Letters to the Editor

<p>Causes of asthma</p><p>EDITOR: It is no secret that autism is exploding in our youth. Now we have asthma exploding as well, as reported in The Press Democrat on Tuesday. It leaves you wondering why.</p><p>Here's a hint: A New Zealand study in 1997 had a title that suggests a real reason no one is willing to look at, "Is infant immunization a risk factor for childhood asthma or allergy?"</p><p>Of 1,242 vaccinated children, 23.1 percent to 30 percent had consultations for asthma or other allergic diseases by age 10. Of 23 unvaccinated kids, none had any medical visits for these conditions.</p><p>The study was criticized for its small sample (unvaccinated) size and ignored. However, it still remains the only one where the control group had zero vaccinations. All other studies only eliminate one target vaccine, allowing injections of the rest on the ever-lengthening list. No wonder toxicity is so well hidden.</p><p>Here's another hint. In virtually unvaccinated Amish people, autism is virtually non-existent. I'm glad I am past child-rearing years. There's no way I would ever allow vaccine Russian roulette for my child today.</p><p>DR. ROBERT JAY ROWEN</p><p>Santa Rosa</p><p>Design flaw</p><p>EDITOR: As a bike rider, I appreciate the expansion of bike lanes in Santa Rosa. However, the design has a serious flaw at intersections where a car might make a right turn. The left line defining the bike lane is solid until about 30 yards before the intersection, where it becomes broken and invites cars to drive the last yards before the intersection in the bike lane.</p><p>Instead, the bike line should remain solid to the point where both cars and bikes must stop. The car should then make the right turn across the bike lane. The biker would not have to worry about a car coming into his lane before the intersection, and if the car signals a right turn, the biker would know what to expect.</p><p>AL STUMPF</p><p>Santa Rosa</p><p>Basic standards</p><p>EDITOR: No animal should be forced to live in a cramped space, unable to move and denied even their most basic instincts ("Chicken run: The problem with just banning cages," Wednesday).</p><p>While this practice helps lower the retail price of meat, eggs and dairy products by a few pennies, such cheap food comes at a high cost: the suffering of millions of animals intensively confined in massive warehouses that may contain hundreds of thousands of animals.</p><p>There is a growing concern that this type of farming is also contributing to pollution, global warming and the depletion of our resources. In fact, the Pew Commission released a two-year study recommending a phase-out of "the most intensive and inhumane confinement practices:" gestation crates, veal crates and battery cages. The panel of scientists, veterinary school officials, ranchers and public officials cited unacceptable risks to public health, the environment and animal welfare.</p><p>It's time to give a little room to the animals from whom we ask so much. Come Election Day, California voters can hold corporate agriculture to basic standards of humanity by allowing animals to fully extend their limbs, lie comfortably and turn around. To learn more about this ballot initiative, please visit YesOnProp2.org.</p><p>MARK HAWTHORNE</p><p>Rohnert Park</p><p>Sad excuse</p><p>EDITOR: The Tuesday Associated Press article by Liz Sidoti failed to educate ("Obama, McCain lay out economic visions"). Her he-said, she-said writing on the dueling economic policies of Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama ignored the judgment of economic experts. It's not Obama that ridicules McCain's gas tax holiday. It's serious economists from both parties. It's not Obama that claims McCain hasn't explained his balanced budget promises. McCain's own budget plan includes no numbers.</p><p>After Sidoti's sycophantic doughnut presentation to McCain at an April newspaper editor's conference, she should have been taken off the presidential beat. The Press Democrat should encourage the Associated Press to assign a more economically sophisticated reporter to the presidential campaign.</p><p>Robert Pear's article in the New York Times' about the McCain budget was excellent and was printed in the Times the same day that The Press Democrat printed Sidoti's sad excuse for an article. You have printed Pear as recently as June 22. It would be useful to use him rather than the AP for your budget coverage.</p><p>The nation can't afford another election with the media covering up the failings of either candidate.</p><p>DAVE ROBERTS</p><p>Guerneville</p><p>Web of deceit</p><p>EDITOR: I recently read a letter from Rep. Mike Thompson to a constituent in which the congressman tried to explain his support for an American Israel Public Affairs Committee-sponsored resolution calling for a blockade of Iran (HCR 362). The letter is typical Democratic Party doublespeak.</p><p>Praising the resolution for helping stop nuclear proliferation, Thompson ignores the fact that Israel is the dominant military power in the Middle East with its $5 billion per year of U.S. military aid and more than 200 nuclear weapons. Thompson also ignores the National Intelligence Estimate released by the 16 U.S.intelligence agencies last October, a unanimous report stating that Iran had abandoned its nuclear weapons program five years ago.</p><p>Despite the lipstick Thompson tries to put on this pig, HCR 362 moves the U.S. closer to another war. The resolution is a call for a naval blockade of Iran in violation of international law. Such a blockade is an act of war.</p><p>Thompson says HCR 362 will help prevent the "circumstances that led us to war with Iraq." What led us to war with Iraq was the duplicity of the Bush administration. By supporting this resolution, Thompson is engaging in the same web of deceit.</p><p>DAN HAMBURG</p><p>Former 1st District congressman, Ukiah</p><p>Every extra thing</p><p>EDITOR: After reading about the Santa Rosa police getting paid to put on their uniforms, I, for the life of me, cannot understand why the City Council would even consider passing such a pay increase.</p><p>I know it has to do with the ruling of the federal court, but are not the police proud enough to set the example for the public? Why do they have to be paid for every extra thing they do that is part of the job description and their duties? Maybe they should be paid to eat lunch, drive around on patrol duty, use their radio.</p><p>The city is cutting jobs. Let them start by not allowing this type of pay increase to begin in the first place. It's the taxpayers who end paying the bill.</p><p>AL VAN CLEAVE</p><p>Santa Rosa</p>