Letters, June 25

Dems shouldn't do Trump's bidding

EDITOR: David Brooks' column I've come to appreciate over the last few years and I had always enjoyed his methodical and even way he presented himself when opposite Mr. Shields on PBS. However, his May 11 column about the Dems declaring a constitutional crisis has cheapened himself. Mr. Barr is the top law enforcement official in the nation and he refused to appear before Congress and he refused to admit/include underlying exculpatory evidence. The Congress being a co-equal branch of government is senior to Barr. How in all his mashed up facts does he miss this? Brooks takes issue with the Dems because, as he sees it, this will only consume a lot of time and be a waste as such.

Then he declares all these actions are just for show. Does this then insinuate that these are false efforts? Is the crisis just a trifle? These insinuations are an anathema to democracy (to say nothing of truthful writing) and in the most-simple terms he's doing Trump's bidding. He advises the Dems to just be more judicious and measured. Unless he's recently been spending his time under a rock he would have noticed that the party elders are approaching this just as he suggests in his last paragraph. Our system is working ever so frustratingly slow and yet working it is, hopefully, to Trump's detriment – not just our psyches.

Edward Dillon

Sonoma

Lane punishment doesn't fit crime

EDITOR: Regarding the surrendering of Dr. Clinton Lane's license for 'a pattern of repeated negligence involving prescription of opioids to four patients' ('Clinton Lane Surrenders Medical License,' May 3). Dr. Lane must have seen thousands of patients over his 40 years of practice. As an RN at Sonoma Valley Hospital, I had many dealings with him over the years. He is one physician I would never consider reckless with his medication prescribing and is considered by those of us who knew him to be a very fine doctor.

There may be (I hate to use this term) a 'witch hunt' going on now to deal with the causes and consequences and find culprits responsible for this national opioid crisis. I believe there is plenty of potential for addiction, bureaucratic regulations/guidelines, patient and societal views on pain control – besides the few bad-acting, over-prescribers of these narcotics.

Also, I believe blame could be assigned to governmental agencies and professional organizations who failed to see what was happening over these several years, letting this crisis get out of control, and now trying to clean up this mess.

It seems to me that the punishment meted out to Dr. Lane did not fit his crime.

There are likely many more parties, guiltier, going unpunished.

Steve Turmes

Sonoma

Let your rainbow flag fly!

EDITOR: I know a lot of people in the LGBTQI community. I've heard many unsettling stories of feeling alone and isolated, being called derogatory names and even incidences of physical violence. Perhaps the most disturbing thing I've learned is that 44 percent (nearly half) of LGBTQI teenagers consider suicide at some point.

Flying the rainbow flag makes people from this community feel safe and accepted, like they are OK in places where it is flying. One day, and I hope that day is soon, we will evolve the collective public consciousness so that there are no more movements that support discrimination. Diversity is beautiful, but diversity isn't enough if we aren't prepared to listen to each other and to respect each other as equals.

If your city or county, or your school, isn't flying the rainbow flag for Pride Month (June) then why not? It doesn't take much. Just a simple gesture to show that the government, which is a body of the people, stands with all of the people. With the federal government moving to exclude transgender individuals from serving their country and fear-based, often religious movements, discriminate against this group of people simply for being different, it has never been more important for our elected officials to show they stand with all of the people - black or white, Asian or Latino, female or male, gay, straight, trans, non-binary, Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu or whatever.

I'm calling on all elected officials to raise those rainbow flags, and don't take them down at the end of June, but let them fly all year long.

Jason Kishineff

American Canyon