Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Vote for a statesman, Ron Paul, in the primary
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Vote for a statesman, Ron Paul, in the primary
Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, is a presidential candidate. One relying on the media would never know that. He actually finished second in the Nevada Republican caucuses, topping John McCain, Mike Huckabee, Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani. I must have missed reading that in The Roanoke Times.
As a member of Congress, Paul works for limited constitutional government, low taxes, free markets and a return to sound monetary policies. He never votes for legislation unless the proposed measure is authorized by the Constitution. In my book, that makes him a statesman, not a politician.
Go to his Web site to see how he stands on the issues: ronpaul2008.com. He is against abortion, NAFTA, CAFTA, the U.N., illegal immigration, foreign entanglements (including the Iraq war) and uncontrolled government spending, to name a few.
He is for gun rights of individuals, return of the gold standard, respect of property ownership, the Family Education Freedom Act and free trade.
He is on the Feb. 12 primary ballot in Virginia. Go out and vote for a statesman.
Children still dream under mountain's star
I am responding to Elsie Starkey Beer's letter of Jan. 24, "Dining would be an added attraction."
I was interested in what she started with, but by the end I thought: That's not fair. When she was a child she got to enjoy the beautiful views and picnic with her family on Mill Mountain.
Just because she is grown up now does not mean there aren't little children and grownups who still enjoy it the way it is.
I am not ready for that to change. I live on Mill Mountain and every night and morning look up to the star from my bedroom window. If there is a building on the mountain, well, it just wouldn't be the same.
I am in third grade and I am 9 years old.
The economy and war are interlocked
One would think and hope that, after New Hampshire, we would be saved from incessant polling. Sadly, that is not the case. Just listen to Tim Russert on Brian Williams' "NBC Nightly News" and countless other "experts."
Asking people compartmentalized questions can lead to false or unclear conclusions. We often hear the results of polls in which the questions are asked in this way: "What do you consider more (or most) important -- the economy, Iraq, health care, energy costs, immigration" and so on, as if these were unconnected issues.
The war in Iraq seems to be disappearing from the headlines in favor of the economy, whatever that is. One reason Washington is ill-equipped to deal with a recession is that President Bush has spent so lavishly on a war that never should have been fought.
The projected cost of the war for fiscal 2008 is $156 billion -- enough, by some estimates, to provide health care for 44 million Americans or to provide 160 million homes with renewable energy or to strengthen our country's education and research.
Let's not forget that during the next election, when the choice may include a continuation of the Bush approach to international relations.
Be careful who you listen to on coal
Whom can you trust? We heard from Walt Crickmer, in his commentary "Coal plant would be environmental boon" (Jan. 16), that another coal-powered plant would be an economic boon and a "positive environmental project."
Later, we heard from Gregg Lewis ("Boucher needs to wean district off coal," Jan. 27 commentary) that the environmental cost to every person in a wide region would be far greater than any boon regarding jobs. Poisonous mercury in the air and water plus other air pollution and more carbon dioxide leading to further climate change hurt all of us. There is no true clean coal technology.
I've often thought, as Rep. Rick Boucher has said, that we sit on a wealth of energy in coal. As a member of the local Sierra Club executive committee, I have learned that the true cost to our health of using all of this energy is too great. We can create jobs in solar and wind energy production or tourism. We also can forestall the need for more energy by being efficient.
Will you trust a chamber-of-commerce type, an energy/coal industry member or a local architect who has worked hard to help us all grow in a sustainable, healthy way?
Check out who Dominion supports
People across Virginia are concerned about the pollution that will be caused by the coal-fired power plant Dominion wants to build in Wise County. I live 10 miles downstream from the site, and my biggest question is: Why aren't our political representatives protecting our best interests?
Take a look at vpap.org's report of donations made by Dominion Resources and Dominion Political Action Committee and you'll find the answer. All of the most outspoken proponents of the plant have received hefty political campaign donations from Dominion: Sen. William Wampler, R-Bristol; Del. Terry Kilgore, R-Scott County, and Gov. Tim Kaine.
In Virginia, political candidates can accept any money they are offered for campaign contributions as long as they disclose their donors. But citizens have the right -- and the obligation -- to follow the money trail.
Who do you think our political representatives are really representing? The people who elected them or Dominion, which financed their campaigns?
Let Vick play and pay? No way
E. Scott Geller wrote in a commentary, "Society would benefit if Vick stayed on the field" (Jan. 20), that Michael Vick should be allowed to play football and donate his salary to the SPCA rather than serve time in prison. Geller's absurd conclusion is based on several faulty premises.
First, he pretends the 1974 Virginia penal system is the same as the 2008 system.
Second, Vick is not imprisoned in the Virginia system; he was convicted and incarcerated in the federal system.
Third, his whole point is grounded upon Vick's crimes being nonviolent. How a man of Geller's experience and intelligence could assert that participation in an organized dogfighting ring and that the hanging, beating and drowning of "underperforming" dogs is nonviolent escapes me.
If Geller thinks that trading off a real penalty by making donations from playing football is a win/win situation for society, then I must conclude his time at Tech as a professor and a Tech football fan has warped him into buying into the continuing acceptance of thuggery and unlawful behavior there in exchange for wins.
Stop slinging the term 'atheist'
William R. Ricketts' letter "Science doesn't have all the answers" (Jan. 24) claims the report is atheistic. Wrong. This is a report about science, not religion.
The last sentence in Darwin's "Origin of the Species" states, "The creator breathed life into one or a few organisms."
The term atheist has been used for 3,000 years to attack people whose religious beliefs are different. The Romans used the term against Jews and later against Christians. Even Christians used the term against each other during the first 500 years of Christianity while debating what the true church doctrine was.
If that practice continued today, the more than 32,000 distinct forms of Christianity would be using that term when referring to each other. Not until the 18th century did nontheists use that term to describe themselves.
I think it is time that we stop using this pejorative term to describe people and ideas that we disagree with.
