I have said all of this once before. It is worth saying again. Just stop buying anything made in China - if you can find anything.

One thing we have not touched on is the war movies from WW2, like the movie Defiance. If anyone has watched it, I am sure the beginning of it stuck in your head. If any of you have not watched it, I suggest you get it and do so.

The speculators on Wall Street and all around the world need to be made examples of, like the first few scenes in the movie. Publicly. The way our representatives or people who we elect need to be made examples of, until the rest of them get it!

As a human being it makes me sick to watch what happened to the people in the movie and I hope to God no speculator or congressman ever has to allow themselves be made an example like in the movie. The people in the movie had no idea why they were dying, but the rest of the people watching them die knew they were next. Yet they just continued to lie and smile about it.

The Wall Street rally and the rallies across the world need to seek out the speculators, hunt them down and convince them to stop the greed and to lower the margins and all the tricks that they are using, ruining the lives of most of the world’s peoples. Even if it takes them watching the movie Defiance, over and over until they get it.

Sincerely,

Peter A. Seman

Thompson, PA

Politics in this country has gone down the rabbit hole.

For over two years, we've put up with the frantic protests of the Taxed Enough crowd against a President who's actually cut taxes. And they call him a "socialist." Now we see the latest GOP frontrunner, a pizza man whose signature plan would sharply raise taxes on the poor and working class. Not a peep of protest.

Taxed enough? Apparently not. Are Tea Party types a bunch of phonies? Could it be that they care only for the welfare of our poor, oppressed rich? And while grovelling for the rich, gladly accepting a tax increase on themselves that they've been so frantically against?

Every time someone points out how the game is rigged against the Middle Class, there's a hue and cry - mostly from Middle Class stooges - about "Class Warfare." They embarrass me. Pointing out the truth is not Class Warfare. Rigging the game is. And the tax plan from the latest GOP frontrunner is naked Class Warfare. I'm waiting for the Tea Party to speak up about it, but I'm not optimistic. So I'll issue a response to this tax plan in the most appropriate language, German: "Nein! Nein! Nein!"

Sincerely,

Stephen Van Eck

Rushville, PA

I find it near impossible these days to turn on the TV news without seeing Barak Obama either stepping out of the million dollar Darth Vader bus or out of Air Force One on his way to the taxpayer purchased bus. Ostensibly, he is out, not on the campaign trail, but informing the public on his legislative efforts to create jobs. Somehow, I detect a whiff of campaigning, at public expense, in all the time he is spending on the road, saying what he is saying, instead of doing the job he was elected to do. Funny how the people who he is attempting to educate mostly fall in states which are normally red but supported him in 2008. Here again is the man who had complete control over our country and the economy for two years spending his time railing against the tea party Republicans who, thank God, were elected in 2010 to stop the runaway bus.

What completely baffles me is that there are still about a third of the voters who think he is doing a good job. I ask, a good job for who? Certainly if you are dependent on government largess, you are a “doing a good job” believer. A billion in stimulus favoring his constituency is doing for them a good job. If you are a Socialist or believe that form of government is superior, he is doing a good job.

But you must know that our free enterprise system is what vaulted our nation into worldwide preeminence, don’t you? The problems we face are not our system, they are the abuse of our system by the politicians of all stripes. We took our country’s biggest crap shoot in 2008 and see where it got us.

If you buy into Obama’s campaign rhetoric, you must have ancestors who bought into Goebbels’ propaganda in the 30’s. Take a look at where that got them. We need to sort through this garbage and find the diamond buried amidst it. People - think and look!! Time is running short!

Sincerely,

Joe McCann

Elk Lake, PA

Governor Corbett’s proposal for a Marcellus gas impact fee and protection for our water supplies has received a variety of reactions across the political spectrum. Overall the proposal seems to be based on legislative bills which are already on the table, such as HB 126, HB 1700 and HB 1800.

Comparing a few of the Governor’s ideas to HB 1800 demonstrates some striking numbers... Bonding for wells: Governor - maximum $10,000 vs. HB 1800, starting amount $12,500. Civil penalties for violations: Governor - maximum $50,000 plus $2,000 daily fines vs. HB 1800, maximum $100,000 plus $10,500 daily fines.

I fear that the Governor’s proposal for bonding and fines is “budget dust” to the gas industry. Bonding and fines should encourage drillers to do their best to comply with DEP regulations. We do not want to encourage anyone to take shortcuts with compliance because the penalties are minimal.

Protection for water supplies... Setbacks from private water wells: Corbett, 500 feet vs. HB 1800, 1,500 feet. Setbacks from public water supplies: Corbett, 1,000 feet vs. HB 1800, 2,500 feet.

The Governor took an oath to protect the Pennsylvania Constitution. That oath includes protecting citizens’ rights to clean air and water. Governor Corbett does not want his legacy to be “the one who opened the floodgates to pollution,” yet his proposal fails to protect the waters of the Commonwealth or the people affected by the industry.

Governor Corbett would do well to keep his oath of office in mind and continue protective measures such as the moratorium on future leasing of State Forest Land . The remaining 700,000 acres of DCNR forest lands include old growth areas, wetlands, wild areas, natural areas and other ecologically sensitive places and must be protected in order to ensure the ecological integrity, water quality and other environmental values of our forests.

New York State is taking a cautious approach in allowing unconventional gas drilling, choosing to “learn from Pennsylvania ’s mistakes.” It’s too late to correct our past errors, but the legislation enacted in the next 12 months will affect Pennsylvanians for the next few generations.

Taxpayers are still paying for the cleanup of water and land as a result of the coal industry. We can have the economic benefits of the gas industry without destroying the state if we get the regulations right. Contact your legislators and let them know.

Don’t let history repeat itself.

Electronic copies of documents mentioned above are available by writing to coalition-secretary@comcast.net.

Sincerely,

Lynn Senick

Montrose, PA

All men are created equal, endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights.

Among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

What a glorious declaration. Created, yes, created in God’s image and likeness, male and female. He created them. For this reason a man shall leave his mother, and a women her home, and the two become one flesh in the Spirit of God. The founding fathers of our nation acknowledged, before a candid world, that these eternal truths are self evident. We are God’s children. They claimed for us, in The Constitution of the United States, these truths as infallible law of God and His sovereign omnipotence as the essential character and foundation of American citizenship.

We have neglected our Constitutional obligations to God and the righteous implementation of justice to the governed.

God said to His one, holy and apostolic church, “I will be with you always, yes even till the end of time.” Jesus was asked, “What work must we be doing to enter the Kingdom of Heaven?” He said, “Live, and believe in every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

His commandment is “thou shall not kill.” Therefore if we tolerate, with out objection or at least resistance, abortion we are unwittingly accomplice to every abortion since Roe vs. Wade. We must remember that court decision that gave doctors permission to kill and remove children from their mother’s womb.

Children are an inheritance from the Lord. It is increasingly evident and better understood that abortion is the greatest destroyer of peace on Earth. It is a crime perpetually by our government leaders that cries out to God for justice. The tolerance of it is a mortal sin that only Confession and our hearts oblation placed in the Holy sacrifice of Mass the eternal justice of God the Father can forgive.

Let’s stop the abolition of man one conscience at a time and save your souls from this desolating sacrilege. Let’s promote life, liberty and the pursuit of eternal happiness, that little bit of Heaven on Earth that we knew when we were very young.

And, may the most sacred heart of Jesus have mercy on us. Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us. St. Joseph, pray for us.

Sincerely,

John Mann

Susquehanna, PA

...Here's what you signed away to receive a signing bonus and royalties. You can say sayonara to seven rights you traded away.

All quotes are from Cabot's oil and gas lease. A copy of this lease was sent to me by a resident of Springville. He and his neighbors deeply regret signing Cabot's lease. He hoped that something would be written that would discourage others from making the same mistake.

One could do no better than quote Cabot's lease.

1) Give Ol' Scratch his due. Right at the top of the lease the frackers told you what you were in for: the lessee is granted the right to “drilling, laying pipelines, storing oil, building roads, tanks, power stations, telephone lines... and things as necessary, useful or convenient to produce, save, treat, process, store and transport all gases.”

As long you don't mind turning your property in to a bustling industrial zone, you should be quite happy with the smell of diesel fumes in the morning, the sound of machinery throughout the day, and floodlights at night; plus lots more roads, plenty of truck traffic, and nonstop construction.

And, oh yes, the occasional spills, leaking wells, blowouts, and other accidents on your property.

2) Typically, the royalties are “1/8 of the amount realized from the sale of gas.” Sounds pretty good until you read on, “less all costs of gathering, transportation, compression, fuel, line loss and other post-production expenses incurred downstream of the wellhead.”

Couple that with rapid well depletion and declining royalties and the value lost to your property due to environmental and esthetic degradation. What's 1/8 of 1/8?

3) “The Lessee's good faith determination of when or whether the premises are being used for gas storage shall be conclusive.”

Depending on the “good faith” of the frackers may be better than trusting a serial killer with your daughter, but it's still a losing deal. Trust should be earned never given.

4) “The Lessee shall have the right of ingress and egress along with the right to conduct such operation... as may be necessary for such purposes... canals, pipeline, tanks, water well, disposal, injection well, pits... and other facilities to discover, produce, store, treat, and/or transport production.”

More concisely stated, the lessee can do whatever he wants whenever he wants.

5) “The rights of either party hereunder may be assigned... to the heirs.”

According to the lease, these “rights” are in force for five years. After that the frackers may extend it for an additional five years. Try selling your house after a title search is done and the prospective buyer sees what comes with the purchase of your property.

6) “The Lessee... shall have the right to surrender this lease... after which all payments and liabilities hereunder shall cease.”

This is the frackers' dream clause: got a problem, it's no problem, just “surrender” the lease and leave your troubles behind.

7) “No representation or promise on behalf of either party shall be binding unless... agreed to in writing.”

You may have been influenced by the gas rep's forthright manner, his friendly demeanor, his reassurances, even his interpretation of the lease - all meant to get you to sign. But according to the lease, not a word of this is worth more than the breath it took to say it.

Gas company leases are written with their objectives in mind; your interests are impediments to be ignored or overcome.

Sincerely,

Bob Scroggins

New Milford, PA