Santa Cruz Sentinel from Santa Cruz, California • Page 9

Wednesday, June 2, 1999 AS WE SEE IT 'Food-libel' laws "-'it an honest reaction CAN H0LD? IVE GOT A CALL ON owe? phone Opinion 1'FOOD LIBEL: New laws daren't a good idea, but they've resulted from far much carelessness. The media are quick to publish any and all theories about potential damage or health benefits from certain kinds of food or additives. The problem is that some of the reporting done is inconclusive, but the published accounts make the accounts seem definitive. Scientists and researchers are aghast at how quickly the popular press latches on to a miracle cure or an unsubstantiated warning against a certain kind of food. Yes, we're concerned that at least 13 states have adopted laws that would allow food producers to sue over press accounts.

The worst example of all was the lawsuit against TV star Oprah Winfrey over an off-hand comment that she made on her show about red meat. In fact, some of these laws are probably unconstitutional. They provide that farmers and food producers can, in effect, pass the cost of their losses over to media companies that produce the warnings. WE AGREE that crusading journalists and other activists need some latitude in documenting cases of toxic food in the marketplace. There will be a chilling effect, and some publications or book publishers will back away from reports that need to be published.

These laws are best not enacted. But if producers, publishers and editors want to avoid such legislation, they should become better at ensuring that any "scare" stories are, indeed, well researched. REE SPEECH advocates everywhere must shudder when presented with laws in 13- states that protect farmers and food companies from criticism of their product. Many journalists and consumer-rights advocates worry that the laws will lead to court action against anyone trying to protect consumers from eating dangerous or toxic food or additives. One media lawyer argued that the food-libel laws would have prevented anyone from publishing the landmark book "Silent Spring," the Rachel Carson account of the dangers of pesticides.

We, too, line up on the side of opposing these laws, but we're also mindful of why they've come about. The reality is that book publishers, TV producers and newspaper editors have been too lax in providing responsible coverage. The law's genesis was over a CBS News report on the danger of the chemical Alar, a report that caused a damaging and unnecessary scare against apples. Even farmers such as those in the Pajaro Valley who don't even use Alar were severely damaged when consumers just stopped buying apples at all. Even apple-related products were damaged.

Readers weigh in on 'Net requires parent-kid time; against NATO bombing in Yugoslavia ABOUT A YEAR and a half ago I interviewed John Chambers, the president of Cisco Systems the company that makes the black boxes that connect the Internet Chambers declared that, though most people did not grasp it yet, the Internet was about to change "everything" about how people work, invest, learn, shop and communicate. I wrote down what he had to say, but thought of it as the sort of overstatement one could expect from an Internet exec. Well, a few weeks later, Cisco sent me a box of stuff from its upcoming ad campaign a sweatshirt, a coffee mug and a tape. I put the tape in the VCR and saw all these young people looking into the camera and asking: "Are you ready?" All I could think of was: "Are you ready for what?" A year and a half later I now appreciate Cisco's ad, and Chambers' prediction. The year 1999 will go down as the year that the Internet really began to penetrate the consciousness of Americans that the way they buy everything from cars to airline tickets, and the way they communicate, invest, work and learn, is being fundamentally transformed by the Web.

But it has come on so fast that people are feeling overwhelmed by it When I travel around America today, one of the most frequent foreign policy questions I get is about cyberspace. Parents are worried because three things are happening at once: 1. The Internet is becoming increasingly pervasive, unavoidable and indispensable. 2. There is a dawning realization that the Internet as such a tool, is different from radio, television and newspapers in that it Is a totally open, interactive technologybut with no built-in editor, pub- stahlerfusa.net garten becomes more important than col- lege in the Internet age.

That is, unless parents are building kids with sound fun-; damentals with the individual judg- ment values and knowledge skills to han-' die this technology on their own Lord' only knows what can happen. It can be' like everyone letting his kids drive with-! out a license, map or sense of purpose. I asked Steve Case, the CEO of America; Online, what he tells parents. He said: "It requires a thoughtful, sustained, integrate "4 ed effort And perhaps the Internet while only part of the problem parents now can be an even greater part of the solu- tion. You have to make sure your kids are connected, because that is the future and it is important that everyone have access to the future, so we don't widen society's gaps with a digital divide as well.

But as you get connected, you have to this is an empowering medium. It gives you millions of new choices, but many will not be appropriate. So with empowerment. must come greater responsibility." Indeed, the faster your kid's modem, the faster he or she can get online, the stronger must be his or her own person- al software. You've heard of Moore's Law, that the performance of microprocessors doubles every year and the price halves every year? Well, here (with tongue slightly in cheek) is Fried- man's Law: Parents should add one hour per week of quality time with their 1 children each time the speed of their kid's modem doubles.

Now go check your kid's modem. Thomas L. Friedman The New York Times May 26 What does NATO want? The stated intent of NATO intervention in Yugoslavia is to prevent ethnic cleans- ing and to establish conditions for all Kosovo residents, Albanians and Serbs to live in peace. Considering that international ob- 7i servers had reduced the violence to feweri killings than Atlanta sees in a year but were pulled out so bombing could start considering that 800.000 Kosovars became I refugees after bombing began; and consid- ering that Yugoslavia's parliament had passed a resolution indicating willingness;" for a United Nation's peacekeeping force I before NATO bombed; what is NATO's real purpose? Peace and justice in Kosovo do not re- quire killing innocents or destroying cities. What the world is witnessing is an aggressive power play and display of American weaponry aimed at making Yu- goslavia more welcoming of corporate in-! vestment.

True peace is waiting for the bombing to stop. Joyce McLean Los Gatos letters, cartoons Please, only one letter per month. If you want to thank someone, or you have; something nice to say, send it in to our "Praiseworthy" section, which is published every Monday. For your cartoons: I Please confine your ideas to local issues. Your work must be of near-profession-: al quality.

We do not guarantee that every; cartoon submitted will be published. Please include a note with your full! name, full address and daytime telephone; number for verification purposes. I The Sentinel's address is P.O. Box 033, i Santa Cruz, CA 95061. The newsromtt number is 429-9620.

recent demonstration dom WILPF) was not intended or repre sented as unbiased. Protesters chose WILPF because they would encourage real dialogue. Another demand was a town-hall meeting at a location more widely accessible than Cabrillo College. Cabrillo is currently on summer vacation and is located relatively far from Santa Cruz, the county's largest city. Farr's choice of room was also too small to be adequate for the meeting.

Finally, the 14 arrestees (myself included) disagree with the article's final sentence, "There were no arrests at the protests." I hope the newspaper and its staff will eliminate this kind of irresponsible journalism. William Ma Santa Cruz May 26 Improve war coverage I was thoroughly disgusted and disappointed with your coverage of the protest in Sam Farr's office, Wednesday, May 19. You stated that there were no arrests made, yet 14 arrests were made. You quoted Farr's aide twice, but the only quote from a group of 40 or so protesters was, "I find it invigorating. Nobody knows what we're doing." I'm sure there were many more intelligent or informative quotes which you could have selected.

Those of us protesting this war are not just students. We are different ages, ethnicities and genders. We are students and nonstudents alike. We want to know why this war in Yugoslavia is frequently absent from the front page of your paper. I feel this horrendous crisis deserves to be front-page news every day the bombing of innocent men, women and children continues.

The stated objectives for this bombing are not being met. On the contrary, the ethnic cleansing has increased, the infrastructure of Kosovo is being demolished and the environment is being contaminated for generations to come. What is it going to take for us to pay attention to the suffering of people who our tax dollars are being used to bomb? War is front-page news. George Cadman Felton THOMAS FRIEDMAN lisher, censor or even filters. With one mouse click, you can wander into a Nazi beer hall or a pornographer's library, hack the NASA computers or roam the Sorbonne library, and no one is there to stop or direct you.

You interact with the network naked. The only really effective filters are the values, knowledge and judgment that your kid brings to the Web in his or her own head and heart 3. At the same time, more moms and dads are both working outside the home, so less parenting is going on generally less time is being spent filling kids' heads and hearts at home and people are becoming increasingly dependent instead on their schools to raise and nurture their children for them. When you take such a totally open network and you combine it with parents' being able to spend less time building their kids' internal codes and filters, then you add the fact that the Internet is going to become the nervous system of our commerce and society, you have a potentially dangerous cocktail. That's why the most important thing parents need to understand about preparing their kids for the Internet world is that it requires not more whiz-bang high-tech skills, but rather more old-fashioned fundamentals reading, writing and arithmetic, plus church and synagogue.

Kinder AS YOU SEE IT this and other new housing developments. When I was growing up, my parents taught me that actions speak louder than words. With this in mind, I pose the following question: If the developer of the Glenwood housing project believes there is enough water in Scotts Valley, why did he insist that his project be exempt from any future water rationing? John Muth Scotts Valley May 25 Turn in the vandals I am very angry with the vandals who think it is fun to destroy mailboxes with a baseball bat. Some group has been doing this on a regular basis on Bear Creek Road. Last night they shattered more than a mailbox.

They shattered a very nice lady's heart Her mailbox was lovingly handcrafted by her husband and was the last thing he made for her before he died. Destroying other people's property just for kicks is a mean and despicable pastime. If anyone knows who these thugs are, please turn them in. You will be doing your community a valuable service. Margaret Humphries Scotts Valley We're looking for WE'RE LOOKING for your letters and cartoons to publish in the Sentinel's editorial and commentary sections: For your letters: Please remember to include your full name, street address and daytime telephone number.

Letters over 200 words are subject to cutting or not being published. We don't print letters attacking someone else, nor do we publish ongoing exchanges between letter-writers. We're not able to send back letters that have been rejected. Usually, when letters don't run it's because they're too long. May 26 Progressive bedfellows It is astonishing to me how far the so-called Santa Cruz progressives have fallen; The behavior of the rowdy rent-a-mob that demonstrated and attempted to disrupt the dinner given by the Democratic Club on Saturday, May 22, showed their true colors.

The purpose of the dinner was to have dialogue with our elected representatives and to hear their positions on the NATO action in Kosovo. Instead of dialogue, there was mob action, including an attack on a police officer who was walking the narrow line between civil order and freedom of speech. My question for the demonstrators is, if you are against the NATO action, does that mean you are for genocide? Do you suppose that the Kosovars are any more hostile to the bombing than the inhabitants of the Nazi concentration camps would have been had the Allies bombed? Would diplomacy have worked to stop the genocide in either Germany or Serbia? It has been tried, you know, to no avail. Jtoes it give any of you pause that the far right is with you? Oliver North has taken the same anti-administration position you have. You are bedfellows, united desire to find anything your government does to be reprehensible.

your behavior is as flawed as your reasoning. Laina Farhat-Holzman Aptos May 26 One-sided reporting am aghast at the Sentinel's coverage of the anti-war protest in Rep. Farr's office onMay 19. The report chose quotes that made protesters look inarticulate, disorganized and unintelligent while intelligent quotes were more readily available. JThe demand of changing moderators was severely misrepresented.

Farr's choice of moderator, the League of Women Voters, has previously disallowed spontaneous and follow-up questions. By requiring all questions to be previously submitted in writing, they have historically precluded dialogue between citizens and their elected officials. The demanded moderator (the Women's International League for Peace and Free Santa Cruz 207 CHURCH ST. TomHontg Editor DonaMMIIar Managing Editor Royal Catkina City Editor UnUBarth Copy Desk Chief Advertising Alton Hudaon Advertising (831) David B. Regan, May 24 Question diversity Having just read Jondi Gumz' article on the diversity speaker at Aptos Junior High, I am reminded of two insidious things at work here.

First there is the intellectual bankruptcy of diversity advocates. They tell us that diversity of skin color, life style, etc. is essential, but do they tolerate diversity of ideas? If not why not? Shouldn't diversity go beyond the surface? Second, there is the intellectual laziness of the audience. Gee, yeah, diversity is good and it makes me sound hip and compassionate and smart and enlightened, so I support it If we as adults do not question this process, then I guess we deserve to be manipulated, but our children deserve to be taught how to think, not what to think. Sally van Kaathoven Aptos May 24 Thanks to Bookshop Sincere thanks to Neil Coonerty's Bookshop Santa Cruz for hosting Camryn Man-heim Saturday evening.

A former resident she certainly understood the diversity and acceptance that makes Santa Cruz fun and unique. Judging from the laughter, the overflow crowd all enjoyed hearing a large, powerful woman speak to the issue of body images, and empower the crowd of all sizes, abilities and sexual preferences. An added highlight was a great staff, particularly Lynn, who although extremely busy, added a personal touch to her job. Lori Patterson Soquel May24 Action tells the truth There has been much debate on the state of Scotts Valley's water supply and how the proposed Glenwood housing development will affect that supply. Supporters of the project claim there is more than enough water in Scotts Valley to support i County entinel 423-4242 SANTA CRUZ, CA 95060 President and Publisher Richard Lawts Press Room Manager Systems Manager Mafdi Browning Douglan Circulation Manager Director Manager 7 editorials on this page represent the opinion of the newspaper's editorial board.

Members of the boardare: David B. Regan, Tom Honig, Donald Miller..