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Panel did due diligence
with Farallons plan
Re. “Coastal panel OKs plan to poison mice on Farallon Islands,” Page B1, Dec. 20:
We in the conservation community are gratified at the California Coastal Commission’s determination of consistency with the Coastal Act for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s mouse eradication plan, with modifications, to restore resilience to the Farallon Islands National Wildlife Refuge.
Dec. 16’s grueling seven-hour hearing in a 12-hour day was testimony to how gravely the commission treats matters under their jurisdiction. They reviewed hundreds of pages of documents, facilitated by commission staffers, and heard many hours of expert testimony. Their deliberations reflected the issues’ complexity, weighing long-term benefits against short-term risks. Once the mice are removed, we look for restoration of the refuge’s native environment and resilience.
Year-round, this commission balances human interests and our coastal ecology, fulfilling their mission of “protecting and enhancing California’s coast and ocean for present and future generations.” They accomplished this, and we are deeply grateful.
Mary Jane Schramm
Novato
Threats to democracy
abound in 2020’s wake
Re. “Why is left now worried about end of democracy,” Page A7, Dec. 17:
I don’t know if I’m “the left” Victor Davis Hanson is referring to, but I don’t see threats to democracy in legally expanding the Supreme Court or admitting new states (which was done for 150 years) or eliminating the filibuster. Nor in reduced bail and sentences; but I see a threat in continuing the failed practice of mass incarceration.
I do see as a threat to democracy in a former president continuously lying about his loss and threatening those who fail to support his lies; political and media lackeys repeating and amplifying those lies; putting partisans in positions that control and regulate elections; establishing processes for partisan officials to ignore and reverse results of elections, and encouragement of violence by that former president and members of his party who go along with the lies.
That Hanson does not see these as threats, I can only attribute to his willingness to subordinate democracy to partisanship.
Merlin Dorfman
Livermore
Voices from right, left
preserve neutrality
I am writing to respond to Letters to the Editor dated Dec. 16 and 17. Both letters wanted conservative columnists, respectively, Victor Hanson (“Hanson columns recycle familiar gripes,” Page A6, Dec. 16 ) and Marc Thiessen (“Thiessen columns are divisive and deceptive,” Page A6, Dec. 17) dropped for their conservative column views.
Generally, the East Bay Times publishes mostly columns written from liberal and progressive authors, i.e., from the New York Times, Washington Post, etc. I feel both sides should be heard, especially when the conservative views represent a small fraction of the total columns. Otherwise, only liberal and far progressive views are heard and the newspaper is not reporting views neutrally or without bias, the way newspapers should report.
Cal Chu
Danville
Conservative views keep
some readers returning
You have recently published letters critical of two columnists whose columns I find to be thoughtful, insightful and interesting — Marc A. Thiessen and Victor Davis Hanson. Both letter-writers requested that you stop publishing these columns.
These columns are among the reasons I enjoy reading your newspaper (along with the comic strip Mallard Fillmore!). I suggest that these letter-writers do what I do about columnists I don’t like: I don’t read them.
Sharon Nicoll
Martinez
Columns show belief
in balanced debate
I have been reading with sadness and annoyance the Letters To the Editor that want you to cancel the columns of Victor Davis Hanson and Marc Thiessen. I look forward to both.
I only remain in California because of the weather. I accept that I am a conservative in one of the most liberal areas in the country. I accept that I have no national political representation anywhere in the Bay Area. I understand that if I disagree with someone or something, I do not have to read it or support it. So when I read the nasty things people write about these two, I am thankful that your editorial staffers are the ones with open minds and that your answer to thought you disagree with is not attempting to cancel it or censor it.
I beg you, please do not stop publishing Hanson’s and Theissen’s columns.
David Smith
San Ramon
Source: www.mercurynews.com