Demand for oil
The writer of the Jan. 24 letter "Pipeline dreams" should wake up to the fact that the Keystone XL pipeline is a bomb that threatens us all. President Obama showed rare political courage in standing up to Big Oil, which lusts for record profits and cares little about America's health and well-being.
The Amalgamated Transit Union and the Transport Workers Union both oppose the pipeline. Their August 2011 statement: "We need jobs, but not ones based on increasing our reliance on Tar Sands oil. There is no shortage of water and sewage pipelines that need to be fixed or replaced, bridges and tunnels that are in need of emergency repair, transportation infrastructure that needs to be renewed and developed. Many jobs could also be created in energy conservation, upgrading the grid, maintaining and expanding public transportation — jobs that can help us reduce air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and improve energy efficiency."
This pipeline would not lessen U.S. dependence on foreign oil. Gulf Coast refiners plan on tax-free oil export to Europe and Latin America.
Reducing demand for oil is the best way to improve our energy security. New automobile fuel-efficiency standards, solar and wind power, and weatherization of buildings are cleaner and healthier alternatives that will generate better and longer-lasting jobs.
A rupture in the pipeline could cause a major oil spill in America's heartland, over the source of fresh drinking water for 2 million people. And we would end up paying for much of the cleanup.
GUS PRESCHLE
Clemmons
Business conducted
The writer of the Jan. 22 letter "Cordray's appointment" should check his facts.
It was during a "pro forma" session of Congress that the president's two-month payroll tax cut was actually passed, so there was and is business conducted during that time. I suggest he also check Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's use of the "pro forma" option during the Bush administration. Unlike President Obama, President Bush chose to honor the Senate's action.
As regards Cordray, the Dodd-Frank Bill, which authorized the Consumer Protection Agency, specifically requires that the director be confirmed by the Senate before he or she could assume his or her duties. So, once again, the president has chosen to ignore the law and the Congress.
PAULINE G. CHAPMAN
Winston-Salem
Not positive
"Beware of what you want, for you will surely get it." The behind-the-scenes maneuvering by Charlotte officials to make certain the "liberal hordes" do not overrun the city in August at the Democratic National Convention is interesting to watch ("Groups vow actions at convention," Jan. 19). Convention operatives appear to be clashing already with Charlotte police over proposed tightening of venue options, timing and conditions for public protest demonstrations. The "occupy everything but a brain" crowd, along with union activists, can easily cause a backfire of public support.
President Obama's acceptance speech is scheduled for Bank of America Stadium. The symbolism here is profound. My guess is that the overall impressions of most North Carolina citizens after this convention will not be positive and will probably hurt the significant efforts of Democrats to carry this state in the November elections.
PETER T. WILSON
Winston-Salem
Obstruction
About the recess appointment of Richard Cordray to run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, I don't know whether the Senate should be considered to be in session or not. Frankly, both Republicans and Democrats have been hypocritical in the use of "pro forma" sessions, approving of them when it benefitted them to do so, disapproving when they were hindered by such sessions. A case can be made for both views.
But to me, the larger point is that the consumer bureau will help the American people, and the Republicans are obstructing it. It becomes more obvious every day that the Republicans are now in the pockets of rich, moneyed interests and against middle-class working people.
They're also against the president of the United States — whatever he does, even if it's implementing Republican policies. They're obsessed with obstructing him. It's really a national embarrassment.
Despite that, the president has accomplished much in his first term. Imagine how much more he could have accomplished for us if the Republicans had worked with him rather than against him.
WILLIAM B. PERRY
Winston-Salem
CORRESPONDENT OF THE WEEK
'Bothersome' Christians
This week I read the Jan. 23 letter "Pressing their message," from a woman who opined that Jesus taught his followers to (paraphrasing) "go out and bother people." I questioned that. I know from years of church-going that he definitely encouraged loving one's neighbor as oneself and giving as freely as one has received.
So I sought the opinions of my church friends to evaluate the statement. I called Nancy — she was at the Wee Care Shop at Catholic charities; I tried Judy, but it was her day to work at the Samaritan Inn; I called Matilda, but she was serving at the Shalom Project food pantry that morning; I couldn't reach Carol, as it was her day at KBR Hospice Home; I would have talked to my husband, Bob, about this, but he and his merry band of first-responders were still in Swan Quarter, repairing hurricane-damaged homes.
So after some serious thought, I deduced the writer must be correct in her evaluation about the pushy Christians — we're just all bothering people all day long. Fortunately, they smile and thank us for the help.
I sure do hope if my home and family are ever in need because of Mother Nature's fury, hard jobless times or abject poverty that a whole bunch of pushy followers of Jesus will descend on my life and help to make me whole again.
LINDA R. REDDICK
Pfafftown
Sum It Up
Are you satisfied with North Carolina's gun-control laws? Respond to letters@wsjournal.com and put "Sum It Up" in the subject header. Only signed
I don't believe in deities myself, but 95% of my friends and family do. Christians for the most part are wonderful and loving people just like described above, but just like in all groups it's usually a vocal minority that gets most of the attention, ones that want to force prayer on the public or tell those like me that don't ascribe to deism or those that don't believe the way they do that we are going to burn in a lake of fire for eternity, that's just plain terrorism, and it needs to be called out for what it is.
ReplyDeleteLTE #1... agreed. The US is not dependent on foreign oil for energy so much as big oil is dependent on foreign oil for profits. We pay $3.55 at the pump because gas, diesel, and jet fuel are this country's biggest export, not because there is a shortage. Humans can live about 2 minutes without air, about 2 weeks without water, 4-6 weeks without food and a lifetime without tar sands.
ReplyDeleteLTE #2... So what you are saying is that Senate Majority leader, Harry Reid's use of the "pro forma" session was indeed ok or that George W Bush was a wimp. The R's that have blocked Cordray along the way are not against the man, they don't like the law and do no want to see it enforced.
LTE #4... exactly, the republicans claim this president's policies are a failure. How does one know when they all get voted down by the republicans. In 3 short years, we've gone from losing 800.000 jobs a month during the last months of the Bush years and first few months on the Obama Administration, to gaining 200,000 jobs a month, that's a million jobs per month tunraround, and 22 consecutive months of job gains, largest increase in manufacturing jobs in over a decade, GM being #1 auto in the world again, and all without any help from the R's. Can you imagine what we might have accomplished with just a little bit of cooperation.
Good PM, folks!
ReplyDeleteWonder where winter is? It is alive and well in Fairbanks, Alaska, and surroundings, currently -47 in Fairbanks, with ice fog:
http://www.newsminer.com/pages/arcticcam
In at least one place in Alaska, the temperature dropped to -63. This winter's weather pattern is confining the bitter cold to the Arctic area. There is no indication of the pattern changing, certainly not this week, with one of the daily highs forecasted for here at +67.
Ah, but Fairbanks is about to experience a heat wave. My friends up there, the worst real city in the US to live in if cold weather bothers you, say the highs may approach zero by midweek. Cookouts and bikinis on Wednesday or Thursday!
DeleteOn the other hand, my Crimson Tide friends (I am required by them to say "National Champions" at this point) report that they have been at near pool party temps most of the "winter". And friends recently back from skiing in Utah said that they skied, then ate lunch at the sidewalk cafes, parkas not required.
Mostly, this is about "La Nina", which pushes the jetstream northward, thus sealing us off from the arctic air that affects much of Canada and Alaska. We are in an early and fairly weak "La Nina" period, which is expected to grow stronger over the next couple of years, so don't plan an "Ice Festival" in Clemmons for next winter.
The only areas of the US experiencing lower than normal temps are south Florida, southern California and the Pacific Northwest. Seattle just had a major snowstorm, which is just about unheard of there.
NOAA's latest experimental long range forecasts say that we here in the northern Piedmont will experience significantly higher temperatures through spring, with probably normal precipitation.
So we may not have our usual March ice storm.
LTE1: One man's political courage might well be another's pandering. Nonetheless, the labor union press release made a partial point re the need for infrastructure work, with which I agree. However, unmentioned was that the infrastructure work will require public money, while the pipeline would be funded by mean ol' Big Oil and the like.
ReplyDeleteLTE2: Yes, what's good for the goose . . . if pro forma worked for Reid, it should in this case militate against Obama's appointments.
LTE3: Not sure of the point of this LTE, though I enjoyed the "occupy everything but a brain" comment.
LTE4: Hyperbolic hysteria, with the usual stereotyping of R's trying to oppress the other 99%. Can't say for Cordray, haven't followed that argument, but I definitely do not want recess appointment for the 2 stooges to the NLRB.
COTW: Good points, but as Bob noted, the minority of self-proclaimed Christians whose intolerance contradicts Jesus' preaching besmirches the entire faith. These people span a wide range, from the sick Phelps of Westboro Baptist Church to the hating Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
SumItUp: the gun control laws could be improved, but right now we have far more pressing matters that our legislators should be attending.