Looking out after our own interests

To the editor:

At two recent events, the companies who are in the Commonwealth to explore and drill for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale complained that the permitting process, regulations and fees will deprive Pennsylvania and it’s residents of revenue. They are badgering the general assembly and Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) into fast-tracking their applications.

Let’s be clear: these companies are not interested in the residents of the Commonwealth, they are interested only in the bottom line, increasing their wealth. Pennsylvania and the industry are unprepared to take advantage of the Marcellus play and protect the environment. DEP does not have sufficient personnel to handle the monitoring and inspection process necessary to keep these companies in compliance. We have already seen at least one company draw water from streams without permission, essentially stealing Commonwealth assets. Another company spilled gallons of diesel fuel in a wetland. Private wells in Susquehanna County have experienced problems. There is no local facility to process the millions of gallons of water contaminated with benzene and other “proprietary” carcinogenic toxins employed in the drilling process. It was reported at the Senate Majority Policy Committee hearing on the College Misericordia campus that there is a company working on chemically treating and recycling this wastewater. Until such a time that this process can be undertaken in an environmentally benign manner, there should be no permits issued. Pennsylvania needs to enact an extraction fee to fund more inspectors and proactive environmental protection. DEP, the Susquehanna and Delaware River Basin Commissions, the general assembly and Governor Rendell as well as the inhabitants of the Commonwealth have the final authority here. These outside entities with their bullying, intimidation and threats need to be reminded that water is a most precious resource. We can live without natural gas, but we cannot live without clean water. Wind, solar and geothermal technologies can meet our needs, including jobs, without compromising our environment and should be implemented to the fullest extent possible.

Stimulate the housing market

To the editor:

With our nation in the midst of its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, Congress must be willing to take bold and decisive action to spur a housing and economic recovery. Unless we are able to halt the slide in home prices, the nation’s housing and economic woes will continue to grow even worse. This is why a robust housing component must be an integral part of the new economic stimulus package under consideration by the incoming Obama administration and new Congress.

A failure to stem the decline in home values and jump-start home sales will result in more foreclosures, more problems with troubled mortgage assets and an increasing inventory (already at record levels), which in turn will drag down property values even more.

In order to break out of this downward spiral, we need to get skittish homebuyers back into the market. To stimulate demand, Congress should enact a meaningful tax credit between $10,000 and $22,000 available to all qualified home buyers, coupled with an aggressive interest rate buy-down program to as low as 2.99 percent for those who purchase a home in 2009.

These measures will stabilize home prices, prevent future foreclosures, restore consumer confidence and start creating jobs. Congress enacted similar policies during an economic downturn in the mid-1970s. It worked then. And it can work again.

Say it with shoes

To the editor:

Muntadar al-Zaidi, that Iraqi journalist who chucked his shoes at George W. Bush, has made my life ever so much easier. For quite some time I’ve been considering what would be the most fitting send-off gesture for Bush and his cronies; now we have the perfect symbol.

Shoes, of course.

Let those of us who wish to display our disdain for the Bush Regime and its disastrous reign, and our delight at their departure, do so by sending some shoes—say, several million pairs—to the White House between now and Inauguration Day. (After Inauguration Day, we could send them to the site of the proposed Bush Library at Southern Methodist University.) We could also display pairs of shoes outside our home, in our cars, or wherever.

The shoe symbol is appropriate for many reasons besides the Arab insult. This regime has been noteworthy for, among other things, its lack of empathy. (Just ask the folks in New Orleans.) So the shoes can also represent the degree to which the Bushies lacked the ability or the willingness to, as the saying goes, “walk a mile in someone else’s shoes.” There is also the echo of the “Eyes Wide Open” display assembled by the American Friends Service Committee ( afsc.org/eyes ), which symbolized American casualties in Iraq with empty pairs of military boots.

And of course they also represent what we want the Bushies to do next—namely “Just take a hike.”

Peace on earth

To the editor:

I was disturbed to hear on the radio very recently from a general making it sound like it is a done deal to move lots of troops and helicopters into Afghanistan soon. Violence has proved over and again historically not to work. Violence begets violence. It never ends. As General Eisenhower said, “Once the killing begins it goes deeper and deeper.” It feeds upon itself.

Nonviolence and negotiation often work personally and with nations. Violence in Afghanistan will not make us safer in America or in our colonies of diplomats and troops abroad. Let’s bring all the troops and their support people home from Iraq and Afghanistan by summer. This will be our Christmas gift to the world—our New Year’s resolution.

My neighbors and Mr. Obama: If we wish to address our dire economic problems, climate change, depletion of oil and our vulnerable need for it, let’s use the money not spent on our troops at home for constructive, humane uses in our country. Will you support me on this? If you do, please go to the Obama website and tell him to find another way to protect us rather than having our troops wreaking havoc in the Middle East. Mr. Obama says he wants to hear from us. Let’s let him know loud and clear.

Christmas season is the time to celebrate peace, to celebrate the birth of the “Prince of Peace” who modeled love and peace and urged us to love our enemies (radical, eh?, possible, yes), to treat everyone as you would have them treat us. Can you feel the warm-heartedness and goodwill that arises in and around us as Christmas approaches? Would you be willing to act on those feelings in your own way to end the wars in the Middle East? Thank you for your love and caring.

As Tiny Tim said in The Christmas Carol, “God bless us everyone.”

Let there be peace in this joyous season and throughout 2009 and let it begin with me.

Let the music play

To the editor:

I am writing on behalf of the teachers’ council of our Moscow Musical College.

For more than 15 years we have been providing music training for children from five to 14 years of age. Unfortunately, because of the poor economic situation that has prevailed for a long time in Russia, we have received only minimal support from the Moscow government’s federal budget.

I would like to explain that we do not collect any tuition fees from the students at our college, otherwise the majority of parents would not be able to afford their children’s tuition. Consequently, it is becoming increasingly difficult to continue with this very worthwhile enterprise. Furthermore, when it comes to the matter of teaching materials, the situation is little short of catastrophic, particularly with regard to sound materials.

We would be extremely grateful if you could send us any recordings of music on CDs, DVDs or LPs, even if their boxes are damaged. Send to Moscow Musical College, 39-5-25, 3-Barkovaya Street, 105037, Moscow Russian Federation. Call 7-985-366-6917 or visit www.musicalcollege.narod.ru for more information.

Your help is necessary for us.

Yours faithfully and hoping for your help,