Things are a bit more complicated

To the editor:

I enjoyed your extended riff on Woodstock, from the Reign of Terror to Obamacare, but you oversimplified. Your description of the Establishment pole of ’60s society is a caricature, and the counterculture was not pure. Things were more complicated than good hippies versus bad military-industrial fascists.

Those establishment politicians in Washington who gave us the Vietnam War also gave us Medicare, Medicaid, two civil rights and one voting rights act and the War on Poverty. The young weren’t the main lobby for peace; support for the war was lowest among older Americans. The professional military was largely against the war; it was planned by young and liberal “best and the brightest.” Hippies weren’t getting jailed, clubbed and gassed in the South marching for civil rights; the front lines were from conservative Southern churches or traditional Northern social activists. And the counterculture was mostly hostile to rights for women and homosexuals. For all the protests, 98 percent of draft-eligible Americans complied fully with the law, a far higher rate than people who pay their income tax honestly or fulfill other civic obligations.

Where I really lost you was healthcare. Calling people who disagree with the administration proposal a “mob” that is “shutting down dialog,” and asserting they are “engineered and overseen” by outside interests sounds exactly like the ’60s establishment blaming “outside agitators” and “communists” for university Vietnam protests. The counterculture thrived on disagreement; it didn’t insist everyone speak with one voice.

Let’s celebrate Woodstock for what it was, a shining moment for the counterculture that impressed even the establishment. Everyone, even an unreconstructed military-industrialist, would love to have been a hippie at Woodstock. Concentrate on the stuff that brings us all together, so we can argue about the rest of the stuff in a civil manner.

Take out the good stuff and leave a mess behind

To the editor:

Barbara Yeaman, founder of the Delaware Highlands Conservancy, wrote in last week’s River Reporter of her concern about water withdrawals requested by Chesapeake Appalachia for fracking purposes, very probably further endangering this precious, protected watershed. Yeaman also observes that the polarization of our community as a result of the natural gas drilling controversy “breaks my heart.”

Many assume that those who counter the proposed drilling are, for the large part, weekenders and not longtime residents with vested interests and generations of heritage threatened by poor farm subsidies and burgeoning real estate values. That is not the case: many of us “weekenders” have been here for almost a generation, or more, and support this community with a deep sense of commitment and purpose. We support its farmers, its artisan cheese makers, community-supported agriculture initiatives, farmers’ markets, higher milk prices and anything that might help sustain this paradise of a river valley intact for our children’s and children’s children’s generations.

Chesapeake Appalachia and other drilling companies are not local. Rather, I cite this passage in Barbara Kingsolver’s 1997 book, “Animal, Vegetable, Mineral:”

“When urban-headquartered companies come to the country with a big plan—whether their game is coal, timber, or industrial agriculture—the plan is to take out the good stuff, ship it to the population centers, make a fortune, and leave behind a mess.”

I fear that the current “game” is drilling for natural gas. That it will leave behind a mess is all but certain. Is there no other way to bind together to provide economic security to our longtime residents?

Mary Sue Price
Milanville, PA

More to the town hall meeting than was reported

To the editor:

I was pleased to see that the The River Reporter covered the recent local town hall meeting that was part of our national debate on health care reform. However, as one who participated in the event, I was also disappointed by the rather shallow and inaccurate treatment given by your reporter.

For example, the article stated that “a show of hands indicated that about two thirds of the attendees were against Obama’s position.” In fact, there was no show of hands about anything. When one questioner asked those who support some sort of health care reform to stand up, about 60 percent of those in attendance stood up. The article also indicated that “there were no speakers who supported health care reforms.” Perhaps the reporter was not present when the first speaker, a Honesdale businessman, came face-to-face with Rep. Carney and told him that something needed to be done to fix our health care system. And maybe he missed it when another speaker said he would gladly agree to changes that would give other citizens the same health benefits that Rep. Carney receives. And what about the veteran who came forward to seek the Congressman’s assurances that veterans would continue to be taken care of?

The report also failed to inform readers that other topics besides health care were covered, including a rather lengthy exchange between Rep. Carney and a constituent on the issue of gas drilling, in which the Congressman displayed an impressive grasp of the details surrounding this debate. In addition, another speaker railed against the ACLU for “taking our rights away” by not allowing participants to publicly pray before the town hall started.

While I understand that newspapers cannot possibly print the myriad details of events such as the town hall meeting, I would hope that in the future The River Reporter would strive for greater accuracy in the articles that it does print.

We’re the boss

To the editor:

It’s very typical of the political left and our pro left wing today media to demagogue and attack the freedom-loving patriots against tremendously huge and overreaching government who are attending the town hall meetings. We’ve been called terrible things, and accused of even worse things by our very own elected officials. Just go and look at the quotes from Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer and Arlen Specter.

How dare they talk to us that way? They work for us. All of us. I am Congressman Carney’s boss. He is my employee. If I choose to shout down my employee who isn’t talking straight to me, I will shout him down. These town hall meetings, of which Congressmen all over the country are afraid, are quite calm compared to the outrageous tactics that the radical left uses to stifle conservative speech at colleges across the country. Look it up, you’ll see.

I am against the socialist takeover of our republic. The unsustainable spending started under President Bush has to stop. How can we afford it all? Those politicians are out-and-out lying to us. Everybody knows that our government never does anything well, or better than private citizens and the free market, but some can’t wait for the politicians to control their health.

I’m all for fixing what needs to be fixed. But this attempt to ram this down our throats is wrong. And what about the Constitution? Those who screamed the loudest when they thought President Bush was shredding the Constitution are now the most silent now. There is no Constitutional authority for these bailouts, private industry takeovers and the 45 or so czars.

Please people, wake up and stand for your freedom! This is not a Democrat versus Republican issue. Those days are over. It’s about saving the Republic!

Getting a leg up on the SATs

To the editor:

In a parody of America’s obsession with collegiate sports, The Onion ( www.theonion.com ) a couple of years ago ran a headline that read: “Florida State to Phase Out All Academic Programs.” And as I write, the University of Louisville has been severely sanctioned by the NCAA and is being made to refund all money it received when it finished second in the 2009 collegiate basketball tournament.

I bring this up because for about the last month, those of us who drive past Delaware Valley High School (DV) have seen sports teams out on the lawns getting in shape for the coming season—getting a leg up, as it were, a jump on the competition. Having taught SAT prep for a number of decades, I thought about how much it would help Delaware Valley students, who will be facing that test in about six weeks, to have 12 or 16 prep sessions during the summer, just as the athletes are getting. A couple of hundred points on a test that determines the course of their lives might be the difference between attending Podunk and Princeton. Or, more realistically, in DV terms, between Penn State Altoona and the main campus.

And wouldn’t the 125 students who failed to reach “satisfactory” on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment verbals last year benefit greatly by remedial coaching during the summer, as the athletes do?

Probably some people among us think The Onion headline is a good idea. We have our priorities. As for me, I’d like to see our kids get a better education so they can go to better colleges and have a better life.