Letters to the Editor Policy

A Nation Of Sheep

I recently had a conversation with a patriotic American. We lamented over the state of the Union. Our economy is in a shambles. Forty cents of every dollar services our debt. The Federal Reserve Bank, which is neither Federal, a reserve, or a bank, creates trillions of dollars backed by nothing other than “the full faith and credit of the U.S. Government.” Do you have faith that this will continue without a financial collapse?

Our present administration has completely stifled U.S. energy production through executive orders and the EPA, yet will invest billions in foreign oil companies. Large and small businesses are barely surviving or closing their doors.

Liberal judges reject the mandates of voters with one bang of the gavel. Two Federal judges ruled Obamacare unconstitutional yet it is being constructed as I write. The U.S. Attorney General won’t prosecute voter intimidation because the perpetrators are “my people,” yet will sue a school district to force them to allow a newly hired Muslim teacher, (nine months on the job), to go on a three week pilgrimage to Mecca during the school year.

Our borders are so porous and our entitlements so generous that the “have nots” are becoming the “haves.” Why obey the law when one is rewarded for breaking it?

Wednesday is party night. Friday is date night. Tuesday and Thursday are reserved for the unions, lobbyists, cronies and the czars. Saturday and Sunday are set aside for golf and basketball. The president’s visit to Brazil left him no time to consult Congress or the American people about his decision to waste our blood and treasure in Libya. Are you comfortable with American troops under NATO command? Find that in the Constitution.

One trillion and counting with no result, the “Summer of Recovery,” “Saved or Created Jobs,” solar power, windmills, electric cars, bullet trains - all shovel ready. We know what’s being shoveled and it’s none of the above.

America’s enemies are appeased and its allies betrayed. NASA’s new mission is to provide “outreach” to the Muslim world. We are no longer a Judeo-Christian society. Political correctness is a rationale for excusing murder. Terrorism is a “man made disaster.” If you disagree with our president or the administration’s policies, then you are labeled a racist. Every day our liberty is diminished.

America is broke. We are almost $15 trillion in debt and that excludes over $130 trillion in unfunded liabilities for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Every American presently owes $80,000 toward the national debt. Harry Reid calls de-funding of the Cowboy Poetry Festival unacceptable.

These are just a few examples of the Progressive cancers corroding our Republic. Every American who loves their country and wants to restore it to greatness must stand up, man up and speak out. We must contact our representatives at the federal, state and local level and hold them accountable. The great Edward R. Murrow said “A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves.” Beware, the wolves are at the door.

Sincerely,

Bruce S. Paskoff

Montrose, PA

Just Giving Credit

I am writing this letter to give credit where credit is due. On March 3 my son (Matthew) and I went to Smugglers Notch Resort by Jeffersonville, Vermont with the Mountain View ski club. The weather was good until the last day, Sunday, March 6, as it started with heavy rain and turned to heavy snow.

Our bus arrived at about 1:00 p.m. and we hurried to pack up and leave for the trip home around 2:15 p.m. The weather became worse and it made our trip home a lot longer for safety reasons. The bus entered the Binghamton area around 1:00 a.m. Due to the conditions and a motor vehicle accident, Rt. 11 was closed by the Gibson exit. We detoured to Rt. 11 in Hallstead and our luck would change as there were PennDOT plow trucks by Simmons-Rockwell. We followed the plow trucks south on Rt. 11 to Kingsley only to find Rt. 106 had not been plowed yet. The drivers we followed were supposed to turn around in Kingsley and go back to Hallstead.

The PennDOT drivers did contact their supervisor and then went out of their area to plow a path up Rt. 106 and into the Mountain View High School’s parking lot to waiting parents at 4:35 a.m. on March 7, where we were able to unload the bus and go to our homes. If those drivers did not go the extra distance for us, we would have been stranded on the bus until later that day. Thanks again.

Sincerely,

Joseph Cowan

Brooklyn, PA

Let’s Work Together

Now that spring is finally here, the Thompson Township Board of Supervisors would like to remind everyone using the dirt roads, especially heavy haulers, to please be careful and drive with caution. Many roads develop soft spots, which can become deep ruts. In these hard times, dollars should not be wasted making unnecessary road repairs. By working together, we can keep our roads in good condition.

Sincerely,

Thompson Township

Carolyn Jennings, Secretary

Interests And Values

On Tuesday, March 28, President Obama informed us that we attacked Libya because our “interests and values” were at risk. He went on to spin how the U.S. was saving all those Libyans from being slaughtered. No matter that he gave short shrift to the Constitution which he swore to protect and defend. I guess that doesn’t include abiding by it. No matter that our Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, even stated that “Libya poses no actual or imminent threat to the United States.” We were also informed that Obama had “conferred” with the leaders of the House of Representatives. I’m sorry folks, but the Constitution states that only the House of Representatives is authorized to declare war. Of course, we were also informed that we did not really attack Libya; we were merely deploying “Kinetic Military Assets.” If launching some hundred and forty Tomahawk missiles into a foreign country is not waging war, then I don’t know what war is.

If this were not so deadly serious, it would be hilarious. It is deadly serious though. The Obama Administration is redefining just about every unconstitutional action they take into platitudes so not to alarm the American people. Well, I’m telling you folks, I am alarmed! We are not longer a nation governed by the provisions of the United States Constitution. We are in the clutches of political forces which are rapidly succeeding in transforming our country into something far different than what we bargained for. We have morphed into a dictatorship. Say it - “dictatorship.” Like it? Sort of like “President” Chavez.

Sincerely,

Joe McCann

Elk Lake, PA

Media Myths Vs. Radiation Realities

Radiation? Not to worry. The chief government spokesman for the Fukushima wrecked nuclear reactors in Japan said, “even if you eat and drink them [the contaminated vegetables and milk] several times it will not be a health hazard.”

What about radioactive cesium and cesium which were respectively 25 and 17 times higher than the presumed safety limits in the Fukushima area? Nothing to be concerned about, claimed the authorities. And the seawater used to cool the nuclear reactors? It's “safe even if you drank [this] seawater for a year,” said a spokesman.

Famed columnist, Ann Coulter, went the Japanese pollyannas one better. “Radiation is good for you,” she exclaimed in a column titled, A Glowing Report On Radiation. “Amazingly, even the Soviet-engineered disaster at Chernobyl in 1986 can be directly blamed for the deaths of no more than 31 people inside the plant who died in the explosion,” she wrote.

Before examining these calming claims, it's necessary to understand exactly what nuclear radiation is.

There are many types of radiation. Light, for example, is radiation as are radio and TV waves. All harmless. But there is another type, ionizing radiation (IR) that is anything but benign. This radiation packs enough power to penetrate the body and damage or kill cells.

Imagine being exposed to IR from any source - background radiation, medical X-rays, or now the full-body scanners at airports - as being pelted with a shotgun blast of subatomic particles. Some bounce harmlessly off your clothes, others crash into cells wounding or killing them. Still more slam into the nuclei of cells and disarrange the DNA causing mutated reproductions (view YouTube/Chernobyl decay and deformed).

Fortunately, the body has marvelous defenses against these assaults, otherwise we would have perished long ago. But these defenses, as effective as they are, are never 100 percent effective. Some irreparable harm is always done.

There is no safe or acceptable limit to IR, according to Professor John Gofman, Ph.D and M.D., and author of five books about IR, including Radiation-Induced Cancer From Low-Level Exposure. All IR is to some degree traumatic.

IR is dose dependent: A shorter exposure is less harmful than a longer one. If, however, a radioactive particle is ingested, the effect can be serious. In this case, the radioactive source comes into direct contact with the delicate mucosa lining the digestive system. Inhaling a hot particle is worse since it can become permanently lodged in the lungs.

Contrary to the Japanese spokesman, eating or drinking anything radioactive has the potential of jeopardizing one's health.

Concerning Coulter’s comment about the “no more than 31 people,” who died immediately after the Chernobyl explosion, she's correct - after a fashion.

But days, weeks, months, and years later, people continued to die from radiation poisoning.

What is the Chernobyl death toll? The tallies differ widely depending on the area and duration of the study: The Belarus National Academy of Sciences, 93,000; The Russian Academy of Sciences, 200,000; The Ukrainian National Commission for Radiation Protection, 500,000; and The New York Academy of Sciences, one million fatalities worldwide.

Recently, a slight increase in background radiation was noted in Oregon and Massachusetts. This was expected as the prevailing winds blow east from Japan. Also expected was the it-poses-no-health-threat comment from officials.

However, Dr. David DeSante is not so sanguine. He discovered a drastic drop in bird populations that coincided exactly with a radioactive plume that wafted over California from Chernobyl. The deaths occurred only in areas where rain washed radioactive iodine from the plume onto the land where the birds foraged.

There is scant research into Chernobyl's effect on U.S. morbidity and mortality. However, one study by the Radiation and Public Health Project found that a few years after the Siberian meltdown, thyroid cancer in Connecticut children - 9,000 miles from Chernobyl - had nearly doubled. Thyroid cancer is strongly linked to radioactive iodine.

Tragically, the public is as likely to view a TV expose about the Fukushima health menace as it is to see Hillary in a little black thing. That doesn't make it less real.

“Something wicked this way comes.” How wicked we shall never know. It will take decades for an epidemiological study to reveal how many people in the U.S. died before their time, that is, if such a study is ever done.

Sincerely,

Bob Scroggins

New Milford, PA

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