Letters to the editor

Editor,

There are many letters and op-ed pieces about health care costs. There are two main themes. One theme is that we will take the money out MediCare waste and fraud. That makes as much sense as selling your Volkswagen to pay for a Rolls Royce. The other theme is taxing the rich. One problem with this is that the definition of rich is an income of $250,000 per year. This includes a lot of small businesses. They will scale back and lay off employees. The other rich people have their money invested in business. The businesses get a write off on the taxes and pass the cost on to the consumers of their products or services. No Virginia, there is no Santa Claus.

Keith C. De Filippis

San Jose

Save CSM’s horticulture program

Editor,

Thank you for publishing Heather Murtagh’s article "An educating vigil” in the Nov. 24 edition of the Daily Journal, highlighting College of San Mateo students’ response to the severe budget cuts facing local community colleges. I am a floristry student in the horticulture department at the College of San Mateo, the county’s only horticulture program. Shocking news came a few weeks back when we were informed the horticulture program may be terminated. Another more serious announcement came last week when we were informed that the horticulture building, including the surrounding greenhouses and gardens, will be demolished to build — can you guess? — A parking lot. The CSM greenhouses and gardens are utilized by several departments including biology and chemistry. The plant collection includes a diverse and unique array of native, rare and exotic specimens, some of which are simply irreplaceable. This well-established collection has been planted with a purpose — to accommodate the campus curriculum. In fact, some specimens have been planted to replace ones that were destroyed in past campus construction projects. A more appropriate location for the new parking lot must be found so horticulture facilities can be saved! Eliminating departments like horticulture hurts the diversity of our curriculum and conflicts with the college’s mission to address broad community education needs. Eliminating "green industry” programs and facilities is hardly in tune with America’s shift to create much needed jobs in this sector.

I encourage everyone to enroll in spring horticulture classes to convince CSM that the department is worth saving!

Becky Foutch

Redwood City

Universal health care ‘socialism?’

Editor,

In her letter "Just say no to socialism” in the Nov. 20 of the Daily Journal, Jonette Brockway confuses universal health care with socialism. If she doesn’t own one, she can borrow a dictionary in the library, or would it be an act of elitist intellectualism to sink so deep that she looks up the definition of words she uses?

What on earth does health care for all have to do with "socialism,” which simply is the political and economic theory which advocates that the community as a whole should own and control all means of manufacturing, distribution and exchange. Why should we be the only industrialized country in the world without health care for all? With the insurance industry as an added cost burden that contributes nothing to health care, we actually pay more for less. Health care is of national concern and should be handled as a national issue, not as a money source for selfish private interests.

Jorg Aadahl

San Mateo

U.S. must strengthen its foreign policy

Editor,

Too many carrots and no sticks or too many sticks and few carrots. That seems to sum up our dyslexic foreign policy. With Israel and its latest thumb in the eye diplomacy of pretending to want peace while expanding settlements into Palestinian territory, we continue to supply arms and cash while expressing "dismay.” With Iran we scream that they aren’t following the letter of the non-proliferation treaty regarding nuclear inspections and threaten to "cut off their gas.”

In India who isn’t even a signer to this treaty we supply nuclear know how and co-operation while ignoring its weapons making. That is a clear violation of the non-proliferation treaty both in letter and spirit on our part.

With Cuba we continue in splendid isolation from the rest of the planet with our unilateralist policies and refuse full relations with that nation. With Venezuela, we criticize authoritarian tendencies while once again sending arms and cash to the likes of Egypt and the Saudis as well as just about every right wing authoritarian from the time of Iran’s Shah to any and all Latin American tin horns who were willing to remain open for business to our multinational corporations. Hey, have I stumbled onto the real vein of logic in our dyslexia?

Mike Caggiano

San Mateo

Trains, bikes, but no automobiles

Editor,

I commute daily from San Francisco to Palo Alto on Caltrain with my bike. I have noticed repeatedly that while there are plenty of seats available, the bike capacity on the baby bullet express trains are often exhausted, requiring me to take a later train and lose valuable time. There is also demand for more baby bullet express trains later in the morning and evening.

I work for a technology company; myself, many of my coworkers and colleagues from other companies keep a later-than-typical work schedule, often getting into work after 10 a.m. and leaving later than 7 p.m., but there are few express trains that service this schedule. Increasing train service and capacity for bikes will result in more train passengers and less people driving. While automobiles are wonderful devices, their overwhelming use in the Bay Area is detrimental.

First, automobiles contribute to high pollution levels. According to tests by the American Lung Association, both San Francisco and Santa Clara counties received a grade of ‘F’ for particle pollution and Santa Clara received a grade of ‘F’ for ozone pollution. Second, traffic accidents are high among the nation’s greatest causes of deaths and serious injuries; in fact, it is the leading cause of death for people between the ages of 14 and 34 in the United States. We have a lot to gain by increasing Caltrain service and little to lose, except perhaps for the time spent in our cars commuting on overcrowded roads and highways.

Alexander Strehl

San Francisco

Make it through the ‘last mile’

Editor,

Caltrain’s Draft Short Range Transit Plan recognizes the importance of the "last mile” connection between its stations and the final destination. While shuttle services work for some, they don’t work for people whose schedule can run late or whose location is not served by shuttles. Many people find the bike onboard to be a good solution to the "last mile” problem and the usage was growing at 40 percent before bumping started. Bikes onboard are much more cost effective than shuttles and also better for the environment. Caltrain’s recently expanded bike capacity helps address pent-up demand, but the plan should anticipate demand growth to 2018 to avoid being surprised. Even with the recent expanded capacity, bicyclists are still being bumped. Caltrain should make a commitment to expand onboard bicycle capacity to meet future demand. Doing so will bring needed revenue and riders to Caltrain.

Eric Nordman

Palo Alto