RFID technology
deserves scrutiny
Roxanne Gould, of the High-Tech Trust Coalition, said in response to state Sen. Joe Simitian’s RFID policy bills governing radio-identification technology that she doubts that there is a groundswell of constituents citing privacy concerns. Well, I might not be Sen. Simitian’s constituent, but I am a voter and I have very strong concerns regarding security and privacy, and about where RFID is taking us. Sen. Simitian certainly has my moral support.
The tech industry often innovates and rarely projects how that innovation impacts society. Gould is paid to push innovation on unsuspecting consumers who don’t understand the possible impact. I have no problem about using RFID tags to replace bar codes for product identification – as long as the RFID tag is disabled when I take the product home – but RFID should have no place in personal identification cards such as driver’s licenses.
John Dunse
San Jose
RFID legislation
isn’t nearly enough
The bills proposed by state Sen. Joe Simitian to restrict RFID use do not go far enough. It should be illegal to put an RFID in any product unless its main purpose is for the purchaser to identify herself, and any RFID in packaging should be clearly marked to assist its removal.
FasTrak, which also operates using RFID, should be replaced with an anonymous “digital cash” system. Such systems have been built already; the practice of tracking drivers is a policy preference, not a technical necessity.
Richard Stallman
Cambridge, Mass.
Leaf blowers should
be the first to go
Let’s reduce greenhouse gases and noise pollution. Let’s ban two-stroke motor powered leaf blowers!
Martin Stuczynski
San Jose
Political news biased
rather than balanced
Last year, Republican Congressmen Tom DeLay, Mark Foley and Randy Cunningham received a lot of front page recognition in the Mercury News because of their indictment, or ethics violations, or guilty verdict after prosecution. The fact that they are Republicans was stressed – on the front page. Congressman William Jefferson, D-La., made the news several years ago because he was under federal investigation and for lots of money found in his refrigerator. Finally, several weeks ago, he was indicted for using his office to enrich himself and his family with bribery, fraud, and corruption over a five year period.
The Mercury News put the indictment story in a small “In brief” section on Page 5A. Seems to me that if this is “balanced” news reporting, your paper needs to redefine its meaning.
Robert H. Taylor
Los Altos
Troubling news about
newspaper cutbacks
Opening the front door to retrieve my hometown newspaper has been a morning ritual for the past 42 years. And now, to learn about the upcoming cutbacks and layoffs at the San Jose Mercury News, I am very concerned (Page 5C, June 20). It is troubling to learn that so many people, who work hard to make the Mercury News such an enjoyable part of the day for many devoted readers, will soon be out of a job. These cutbacks will no doubt affect the quality of the Mercury News, its news coverage, editorials, regular columns and features. I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved for their dedication and their hard work, and to wish them well wherever they go.
Lynda Martinez
San Jose
Perspective section
important to readers
I am distressed that you are discontinuing the Perspective section in the Sunday Mercury News. It is the first thing I read each Sunday and I count on it to supply interesting and informed analysis and opinion on current events here and abroad. TV sound bites cannot replace a 1,000 word discussion of the complicated issues facing all of us. Please reconsider your decision.
Philip Novak
San Jose
In-depth analysis
sadly disappearing
I can understand how a loss of advertising revenue can force you to cut back on what you publish. What I don’t understand is how you can turn your back on the journalistic principle of fostering an informed citizenry. By eliminating the Perspective section, you do a great disservice to those who still want reasoned discourse and in-depth analysis of today’s issues.
James Boismier
San Jose
Better ways to cut
back on coverage
We are clearly a nation in serious denial. We face a multitude of problems (deficits, oil addiction, an unpromising war). And yet we seem to be pursuing a policy of “ignorance is bliss” rather than even discussing the hard choices we need to make to resolve these tough issues. Closing down the Perspective section reflects this policy of denial. It is the section where the roots of our problems are revealed and solutions proposed. Wish you had cut coverage of “American Idol” and Paris Hilton, but that’s where the bucks are. Right?
Ed Taub
Mountain View
Other climate change
factors to consider
I teach social science in a public school and occasionally, when no one’s looking, we secretly venture off the path of test score preparation into the dangerous world of thinking. A while ago the issue of global warming came up. I discovered that, in addition to the Earth, Mars’ temperature is also rising. While this doesn’t prove anything, perhaps it will at least give us pause before we turn our economy upside down for what perhaps is a phenomenon of nature that lies almost entirely out of our control. But here’s the kicker. Why don’t more of us know about this? Think.
Ralph Walker
San Jose
Soldier’s death revives
memory of earlier war
Torrents of sadness, pain and memories flooded my brain upon reading of Iraq veteran Sgt. Frank Sandoval’s death (Page 1A, June 19). I had been cheering his every step, praying for his full recovery. A generation ago, the Vietnam War divided our nation, as it consumed our resources and took far too many lives. Louie Rodriguez, my best high school buddy, went to war after graduation. I was blessed and went to college. Louie’s name is etched in that hallowed black granite wall in our nation’s capital, and also seared in my soul.
Reading about Frank’s death brought it all back, in waves of pain, sadness and tears. Maybe it’s time to bring our troops home, instead of letting more die in a foreign country that doesn’t want to be saved.
Esau Herrera
San Jose
Vouchers’ real threat
is to private schools
Santa Clara County Superintendent of Schools Colleen Wilcox argues that school vouchers run counter to American tradition (Opinion, June 20). She says that Horace Mann’s idea that government schools should be the “great equalizer” is at the heart of why parents seek an escape from a system which by its very nature prioritizes the lowest common denominator.
Vouchers won’t hurt public schools, but it is private and religious schools which have the most to lose from government funded vouchers. What government funds, government regulates, and rightly so. It won’t take long before back door funding via vouchers will destroy what is left of differences between government and private or church schools. Wilcox and other egalitarians should embrace the idea of vouchers, for there couldn’t be a better way to reduce private alternatives to clones of public schools.
Mary Thompson
Campbell
Sandoval’s story made
loss more touching
It was with a sad and heavy heart that I read the front page coverage (June 19) about the death of Frank Sandoval. What a tragic end for this young man. The series that chronicled the trials and tribulations of his recuperation at the Veteran’s Hospital in Palo Alto was so well written and documented that I felt like I personally knew this fine individual. My condolences and prayers are with the Sandoval family. Thanks for such a touching article.
Katherine J. Glazier
Palo Alto
Santa Clara County
freeways the worst
I am one of many, many commuters who travel the freeways and highways of Santa Clara County, and I must admit that we have the worst roads in the country. I have lived or traveled through almost every state in the United States and nothing comes close to the mess that we have here. I use Highway 101 to get to work in San Jose every day and the roadway changes as soon as you cross from San Benito County into Santa Clara County. The road becomes progressively worse as you approach San Jose (huge potholes, large cracks, splits, uneven pavement, etc.).
Why are the roads in such disrepair, why is Caltrans totally ignoring the commuters to San Jose? Why are the freeways and highways in other counties so much superior to ours? I’m upset, as I know all commuters are; whether they are from the north, south, east or west, the problems are all the same. When will Caltrans or someone do something?
Russ Mohr
Royal Oaks, Monterey County
Cuba’s exemplary
health care system
Daniel Weintraub, in his review of Michael Moore’s new film “Sicko,” demonstrates ignorance, maliciousness or both in his comments about Cuba (Opinion, June 19). He first castigates Moore for omitting “even a passing reference to Fidel Castro’s crimes against his own people.”
Since this is a film about health care, one wonders what “crimes” Weintraub could be referring to? Could it be decreasing infant mortality from 60 per 1,000 live births to 5.8? Increasing the number of medical schools from one to two dozen, and training enough doctors to produce a ratio of 165 Cubans per doctor, the lowest number in the world? Or did he have in mind increasing the life expectancy of Cubans from 58 to 77?
Steven Patt
Cupertino
Single-payer health
care system needed
I volunteer at a community shelter, and each day I see the great need for single payer health insurance. I have taken people to the emergency room and waited nine hours with them before they got called in. This is so unacceptable. While at the emergency room I see children and people of all ages just waiting around while they are in tremendous pain. I ask myself, “Should there not be a better system than this?” I ask you the same question.
Gloria Cutshall
San Jose
Bush’s strange idea
of who really counts
President Bush and his signing statements on bills he does not agree with may seem to subvert the wishes of the democratically elected Congress. Most people believe in the principle of “one man, one vote” so it is painful to have the president overrule the Congress. Maybe he thinks he is The One Man and that there is only One Vote – his.
In fact, I would not be surprised if he gets his way with immigration by pardoning the 12 million illegal aliens (only the conservative ones though!).
Scott Revak
Castro Valley
