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Conservation is not
enough; let’s desalinate

We can’t keep our way out of the lack of rain and snow. Let’s make water.

A desalination plant built south of Half Moon Bay can be a reliable source of water. Power it with windmills and wind turbines. Pipe fresh water up the hill to Crystal Springs Reservoir which is already connected to virtually every community in the Bay Area.

The Carlsbad desalination plant is an excellent model. The entire project cost $537 million to build. It makes 50 million gallons of fresh water a day. That’s enough water for the needs of 400,000 people. Note that such a facility does not have to provide all of our water needs, just to augment our already existing reserves.

And to pay for that, California currently has a budget surplus of over $45 billion. Let’s spend some of this money on a common need: fresh water.

Marshal Wilder
San Jose

Article too simplified
the question of “censorship”

The article on book censorship in schools was stupid, oversimplified, uninformative and divisive (“Newsom ignites Twitter feud with choice of novels,” page A1, April 1). It was more about praising California and criticizing other states than a real censorship review.

Of course, there are situations in which censorship does more harm than good. However, censorship is justified when its intent and result is to ensure that books directly support the curriculum and are read only by students mature enough to discuss, analyze, understand, and appreciate the content.

As long as the media and others discuss social, political, and legal issues from a simplistic progressive (“good”) versus conservative (“bad”) perspective, the more enduring divisions will be in our country. If we are to become a truly unified and more peaceful nation, Americans must accept and try to understand each other’s points of view, not criticize others and smugly believe that they are better.

Nick Dellaporta
Santa Clara

The government must
to live within one’s means

Dan Walters has it all figured out about our nascent tax disaster. (“Is our expansionist government biting off more than it can chew?”, Page A13, April 3) This is more than a domestic economic threat. We are buried in political acrimony and polarization. For decades, we have seen pitiful approval ratings for the incumbent president and even more pitiful approval ratings for Congress, regardless of which party holds the majority. I think improving the efficiency and performance of government is key to turning the tide.

First, the government must live within its means. Annual deficits of a trillion dollars as far as the eye can see are not sustainable. Second, we need to focus on results. The reality is that we are spending huge sums of money at all levels of government to address the many problems we face. We should focus on what works and why and fund programs that produce measurable results.

Wasting money and not getting results only perpetuates dissatisfaction and resentment.

David Riggs
Aptos

Russia’s Unjust War
reflects ours

We are witnessing an atrocity that should never have happened – Russia’s unprovoked war against Ukraine.

Mother Russia, led by Vladimir Putin, has instilled fear in its Ukrainian citizens (most Russian citizens support the war).

We should know better, of course, since we, the United States, instilled fear of communism in our citizens and went in and slaughtered over a million Vietnamese fighters, lost nearly 60,000 American soldiers and destroyed towns, villages and countryside. Neither country is or was justified in these actions.

Joe Margevicius
Palo Alto

Hanson rare book
reflected column

Wait…what happened to Victor Hanson?

The column in the April 1 edition of The Mercury News (“History should be our guide in the war in Ukraine,” page A7) had to be an “April Fool’s joke” or else someone hacked his email account and wrote something that was thoughtful and relevant.

It can’t be the Hanson spouting lies and innuendo and turning everything in an anti-progressive direction.

We’ll see how long it will be before the real Hanson finds out he’s been hacked and the old Victor resurfaces. If it wasn’t an April Fool’s joke or if it had been hacked, then I would have to say, “Bravo, Mr. Hanson.

David Burwell
Morgan Hill