Letters To The Editor

America Shouldn't Tilt at Windmills
Editor, Times-Dispatch: The Obama administration has been saying a great deal about how it intends to create millions of high-paying "green" jobs. Before we pursue this path, we should look at Spain, which has plunged into alternative energy (solar panels, windmills) in a major way, and has become the poster child of those pushing the green agenda.

A study by Gabriel Calzada, an economics professor at a Spanish university, has concluded that for every green job created, 2.2 jobs have been lost in other sectors of the economy. Furthermore, the great majority of those green jobs are temporary. In addition, the pursuit of this green technology has required an enormous amount of capital, which could have been applied to more productive areas of the economy.

Spain's unemployment rate currently is 17 percent. Its economic policy is hardly an example for us to follow.

William J. Nelms.
Richmond.

We live on a sphere called the Earth, which is surrounded by an atmosphere. The sphere rotates daily, being exposed to a conglomeration of good and bad gases. In addition, its rotational axis changes from winter to summer, thereby changing its proximity to the sun, resulting in cooler and warmer temperatures. Now, are we talking about the temperature of the Earth changing, or are we referring to atmospheric temperatures changing?

My research has yet to divulge that carbon dioxide is a cause for global warming. The recent rains have scrubbed the atmosphere, the same as scrubbers at the discharge points of large steam generators. Nature's rain carries the carbon directly into the earth, where it does the most good. How do environmentalists measure carbon dioxide? If they know, they should tell the world. J.M. Girone. Bon Air.

Abortion Debaters Must Find Common Ground
Editor, Times-Dispatch: The women's health community has lost one of its most compassionate, giving providers. Dr. George Tiller was an abortion provider in Kansas and one of the few doctors in the country women could turn to for late-term abortions. There is a misconception that late-term abortions are provided for any reason and with little thought. The truth is that often the women who sought Tiller's help wanted nothing more than to have a child but couldn't due to life-threatening health complications or severe fetal abnormalities. When these difficult medical circumstances arose, Tiller cared for women with compassion and love.

While the media have framed Tiller's death as an isolated incident of violence, it is imperative to step back and look at the bigger picture. Thousands of people across the country work in reproductive health care and are screamed at on their way to work, sent hate mail, followed home, vandalized, and generally made to live in fear on a daily basis. Tiller's shooting may be the extreme, but living in fear for providing health care is the norm. Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) laws must be enforced, threats and stalking must be taken seriously by law enforcement and anti-choice organizations, and providers must be afforded the same safety and respect as other professionals.

We have an opportunity to turn Tiller's murder into a teachable moment for both proand anti-choice organizations. We can either continue the cycle of violence that has been established, or we can work to eradicate the root of the problem that results in abortion: unintended pregnancy. Until we find common ground on the issue of abortion, more providers and staff will fear for their lives. Courtney Jones, Manager of Grassroots Organizing, Virginia League for Planned Parenthood.


Richmond.

Sidewalks Aren't Just For the Affluent Areas
Editor, Times-Dispatch: The lone, elderly woman in a wheelchair had a leg in a cast, but still doggedly pushed herself along Starling Drive, behind Regency Square Mall in western Henrico. She's not the first person we've noticed who could have used a simple public service -- sidewalks -- to move about our neighborhood. Plenty of young people and older workers alike either can't afford a car, or perhaps they're just taking their own steps to help the environment, even at the risk of getting run over.

Our question to our local supervisor, David Kaechele, and other members of the Henrico Board of Supervisors: Even as they spend millions of dollars on sidewalks around Twin Hickory and other affluent areas of the county -- and allow rampant, pedestrian-unfriendly growth around Short Pump -- could they please consider building a few sidewalks around Regency and more working-class neighborhoods?

We're sure the lady in the wheelchair would appreciate it -- and we would, too.

Mary and Deborah Jones.
Henrico.