Letters: Artificial turf | Harris’ tax plan

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Stanford hospital should
not back artificial turf

I was deeply disappointed to learn that Stanford Children’s Hospital is a major sponsor of the California North Youth Soccer Association, a group that advocates for synthetic turf on athletic fields. Given the hospital’s commitment to children’s health and well-being, this support seems counterintuitive.

Numerous studies have highlighted the negative impacts of artificial turf. Artificial turf fields contain chemicals that can harm children through touch or inhalation. These chemicals also leach into the environment and pose risks to water quality and ecosystems. Additionally, artificial turf are heat islands, leading to increased temperatures and air pollution. And it coats our Earth with nonrecyclable plastic.

It is concerning that Stanford Children’s Hospital would support a practice that endangers the very children they are dedicated to serving. I urge the hospital to reconsider its position and prioritize the long-term health and safety of our community.

Dr. Susan Lessin
Foster City

Harris’ tax plan is
fair and reasonable

Re: “Harris’ economic plans show that she’s unfit” (Page A6, Sept. 5).

Simply disagreeing with the tax policies of Kamala Harris does not make her unfit to be president. On the other hand, being an adjudicated sexual predator and a convicted felon should make someone entirely unfit to serve in the Oval Office

Our corporations are not being overtaxed; they are making staggering profits. The so-called “death tax” is an estate tax, and it only applies to people with an actual estate to bequeath. Taxing “unrealized capital gains” is quite fair because the extremely wealthy do not actually earn any wages. Why shouldn’t someone with incredible wealth and massive disposable income pay the same percentage in taxes as the middle class?

It must be great to have enormous wealth and receive all the benefits that taxes provide but rely on loopholes, tax shelters and lobbyists to avoid paying their fair share.

Jerry Gudeman
Santa Clara

More abortions are bad
for the United States

Kamala Harris has made abortion a premier issue. However, the United States already has a declining number of younger people. China has already shown that limiting population creates serious problems.

If abortion becomes even more common, birth rates will increasingly drop. This will reduce the pool of working taxpayers who are needed to expand the already bloated welfare state. Is this wisdom?

Thinking people do not vote for Harris.

John Burke
Ben Lomond

Rice already has failed
test of leadership

Re: “Wrong woman in state’s ‘favourite daughter’ role” (Page A6, Sept. 6).

Regarding Condoleezza Rice as presidential material, she had her leadership opportunity. As secretary of state, Rice gave face to the Bush administration’s false assertion that Iraq had (or soon would have) weapons of mass destruction. This falsehood justified the go-to-war strategy of President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and war strategist/intellectual Paul Wolfowitz.

For her part, Rice stared Americans in the face and told us, “We don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.”

Take a look around and see where we are now. The lie-induced Iraqi war cracked the Middle East. Rice owes Americans 10 years of silence, not tenure in the White House.

James P. Walsh
Los Gatos

GOP lacks the courage
to solve gun violence

Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance on Thursday “lamented that school shootings in the U.S. have become ‘a fact of life.’“ It should not be a fact of life.

What cowardly resignation. But that does not surprise me, given that the Republican ticket lacks backbone and leadership to deal with this national disgrace. They continue to defend the NRA and the gun lobby while spouting “thoughts and prayers.”

Banning assault weapons and standing up to these lobbies is a huge first step in dealing with this national disgrace. However, that requires common sense and courageous leadership —  things that are clearly lacking with Vance, Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans.

Diego Certa
Campbell

It’s up to citizens
to demand gun control

Once again, we are hearing of the horrific experiences of schoolchildren due to the negligence of our country to create stricter gun control laws.