for our poor children is "too expensive."

Bruce Joffe,
Piedmont


A quagmire at home and in the Mideast

Dear Editor: As a 40-year registered Democrat, I'm having trouble understanding my Democratic Party's policies. There have been over 80 murders in Oakland this year, eight in just two days - which is only slightly worse than last year. The longtime Democrat, Mayor Ron Dellums, could recognize that the Vietnam War was a quagmire; he sees clearly the Iraq War is a quagmire that can't be won but seems reluctant to say that we cannot win in Oakland.

Our Democratic-controlled Congress, if it had consistent policies, would attempt to withhold all federal funds from the Oakland quagmire and suggest that the Oakland police should be redeployed to other cities or sent home. Can these policies be justified?

Robert Parkhurst,
Redwood City

Self-expression

Dear Editor: We have burdened our classrooms with a rigid curriculum. Real education is built on the spark of self-discovery. Are we prepared to devise a curriculum in which music and art and dance are primary? I believe many students become low achievers because they have not experienced the excitement of discovering something for themselves. It is time to restore the vitality of learning by providing students numerous opportunities for self-expression.

Romila Khanna,

Albany


Lawbreaker ignored

Dear Editor: Why is that highly visible panhandler across from Whole Foods [in Palo Alto] exempted from the sit-lie ordinance? His continued presence totally invalidates the new law. It's clear to panhandlers that the Palo Alto law is a joke. It's equally clear to tax-paying citizens that something stinks.

Mark Steere,

Palo Alto



Comment off base

Dear Editor: The letter from Lawrence Mazur that appeared Thursday contained perhaps the most ridiculous comment I have ever seen in the Daily News. [Mazur wrote, "I bet if the founder of Crate & Barrel or some high-tech firm had been killed instead of the two Contra Costa firefighters, the flags in Palo Alto would have been lowered faster than you could say 'Range Rover.'" I have family members who are firefighters and believe people across the board honor all firefighters, everywhere. I also lived in the city of Palo Alto for 16 years. What do Crate & Barrel, Contra Costa and Range Rovers have specifically to do with Palo Alto? Now if you had said, Stanford Shopping Center, Santa Clara County and BMW, we might have gotten your drift. No hard feelings. I'm glad you live in Redwood City too.

Toni M. Villa,

Mountain View



City Web site a disaster

Dear Editor: Palo Alto has recently rolled out its "ground up" redesign of the city Web site. I actually use the city site extensively and I am now faced with an inability to find anything. It is an unmitigated disaster. It is "search-based" as opposed to "structure-based." The search engine employed is obviously homegrown, because it cannot find anything. Virtually every search submitted returns "No matches found." There seems to be an anti-Google/Yahoo bias since virtually all of their searches end up on the city site with "No matches found." If you go to the city Web site and do a search, you find a lot of stuff, most of which is irrelevant to the search. I am skeptical this will happen, but the city should immediately revert to the previous Web site and start a comprehensive community review of the proposed new site. My questions are: Was there a beta test for the new design and who was involved? Was there community review? How did this happen?

Smokey Wallace,

Palo Alto



A quagmire at home

Dear Editor: As a 40-year registered Democrat, I'm having trouble understanding my Democratic Party's policies. There have been over 80 murders in Oakland this year, eight in just two days - which is only slightly worse than last year. The longtime Democrat, Mayor Ron Dellums, could recognize that the Vietnam War was a quagmire; he sees clearly the Iraq War is a quagmire that can't be won but seems reluctant to say that we cannot win in Oakland.

Our Democratic-controlled Congress, if it had consistent policies, would attempt to withhold all federal funds from the Oakland quagmire and suggest that the Oakland police should be redeployed to other cities or sent home. Can these policies be justified?

Robert Parkhurst,

Redwood City



Support clean-water initiative

Dear Editor: I asked the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, Millbrae City Council and [Bay Area Water Supply and Conservation Agency] to sue the health officials for malpractice. They declared a poisonous, corrosive, cancer-causing, reproductive malfunctioning, lead leaching, trihalomethane producing, DNA-strand-breaking mutagen safe to drink.

Assemblyman Ira Ruskin got millions of dollars for health officials to restudy the studies, which he claims weren't done. How do you turn poison into something edible?

Dr. Winn Parker gave peer review evidence to the supervisors, Millbrae's council, and BAWSCA when Ruskin headed BAWSCA. Ruskin has numerous studies and so does everyone on those boards and council. Make politicians accountable for their choices.

Millbrae wanted to kill their parks with herbicides when they didn't have money for maintenance. Herbicides cause breast cancer. Vote against or recall politicians who support chemical companies and don't support chemical free solutions.

Support Dr. Parker's toilet-to-tap-to-table water initiative and alternative technology.

Wynn Grcich,

Union City