Herschel Walker took it too far

I’m a white, cisgender gay male. If I’m tired of having my life treated like a political football, imagine being transgender. Herschel Walker is more than an unqualified candidate for the U.S. Senate, he’s a coward, hypocrite and politically convenient bigot. His new TV ad attacking transgender athletes is the definition of power punching down: despicable.

Coming after Saturday’s shooting in Colorado, this is one slight too far. Herschel Walker gets the “coward of the week” award. The athletes wearing “One Love” armbands in Qatar along with the two people who fought back against the gunman at Club Q Colorado Springs share the? “champions of the week” award.

Closing thoughts: FIFA picking Qatar for the World Cup 2022 is right up there with the International Olympic Committee picking Nazi Germany for the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

David Perry, Palm Springs

Firebirds ticket pricing is gouging with exchange rates

The recent announcement of Firebirds ticket pricing starting in the $65 to $90 price range can only be termed gouging. AHL teams in general have tickets starting at $25. I wonder whether they realize that a significant amount of their support will come from Canadian snowbirds who already are dealing with a 74 cent dollar. So that $70 ticket is going to be $100 Canadian.

The same exchange rate problem presents itself in the exorbitant pricing at our local public golf courses. For example, $85 to $125 a round becomes $110 to $160 Canadian and will result in fewer rounds played or it will drive away our tourists to more affordable spots like the greater Phoenix area or San Diego. Even Las Vegas has more affordable choices.

Steve Kurrein, Palm Springs

Green energy funding abroad? What about funding here in California

When reading articles that our federal government will or already has funded foreign countries' green energy programs it calls to light issues we face at home. Where I live, we have an increasing shortage of fresh water and face fines if we are found wasteful. Where I live, we had many summer days facing electrical shutdowns due to warnings of rolling blackouts. Electricity and fresh water are two critical Infrastructure needs for all. Why not put the money to save us at home from shortages that can harm many? Guess where I live? Southern California.

Barry Morgan, Rancho Mirage

Population overcrowding and global warming

Solar panels, wind generators and electric cars are good ideas, but they are baby steps in the war on global warming. Most of the world's electric energy (and greenhouse gas) is created by burning CO2-emitting coal, natural gas and petroleum. Coal and gas-powered plants, freight trains, airplanes and the world’s 1.5 billion motor vehicles spew carbon dioxide at a rate that threatens life on earth.

Missing from the discussion of global warming is the fact that our world is simply overpopulated. Earth’s population has tripled since the 1950s. The strain is evident everywhere: traffic, shortages, rising prices, pollution, famine, epidemics, unstable governments and a growing sense of crisis. Too many souls are vying for limited resources. Each one of the eight billion people on Earth needs food, water, shelter and energy for basic survival. As energy and product consumers, each of us is adding to the cloud of greenhouse gas that is quickly making the planet unlivable.

Nobody likes to acknowledge it, and politicians don’t dare even mention it, but a big reason the climate is perilously out of whack is that there are just too many humans. How much safer and more livable would California be with half as many people? How much less greenhouse gas would we be generating?

John Howard, Rancho Mirage

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Herschel Walker took it too far