Letters to the Editor

      HOT DEBATE
      I'm not surprised to see that Brendan Cummings and Kassie Siegel subscribe to Al Gore's view of global warming ["Showdown at Tejon Ranch," June]. It makes it possible for them to expand the boundaries of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to further impede the building of new homes and infrastructure this state badly needs, even when the developments are environmentally sound.
      Gore's explanation of the natural phenomenon of climate change is that the buildup of carbon dioxide increases the temperature of the Earth. Ignoring for the moment that the Earth has experienced 18 climate changes in the last 180,000 years, Gore has it exactly backward. Increases in carbon dioxide follow, by about 300 years, increases in the Earth's temperature. That is an inconvenient fact. It is also an inconvenient fact that carbon dioxide is essential for life on Earth, not a pollutant, and represents only .0000005 of the Earth's atmosphere. It's difficult to explain how a gas in such low quantities could effect such massive changes.
      My point is that bad science makes bad policy, and if the courts allow Cummings and Siegel to expand CEQA based on the global warming fiasco, then bad policy will begin to have harmful consequences for us all. It's not a stretch to imagine that Cummings, Siegel, et al. using the same junk science are just waiting for the right moment to outlaw all vehicles, other than hybrids.
      Hugh Thomson
      San Jose
     
      I enjoyed the cover story "Showdown at Tejon Ranch." I've long had concerns about development of land in that area, and indeed all over California; it seems that we have too much traffic, not enough water, too much air pollution, and so on ad infinitum, already. I wish Cummings and Siegel luck.
      I did wonder about the reference on page 24 to "... all four of California's national forests," however. By my quick count, there are 17 national forests and seven national parks in California, plus other national recreation areas.
      Paul Cooley
      Culver City
     
      CORRECTION: Mr. Cooley is correct about the number of national parks in California. Our error was to include the word "all" in the sentence that refers to four of those parks. California Lawyer regrets the error.
     
      TAKE TWO
      After reading June's Full Disclosure ["Second Chances"] dealing with attorney resignation and disbarment, I came up with what I think is a simple solution for the State Bar discipline system. Rather than incurring the time and expense of investigating resignations at the time they are proposed, all would be automatically accepted by the bar and the concept of reinstatement would be abolished.
      Any attorney who resigned or was disbarred would be treated like any other nonattorney. He or she would have to reapply for admission to the bar, take and pass the bar exam, and satisfy all moral and ethical requirements. Only a fraction of the attorneys who are disbarred or resign would reapply, and only those cases would be investigated.
      I see no reason why an attorney who resigned or was disbarred should receive any more favorable treatment in becoming a member of the bar than any other nonattorney.
      Robert S. Rein
      Los Angeles
     
      STATE OF CONTROVERSY
      Thank you for taking the time to write about the increasing state of fear that the Bush administration is working hard to perpetuate in this country ["State of Emergency," In Pro Per, June]. I feel as if I no longer live in the country I was raised to believe existed.
      Your experiences with customs prove once more that we are ignorantly abandoning our rights and freedoms for an emperor's new cloak of safety. I appreciate your shedding light on one more example of this process.
      Edward Hosey
      San Francisco
     
      Wow?what a hardship Mr. Kircher-Allen had to endure when he reentered our country. According to him, he was "singled out" by U.S. Customs, because customs personnel had the audacity to ask him a few questions. Such a shocking event now warrants a comparison between the current U.S. administration and Syria, one of the most repressive countries in the world.
      To suggest that the United States is transforming into a police state, simply because a customs official asked a traveler some cursory questions, is pretty insulting to those who have not forgotten what took place in our country six years ago.
      Jeff McClure
      Walnut Creek
     
      California Lawyer welcomes letters to the editor and publishes excerpts from as many as possible. Please include your phone number and city of residence. Write to us at 44 Montgomery St., Suite 250, San Francisco, CA 94104, fax 415/296-2482, or email letters_callaw@dailyjournal.com.
     

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