Letters to the Editor March 22

Posted 3/22/17

Climate change a threat to national security Climate change is a major threat to our national security. I expressed this recently in letters to both Sen. Pat Toomey and Rep. Tom Marino. Marino has …

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Letters to the Editor March 22

Posted

Climate change a threat to national security

Climate change is a major threat to our national security. I expressed this recently in letters to both Sen. Pat Toomey and Rep. Tom Marino.

Marino has stated that national security is an issue about which he cares deeply. A 2004 Pentagon report said that climate change “should be elevated beyond a scientific debate to a U.S. National Security concern,” predicting that abrupt climate change could bring the world to the edge of anarchy. Countries would develop nuclear capability to defend and secure dwindling food, water and energy supplies. This report was suppressed during the George W. Bush administration.

In 2015, a Department of Defense report requested by the Senate Appropriations Committee said that climate change will aggravate poverty, social tensions, environmental degradation and political stability. In February 2016, the Pentagon ordered top military officials to incorporate climate change into everything they do, including training, war planning and testing of weapons. The Pentagon recognizes the seriousness of the climate-change threat. 

In November 2016, dozens of bi-partisan military and defense experts sent a briefing book to the Trump transition team calling for Trump to consider climate change as a grave threat to national security. I worry that the current administration, strengthened by a compliant Congress, will roll back progress on climate change. Rather than desert the Paris climate agreement, we should be taking a leadership role in climate change action. If we do not, we will see increases in refugees fleeing from resource shortages, drought and flood; and more resource wars creating more refugee crises. We must immediately take meaningful climate change action so that we may act humanely now rather than militarily later.

Katharine Dodge 

Lake Ariel, PA 

Congressman Marino, why are you hiding?

On Monday, March 13, about 10 of us associated with Indivisible went to the Hamlin, PA office of Tom Marino, congressman for PA District 10. We arrived there around 2:30 p.m., only to find that the office was closed. Regular office hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. We surmised that the staff knew we were coming and closed the office in order to avoid meeting with us.

Two weeks before, about 30 of us gathered at this same office, unannounced, to ask about Mr. Marino’s position on Obamacare. We met with district director and deputy chief of staff David Weber. Mr. Weber told us that he did not know the congressman’s position on this issue. As Mr. Marino has voted to “repeal, defund, and replace Obamacare at every opportunity in his first two terms” (Ballotpedia.org), he obviously has a position. The question is, why was Mr. Weber unable or unwilling to tell us what that position is?

We also asked Mr. Weber if Congressman Marino would be holding any town halls in his district in order to hear the concerns of his constituents. The answer was “no.”

So our congressman will not hold town halls, does not inform his district director of his position on important issues and closes one of his offices when it is supposed to be open. Mr. Marino, if you are not interested in communicating with your constituents, you should not be in Congress.

Norman Starr

Beach Lake, PA

Faso’s vote could cost lives

Rep. John Faso has the dubious distinction of having cast the vote that gave the Republican “healthcare” bill a bare majority in the budget committee. The American Health Care Act has nothing to do with health. It’s a reverse Robin Hood scheme designed to funnel hundreds of billions of dollars to the super rich while depriving tens of millions of Americans of health insurance—and basic healthcare.

Illnesses will go untreated, lifesaving operations will not be performed and for many, preventative treatment will become a thing of the past. Every year, tens of thousands of Americans will die because they can’t get the medical care they need. This is morally reprehensible. From an economic perspective, it’s incredibly shortsighted—a workforce deprived of healthcare will drag down the economy.

Rep. Faso: you should have voted to kill the bill, not your fellow Americans.

Bruce Ferguson

Callicoon Center, NY

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