Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Virginia can be powered by renewable energy
Letters to the Editor
Recent letters to the editor
- Pick of the day: Passing the buck won't stop abuse
- Letters: Illegal traditions should not be tolerated
- Pick of the day: Teacher's conviction should scare parents
- Letters archive
From the RoundTable blog
Read the latest entries
Virginia can be powered by renewable energy
In the Aug. 30 letter "Wind and solar energy can't compete with energy from coal," Joe Lucas fails to paint an accurate portrait of America's energy future. We can repower America with clean energy sources like wind and solar, and in the process bring thousands of new jobs to Virginia.
According to the Virginia Coastal Energy Research Consortium, Virginia's offshore wind potential can meet 25 percent of our electricity demands, and the Southern Environmental Law Center estimates that another 19 percent can be generated through solar panels installed on homes and businesses.
We also have great biomass potential, as evidenced by the 80 MW Pittsylvania Power Station in Hunt that powers 20,000 homes every day from wood waste alone.
The potential to repower Virginia is truly within our reach, but we need the U.S. Senate to pass strong clean energy legislation this fall. With such great renewable assets right here in Virginia, Sens. Mark Warner and Jim Webb should be leading the charge.
Issue Associate Environment Virginia
Please uphold the presidential oath
Attorney General Eric Holder will appoint a special prosecutor to investigate alleged crimes of the past administration. Never mind that. These allegations were investigated and dismissed a few years ago. Previously, President Obama, who promised to pursue these charges once in office, declared, "We won't look to the past, only the future." Now he distances himself from Holder, saying it was the latter's decision to do this.
The attorney general, however, serves at the pleasure of the president. I think the real reason here is Obama & Co.'s great belief in transnationalism -- the new doctrine in which America is seen as owing its principal allegiance not to its own Constitution and national interests, but to the international legal community and world courts.
Holder has stated he is willing to cooperate with these courts in turning over evidence, etc., for any cases they may prosecute. This policy could result in arrest warrants for members of previous administrations (including a former president) and could allow foreign governments to detain them if they travel outside the U.S.
I respectfully refer Obama to his oath of office: "and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution," and suggest he act accordingly.
Be fair when digging up candidate's past
In response to your newspaper's editorial "Bob McDonnell's radical thesis" (Sept. 2), I am wondering why you have not thought about checking some of the radical agendas of the present-day Democrats when they were in college. Let us be fair about this game.
Most young people at that age are looking at life through rose-colored glasses, not having the maturity to judge for themselves. It is not until we get into the workplace that we realize that what has been espoused by the liberal professors is not the way life is supposed to be.
The newspaper has reported that the Democratic National Committee will pump $5 million into Creigh Deeds' gubernatorial campaign. Is it any wonder that the Democratic Party is grasping at straws and searching for something to denigrate GOP candidate Bob McDonnell?
The voters can see through the newspaper's bias and they will judge McDonnell on his service and maturity as attorney general. He has a superb record and will serve Virginia with distinction as governor.
Not surprised by The Times' bias
Re: "Bob McDonnell's radical thesis," Sept. 2 editorial:
What a surprise that The Roanoke Times would devote a lengthy editorial to something written by former Attorney General Bob McDonnell 20 years ago. Imagine my surprise to see you make political hay of the writings of McDonnell, but Barack Obama got a pass for his 20-year associations with the fanatical, anti-American Rev. Jeremiah Wright and domestic terrorist Bill Ayers.
Also, I do not remember a lengthy editorial when Michelle Obama's extreme sentiments regarding race in a thesis from her college days surfaced.
This is why The Times will never be a serious newspaper. You are biased in your coverage, and the standards you apply to anything conservative does not apply to liberals.
If you want options, vote for reform
As the debate over national health care reform has grown increasingly heated, it's become difficult to separate fact from fiction. Here are a few points people should know before reform comes up for a vote in Congress.
Some versions of health care bills encourage doctors to offer counseling to prepare for a situation when you or a loved one are near the end of life and unable to make decisions. If you support that, you should support health care reform and ignore disingenuous or misinformed opponents of reform who scare you with stories about so-called death panels.
Wouldn't you like to have a choice between private plans that may not keep your best interests above their profit interests, versus the option of a public health plan with a mandate to cut your costs? With a public option, you can't lose -- you could have that public plan or your choice of private plans, only now private plans are competing with the public plan.
Anyone spreading misconceptions and myths about what is being proposed is irresponsible. People who find out the truth support health care reform, and I'm confident Southwest Virginia will be no different.
Compassion was at others' expense
The successfulness of a man's life is usually judged by how he adheres to his principles. In this sense, Ted Kennedy can be judged as well, for he was true to his compassionate, or should I say passionate, principles.
His amnesty bill was compassionate to illegal immigrants. Never mind if hard-working Americans had to pay the tab for his compassion. His passion did not reach, however, to our borders that have been violated.
If he had been judged as the rest of us, his true passions would have been best displayed from a prison cell had he not corrupted the laws of the land and the Constitution. He casually ignored or disregarded laws of morality and decency, using his Kennedy influence to cover up his indiscretions.
In retrospect, his passionate causes contributed to the bankruptcy of our nation and to our children's despairing plight in the years ahead. This corrupt senator never had to worry about a job loss or a bill he could not pay. How compassionate does that sound to 16 million jobless Americans today?
His last breath was a final act of compassion for responsible, hard-working, honorable, law-abiding, overburdened, taxpaying citizens. Thanks, Ted.
