{"id":39,"date":"2003-03-06T15:11:18","date_gmt":"2003-03-06T15:11:18","guid":{"rendered":"0"},"modified":"2006-09-28T12:07:57","modified_gmt":"2006-09-28T12:07:57","slug":"foolishness_in_my_hometown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/?p=39","title":{"rendered":"Foolishness in My Hometown"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some blood-pressure-raising letters in today’s L.A. Times. In my series about risk<\/a>, I’ve been making the point that we often waste resources and attention on small risks, rather than spending it on stuff that could really make a difference.<\/p>\n

Here’s a textbook example<\/a> from someone who believes no risk is too small and no inconvenience too great:<\/p>\n

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
\nBreathing New Life Into Smoke-Free Living<\/p>\n

“Smoking at Home Targeted” (March 2) states that “people irritated by secondhand smoke call [Assemblyman Joe] Nation’s bill long overdue.” We wish it were as simple as an “irritation.”<\/p>\n

Those of us who are making the call to action to which Nation, a San Rafael Democrat, has responded have illnesses such as migraines, lupus, heart disease, asthma and other serious lung diseases that are seriously made worse by tobacco smoke. As the American Lung Assn. states, “When you can’t breathe, nothing else matters.”<\/p>\n

To say we must live with secondhand smoke in our homes to accommodate the smokers is absurd. To simply ask that we have the option to live in our apartment or condo smoke-free is not an unreasonable request. No one is saying smokers cannot smoke in their own homes; AB 210 merely protects nonsmokers by separating them from any designated “smoking sections.” Most condo associations and apartment landlords have either refused to provide safe, smoke-free homes or are waiting for laws that give them a safety net to do so. Tobacco smoke is dangerous. Far too many adults and children have been made very sick by their neighbor’s smoke. Therefore, legislation has become necessary.<\/p>\n

Jacque Petterson
\nActing Chair
\nCondo Owners
\nfor Smokefree Living
\nSanta Clarita<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And then this<\/a> one from a deep moral thinker:<\/p>\n

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
\nNo Soldiers, No War; It’s as Simple as That<\/p>\n

I am a little tired of reading sappy stories about reservists or regular soldiers going off to war (“Reservists Answer Call to Duty,” March 2). The popular attitude appears to be “support the soldiers, don’t support the war.” Well, you cannot do one without the other. Without soldiers even Hitler would have been just another megalomaniacal Austrian. And yes, those soldiers were told that Poland fired the first shots. (Saddam Hussein hasn’t even fired any shots yet.)<\/p>\n

Whether for economic reasons, or out of conviction, any soldier or reservist makes himself or herself a weapon. The GI Bill might look good if your college funds are low, but consider that you are willing to pay a price in human lives — yours or Iraqis’. Our weapons are not smart enough to miss children, other civilians or even allies. War without soldiers is not possible. President Bush, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice are not going to strap on their six-guns and challenge Hussein to a gunfight at the Exxon corral. No soldiers, no war; it’s as simple as that.<\/p>\n

Pauli Peter
\nLos Angeles<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Damn, if only I’d realized how simple it is to bring on world peace; just disband the U.S. military, and we’ll get the WTC and our 3,000 dead back. It’s mindblowingly frustrating for me ly, that as I become increasingly convinced that Bush and his Administration are mendacious and lack the real clarity of moral vision and ability to broaden and sell that vision that is required to deal with the current world situation, I become more convinced that the people who oppose his policy are morons. It doesn’t leave me with a lot of places to stand on this.<\/p>\n

There are two major studies on secondhand smoke as a health hazard; one by the EPA (a somewhat biased opposition commentary is here<\/a>)which showed a weak correlation, and one by the WHO<\/a> which did not. There is some controversy, to put it mildly, over the facts on the issue.<\/p>\n

But that won’t stop Jacque’s group from working hard to pass policies that will be expensive in terms of their impacts and costs – and will cost lives, because other, more productive policies won’t make it to the table.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some blood-pressure-raising letters in today’s L.A. Times. In my series about risk, I’ve been making the point that we often waste resources and attention on small risks, rather than spending it on stuff that could really make a difference. Here’s a textbook example from someone who believes no risk is too small and no inconvenience […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}