From BP to High Speed Rail
Many of us have been appalled by the BP oil spill, but if it had to happen, the timing was perfect. It’s not as if we weren’t aware that we need to stop our dependence on non-renewable energy resources, but this event brought it smack in our faces. So why not take the momentum from this debacle and make the needed changes, such as converting to wind and solar and lessening our dependence on oil?
High speed rail is one excellent solution. It can ease traffic congestion by taking cars off the road, reduce pollution and global warming and create jobs for Americans. It has been estimated that each year we waste 100 million hours and burn 60 million gallons of gas by simply sitting in traffic jams! With high speed rail, traffic would be diminished and automobile-related deaths would be greatly reduced— additional benefits to saving the environment.
And thank you for the article on Michael T. Klare’s book, Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet; The New Geo Politics of Energy. I think Klare would agree that high speed rail makes sense.
Caroline Lederman
Via email
Restore Home Care Funding
It was not uncommon during the Great Depression to see long lines of unemployed workers waiting for bread and soup.
Today in Massachusetts, there are several thousand elders lined up waiting for home care, but you will not see them on the streets.
Instead, they are in their homes, unable to receive the help that they need to avoid costlier nursing home care. The home care budget was cut last year and has been slashed for this coming year, and people served will fall to a level lower than they were in 1980. At Highland Valley Elder Services, there are over 100 people waiting for home care services and some since 10 months ago. A 90-year old waiting for home care is about as bleak a comment about our economy and values as it gets.
Elders do not fall in the “too big to fail” category, so they are not being offered a bailout package. They did not speculate with their savings, so there will be no troubled asset relief program for them.
It is a sad state of affairs when the State and Federal government cannot figure out how to prioritize their spending to ensure that no one who could have been kept at home goes into a more costly institution.
I hope that the State Legislature will restore the $12 million that was cut from home care and protect the civil rights of the disabled, so that they can continue to remain living in their choice of the least restrictive setting possible.
If you have questions or would like additional information, please contact me at (413) 586-2000.
Robert V. Gallant
Executive Director
Highland Valley Elder Services
First Family Should Pay for Spain Trip
Michelle Obama and her daughter and friends took a vacation to Spain at the taxpayers’ expense. This was not a state visit, it was a vacation for the First Lady. This trip cost the taxpayers of this country a huge amount of money. The president did not accompany her.
This trip should be paid for by the Obama family, not the taxpayers.
I urge everyone who feels as I do about this expensive trip, when so many people in this country are losing their jobs and homes, to write or call their elected officials in Washington, or even the president’s office in Washington, and demand that the money spent on this trip be given back to the people of the United States. They should also make it clear that we, the people of the United States of America, are not paying for private vacations for Michelle Obama and her friends and family. Her husband was elected president to serve the people.
The people of the United States are not a travel agency for Michelle Obama. The First Lady should care about the people of our country, who elected her husband and can elect someone else.
Linda Ann Larivee
Holyoke
Obama’s Day at the Beach
About 45 days into the British Petroleum spill in the Gulf of Mexico an acquaintance of mine put some photos on Facebook to show everyone.
He lives in Louisiana and has two small children—a boy and a girl.
He is a lawyer.
He took them in a boat out onto the Gulf of Mexico to show them the historic oil spill. He also made note on his Facebook page that everything seemed safe.
Yet raw petroleum is a carcinogen. Beyond that, for people that scoff at the label “Cancer Causing,” the components of raw petroleum can cause genetic damage—especially to children. Components of raw petroleum can also effect cognitive thinking, problem solving. It can cause inflammation of the lungs and various breathing problems.
This individual was immediately sent outraged notes by friends and even strangers, almost immediately informing him of these things and more and also asking him why he chose to expose his children to these dangers.
Most of his legal work, it turns out, came from chemical processing plants and refineries in the area.
Stupidity and greed seemed to play a part in his abuse of his children.
I was therefore shocked when I saw a photo of President Obama swimming in the Gulf of Mexico in an area that has been afflicted by the poisons leaking from underneath the sea.
It’s safe, he seems to declare. See? I even exposed my own daughter to it.
Would you?
Alfred Brock
Via email
Media Shut Out Reformers Like Stein
Thank you for Maureen Turner’s recent article about Jill Stein (“Stein’s in the Race—If Anyone Cares to Notice,” Aug. 12).
Why does the press shut out a candidate like Jill Stein? We keep getting the same kinds of politicians, and the same exposes of misdoings in the press every year, and the same false promises again and again—and yet when a true reformer runs for office, someone smart, informed, and motivated to serve the public interest, the media won’t let her compete. Why? Why is a Cahill included and a Stein excluded?
Shirley Kressel
Via Online Comments
