Keep unvaccinated kids home; bomber may welcome death

Keep unvaccinated children at home

Regarding “Vaccine bill stalls, will be reintroduced” (April 16): While I agree that parents may have the right to decide when and if to have their child vaccinated, no matter how foolish that decision might be, I also believe that the state of California has the right to deny that child the right to attend school if he or she has not been vaccinated.

I doubt any parents would want their child to attend school with a child that has a contagious disease such as tuberculosis or chickenpox. Children that have not been vaccinated should be home schooled.

John E. Gahan
San Diego

Letters and commentary policy

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  San Diego Union-Tribune
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Boston bomber might likely welcome death

Regarding “Next: Life or death for Tsarnaev?” (April 10): The Boston bomber might want to be put to death.

Otherwise, he will find a permanent home in the ADX, the supermax prison in Florence, Colo. Check it out on your search engine. You can find a schematic of the cell. For 22.5 hours a day you live in your “box.” You have an hour and half to workout in the yard. You have a closed-circuit black and white TV.

A former warden described the ADX as a clean version of hell.

Tsarnaev is a young man. He could live another 60 years, plus. He would go mad way before then. Personally, I would take the needle.

Paul B. Evans
Valley Center

People should not be forced to participate

Everyone seems to misunderstand the religious liberty issue in Indiana.

Douglas Dunn (“Companies should treat all the same,” April 11) corrected another letter writer by pointing out that a business that sells cakes or flowers to the general public should not be permitted to refuse such sales to anyone based on race, ethnicity, gender, religion sexual orientation, etc. Agreed.

But he completely misses the point. This is not about refusing service to individuals. It is about participating in an objectionable event.

Example: Should bakery owners who revere PETA be forced to supply an NRA “Hunter of the Year” banquet? Or should their freedom of conscience allow them to recommend a different bakery without incurring punishment?

Stephen D. Bennett
Encinitas

Don’t blame mankind for all of world’s ills

How do we deal with fanatics whose religion is the condemnation of mankind for causing the earth to undergo climatic changes?

Nathan Runkle (“Can eating less meat save California?” April 10) probably has noble intentions, but his analysis of how feeding the planet contributes dangerously to “climate change” is bizarre.

How would our planet look today if there had never been climate change? Well, we wouldn’t be here, which may be the only result that would ever satisfy tree-huggers like Runkle.

These “Chicken Littles” are so smug in their condescension, it is stupefying.

Rick Elkin
Escondido

Obama makes the wrong kind of friends

Isn’t it fascinating that Obama will have his picture taken with the Cuban dictator, a rabid Marxist, but would not even meet with/talk to the Israeli prime minister, our longtime ally, when he was in Washington, D. C.?

Obama is turning our world upside down. Dick Cheney was right.

Lou Cumming
La Jolla

Agencies not serious about saving water

I just got off State Route 163 downtown.

Freshly laid sod in the middle of the freeway being watered in the middle of the day.

Frankly, I am tired of doing all I can to save water. My front lawn is long gone. I’m tired of using soapy dish water in my garden for my vegetables. I’m tired of taking two-minute showers. I’m tired of “if it’s yellow keep it mellow.”

I’m tired of Californians being asked to grow the most crops of any state and the money going to big corporate farms.

Most of all, I’m tired of politicians blaming the residents who use about a tenth of all water.

Shane Algarin
San Diego

Pot shops a mockery of Prop. 215’s intent

Pot shop customers are young and healthy. Just like the illegal pot shops, the new city-approved pot shops will serve primarily recreational users, because healthy young users can easily get a pot doctor’s recommendation by claiming insomnia, anxiety, pain, etc.

The fine print in Proposition 215, passed by California voters in 1996, allows marijuana for “any illness.”

Stand outside one of these pot shops and you will see that 90 percent of the customers are under age 30.

And the money to be made is in the millions – why else would an applicant pay $400,000 to win approval from the city?

In effect, our city has approved drug dealers in our communities.

Jennifer Hiett
San Diego