Wrongheaded ruling
I’m outraged to read “Assisted-dying law on hold” (May 16). Riverside County Superior Court Judge Daniel Ottolia’s decision to block terminally ill patients from ending their lives with a physician’s assistance is based on the fallacious argument that such actions are not part of health care. All stages of life, from birth to death, involve some form of medical treatment.
Twenty years ago, my father experienced agonizing pain due to stage-four cancer and wanted (but was legally unable) to end his own life. I believe that any terminally ill adult should have the right to a dignified death without unnecessary and prolonged suffering. The Life Legal Defense Foundation that challenged California’s assisted-dying law is being backed by faith-based groups that seek to impose their beliefs on others. Our state’s attorney general should immediately seek a stay of Judge Ottolia’s wrongheaded ruling.
Veronica Regalbuto, Santa Clara
Nothing to celebrate
Chronicle columnist Kathleen Pender’s latest piece, “More able to afford homes in Bay Area” (Business, May 16) is nothing to celebrate. When all is said and done, less than one-quarter of Bay Area households can afford to buy a median-priced home.
And that number shrinks to 15 percent of households wanting to buy a home in San Francisco and San Mateo counties. When it takes a high six-figure income to purchase a sevenfigure-priced property in the City by the Bay’s housing game, those of us with five- (or even low six-) figure yearly salaries can only sit on the sidelines and jeer.
Dylan Seeger, San Francisco
Girl Scout leadership
Regarding “Scouting takes proper path” (Open Forum, May 14): One would hope that the enthusiasm evinced by girls who are joining the Boy Scouts would give the Girl Scouts organization pause, and would result in some soul searching.
If our family’s experience is typical, it should serve as a cautionary tale for them. Our son benefited greatly from Boy Scouts. Naturally, when our daughter was of Brownie Scout age, I sought out the Girl Scouts. Another mom and I thought we would start a troop. Meeting with the Girl Scout leadership was a shocking experience.
Unlike the boy-led, pleasantly chaotic atmosphere
Too early for Nobel Prize
Now that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has started to waver about meeting President Trump next month after joint military exercises between the U.S. and South Korea were just held, perhaps someone should send the tweeter-in-chief a message: The Nobel Peace Prize has not been engraved with your name yet.
Annabelle Devereaux, San Francisco in our son’s troop, the Girl Scouts were very bureaucratic and top-down parent-controlled. There was even a form to be filled out if the kids in your carpool had an “inappropriate conversation.” But the real show-stopper was the cookie sales.
I was informed that selling cookies was a nonnegotiable requirement. Like many parents, I wanted nothing to do with forcing my daughter to peddle junk food. Childhood obesity has unfortunately become an important issue. It is only natural that girls want to join the Boy Scouts. They have a superior program that is much more fun for everyone.
Amelia Marshall, Oakland
Ban the screaming children
Regarding “No more snakes on planes” (Last Word, May 16): Columnist Caille Millner notes that airlines are restricting the use of emotional support animals on flights due to issues of unruliness and defecation.
But if Millner truly believes that passengers deserve to “travel in peace,” then shouldn’t airlines also ban screaming babies and toddlers from their flights?
I’ve spent several cross-country trips being subjected to constant noise from very young children, and think that airlines should also address this problem.
Lucien Bernard, San Carlos
Hope for peace in Middle East
Regarding “Angered with Israel” (Letters, May 16): I, too, write with sadness and anger as a Jewish American, as did the author, but I sense the author is not fully aware of the history of the region when she says the majority of Palestinians in Gaza are refugees forced from their homes when Israel was established.
There is more to this history than what she states so simply. All the outreach by Israel to the Palestinians over the years has been turned down. This is how you keep fomenting the turmoil and anger that Hamas counts on. That is how Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu got elected.
It pains me to see any loss of life, and though I may be naive enough to still hope for a peaceful solution both nations deserve, I know I will probably not see it in my lifetime. When the author says, “All they want is to be able to live in freedom and to return to the land . ... ” I find that contrary to the facts.
That is what Israel wants. The Palestinian leadership wants to destroy Israel, since in their estimation it has no right to exist. Things can’t improve without their recognition of Israel, which may never happen.
Evie Groch, El Cerrito
Equip solar arrays
I welcome the requirement that all new homes be equipped with solar arrays. We could return all cap-and-trade revenue to households (they currently get a share in their capacity as electricity consumers to offset higher costs), but this wouldn’t yield any more in the way of solar installation.
Subsidies of rooftop solar installation are largely used by those who have the financial resources to take advantage of them (yes, this is changing), at the expense of those of us who do not, to the tune of $65 a year according to the Energy Institute at Haas, UC Berkeley. Requiring new homes to have solar installed may raise the mortgage a bit, but the homeowner more than recovers this each month in the form of lower electricity bills.
And we are all better off for it. As far as this being an onerous regulation, it is far less so than being required to stop at a stop sign, even when there is no cross-traffic, something we do several times a day without even suspecting that we’re oppressed.
Dave Vidaver, Sacramento