Letters To The editor
Biomass Conversion Could Help the Bay
Editor, Times-Dispatch: The story of the Chesapeake Bay is a story of stormwater. When it rains, everything washes into the watershed. In the rural areas, we have over-fertilized farmlands dumping manure and nitrates into the rivers and estuaries. In the cities, we have toxins running off from impervious surfaces -- such as asphalt, cement, and masonry -- and ending up in the Bay. In both instances, we denude the land near the water, clearing the trees, plants, and native grasses that hold the soil in place -- causing stream bank erosion and sediment to fill in the rivers and creeks. Old Dominion Electrical Cooperative's Cypress Creek plan is just another contributor. It all, always, comes down to stormwater.
What if there was a renewable energy source that could both eliminate the need for the Surry plant and benefit the watershed? There is. It's called biomass energy. And to get such an industry off the ground would require the planting of native grasses as a new fuel crop, the profitable collection of animal waste (such as poultry litter and cow manure), and the removal of safely combustible biomass from traditional waste streams, all to become fuel for power generation.
Converting to biomass energy provides multiple ways to improve Bay quality. The technology is current and available. The power generation, if configured for combined heat and power -- which makes use of the thermal energy, not just the electricity -- would be three times more fuel-efficient than coal. And Virginia, as a whole, is loaded with a variety of biomass resources. Two of our biggest industries are agriculture and forestry.
Why is the public (the media included) not talking about this as a viable component in both our Chesapeake Bay clean-up and renewable energy strategies? Tatyanna Patten, Public Policy Virginia.
Charlottesville.
Americans Need Health Care Reform
Editor, Times-Dispatch: There are so many reasons that America needs health care reform. Perhaps the most poignant of all is the rising costs that directly affect our economy. Small businesses are having a hard time keeping up with escalating premiums while trying to provide health coverage for employees. Many simply cannot afford to provide insurance. How is a small business supposed to compete for quality staff when large companies can pool their resources and provide insurance?
Many families and individuals are one illness or accident from financial ruin. Our country is strongest when we have a robust middle class. Our current health care system is not affordable for middle-class families. Not only are Americans struggling from rising health care costs, the economy is as well.
Any reform must include provisions to help families, individuals, and small businesses with soaring health care costs. The Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) committee recently passed a bill that would greatly improve the ability of Americans to pay for their health care. The bill establishes tax credits that help make insurance coverage affordable for average Americans. This would help families, individuals, and small businesses pay the monthly costs of having insurance coverage. The HELP bill also puts reasonable limitations on yearly out-of-pocket expenses, protecting families and individuals from financial ruin due to illness or injury.
We need these reforms to bring this economy back, to protect Americans from financial ruin, and to make insurance affordable for Americans and small businesses. I urge Sen. Mark Warner to support the HELP bill. Middle class Americans need someone in their corner -- I hope Warner is that person.
Michael Sellers.
Richmond.
Health Care Bill Must Protect Unborn
Editor, Times-Dispatch: Congress is still considering the health reform issue. No matter what your position is on the broad issue of reform, it seems obvious that the bill should help protect the innocent and the helpless. And that will require language that forbids the government from covering abortions or paying for them.
Unfortunately several amendments that would accomplish this goal have been defeated, and President Barack Obama has even deceptively said that when it comes to abortion funding, "nothing will change under reform." The truth is much different. Without specific language in the bill, a government panel could decide that federally approved benefit plans must cover abortion, and that our tax dollars must be used to provide them.
You don't have to be pro-life, as I am, to be aghast at the thought that this bill would make abortions much easier to obtain and pay for them with our tax dollars. Please contact your representatives and senators and ask them to vote only for a health reform bill that would stop the abortion mandate.
Justin Key.
Richmond.
Reader Reactions
“Now we know and most would have never voted for a move towards Marxism had they known.“ -Dr.Hoagie
Lenin defines Marxism as encompassing historical and dialectical materialism, socialist economic policy, and Communist class struggle.
Dr. Hoagie describes Marxism as being near Keynesian economic policy, docile free-market interventionism, experienced currently and previously for roughly 80 years in America.
All government actions are Marxist by virtue of being government actions? Beyond the self-governed black market and the lawless regions of the globe, a person would be hard pressed to find one economy that wasn’t “Marxist” per relevant governance at some level.
Is war Marxist? And the paid and professional government soldiers? If I asked Mikhail Gorbachev, he would invariably say that this country is now Marxist or otherwise undeniably heading in that direction?
“Marxism” in our midst. I’m sure it’s everywhere, Mandrake.
Perhaps the most poignant of all is the rising costs that directly affect our economy.
The individual mandate in the pending legislation will ensure that costs are not reined in. What you’re advocating is cost-shifting.
I realize honesty in policy debates is at a premium but if the goal of reduced costs obviously conflict with the legislation, that needs to be reconciled with the rhetoric. I won’t hold my breath.
Some seem not to have gotten the October, 2009 NBC/Wall Street Journal polling results, among which results of a question asked, “Is it important to give people a choice of a public option?” Results: “A combined 72% answered that it was either ‘extremely important’ or ‘quite important,‘ while just 23% said it was ‘not that important’ or ‘not at all important.‘“ Likely some, if not most, of the 23% who don’t think (no pun intended) it is not important to have the freedom of choice, would rather avoid such poll results.
Those among noted 23% of American likely are among the same percent # (23%) who approve the way Republicans in Congress are handling the issue of health care reform. Only 23% approve of “NO”. As to preference of outcome of 2010 mid-term elections as to which party Americans would prefer controlling Congress, 38% prefer Republican control, while 46% prefer Democrat control.
Appears Republican Party is shrinking. Even Sister Sarah Palin has joined Rush Limbaugh in supporting the Conservative Party in upstate New York, sucking voters away from the GOP.
As if noted 23% is low, there is even a lower #, being the 22% of Americans who identify themselves as Republicans, per latest CBS News polling. 22%. Oh my God. Say it ain’t so. Still, some keep saying “NO”. There really is a cliff right in front. Some think after Dem gains in 2006 and 2008, surely GOP will regain some seats in 2010. The way they are tracking, more losses there may be, as more sheep run off the cliff, screaming “NO!”
Some seemed not have gotten the memo that a majority who voted for one candidate over another last November are now bailing on that victor.
Keep forging along alone young man. That really isn’t a cliff right in front of you.
Some doctor of know-it-all: “Most have no idea what “reform” means, they just blindly echo the term.“
As to affordable health care delivery for all Americans, appears most do have an idea of what such “reform” means, as even with all the smoke and mirrors from insurer lobbyist propaganda, including their purchases of members of Congress, the majority of GOP and even some timid Dems, majority of Americans want the freedom of a non-public insurance option, along with 75% of physicians and majority of reputable associations of such physicians.
Slice it, dice it, lie it. Facts are facts.
Another fact: Less than half of American’s small businesses now offer employee health insurance, and the percentage that do is decreasing, surely to continue so come Jan 1, 2010 with new higher double-digit premium increases; increases before any decided reform plan is announced by Congress.
Status quo is not an option. Majority of us voted in Nov 08 for reform NOW. Will shall see if we truly still have a majority-rule style of a republic.
Many voted for “change” last year having no idea what “change” meant. Now we know and most would have never voted for a move towards Marxism had they known.
The new term de jour for the mind-numbed is “reform”. Most have no idea what “reform” means, they just blindly echo the term.
The newest analysis emerging regarding Democrat socialized medicine is showing small business will be the BIGGEST LOSERS with any of the plans floating out there.
Nancy Pelosi’s bill show a dizzying barrage of new regulations on employers, and will force them to either provide government-specified health insurance or pay a penalty of up to 8 percent of their payroll.
For example, the bill requires employers to pay at least 72.5 percent of insurance premiums for an individual and 65 percent for families. Data from a 2009 Kaiser Family Foundation survey suggest that at least 30 percent of firms with fewer than 200 employees that now offer insurance would fail the test for family coverage, and about 20 percent would fail for individual coverage.
In other words, small businesses would have to pay more for health insurance than they do now—as well as comply with hefty new record-keeping requirements and audits by federal agents.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that businesses will be hit with tax penalties totaling $135 billion over six years for noncompliance with the mandate. These would surely fall disproportionately on small businesses.
Post a Comment(Requires free registration)
- Please avoid offensive, vulgar, or hateful language.
- Respect others.
- Use the "Flag Comment" link when necessary.
- See the Terms and Conditions for details.
Advertisement