Letters to the Editor 10/25/18

Posted 10/24/18

A life-and-death decision The most recent report from the International Panel on Climate Change is devastating. Who you vote for on November 6 could mean the difference between survival of life on …

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Letters to the Editor 10/25/18

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A life-and-death decision

The most recent report from the International Panel on Climate Change is devastating. Who you vote for on

November 6 could mean the difference between survival of life on our planet and the catastrophic and painful end of civilization and all the exquisite species that support it. The situation is that dire. If we do not mobilize during the next 12 years, we are doomed to a downward spiral we cannot check. 

We did mobilize for a common cause during World War II. People pulled together: Victory Gardens, gathering of scrap metal by children, rationing, the retrofitting of auto plants to build tanks, the incredible ship-building effort, Rosie the Riveter.

We again have a common cause—saving the entire planet. The report says that we can still prevent runaway climate disaster, but, it will mean a huge global mobilization. It will start at the voting booths on November 6. Every politician at all levels of government reckless enough to ignore or deny climate change deserves to be removed from office. The current administration and those congressional members addicted to money from the fossil fuel industry are not going to help us. We need to kick out the people who are rolling back nearly every federal policy tackling climate change. They continue to subsidize fossil fuel with your tax dollars. Visionary business and political leaders at state and local levels know that clean-energy technologies are huge job creators. Efficient buildings save energy and money. Environmental regulations are there to protect us from disasters. Please vote for the planet on November 6. If you don’t, our descendants will wonder what we were all thinking.

Katharine Dodge

Lake Ariel, PA

Incumbents’ fracking policies threaten the river

The Delaware River is an important resource. Millions of visitors take advantage of its resources each year. The river provides an estimated $22 billion benefit per year to the region, supporting over 600,000 jobs, contributing $10 billion in wages alone.

Unfortunately, this could all change. We thought that the battle over local fracking was over when governors Wolf, Cuomo and Carney last year voted in favor of a resolution put forward by the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) to ban fracking for oil and gas in the river watershed. Unfortunately, PA Sen. Lisa Baker and two legislators have joined a federal lawsuit filed by the Wayne Land and Mineral Group (WLMG) challenging the DRBC’s authority. Although thrown out by the district court last year, the suit was appealed and the appellate court sent the case back for further fact-finding earlier this year.

Fracking involves injecting water and chemicals into shale, causing it to crack and release natural gas. That water can contain chemicals like benzene, diesel fuel, lead and other dangerous compounds, including carcinogens, corrosive acids and substances that can cause neurological impairment. Once these chemicals are introduced to the aquifer, it is essentially impossible to remove them.

Water is life. Our health and property values, as well as local businesses such as restaurants, hotels, specialty shops, etc., will suffer. Many would likely cease to exist. Sen. Baker’s decision to back WLMG is distressing. What’s even more disappointing is that representatives Peifer and Fritz also support fracking the Delaware. Their decision makes one wonder whom they represent.

Why would people buy vacation homes in an area under threat? Those of us who are concerned with maintaining the beauty of the Delaware River should keep this in mind when we vote. Since our representatives don’t seem to respond to our concerns regarding fracking, we must make our opinions known at the polls. It’s important to remove those who don’t listen to their constituency. That’s why we’re also supporting Jay Sweeney for state senator.

Jane and Paul Creteau

Lakeville, PA

GOP tariffs amount to sales tax

I just received a flyer in the mail from John Chrin, a lifelong New Jersey resident who now wants to buy a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives to represent us in Pike County. His flyer claims he will “fight” to protect Medicare and Social Security. Does he not realize that his GOP leader Mitch McConnell just said on TV that because of the tax cut to the rich that is now creating a huge deficit, programs like Medicare and Social Security will be cut?

More than 30 times, the GOP has tried to destroy the Affordable Care Act, or as they call it “Obamacare.” They want to make it harder for people with pre-existing conditions to have access to affordable healthcare. Now John Chrin claims he will “fight” to protect the health and security of Pennsylvanians? The worst is yet to come: starting January 1, 2019, the GOP will give us a what is essntially a 25% increase in sales tax that Trump calls a tariff on anything made in China.

A tariff is a fee imposed by the U.S. government on imports. China does not pay this tariff. American importers such as WalMart and Home Depot pay this tariff. Or more precisely, the American consumer (that’s you and I) pay for this 25% tariff. It is nothing but a sales tax that goes from our pockets into the U.S. Treasury. If you wish to believe that the GOP will protect your healthcare, or care about your pocketbook issues (instead of the interests of the super rich), then continue to vote for GOP candidates such as John Chrin. In 2019, they may even give you a 50% tariff.

Reggie Cheong-Leen

Milford, PA

GOP tax cuts threaten Medicare, Social Security et al.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says the soaring budget deficit is “not a Republican problem.” It is a brazen statement, given the fact that according to the Treasury Department, the GOP tax cuts that benefited large corporations reduced corporate tax receipts by $92 billion in fiscal 2018. To make up for that, Republicans will balance the budget on the backs of the poor, the ill, and the struggling middle-class. McConnell indicates the need to cut Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

Really? What happened to their promise that the “trickle-down” policy of cutting taxes for the wealthiest among us will “pay for itself”? The economy may be strong today, but don’t be fooled: the majority of us will have to pay for the benefit of the small minority who are the super rich.

Debra Schneider

Milford, PA

Vote. It makes a difference.

I am writing to urge readers to vote on Tuesday, November 6. I’m amazed at how many people have forgotten what a great privilege it is that we can vote—freely—in our great country. My mother made a big point of this when we were young. How many mothers today teach their kids what a precious right this is? Are you unhappy with all the damage that the people in power are doing to our country?

Well, I am—and I’m going to be sure to vote! Eric Holder says, when they go low, kick ‘em. I say, when they go low, kick ‘em out.

Here are the three things you must do as a caring citizen who wants to make a difference: 1. Vote on Tuesday, November 6; 2. Bring someone else with you—preferably someone young. Never too early to get young people into the habit of voting—the most important act that a citizen of our great country can do. It’s free, it’s fun and very satisfying. 3. Encourage your friends and family to vote.

I’ve been surprised at how many people are indifferent to our precious right to vote, a right that was won with brave people’s lives. Your vote does make a difference. Look what we’ve got on our hands now as a result of millions of people not voting. Do your part—vote blue and take two with you!

P.S. If you don’t vote, you don’t get to complain.

Joan Rosenfelt

Pond Eddy, NY

Get out and vote

In the wake of the caustic Kavanaugh hearings, we should remember that we have been down this road before. When I was a very young man, a future Nobel Laureate was singing, “The times, they are a’ changin”; and they were. They always are. The seminal question remains whether we will be sideline observers or involved citizens who will help decide the course of change.

Republicans clearly understand that activism and voting are the key. How else has a minority party (with very deep pockets) taken over much of our government? Using one of our Constitution’s archaic remnants of 18th-century thought, they somehow elected to the presidency a man who lost by 2.8 million votes. They also have taken advantage of the fact that like (blue) California’s 40 million people, (red) N. Dakota’s three-quarter-million people have two senators. But however problematic, these are the current rules and if you are going to play the politics game, you should know how to play it seriously.

The other day, while canvassing in Honesdale, we met a millennial who said, “Nah, I just don’t bother with voting.” That dramatically reveals the issue. When the majority; the fair-minded American people, vote, we win and we don’t then govern from fear. Clearly, we don’t now have that kind of government leadership.

In my day, Wordsworth’s expression “The child is the father to the man” was chic. In today’s #MeToo movement, perhaps the question remains whether “the woman can be the mother to the man.” After the disgraceful Kavanaugh approval circus, there is a clear need for all ethical people, men and women alike, to be neither confused nor divided in their support of what can become a more representative government expressing the good will of the majority of the American people. A serious increased voter turnout next month is a necessary first step. Let us act to make it so—otherwise our observations have little point and are really just so much noise, “blowing in the wind.”

John Pace

Honesdale, PA

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