posted August 11, 2006

Rainville’s a Libertarian

Martha Rainville sounds a lot more like Libertarian than a Republican. She’s socially tolerant, being pro-choice, in favor of medical marijuana, and against the marriage amendment. She’s fiscally responsible, favoring smaller government, decentralizing the power out of DC and back to the states where our local politicians are more accountable, and opposed the irresponsible spending by the Republicans and Democrats.

Libertarians are the independent voters who make up the sensible middle. Libertarians are the party of fiscal responsibility and social tolerance — two things that we need a lot more of in Washington and Montpelier.
Hardy Machia
Grand Isle

Time for a change

On July 31, Scudder Parker, the Democratic candidate for governor, came to a Brattleboro peace rally to support those gathered who were urging an end to the war in Iraq and who believe Bush should be impeached for his deception in leading us into this war. Parker said his participation in the rally also came from his compassion and support for the troops and the families of those serving in the war.

Parker himself has a nephew who has been “stop-lossed” and is being sent back to Iraq this fall even though his tour of duty was over. In addition to his regret about the human toll of this war, Parker also talked about how this war has diverted billions from necessary domestic programs and about how Jim Douglas has repeatedly supported Bush and the radical Republican agenda in Washington, including the tax cuts for the wealthy that have eviscerated essential social services and job programs, as well as aid to our dairy farmers.

Once again, Scudder Parker has demonstrated what a positive alternative he is to Douglas. Isn’t it time for a change?
Judy Davidson
East Dummerston

Not giddy over wind

I’m one of those people whom you would think would be ecstatic about wind turbines. I’m a pretty environmentally conscious sort of person who tries to use as few resources as possible. And I sincerely hope we can close down Vermont Yankee in 2012 as originally planned.

But something just doesn’t feel right when I read about all the wonderful things that will happen if we just stop complaining and put up wind turbines everywhere. I understand that it will decrease our reliance on nuclear fuel and coal, and reduce air pollution and acid rain, all of which are wonderful things. And the aesthetics argument just doesn’t hold water for me. I think looking at a wind turbine would do wonders for the soul.

So why am I so reluctant to support wind power? One reason is the size and number of these modern turbines. All the proposals I’ve read about involve 20 or more turbines in one area with blades that are over 300 feet long. They are huge! One would think this might result in a rather loud noise and vibrations, when they are running full-tilt.

Because of their size, lights would be required on them to warn aircraft, which means those lights would be shining all night, every night, on the tops of ridgelines — as though we don’t already have enough light pollution down in the valleys. Roads would be required. And I understand they use toxic materials such as anti-freeze to keep the blades whirring during cold weather. All of this would result in destroying yet more animal habitats.

Vermont has never been gung-ho for huge projects — whether they’re gigantic Wal-Marts or large cities. We’ve always preferred to do things in small, sustainable ways in our local towns. Although I’m not a great fan of our current governor, I think I agree with him on this one point: Wind turbines need to be carefully looked at and pursued on a small, manageable basis.

Why are these companies just now suggesting these projects? It makes me a bit suspicious. We always seem to go to extremes — from having no wind turbines to having dozens of them seemingly overnight. There must be some money to be made, and when that’s the situation, it’s usually Earth that suffers.

I recently read that a small company out West has perfected a wind turbine suitable for individual home sites with reasonable start-up costs (July 14 Vermont Guardian). That’s what I would love to see — every home with its own small wind turbine in the back yard, just as we now have many individual homes with solar collectors as part of their architecture. Is anyone looking at what is happening in Europe? They don’t have a lot of wide-open spaces, so they have to “think small.” But of course we in the United States believe that no one else can teach us anything.

I know we can’t wait forever to figure it out, because we can’t continue to destroy Earth. But just as Vermont did not go full-steam ahead with electric deregulation when the rest of the country did — and thereby avoided a lot of expensive electric rates later on — perhaps we need to wait just a bit longer before deciding how big and how many wind turbines we should build.
Kim Noble
Brattleboro

Sanders cares about Vermont

Bernie Sanders began the national debate about overcharging for prescription drugs by the pharmaceutical companies. When he took a busload of Vermonters to Canada to buy their medications, he exposed the greed of those companies.

Sanders encouraged veterans to register with the veteran’s hospitals and clinics so they could take advantage of the reduced price of medications. Sanders worked hard and brought millions of dollars to Vermont to help veterans have computer access to the information and care they need.

The Iraq veterans will be grateful for this service. After being forced to deal with the medical expense incurred by seniors for expensive maintenance drugs, look what we got from the Republican-led Congress as a response: Medicare Part D. The donut hole of this sham of a program will take effect soon and then we will hear from seniors again who can not afford their prescriptions, heating oil, and food.

Rich Tarrant has been a strong contributor to the Republican Party: Could we really believe that he wouldn’t have gone along with this sham of a program? Sanders didn’t.

It will be politicians like Sanders who truly care about Vermonters and their needs who step up to the plate and try to get the funding for those needs. Last year, Sanders was instrumental in accessing the less expensive heating oil offered by Venezuela to relieve the financial burden caused by the escalating costs of oil. I read yesterday that ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell have had record-breaking profits of $10 billion in the second quarter.

Now the Republican-led Senate has voted to proceed with legislation that will call for drilling on our coastlines and Alaska. When will this Republican administration begin major funding for alternate energy technology, instead of going after the lucrative but diminishing and polluting fossil fuels?

Sanders has presented the Apollo Energy Plan, which addresses these needs. I saw a slick ad sent out by Tarrant, stating that Sanders wants to impose new taxes on family farms and small businesses. Nothing could be further from the truth. Sanders has been the champion of the middle class. He has consistently supported and voted for tax relief for the middle-income families — and asking the rich to pay their fair share.

Our country is in a crisis on many levels and a Republican administration and Congress have led it there. Sanders cares about the lives of people and Vermont. Sanders will be an active U.S. senator.
Karen Walter
Westminster

Israeli racism

I was delighted to see Riad Elsolh Hamad’s excellent letter “What they didn’t say” (July 28) concerning the crazy news coverage created by Israeli spin. I specifically appreciate that he mentioned the Palestinians’ legal and moral right to return — it really is the core of the conflict.

Israel is the displacer, free to keep making refugees, Palestinian and now Lebanese — millions of people displaced and pushed into poverty. It is not just a physical crime, it is an economic one, made even worse because political Zionism only invests in Jews. This is a very racist war.

Some one sent me photos of a protest march in New York objecting to Israeli crimes, and my favorite photo is of two gentle women in traditional Muslim dress (perhaps aware of the anti-war group Women in Pink, as they are both wearing delicate pink head scarves). The two women hold one sign that says “Free Palestinian children from Israeli Jails (Al Awda Right to Return Coalition).”

All of Palestine is a contorted series of Israeli-made prisons right now, some more punitively obvious than others. And all of Palestine’s children suffer, some more obviously, including those many children physically maimed for life by Israeli weaponry.

I used to think that making peace with Israel made sense, but now I am quite convinced that one simply should not negotiate with such cruelty, institutionalized bigotry, and blatant injustice. The Arabs of 1948 were right all along: Israel has no right to exist. I agree with Hamad: Racist Israel is doomed to fail.
Anne Selden Annab
Mechanicsburg, PA

Global warming tied to population growth

Everybody’s talking about global warming: Al Gore, in An Inconvenient Truth; Shierry Weber Nicholson, in her 2002 book, The Love of Nature and the End of the World; Bill McKibben in the July 2006 issue of National Geographic; numerous journalists and editorial writers in newspapers and magazines.

And we now know what is causing it: Lots of people burn lots of fossil fuels, particularly here in the United States. The U.S. population will reach 300 million this year, a 50 percent increase since 1967. It is growing at the astounding rate of 3.3 million people every year due to rising fertility rates and other over populated countries encouraging their people to move here as a way of solving their problems.

But few will acknowledge that too many people are part of this and many other environmental problems. Gore, a father of four, gives but 60 seconds of his 90-minute presentation to overpopulation; Nicholson doesn’t mention overpopulation in her book; McKibben doesn’t mention overpopulation in his essay; journalists and editorial writers rarely mention population growth as part of the problem.

Something keeps interfering with our connecting the dots between global warming and human population.

Are we ready to be inconvenienced?
George Plumb
Washington

Keep it going

Readers of the Vermont Guardian should consider: 1) subscribing to the paper, and/or 2) donating some money to this fine publication for several reasons.

Of all the Northeast papers available in Vermont, the Guardian is the least hysterical, has more honest news than available elsewhere, and breaks stories other papers don’t cover — until they “borrow” them from the Guardian. I include in the list of papers The New York Times, The Burlington Free Press, and Seven Days.

I regularly read letters from distant readers from around the country, and obviously they care about what’s said honestly in the Guardian. If these readers value the Guardian, they should care enough to financially support it as best they can.

I’m including a check so this excellent paper can move forward. I imagine the paper will welcome all donations, but it’s in our own interests to keep it going.
Jerry Weinberg
Burlington