Letters: National model | Housing crisis | Military success | School lunches | Voting rights | Designed to divide

Mercury News Letters to the Editor for Sept. 14, 2021

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Make school lunch
program national model

The recent passing of free school lunches for all in California public schools (“California set to launch the largest free school lunch program in U.S.,” July 19) has been a game-changer.

Previously, only about two-thirds of the state’s students qualified for free school lunches. The state allotting a suitable budget to cover meals for all public school students is huge. This new meal program for all students should improve the rates of food insecurity and students’ ability to focus better in school.

Not having to worry about their next meal is important to not only the students but their families as well. The cost of living in the Bay Area is expensive, and if this can be one less thing families have to worry about, then I believe that the rest of the country should follow in California’s footsteps and expand to have free lunch programs for all.

Anna Do
San Jose

SB 10 won’t solve
state’s housing crisis

Senate Bill 10 needs to be vetoed.

It was produced under pressure to “do something” about our critical lack of affordable housing but is highly unlikely to accomplish its stated purpose. In fact, it is dangerous in several ways.

1) It allows local elected officials to overrule voter-approved initiatives, a right granted citizens by the California constitution. It strikes at the heart of democracy.

2) It undermines critical environmental protections, allowing certain projects to avoid CEQA evaluations.

3) There is nothing in the bill that requires housing to be built or provides incentives or subsidies to do that.

4) There will be many unintended consequences and legal challenges. Each community is unique and these problems are best solved at the local level with financial help from the state.

Connie Rogers
Chair, Gilroy Growing Smarter
Gilroy

Bush was last president
to find military success

Paul Boehm’s letter (“Afghanistan further proof of war’s waste,” Page A16, Aug. 29) prompts me to write.

I wanted to note that George H.W. Bush was the only president since 1952 to actually succeed with a military engagement. Bush’s criteria for Desert Storm was simple: 1) Build a strong, united international consensus that military force is necessary; 2) Have a specific objective for action to which our allies agree; 3) Establish an overwhelming and international military force; and, 4) Stop when the objective has been attained.

There was some sentiment after the first gulf war that Bush should have pushed forward to overthrow Saddam Hussein when he was on the ropes. But the course he chose achieved the objective, ended the conflict quickly and left the United States with the most favorable international esteem we have enjoyed for decades. War is a waste particularly if we add nation-building to our list of objectives.

Dave Riggs
Aptos

Meat is a critical part
of school lunches

There has been an effort to remove meat in schools across the United States.  Baltimore, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia are some public districts that have implemented Meatless Mondays or removed processed meat. While decreasing processed meats can be beneficial, I believe it’s unethical to remove meat from schools, especially those with large populations of low-income children.

There is only one randomized controlled feeding study looking at animal versus plant food consumption and functional outcomes in children. Significant improvement in growth, cognitive and behavioral outcomes occurred in children fed meat versus exclusively plants, indicating the importance of meat for children’s growth and development.

Low access to nutritious foods contributes to higher rates of chronic disease in low-income children. Meat served in school may be the only opportunity for children to consume animal products and their essential nutrients. Removing meat wrongly eliminates a vital source of nutrition from a low-income child.

Jillian Chacon
Palo Alto

Biden must do more
to secure voting rights

We know President Biden is dealing with a multitude of issues. But, for us, the most important issue facing America right now, besides the pandemic, is protecting the right to vote for all Americans.

Biden’s support for reforming or ending the filibuster in the Senate could help him enact his agenda on all fronts. Most importantly, it could help Biden protect Americans’ freedom to vote in the face of relentless attacks on our democracy.

We need Biden to step up and put public pressure on the Senate to reform or end to the filibuster. Biden’s stated support for voting rights reform simply isn’t enough.

President Biden, for the sake of our right to vote and the democratic agenda we elected you to enact, please urge the Senate to abolish or reform the filibuster.

Rebecca Elliot
San Jose

Today’s politics seem
designed to divide

To this concerned senior citizen, it seems that the tenor of politics in our country has become utterly lacking in decorum.

Untruths, deception, vilification and other wholly inappropriate activities have become everyday political events, all symptoms of grossly incompetent representation. The competence of California’s own governance (as well as that of the alternative candidates) has – for good reason – been called into question.

Such rampant ineptitude must certainly derive from the fact that political candidacy is not in and of itself an indicator of competence. Since no independent vetting process is in place, nearly anybody can apply, and – considering typical outcomes – politicians are very poor judges of their own qualifications.

Too many elections have been won by celebrity and by empty promises. We desperately need to identify and support more truly qualified candidates; the greatest talent of the current applicants seems to be vilifying the opposition.

Jerry Meyer
San Jose