Multiplier effect works across the economy

Thank you, Herb Engstrom (Letters, Jan. 5), for explaining the multiplier effect in such simple terms that any second-grader could understand. Just think of how many jobs would be created by the multiplier effect if the hundreds of thousands of public workers were put back to work. And what about the millions of jobs that would be created by the multiplier effect if the Obama administration were allowed to invest in infrastructure? Our economy would be humming and there would not be the tragedy of the 1.3 million fellow citizens who lost their long-term unemployment insurance three days after Christmas.

Charles Allen


There's just no excuse for 'tasering' bicyclist

Sometimes better late than never is still too late: The move to stop police in Palo Alto from "tasering" people on bicycles is a long overdue change for the city. Not only is it completely ridiculous to believe that a Taser is needed to apprehend a suspect when that means two grown people, a Taser, and a car are pitted against an unarmed 16-year-old boy, but it's simply unsafe. A Taser could not only cause the person to fall off the bicycle, but it's quite likely they could fall into the path of oncoming traffic. There is no need for that kind of risk, especially not with the lives of children. I can only hope that next time, they won't wait until an incident like this occurs to make changes that benefit the city and its people.

Meredith Duflock

San Jose

Send SEALS to bring Snowden to justice

This is what one combat veteran of the Korean War, thinks of Richard Cohen and his insulting proposition that "It's time to make a deal with Snowden."(Opinion, Jan. 8)

Whether it was my Cub Scout/Boy Scout service, or my four years in the Air Force, my mantra was and is "Duty, Honor, Country."

When Osama bin Laden was hiding in Pakistan, President Barack Obama delivered on a campaign promise, found bin Laden, and sent a SEAL team to take him out.

I have every right as a veteran and a citizen to ask him to apprehend Snowden. When our SEALs bring him back, Snowden should answer for his crime, which is what it is.

George E. Lawhon


Put resources into prescribed fires

It is good news that Sens. Dianne Feinstein and John McCain (Editorial, Dec. 31) have sponsored a bill that would double the size of the current federal firefighting air tanker fleet. However, your editorial goes on to mention several recent fires (the Rim Fire in Yosemite as one example) with what appears to be the insinuation that somehow an enlarged air tanker fleet will reduce the frequency and/or intensity of these large fires.

While there is no doubt an expanded tanker fleet will assist firefighters, a main factor in many of the country's largest fires is the unnatural accumulation of vegetation, in large part brought on by a 100 years of aggressive fire suppression. What is needed is greatly expanded funding for fuels management programs -- including prescribed fire.

There is a great irony that when wildfires occur, the money flows freely. Not so with prescribed fire -- yet it costs a fraction to implement compared to fighting a wildfire and has been shown to be greatly effective in reducing wildfire severity.

Phillip Dye

San Jose

Devices can't replace good parents

I have only one question for Erica Warp ("Mobile devices need not be bad for children," Opinion, Jan. 14). Where are the parents? A parent handing their child a tablet or smartphone and walking away is no different from parking that child in front of a TV.

Jeff Davis


Coming next: No infant left behind

State Sen. Jerry Hill's proposal to mandate that all schools have prekindergarten shoots too low. I would suggest that he mandate that all children be schooled at the taxpayer expense as soon as they leave the hospital upon delivery. The Sacramento government then could establish "no infant left behind" standards such as crawling, walking, talking and toilet-training. The infants could then be tested on a weekly basis to insure that they are all working at the same low level as the slowest in the class. Individuality and development difference can then be done away with through a government mandated curriculum.

Charles Shoemaker