May 7, 2008

Letters

Tuskegee column

Dear Editor: I don't know why you waste space with nonsensical articles like the one by Jonah Goldberg on May 4 "Myths emerge over Tuskegee." He sets up a straw man to distract us from the elephant in the room. Anyone one with access to Google would find within about 30 seconds (www.infoplease. com/ipa/A0762136.html>) that the issue was not government-induced infection.

The severe ethical violation is that the men were never treated, even after effective treatment became available. To his statement that "some of the doctors believed that treating the decades-long infections [of syphilis] would kill the men," one can only say "Balderdash!" One doesn't have to be a "guilt-ridden white liberal," just a thinking person, to realize that racism was involved - and that a little bit of science would have answered that question.

Clinical studies to show that penicillin was an effective antibiotic were started in the 1940s . Fortunately, the ethically challenged Mr. Goldberg doesn't treat patients, but I don't understand why you would actually publish his misguided rants.

Paul T. Pitlick, M.D.,

Palo Alto



City mismanagement

Dear Editor: The Menlo Park City Council is at it again. Now council members say they favor a raise in the sales tax to pay for their failure to manage city finances. This will not increase business in the city but will drive it away. The net gain: zero. The business owners should be up in arms but they seemingly are afraid to voice their opinions. Additionally, where is the Chamber of Commerce on this?

The council is spending money like drunken sailors (large pay increases to city employees, the visioning process for El Camino Real to make it look like the Champs-Elysees, and the rebuilding project for Burgess Gymnasium, which requires an $8 million anonymous gift to get off the ground, etc.). The city can afford none of these.

Whole Foods Market is the anchor in a council-backed development on the old Cadillac dealership site, it won't add new taxes to the city. It will only take existing business away from Safeway, Draeger's and Trader Joe's, all good corporate citizens, and will add to the traffic. As another longtime city resident recently said, "Way to go, Menlo."

Pat White,

Menlo Park



The pro-life candidate

Dear Editor: Thank you for publishing the first of Mike Moloney's three position papers, in which he said that, as a Catholic who believes in the sanctity of life, he's opposed to abortion [Letters, Tuesday]. I look forward to his next one, stating his passionate opposition to the death penalty because, as he says, "Since when do we decide who lives or dies?" Finally, I await his third letter, congratulating Jackie Speier for her opposition to Bush's occupation of Iraq, where she is joined by the pope and opposed by Moloney's fellow Republicans. Congratulations, Mr. Moloney, on your compassionate and consistent principles.

Tom Traub,

Foster City



Military experts

Dear Editor: The New York Times has recently published details of how retired military officers, masquerading as independent experts, were in fact hired guns for the Pentagon. In a concerted effort to mislead the American people, these generals received their talking points and generous perks from the Pentagon and helped to put a misleading, positive spin prior to and during the dual wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Sadly, the print media echoed many of the false assertions buttressing the Bush administration's propaganda machine. The generals served as "message force multipliers" or "surrogates" to advance White House war themes and messages. It is tragic that few networks bothered to check the motives of these experts and, in a false sense of patriotism, became willing partners in this subterfuge.

A former Fox News analyst, Robert Bevelacqua, boasted "the Pentagon needs to stick our hands up your back and move your mouth for you.''

The Pentagon carefully monitored the generals' performances. Buoyed by their success in corrupting the TV media, the Pentagon turned its attention to the print media and flooded major newspapers with op-ed articles favorable to the war efforts. Opposing anti-war articles were virtually absent.

Jagjit Singh,

Los Altos

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