Santa Cruz Sentinel

The government says its attack on the doctor is not about marijuana, but because the doctor "didn’t do enough personal exam, check the medical history and do follow-up work."

What a joke. Every day I get about 20 unsolicited e-mail spams inviting me to click the screen and they will send me any amount of hard, addictive drugs like Valium, Xanax, Prozac, even Vicodin, Oxycontin, etc. Their on-line doctors will sign off on the prescription and the drugs will arrive the next day. This has been going on for months and I have never heard of any of these pushers being threatened with loss of their licenses. Maybe it’s because the corporate drug makers are getting a cut of the action on their products, while getting nothing from marijuana and other street drugs. Follow the money. It explains a lot.

STEVE NEWMAN

SANTA CRUZ

Iraq has become ’Nam
$1,000,000,000 a week with no end in sight. An American father/brother killed every other day with no end in sight. Bring our men and women home from Iraq-nam. They’ve done their duty.

PHIL RODRIGUEZ

CAPITOLA

Two sides to every story
In late June, Scott Kennedy and the Resource Center for Non-Violence showed a pro-Palestinian movie about the Gaza Strip. Demonstrators protested that the movie only presented one side of the complex situation. When asked if he and the RCNV are being one-sided, Kennedy said "Yes."

At the RCNV Web site, Kennedy states piously that "politics too often has been characterized by the facile assumption that supposedly good ends justify whatever devious means are thought necessary to achieve them." It sounds like Kennedy is no different than the politicians he criticizes. What facile explanation does he offer for his devious behavior?

M. GRAHAM ALLEN

SANTA CRUZ

Old and observant
Count on the "news" to "dis" the image of the fair sex. Your front-page story, "Heavier women at higher risk of Alzheimer’s," seemed to place the onus of being fat and mad squarely on the shoulders of old women. The feature reads that among people 70 to 88, "the connection between large body size and dementia was found only in women." Buried on the back page was the following sentence: "The study’s analysis focused mainly on women because of the small number of men in the sample." We elderly women have our weaknesses, but ignorance of what constitutes scientific evidence isn’t one of them.

PATRICIA BURKART

APTOS

Media failing U.S. people
I am appalled at the media’s handling of the apparently nonexistent WMDs, and the lies fed to the American public about the alleged dangers Iraq posed to our safety and security.

Watergate was investigated and publicized by the media — why not these bogus claims that Iraq posed an immediate threat to the United States, and that our men and women would be sacrificing their lives for a cause that had been trumped up by the Bush administration for unknown reasons? The media should be first and foremost representing the people of the United States and guardians of the truth.

MARILYN MICHALAK

SCOTTS VALLEY

Judge failed blue-ice test
American Airlines is guilty of "bombing" a boat with blue ice. Yet they proved the accused jet was on the ground at SFO at the time of the event. How could a judge possibly find AA guilty? Someone must have done it; therefore, it must have been American Airlines. Blue ice, brainless injustice.

WARREN TROUT

SANTA CRUZ

AP numbers mislead
It appears the AP is undercounting the number of U.S. dead in Iraq.

The AP, in a story July 15, says, "Thirty-two U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Bush declared major combat over on May 1."

While it is technically true that 32 U.S. soldiers have been "killed" in Iraq, 81 soldiers have died from hostile fire, suicide and accidents since May 1.

I am disturbed by this manipulation of the facts in the AP report. Can you please explain why the AP is reporting these numbers in this fashion, and why I should trust any figures that appear in an AP report?

NAOMI WILLIAMS

SANTA CRUZ

See the difference now?
A simple but significant fact escapes most examinations of the Florida recount debacle in 2000. Votes for Gore or Bush have been examined, counted, recounted, challenged, allowed or disallowed, but I have never seen any commentary on the fact that Ralph Nader received more than 90,000 votes in Florida, thus helping Bush win all of Florida’s electoral votes.

The idealistic and egotistical Mr. Nader traveled the country telling equally idealistic, but naive, young voters that there was really no difference between Al Gore and George Bush. Considering the Bush administration’s attacks on the Bill of Rights and hard-won laws protecting the environment, women’s rights, worker safety, affirmative action, to mention a few, plus its plan to stack the U.S. Supreme Court with ultra right-wing dinosaurs like Scalia, Rehnquist and Thomas, I want to ask those of you who wasted your vote on Ralph Nader, thereby handing the presidency to the current rapacious crew in Washington, do you still believe there is no difference between Al Gore and George Bush?

DAVID GLENN

SANTA CRUZ

Rail system would work
I believe expanding freeways does not help congestion, except temporarily; after a few years people drive more, filling up new lanes. Also, if local streets and parking lots are not expanded, people will have just as much trouble driving on the surface streets.

In contrast, a well-run commuter rail system should attract many riders, who will then be able to get in and out of town without driving. Studies have shown very few car owners will regularly ride buses, but a significant number will ride trains. I realize many people will always drive no matter what, and many strongly want wider freeways. I think the county should compromise. If raised taxes are going to pay for improved transportation, half should go to freeways and half should go to starting train service. Even though I am opposed to wider freeways, I would vote for a tax like that.

CHRIS FLESCHER

SALINAS

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