Reader Wire Reader Wire (January 24, 2003)

Suggestions for progress

Is there a way to heal the council?

I recommend that the council read "Getting To Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In" by Roger Fisher, William Ury and Bruce Patton of the Harvard Negotiation Project and "Getting Past No: Negotiating Your Way From Confrontation To Cooperation" by William Ury (both available in paperback).

A sampling of the suggestions include: separate the people from the problem; focus on interests, not positions; invent options for mutual gain, and look for mutual gain; don't defend your ideas, invite criticism and advice; speak for a purpose; and build a working relationship.

Hopefully by following the suggestions in these two excellent books, the council can move forward to address the serious issues we have in Palo Alto. Carroll Harrington Melville Avenue, Palo Alto
Recall repeat?

Somehow I see this cartoon of council member Nancy Lytle shaking hands with our good mayor Dena Mossar, congratulating her on being elected, but from the other hand a pie is on its way.

How can we, the public, expect good governance when council members must deal with the absurd?

I'm not sure the elections will come soon enough. There was recall movement about 35 years ago to deal with a somewhat similar situation. Maybe history can repeat itself. William Reller Gilman Street, Palo Alto
Flawed facts

Yona Sternheim (ReaderWire, Jan. 10) makes her position clear regarding the article about Kathleen Namphy's compassion for innocent victims in Iraq. However, her criticism is as flawed as her facts about Dr. Namphy personally. For some odd reason she pretends to be knowledgeable about her past. She is not.

She writes that Dr. Namphy can be "idealistic and naive and turn against her own" because she was "born with a golden spoon in her mouth" and "was free to write poetry."

Golden spoon? She grew up in the northwest, one of three daughters of a forest ranger. Hardly an affluent household. And she does not write poetry, she teaches it, and other literature, at Stanford.

Ms. Sternheim should also note that everyone is free to write poetry. It is not an elite privilege as she seems to imply. She should try it. It's a better place for fantasy. Shirley Coates Hamilton Avenue, Palo Alto
Blame George

Anytime you notice that a government program you like has seen a funding cut, don't yell at Gray Davis -- yell at George Bush.

The impending war on Iraq will not only murder innocent civilians who have long been tortured by U.S. and U.N. sanctions, it will also rob us of $200 billion. Money that could go to education, housing, environmental programs or economic stimulus.

We can't increase the military budget while decreasing taxes unless we want Coca-Cola to run our schools. Alec Ferguson East Crescent Drive, Palo Alto
A 'popularity' conflict

Thoughout American history, if a popular president got into a popular war, almost invariably it increased his chances for remaining popular and getting re-elected.

If Bush wants to keep his popularity and get re-elected, he needs this Gulf War II for his own political purpose.

So nearly every U.S. president who went into a war was guaranteed popularity and re-election. Perhaps the only war American didn't like was the Vietnam War, because they lost. Ted Rudow III Oak Ave, Redwood City