Jun 19, 2008

Letters to the Editor

Daily News

Poker donation

Dear Editor: Regarding the "Poker champ donates winnings" story, I find it sad and ironic that an educational foundation, in this case the Decision Education Foundation, would laud donated poker winnings as a means of being able to deliver services to teachers.

It is well-known that poker constitutes gambling, and the odds are 100 percent that players will lose, even professionals. It is not "gaming," as it is euphemistically called, it is gambling, and teens are the fastest growing group of those who become addicted. As a life choice, it is an extremely poor one.

The push to glamorize gambling as harmless fun is a lie. Ask anyone whose life has been ravaged by "gaming," and the cities where crime and suicide rates from gambling increase dramatically.

According to a recent PBS article, "Studies show that problem gamblers exhibit similar functional changes in their brain's decision-making center as drug addicts and alcoholics. 'The neurobiology of what happens when somebody is gambling is much the same as what happens when they are taking cocaine,' said gambling addiction expert at the Center for Addiction and Substance Abuse at the University of South Florida Linda Chamberlain on MedicineNet.com. Researchers have also found that the more exposure a child has to gambling, the more likely he or she will become a compulsive gambler - as a teen and into adulthood."

In fact, experts are asking the government to hold hearings to address the issue. Shame on the so-called "Decision" Education Foundation. It should donate the money to Gamblers Anonymous and Gam-Anon.

Bonnie Hale,

Palo Alto



Gay marriage

Dear Editor: If the California Supreme Court declares that the Earth is flat, does that make the Earth flat? A judicial decision contrary to the obvious natural order only opens the door to the abyss of the outer darkness and allows fools to tread where angels fear to go. One cannot go against nature without eventual consequences - jumping off a cliff has no consequences until one hits the ground. Californians have an opportunity in November to close this door and stave off chaos for future generations.

Rick Young,

San Jose



Oil drilling

Dear Editor: Some say you sin when you know something to be wrong but do it anyway. America has committed several major sins in its past: the destruction of Native American culture; the slaughter of wildlife on the Great Plains (78 million buffalo, 500 million creatures in all); and our shameful enslavement of the African.

We are currently on the verge of selecting an African-American for president. Let us also improve our moral standing by preserving the wildlife we have left. This means not drilling in the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and finally doing what it takes to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions to avoid destroying species due to irreversible global climate change.

Ed Taub,

Mountain View



Iran's nuclear program

Dear Editor: The White House continues to make unsubstantiated claims that Iran is a growing threat. Once again, our war-obsessed president is ignoring the findings of the U.S. National Intelligence Estimate, which stated that Iran does not have a nuclear weapons program. Former German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer expressed grave concern that President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert are determined to launch a military strike, ignoring the will of the American people. Olmert demanded that Iran's nuclear program be stopped by "all possible means." Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz, a former military chief and defense minister, called war against Iran "unavoidable."

It is ironic that Iran, as a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, has allowed the International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect its facilities, in contrast to Israel, which has repeatedly refused inspections and has never signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Furthermore, our government has repeatedly violated agreements and treaties restricting nuclear weapons. Our close alliance to Israel has been an unmitigated disaster, seriously compromising U.S. security and national interests. Repeated demands by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Israel to halt construction of new settlements have been ignored, intensifying Palestinian anger.

It is time for more Americans to break their long silence and demand a complete rejection of Bush's new Iran war plans and call for an immediate halt of aid to Israel, which is using its influence to launch our nation into a new dangerous conflict.

Tejinder Uberoi,

Los Altos