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Letters: July 1, 2008
McCain’s energy plan should be mothballed Sen. John McCain pretends to be serious about climate change, but his policy agenda exposes a business-as-usual approach that rewards big polluters. Neither nuclear energy — nor the oxymoron known as “clean coal” — has any role to play in addressing the oil crisis. Yet McCain’s energy plan is to build 45 new nuclear reactors, make “clean coal” a reality and drill for offshore oil. McCain’s nuclear hallucination is a financial fantasy. Even the utilities estimate the cost of a single reactor at upward of $12 billion. Who will pay for this? Moody’s declares that industry stock will plummet the minute reactor construction begins, leaving the American taxpayer holding the bag. Furthermore, it takes an estimated 7 to 10 years to bring one reactor online, too slow to address climate change meaningfully — even if nuclear energy was not dangerous, expensive and an emitter of radioactivity. Construction on the new Finnish reactor is already two years behind schedule. McCain’s fixation with nuclear, coal and now offshore drilling undermines any remaining credibility he might have as a champion of climate change mitigation. Tired old 20th-century thinking like McCain’s should be mothballed along with fossil- and fissile-fueled power plants. Co-founder, Beyond Nuclear Ditch windmills, keep view Views surrounding historic battlefields should be protected. It would be shameful to destroy part of our 200-year heritage for the sake of building another symbol of our overconsumption, and it would be equally criminal to destroy the natural beauty of our natural heritage. We Virginians take pride in our beautiful mountain ranges, from the Jefferson National Forest to the Shenandoah National Park and George Washington National Forest. Proposals to erect windmills along the ridges of some of our most beautiful mountaintops would ruin what we visit these areas for. Who wants to hike the Appalachian Trail if every view presents these symbols of our nation’s desperation to squeak out a few more megawatts of power for our plasma TVs and air conditioning? ICE’s excuse for not holding up immigration laws is lame Re: “U.S. immigration officials reject Loudoun’s proposed crackdown,” June 18 Federal immigration officials refused Loudoun County’s bid to check the immigration status of jail inmates, citing concerns about limited bed space and strained capacity to remove illegal immigrants. Imagine a local prosecutor or judge letting rapists and muggers run loose because there isn’t enough jail space and local police officers are already too busy. Judges routinely allow jail overcrowding instead. The Bureau of Immigration and Customs “Enforcement’s” lame excuses prove that the Bush administration is not serious about immigration enforcement. Obama doesn’t keep his word Re: “Obama doesn’t emulate Examiner’s foolish consistency,” From Readers, June 27 Craig Taylor insists that Barack Obama is acting appropriately when he goes back on his word to avail himself of the much larger campaign chest he can raise privately, rather than depending on $85 million in public funds. If this is not a character flaw, then our political system has been corrupted by greed. Perhaps Obama should change his campaign slogan to “Good guys finish last.” Campaign promises should have some meaning. Reneging on one prior to the election should be a warning to the electorate of what will occur if Sen. Obama is elected president. Bank gets a break, but D.C. residents don’t Interim D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles has taken the old law that holds all banks liable for wrongly cashing checks “off the table.” Why is Nickles giving Bank of America a break? Remember this injustice when you’re mailing off your check to pay for a parking ticket! Washington |
