Letters to the editor

Editor,

Since the Redwood City Council and their friends, Cargill, are hell bent on filling in the Bay for profit, let us call the new sunken community Atlantis.

When the water rises due to global warming this future community will flood like Milpitas.

What do you expect from a company like Cargill that produces bad hamburgers?

Raymond DeMattei

San Carlos

Contradictory actions for polar bears

Editor,

I was very disappointed by the recent news that Shell Oil can now begin drilling in Alaska’s Beaufort Sea off the coast of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, despite a lack of fundamental information about the impacts of development on the Arctic environment. Shell’s drilling would take place smack dab in the middle of a habitat that was just proposed as critical under the Endangered Species Act for the threatened polar bear. This activity also is along a key migratory route for the endangered bowhead whale, which the Inupiat people depend on for their way of life. A Shell survey showed an estimated 40 percent of the entire bowhead population swimming in waters proposed for drilling.

Climate change is already ravaging this region; how can the federal government protect endangered species in a stressed environment and allow oil and gas development? This critical habitat for polar bears is crucial. We must take a timeout from oil and gas activity in America’s Arctic.

Patricia Brown

San Carlos

Gotta love the Internet

Editor,

You just gotta love the Internet ... if it appears on the computer screen then by golly it is the honest truth. Joseph Locasto stated that Michelle Obama has the largest staff of any of the other First Ladies ("Belt-tightening? I think not” in the Dec. 12 edition of the Daily Journal). Please, Joseph, check your facts. Laura’s staff fluctuated between 18-24, Hillary’s was at 19 staffers as of March 2000 and Michelle’s is between 22-24. And as far as the 200-seat jet that Pelosi demanded: untrue. The President insisted that the Speaker of the House be supplied a jet for security reasons after Sept. 11 and that president was who? President Bush.

Bill Livingood, who is the House Sergeant at Arms, and who, by the way, has been on the job for the last 11 years, is the person who said that Speaker Pelosi should have a jet that can get from Washington to her home district without stopping for refueling. He also came out with a statement that said "I regret that an issue that is exclusively considered and decided in a security context has evolved into a political issue.” One word, sir, snopes.

J D Rhoads

San Mateo

Resolve on New Year’s to start a vegan diet

Editor,

Millions of people will start diets this New Year’s Day. But many of those weight-loss plans are not healthy or sustainable. As a dietitian, I encourage Americans to start 2010 with a healthy vegan diet. Abundant research has shown that people who maintain a healthy weight over the long-term tend to eat a plant-based diet.

This simple prescription for weight loss does not require any portion control or calorie counting. A diet with plenty of antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables can also boost the immune system and prevent illnesses. A meatless diet can even help reduce the risk of heart disease, type two diabetes and some cancers.

A free online program starting New Year’s Day offers people all the tools they need to try a healthy plant-based diet. The 21-Day Vegan Kickstart provides daily recipes and advice from dietitians, doctors and celebrity diet counselors, including Alicia Silverstone. Sign up at 21DayKickstart.org.

Susan Levin

Washington, D.C.

This letter writer is the director of Nutrition Education for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine