President's war on the environment

10/18/2004

Americans concerned about their children's future need to look closely at the candidates' environmental records. The pace of global climate change is accelerating faster and faster, we are losing thousands of species a year, the Cenozoic era is at an end, and we are moving into the greatest mass extinction since the time of the dinosaurs.

I believe the decision we voters make this year will be the most important decision for the planet we've ever made. The natural world is going to change; the question is whether we have a president honest, independent, and intelligent enough to cut our losses concerning the quality of human life.

In three years, using language designed to fool the public, President Bush and his energy moguls have rolled back laws that protected our air, water, public lands, and wildlife. While he was governor, Texas became number one in the country in air and water pollution and the release of toxic chemicals. And these things are just the tip of the iceberg of this administration's conscious, hidden war on the environment.

Recognition of people's right to clean air and water have been around for centuries. These rights are being eroded as fast as Mr. Bush and his cronies can. The National Academy of Sciences has estimated 30,000 Americans per year will die prematurely as a result of just one action, the administration's "redefining" carbon dioxide in 2002.

Senator Kerry's voting record in congress earned him a 96 percent rating by the League of Conservation, the political voice of the national environmental movement.

My husband and I have no children. But we care about telling the truth. And we're voting for Mr. Kerry.

JUDY WATKINS GREENBERG

Skelly Road

If you believe that we are born with the right to life, liberty, and property; and that the purpose of government is to protect, not curtail, those rights; and you are not voting for President Bush, then please consider these points.

Our national drift away from the Founders' vision has not happened overnight. It has taken the left, using the Democrat Party as its chisel, a century to chip away our freedoms.

The cutting edge of the Democrats' chisel is the judicial system. The fight for freedom is being waged in the courts: to defeat the left, to restore the Constitution, we need a Republican president with a solidly Republican Senate to overcome Democrat obstructionism.

The left believes any means justifies the ends. In 2000, Democrats deployed an army of lawyers nationwide to steal the election; finding a compliant leftist Supreme Court in Florida, they almost succeeded. The left's desperation means this election will be worse: the thug-army is already deployed. Look for reports of massive voter registration fraud.

Had only a fourth of those who voted for right-wing third-party candidates voted for President Bush in Florida, he would have won by 9,000 votes and the left wouldn't have been able to try to overturn the results. Had only a half voted nationwide for Mr. Bush, Al Gore's 500,000-vote lead would have been erased.

In order to win the race, you must enter the stadium. Just two parties have a chance at victory, and the left must be utterly defeated.

It will be a long, hard struggle. I do not expect to see the finish line. Please join me in the arena, where your vote means something, where we can pass the baton to new generations that will continue to run the good race.

Please vote Republican. Defeat the left.

MICHAEL O'BRIEN

Bradner, Ohio

What a shock! The day after the Republican Party accused the AFL-CIO and the Democrats of breaking into party offices around the country, the Democrats' Toledo office is robbed. Thieves left everything but the computer with sensitive information.

This tells any reasonable person that this was an inside job, trying to make the Republican Party look bad. It's nice to see that it's politics as usual in Toledo.

KEVIN EDGINGTON

293rd Street

I recently volunteered to work for John Kerry at Democratic headquarters. I was put to work with a human dynamo of a lady from Chicago. She drove here because Ohio needs help more than Illinois does.

We went into the North End to locate single moms who haven't registered to vote. She had a list. We worked seven hours driving up and down the streets, locating the houses on the list and helping the women to register. Additionally, we approached people on the street, in restaurants, and on their porches. We registered about 20 people that day.

This woman worked Wednesday through Friday and registered about 100 people.

I think that is phenomenal. We did not encounter a single Republican. Everyone was very congenial and cooperative.

She is coming back on Election Day to drive people to the polls. If the Republicans have people like this working for them, I haven't seen them.

I don't know where this poll data that shows President Bush ahead comes from. I think it is wishful thinking. I don't think that anyone is that passionate about George Bush - except to kick him out of office.

TREAT GREGORY

Sylvania

I compliment The Blade's Sept. 26 editorial, "Outside the box," for its insight into the funeral home industry. For too long, funeral homes have been more concerned with supporting the family that owns the funeral home than they have been with serving the families who use the funeral home.

The result has been a steady increase in prices to the point that today, the national average funeral cost for a traditional funeral service - not including a casket - is almost $4,000. Add the cost of a casket and the price can quickly exceed $6,000.

You are correct that cremation is one way to reduce this cost. You are also correct that paying less for a casket can provide significant savings to a family, but these are not the only ways to reduce the cost of a funeral.

When we established Newcomer Farley Funeral Home in Toledo, we founded it on the principle of dramatically reducing all the costs of a funeral; cremation services, caskets, and, most important, the traditional service itself. A traditional service at Newcomer costs just $1,995 - approximately half the cost of the national average, and significantly less than any other Toledo-area funeral home.

This year we will serve almost 300 families in Toledo, and I estimate we will save them a total of more than $400,000 in funeral costs, while still providing the high-quality funeral service every family deserves. Our facilities in Akron, Columbus, and Dayton carry the same commitment toward funeral value in their Ohio communities.

REN NEWCOMER

Newcomer Farley Funeral Home

West Laskey Road

Maybe several other questions could be have been asked in your Sept. 26 editorial, "Drinking to death."

First, to adults 21 and older who choose to drink: "Do you set a good example to our youth by never abusing alcohol?"

Second, to the alcohol industry whose promotional ads are so appealing: "Is this, at least in part, responsible for her poor decision to drink, which led to her death?"

What is lacking in our culture that so many, young and old alike, choose to abuse drugs?

My sympathy to the family, friends, and the community on the loss of Samantha.

ALVERA M. SAMS

Findlay, Ohio

Upon hearing about the break-in at Democratic headquarters, my 23-year-old son asked me, "Didn't something like that happen in Watergate?"

No matter that it is "disillusioning" for Republican leaders "to think our process would stoop so low," I'd like to know just one thing: Which operative has Karl Rove on speed dial?

VIVIAN BORK

Cloister Road