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Re: “Bush should be a bull in China,” editorial, Aug. 8
Taxpayer, why should your employee be an inch away from his Oval Office desk at your expense, let alone in China at a purely recreational event with his huge, horrendously expensive entourage and a fleet of fuel-guzzling military aircraft, while you and I struggle for food and every needed drop of fuel? Where is your tax-paid personal aircraft and bodyguards whenever you whimsically seek to travel? For that matter, where is mine?
I fail to see how any one of this president’s personal trips have been necessary to the performance of his duties. They certainly were not for inspection, which any executive must do occasionally, because inspection trips would have been surprise trips. For any other reason, the president could have sent an underling at a fraction of the cost.
This particular venture is even worse than his flying a similar fuel-hungry fleet to Saudi Arabia to plead: “My kingdom for a gallon!”
M.S. Lindner
Offshore drilling should be part of energy compromise
Re: “Do Republicans have the guts to win the energy fight?” Aug. 10
With John McCain crossing the nation denouncing proper tire inflation, the better question is whether Republicans have sufficient brains to win the energy fight.
America uses 24 percent of world oil production and has about 2 percent of world oil reserves. Clearly, drilling here and now can’t be the full solution to our energy problems.
Mark Tapscott blames environmental extremists for America’s declining oil production. But domestic production peaked in 1970 under enviro-maniac President Nixon and fell during the Reagan years. Geology is driving America’s declining oil production, not politics. Burning more oil now means having less later.
Given the long lead time, drilling along our coasts makes more sense now than it did in the past. But doing so to support one more round of sprawl or to fuel our gas guzzlers for another year is very shortsighted. We should only open up more areas to drilling as part of a compromise that also commits our nation to serious energy conservation.
U.S. needs state -funded pre-kindergarten programs
Families in America today face an inadequate patchwork of pre-K programs. Only 1 in 5 children has access to state-funded, voluntary pre-K, and the quality of programs, which is critical to producing positive results, varies widely. Our children’s future should be up to choice — not chance.
These missed opportunities cost America’s children, families, and communities. Children who start behind are likely to stay behind. We can either pay for quality pre-K now, or we can pay much more later to cope with children who need special education, are held back a grade, or drop out of high school. When I cast my ballot, I’ll be voting for quality pre-K.
Are the presidential candidates listening?
Laurel
Both front-runners may not be eligible to be president
I have been reading about the possibility that both presumptive nominees John McCain and Barack Obama may not be constitutionally qualified to be president.
The Constitution clearly says that the president must be a natural-born citizen of these United States. Sen. McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone.
Barack Obama’s father was born in Kenya and never became an American citizen. His mother, who was 18 years old at the time of his birth, had not met the legal requirements since she had resided in the United States for only five years. To date, Barack Obama has not shown the public his birth certificate to clear up controversy on whether he was born in Hawaii (as he claims) or in Kenya.
The American people should not be voting for any future president whose constitutional qualifications are in any way in doubt.
Lawrence K. Marsh
Abortion causes psychological harm
Another published study, this time from Norway, indicates that women who have abortions are likely to suffer psychological trauma, including depression. The finding follows other professional studies done in New Zealand (2006), England (2008), South Africa (2008), Finland (1996), the United States (2002 and 2006 re teens) and Australia (2007) showing that women are injured when they kill their babies.
In addition, individuals such as UCLA psychiatrist Miriam Grossman have urged that women be told of the psychological risks of abortion.
The American Psychological Association, which for decades has denied a link between abortion and psychological trauma, is scheduled to issue yet another report by a generally pro-abortion panel. It will be interesting to see if they agree with the evidence that abortion harms women.
Silent No More
Awareness Campaign
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