Opinion - Letters to the Editor

Saturday, Aug. 16, 2008

Letters to the Editor

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Don’t lose your head

The evidence is overwhelming that the last ice age, one of many, ended in most of North America and Europe about 10,000 years ago. The ice age did not end in what is now Canada until about 6,000 years ago.

What caused this phenomenon? Global warming did. What caused the warming? My ancestors did. I am a Choctaw.

These people had so many incandescent lights in their houses (tepees), the electric companies had to build hundreds of coal burning power plants. Some never turned the lights off. Every refrigerator, washing machine and dishwasher was energy wasteful.

I’m an old cowboy just as my distant relatives were. They raised thousands of cattle that produced methane, a greenhouse gas. Most first settlers ignored the millions of bison roaming the plains.

If you don’t believe the story above, maybe you will believe respected climatologists who say that humans don’t cause global warming, they may exacerbate it a bit. Instead of taking maybe 20 years to reach a certain mean global temperature, the Earth may reach this temperature in 10 years. Whoop-tee-do.

Gary L. Kirkland

Atascadero

Lesser of two evils

Barack Obama leads in fund-raising, opinion polls and media coverage. His supporters are mostly educated boomers; Hillary’s backers without options; and the vast majority who would vote for Britney Spears, Paris Hilton or Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney before they forgive those who brought on the Iraq War, oil and food inflation, mortgage collapse, rising interest and layoffs.

John McCain is an aging war hero, a maverick repulsive to true conservatives, garbling Straight Talk to media hacks. GOP ranks include core rightwingers eager for the profit potential of war with Iran under another fly-boy president; Bush loyalists hoping to stave off war crimes trials in 2009; and those who see appropriating images of Spears and Hilton as plain good political humor. The GOP is fleeing Bush/Cheney and responsibility but trumpeting success for the surge and tax rebates.

Yet voters who sit this one out will be wrong. The nonpartisan thing to do is follow the campaigns, give some attention to minor parties (except the odious Ralph Nader), then hold your nose and vote for the lesser evil.

Lachlan MacDonald

Arroyo Grande

A change game

“Change, change, change.” Such was Mr. Obama’s mantra during his run for the Democratic nomination.

Of late, it appears he meant, “I change my mind, I change my mind.” What can we expect next?

Andy Bonior

Grover Beach

Eating for environment

R egarding the article on Al Gore’s call for fossil-fuel independence (July 18), I wish Gore would adjust his eating habits to make a considerable impact to reduce global warming.

According to the 2006 United Nations report titled Livestock’s Long Shadow, “Livestock production is one of the major causes of the world’s most pressing environmental problems, including global warming, land degradation, air and water pollution and loss of biodiversity. Using a methodology that considers the entire commodity chain, it estimates that livestock are responsible for 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, a bigger share than that of transport.”

So, Mr. Gore and others, please consider that each of us is in control of our own food consumption. Each time we sit down to eat, we can choose a smaller ecological footprint by choosing a diet free of meat, chicken and fish.

Peggy Koteen,

Animal Emancipation, San Luis Obispo County

Gore’s investments

Al Gore is challenging the nation to begin using alternative energy sources to produce electricity. He wants to see this happen in the next 10 years. After researching, I found that his plan will cost $1.5 trillion to $3 trillion using public and private funding sources.

Mr. Gore comes across as very sincere in his encouraging us to move away from fossil fuels. However, my research also found that Gore is not only an eco-activist but also a venture capitalist. He founded his own investment firm that analyzes and invests in what are called “sustainable” companies.

He is a partner in the venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers out of Palo Alto, Calif. This firm invests in clean technology. The July 19 Tribune contained an article about Ausra’s industrial solar plant unfortunately being proposed for the Carrisa Plains. Kleiner Perkins is one of the venture firms that are funding Ausra.

Al Gore, the eco-activist, challenges us to utilize alternative energy sources while Al Gore, the venture capitalist, invests in alternative energy. Although this information is not a secret, the general public needs to be aware of his connections to firms that are investing in “sustainable” companies. It would be disappointing to think that it’s all about the money.

Mary Strobridge

Atascadero

We’re winning what?

Your headline trumpeted “At last, America is winning” (July 27), but the article detailing progress in Iraq failed to explain how this translates into a “win” for America in the greater struggle against terrorism.

No matter how you define the reasons for going into Iraq—WMDs, toppling Saddam, spreading democracy, etc.,—the ultimate benchmark for whether America is “winning” is whether the Iraq war has made us safer.

Al-Qaida, which was not present in Iraq until we invaded, has returned to its bases and re-emerged stronger. Iran has been the chief beneficiary of our policies in the region. Bin Laden has been transformed from an outlaw into an iconic figure that inspires copycat jihadist groups. Our standing in the world has been damaged, our moral authority debased and our Constitutional rights narrowed to become whatever a president decides. How is this a win for America?

The terrorists will continue to shift their bases and their tactics until we root out the causes and breeding grounds for terror. I hope for the day when a headline trumpets that America’s policies, ideals and leadership have defeated terrorism, as they once helped defeat communism. Our military adventure in Iraq has done nothing to hasten that day.

Daniella Sapriel

Templeton

Unfair or sour grapes?

I applaud Mr. Edward Cox’s effort to serve his community as a correctional officer with the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Department. However, as the wife of one of the correctional officers named in his lawsuit and with a definite understanding of my husband’s expectation of professional-ism related to all correctional officers, I am concerned that sour grapes have more to do with the lawsuit than statutory discrimination, wrongful termination or intentional infliction of emotional distress.

I read the entire lawsuit and was troubled by the fact that nowhere did it state that both Mr. Cox’s mother and Mr. Cox’s aunt also work for San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Department. Who more than family is going to bristle when there’s the perception of unfair work practices directed at a family member? It certainly stands to reason that if, for 26 years, Mr. Cox has faced ongoing struggles based on cerebral palsy, he and those close to him stand to be overly sensitive to the issue.

I am grateful that diligent documentation occurs with all aspects of the correctional officer training process because emotions tend to obscure objective truth and that serves no one.

Jeri Luther

Templeton

Thanks to purse-finder

I would like to thank the person who found my red purse in a grocery cart in the parking lot of Trader Joe’s on Monday, Aug. 4.

I came home, unpacked the groceries—no purse! Returning to Trader Joe’s with a sad heart and anger at myself, I went inside to discover that a certain wonderful person retrieved the purse, everything intact.

Whoever you are, I am very grateful for your kindness and honesty.

Melba Moe

San Luis Obispo