Lynne Hanna sent this letter to the Morning Call and it was not published. Thanks to Lynn for pointing out the lack of credibility of many of the sources people use to deny human impact on the environment. (posted 6-12-2008)
On 5/31, in The Morning Call, a gullible letter writer tells us of a 1998 petition circulated by Dr. Frederick Seitz on the belief that we are not adding to the rate of climate change. As is usual, a few minutes search on the internet provided all the valuable information one might need in assessing the validity of this claim by Dr. Seitz.
For 10 years, Dr. Seitz worked for R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company whom he helped give away $45 million toward studies which would avoid the health issue connected to smoking.
Dr. Frank Press, successor to Seitz as the president of the National Academy of Sciences, said on the issue of climate change, that Seitz, "was not a specialist in this field" and "most top scientists in the field disagreed with him, I among them." The National Academy of Sciences took the rare step of refuting Seitz’s position taken in his petition.
An article written by Mark Hertsgaard in Vanity Fair, May 2006 issue, titled While Washington Slept, asks how the virtual certainty (of climate change) was labeled a "liberal hoax" in the U.S.? His answer, "by the same tactics Big Tobacco used to deny the dangers of smoking."
The Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine mentioned by the letter writer, is a non-profit group with six members and does not enroll students or teach courses. They publish the book, Nuclear War Survival Skills.
It is a fact that some human beings are immoral, greedy or lacking intelligence. That in mind, this proud Liberal would love to see more eyes wide open and questioning what they hear and read from those on the right. Let’s show we have independent thought and won’t march in lock-step, as that is what these people are hoping you’ll do. Don’t buy the lie.
The Pope's tour has come and gone, with general uncritical adulation from the press and public - here is a perspective from Bernie Berg.
While it is understandable that the Roman Catholic Diocesan Daily should give wall to wall coverage to Pope Benedict XVI's visit with the Ogre in the Blight House, the RELIGION section of 19 APR 08 descends into the diabolical in using "his own words" in regard to Iraq. After 5 years and only after the death of an Archbishop does this Hitler Youth Pope find the words "Stop the massacres, stop the violence, stop the hatred in Iraq..." And then, it really isn't clear to whom they are addressed. The millions of deaths of Iraqi civilians caused by Bush are not mentioned, and this reptilean reactionary not only plays palsy-walsy with the Ogre but has the incredible insensitivity to tell the Iraqis to "raise your heads and yourselves." The Iraqis ask for bread and he gives them a stone. In the face of the Pope's making nice with the world's foremost war criminal I am reminded of Camus' address to the Dominican monks at Latour-Maubourg in 1948 entitled, "The Unbeliever and Christians":
"What the world expects of Christians is that Christians should speak out, loud and clear, and that they should voice their condemnation in such a way that never a doubt, never the slightest doubt, could rise in the heart of the simplest man. That they should get away from abstractions and confront the blood-stained face history has taken on today... When a {Pope} blesses political executions, he ceases to be a {Pope} or a Christian or even a man..." Bernard J. Berg45 N. 8th St.Easton, Pa. 18042 (posted 4-24-2008)
Here is a response to Morning Call Good Friday coverage, by Bernie Berg.
The facade at St. Jane Frances deChantal School is engraved with the words, "For God and Country." It never occurred to the church officials when this inscription was given to the builder that a question might arise, "What does the Christian do when God and Country conflict? Such as in an illegal, immoral, preemptive war. But that sort of speculation is not what the Diocesan Dailey is about.
Much better to teach the kiddies that Jesus died for our sins to placate the blood lust of His Father, rather than as a necessary consequence of the live he lived (i.e., on collision course with the religious establishment of His day). So the kiddies can see a nice smiley face of Jesus on Veronica's veil, the piercing of His flesh and His thirst and suffocation on the cross as just a facade (like the aforementioned building) because He was really God and couldn't suffer. Thanks, Diocesan Dailey, for giving us and especially the kiddies the real meaning of Good Friday.-Bernard J. Berg (posted 3-20-2008)
"We must arouse ourselves from the fog of war." This letter from Maria Weick asks the legitimate question: "What will it take to stir the American people into ending this atrocity" of the Iraq War?
To the Editor, The fifth anniversary of our attack on Iraq shames every one of us. Where is our outrage over a war of aggression being waged on an innocent population that had nothing to do with 9/11? What will it take to stir the American people into ending this atrocity? Apparently, five years of war, producing thousands of American soldiers dead, tens of thousands of Americans wounded, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis dead and wounded, millions of Iraqis turned into refugees, and trillions of dollars wasted isn't enough. We must arouse ourselves from the fog of war to end this cruel, short-sighted, and morally bankrupt war being waged in our name.-Maria Weick (posted 3-19-2008)
In this letter, Bernie Berg calls out the Morning Call for its obvious bias in a blistering analysis. He calls it "Censorship and Other Offenses".
The publishing of the blatantly sexist letter (3/17) written by an 85 y/o "veteran of two wars" who thinks "it's time we quit being so passive" is obviously an uncharacteristic attempt at humor on the part of the op-ed editor, Glenn Kranzley.
We may need a "strong 'tell it like it is' man " but Nader appears not to have much chance with the Democratic and Republican electorate of dunces. The aforementioned letter by someone who has learned nothing in 85 years, together with the one awhile back so racist it moved the op ed editor to attempt an apologia for printing it, raises the question of what Kranzley as well as Kennedy use as a criterion for publication. There have been hundreds of letters written during the past seven years of this bloody Bush junta that were totally censored, as well as hundreds of stories that did not tow the junta's line.
The most recent example of the latter is the Winter Soldier testimony given for three days last week which saw not one word in this horrid rag. These were testimonies of our war criminals in Iraq and Afghanistan who were honest enough to admit their horrid war crimes, unlike the smiling faces that graced the front page of this past Sunday's Pontius Pilate Times ("What Is Truth?").
I have a suggestion. Either make the announcement that henceforth this despicable rag will become a local paper only, in which case you can print all the Diocesan news you want (i.e., which child predator was transferred to the coal regions, or Father Sicca's latest pastoral care of Lou DeNaples), or stop censoring stories like Winter Soldier. But in any case tell Zell to send Messrs. Kennedy and Kranzley off to vocational rehab.-Bernard J. Berg
posted 3-18-2008
The ongoing media coverage of the Presidential campaign provides us much to think about - the contradictions are myriad, and Bernie Berg goes after the local "Pontius Pilate Times" and their management of their opinion pages.
While The Pontius Pilate Times ("What Is Truth?") will put the story of two local war protesters on page 7 of the Local Section (3/15), it puts the smiling war criminals (our "heroic" Marines) on the front page of the main section with the promise that their stories will appear in tomorrow's Times. The Censor of the opinions page has difficulty with the moral theological concept that one who participates in a war crime is a war criminal. So while he will print opinions from the Ku Klux Klan justifiying racism, and even contribute his own banal rationalization of this in an op-ed, he will censor any attempt to question the morality of a preemptive invasion and occupation of sovereign countries.
Now we have in today's Times the story of Senator Mushmouth's pastor calling on God to "damn Amerika." What? God damn Amerika? For providing children in Kabul, Iraq and Lebanon with cluster bombs to play with? For nuking whole population centers in Hiroshima and Nagasaki? For training, arming, supplying and paying holy crusaders in El Salvador, Guatemala, Chile, Nicaragua, etc. and educating them at Ft. Benning? For napalming children in Vietnam? For incinerating old men, women, children in airraid shelters in Iraq with "smart" bombs? Senator Mushmouth will have nothing to do with this sacrilege on the part of his pastor.
So let's have more torture, rape, murder of priests, nuns, Archbishops in Latin America and more op-eds by Father Feather of DeSales College about how the U. S. embassies bring peace throughout the world. And by all means, censor the winter soldier investigations taking place in Silver Springs, Md.. We need more front page stories of smiling Lee Calleys. Semper Fidel, Bernard J. Berg (posted 3-15-2008)
How much truth is in recent media reports about the war and occupation in Iraq? Lynne Hanna sent this letter about where to look for the real dirt.
We’ve read recent articles in The Morning Call telling us about the lack of violence in Iraq. Great you say? If you’ve learned nothing in the last 7 years, maybe. Or, short term memory may have led you to forget the stories of the journalists (Williams, McManus, Gallagher) paid to give us Bush propaganda. The Bush administration does it’s best to feed us only that information it wants us to get.
A quick internet search can give you information you’ll never read in your local paper such as an article titled, "IRAQ: Less Violent but not Less Hellish" written by Ali al-Fadhily, a Baghdad correspondent, and Dahr Jamail. In their article, Mahmood al-Dulaimy, a lawyer and human rights activist responds that the US media, in giving false news about Iraq has convinced many that things have improved. They end with, "Iraqi people do not speak of improvement. They do not see it; they see only that these claims have become important for the U.S. elections."
And while a Morning Call article informed us of Bush’s recent speech during his visit to the UAE, the only Mideast response given is by Iran’s foreign minister. An internet search finds the McClatchy Newspapers printed, "Bush Mideast Speech Draws Cool Response" and we read a much more detailed response including a comment by a professor in Cairo, Manar Shorgaby, "You have all types of contradictions. Talking about freedom when you’re occupying two countries in the region. Talking about democracy while you’re against elected groups you don’t like...was he listening to himself?"
On 1/17 the Morning Call saw fit for front page news the scoop that their new boss stopped by! Maybe it really is news. Maybe the new boss will see that we get well-rounded real world news stories in our local paper. To borrow a few words from Barack Obama, we can always have the audacity of hope. -Lynne Hanna (posted 1-28-2008)
A combination of Martin Luther King Day plus "Sicko" brings this letter from Robert Daniels II, also published by the Express-Times.
Tuesday (January 15th) being the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I am reminded of his words on an inequity in the United States: "Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane."
Last week at the LEPOCO Peace Center in south Bethlehem Michael Moore's latest film "Sicko" was screened to a capacity crowd. The film is a precise dissection of the failings of politicians, health care professionals, and insurance companies to provide basic coverage to people living in this country.
A surprise guest at the screening was John Graham of Paramus, New Jersey, a 9/11 rescue worker who became very ill after that fateful day from inhaling all kinds of harmful dust and debris at "Ground Zero". When the fanfare and shallow patriotism of the masses subsided, many of the 9/11 volunteers found themselves buried under piles of medical bills. In the film, Moore travels to Cuba with Mr. Graham and other neglected heroes to enjoy the benefits of so-called "socialized medicine". John reported to those in attendance that the treatments in Cuba were very effective in improving his well-being and that he hasn't felt this healthy in years.
Currently referred to a House of Representatives subcommittee is H.R. 676, the United States National Health Insurance Act, a piece of legislation designed to provide a form of comprehensive health insurance coverage for all United States residents. Passage of the legislation will ensure that all Americans have access, guaranteed by law, to the highest quality and most cost effective health care services regardless of their employment, income, or health care status. With 47 million uninsured Americans, and millions more who are under-insured, the time has come to change our inefficient and costly fragmented non-system of health care. I encourage all concerned citizens to see "Sicko" and take a look at H.R.676 and contact local representatives in support of getting universal health care in the only country in the Western world not to have it. Robert Daniels II - posted 1/14/2008
This letter by Bernie Berg is in reply to a letter in the Morning Call, of 12/16/2007, entitled "A Humane Death Penalty Cannot Be Justified". The author, Mark Eckhart of South Whitehall Township, states, "Start executing these people on death row."
The writer (Dec. 16) bemoans the "fact" that the death penalty is humane or should be. He thinks the concern is humorous. He need have no fear that the death penalty will ever be "humane." Not if he has access to a dictionary and can look up and read the definition of "humane."
Snuffing out someone's life by any means other than mother nature ringing down the curtain is hardly showing "kindness" or "compassion" (my American Heritage dictionary). An exception can be made for euthanasia, but perish the thought and God forbid as the Diocesan Catholic Daily might say. Much more "humane" to let them writhe on their death beds in excruciating pain, as did Pope John XXIII, than to give them a syringe full of morphine and send them on their way.
As for the writer assuming that the death penalty could deter future killers, he might take a look at Camus's "Reflections on the Guillotine." In this essay Camus relates how, back in early bloody England, pick-pocketing was a capital offense. The accused were hanged in a public ceremony which drew large crowds. While the crowd watched saucer-eyed as the condemned twisted slowly in the wind, pick-pockets worked the crowd to the enhancement of their profit margins. No deterrence for them. It would be much more "humane" to trust in the possibility of conversion, even for the likes of Ted Bundy, than showing the evil of executioners by executing them. Somewhere, someday, someone sitting in a jail cell without possibility of parole just might think up a cure for cancer. - Bernard J. Berg
The Declaration of Principles, ignored by the media, means a years-long US military commitment in Iraq - 12/11/2007
On November 26th with the eyes and ears of the media on the White House’s most recent photo-op at Annapolis, behind the scenes Bush was busy making plans with his Iraqi puppet, Nuri al-Maliki, to commit U.S. troops to remain in Iraq for years beyond the end of Bush’s current term.
The so-called “Declaration of Principles” is a Status of Forces Agreement or SOFA which is the same type of agreement the United States uses whenever it occupies countries for extended periods of time. It does not require approval by Congress. The plan calls for minimally 50,000 U.S. troops to man the ’non-permanent’ U.S. military bases built in the immediate aftermath of the invasion while Iraqis will provide security within the urban areas. These bases were built to replace the permanent Middle East military presence that the United States had in Saudi Arabia which was quickly abandoned once the ’non-permanent’ bases were constructed in Iraq.
The ’Declaration of Principles’ which al-Maliki will likely sign this summer also calls for U.S. corporations to provide for the re-construction of Iraq under the leadership of Rumsfeld’s old pal, Ahmed Chalabi. U.S. oil companies are in line to benefit from the agreement via lucrative contracts. Another provision of the declaration awards Iraq ‘preferred trading status’ with the World Trade Organization. (Ask Argentina what making economic agreements with the WTO does for a poor country’s economy.)
Why wasn’t this information on the front pages of newspapers throughout the United States? I assume it’s because the people of this country are not really interested in what is happening in Iraq and don’t really care whether our troops are deployed there for the next 50 years as long as there is fuel available to keep their SUVs running. -Louise Legun
A rebuttal to the Morning Call's 12/4/2007 editorial - "Venezuelan voters slow Chavez's effort to replace democracy with socialism" - 12/6/2007
This editorial re Venezuela's referendum on constitutional changes is an excellent example of what actor/writer Peter Coyote refers to as "the toxic propaganda sandwich" offered by the U. S. to nourish its view that Chavez is a monster. From the headline,"Venezuelan voters slow Chavez's effort to replace democracy with socialism" to the last sentence, "Venezuela's freedoms and rights depend on "generous souls" in this country who are willing to take the steam out of Mr. Chavez's march toward socialism.", the editorial paints a picture of the "evils" of socialism (the political theory that the ownership and means of production of the goods of society should be in the hands of society and not of private individuals) vs what the M.C. would have us think is "democracy" prior to Chavez's arrival.
It must have been "democracy" that has the populace living in cardboard shacks in the hills overlooking Caracas. I realize that if I was a rabbi or the local Roman Catholic columnist I'd get 500 words, but that's another story. The contradictions that fill the editorial would make a column. Maybe John Brinson or Charles Snelling can "enlighten" us in a future effort.
If Chavez won his most recent election by 63% of the vote, and "one of the reasons (he) has been so popular among Venezuela's impoverised masses is that he has spent so much of his nation's oil wealth on them" what the hell is the M.C.'s idea or definition of "democracy?" Is it keeping a handful of elites canonized by the ever obsequious Roman Catholic hierarchy in control of the wealth so it can be turned over to the stock holders of Gulf Oil Co.?
There are a couple of very readable books I'd recommend to Brinson and Snelling before the M.C. accords them their next "propaganda sandwich" offering: The Chavez Code by Venezuelan American Eva Gollinger, and Cowboy In Caracas by Charles Hardy (a R.C. priest for the diocese of Cheyenne, Wyoming) who spent 8 years on loan to Maryknoll in the barrios of Venezuela. Readers would get a much better picture of "democracy" in action by the CIA in Venezuela. God forbid that "a close friend and ally of Cuba's Fidel Castro" would spread health care, education, a living wage etc. throughout Venezuela via socialism. Much better to give them "democracy" like we have here in Naziland.
-Bernard J. Berg
August 10, 2007
A report of a dream remembered, by Ellen Buck
Believe it or not this is a report of a dream remembered “I had a dream last night, last night I had a dream”.
Friends and I were spending a day together but I did not feel comfortable talking about social issues because these folks do not do that. We got invitations to a birthday party for George W. Bush. My friends were thrilled. I said “Are you nuts? This guy should be arrested and tried for war crimes against humanity and I’m not going”.
Joe DeRaymond showed up and he said we should go and tell Bush what we think of him. Cheney showed up and said Bush really wanted me to come to the party. I refused and moved to another part of the house. Much to my surprise there stood G.W naked and having a face like the Alfred E. Newman caricature. In order to escape I leaped for an open window that had billowing curtains. My legs got tangled in the curtains and I struggled to get through the window.
That’s when I woke up on the floor having fallen out of bed wrapped in sheets. My head was caught between the bed and the night stand. I bruised my foot on the bed post. It’s a good thing my dog was not on his doggie mattress because it broke my fall.
So which interpretation would you choose for this dream?
a. The “Emperor’ New Clothes “ story has had an effect on me.
b. I am seeking a break from worrying about peace and justice.
c. I am afraid that the government will seek me out and take my assets.
d. I need to buy side railings for my bed. Hope you do not have a dream like this.
Keep up every little work for good. I am glad to have LEPOCO friends with whom I can talk. Sincerely, Ellen Buck
July 6, 2007
A Letter to the Editor by Maria Weick
To the Editor:
Why do we the people continue to allow President Bush and the members of his administration to operate outside the law? Is there a point at which we will finally become outraged enough to demand that our representatives stop pandering to party loyalty and future election hopes, and instead do what the law requires them to do, which is uphold the US Constitution? The silent acquiescence of the vast majority of Americans to the trashing of the rule of law is shameful. We citizens must raise our voices in every way peacefully possible, in the streets and in the halls of power, to insist that the Constitution be abided by, and not waiver in our resolve until this President and his administration are brought to justice. Maria Weick
October 18, 2006
An Op-ed piece written by Greta Browne, Tim Chadwick, & Curt Day in response to Green Party exclusions from public forums
Note: Under the rules that the Morning Call uses, they allow each candidate the chance to write an op-ed published during the campaign. This was Greta Browne's first submission. A different op-ed with only issues content written by Greta was published later in the campaign after all the forums had run.
The "LIberal media" control our "Un-liberal" Democracy:
Third Party access to the citizenry is a Sham
The Green Party candidate for the 15th district of Congress, Greta Browne, is being barred from participating in at least one of the local television debates. The Green Party of the United States refers to the “arbitrary and antidemocratic rules to limit candidates’ debates to Democratic and Republican candidates,” as 3rd party candidates in Michigan, New York, California, Tennessee, Illinois, Connecticut, and Massachusetts are being barred from broadcasted debates.
American democracy is presently dominated by two political parties commonly called the Democratic and Republican parties. We could call these parties Them, the party in power, and Not Them, the party seeking power. The advantage of this system is that during every election, we know what to expect from the candidates. Candidates from the Them party tell us to be grateful for the job they are doing while candidates from the Not Them party promise to bring us renewal. The downside is that our leaders and candidates tend to listen as little as possible to us the people, because, as in real estate, the fewer the options, the more we have a seller's market. To put this in political terms, we have a candidate’s rather than a voter’s market.
Countries such as Canada, Germany, Brazil, and Israel elect officials from more than two parties. If this is healthy when times are good, as I would argue, how much more do we need such representation during a critical election year? The major crises are the Iraq War and accelerated Climate Change, but the national debt, the problems of poverty and healthcare, the extensive corruption in the political sphere, the erosion of freedom and privacy, and the pervasive violence in our country all call for a profound change of direction. We need the campaign season to present us with candidates who will discuss these issues in depth and offer us clear choices. Third party candidates often add important alternatives, and the Green Party Platform presents noteworthy positions at the local, national and international levels.
So what stops us from selecting representatives from parties other than Them and Not Them? First, we are afraid to vote for candidates from other parties. Thus, we must blame ourselves when we are dissatisfied with the candidates available. Second, the government, consisting of officials from the Them and Not Them parties, make laws that all but rule out the admission of third party candidates on ballots, and ballot access is an important issue for another time.
And then the broadcast stations and debate sponsors also limit our choices by keeping some candidates on the ballot from participating in broadcasted debates. Such action seriously calls into question their compliance with IRS rules regulating 501c3 organizations. The IRS forbids 501c3 organizations from supporting or opposing any candidate. If you consider this to be a technicality, remember that the fewer the candidates, the more we are at their mercy.
Channel 39 is a 501(c)3 (non profit) entity as well as a licensed public TV station, and is bound by both IRS and FCC regulations. Under IRS code Rev. Rul. 74-574, 1974-2 C.B. 160 a non profit public broadcast station must provide “….reasonable amounts of air time equally available to all legally qualified candidates for election to public office in compliance with the reasonable access provisions of the Communications Act of 1934, 47 U.S.C. Sec. 312(a) (7), (1982).” This section goes on to discuss forums specifically. “All legally qualified congressional candidates will be invited to participate in the forum.” The exclusion of Greta Browne on the October 26th upcoming Tempo forum could jeopardize their status as a 501(c)3 non profit with paying membership based on this IRS regulation.
Under further FCC regulations, section 73.1940 [47 CFR ~73.1940] describes clearly “Legally qualified candidates for public office”. Under section (f) Greta Browne meets all the criteria for a “substantial showing” of a bona fide candidacy to participate in a publicly televised forum. She has made campaign speeches, distributed campaign literature, issued press releases, maintained a campaign committee, and established a campaign headquarters, which may be her residence under this rule. So, in addition to violating IRS law, Channel 39 is risking losing their FCC license by disregarding Federal Communications Law.
In these times of great moral crisis at home and abroad, we as a citizenry should be up in arms at our only local public TV media source’s unwillingness to allow the citizens of the 15th Congressional District the access to make informed decisions about their representation in our government. This is what liberal democracy is all about. If we cannot make informed decisions about who we vote for to represent us then our democracy is a sham and a disgrace
February 18, 2007
To the editor;
On Sunday the Morning Call ran a story in the Real Estate section about an Orefield house that received a LEED environmental award for energy efficiency and sustainable practices.
The problem with the award is that it’s operating in the realm of the American Dream instead of global reality. In a world of six billion people a 5500 square foot home is not sustainable. Especially when it has a hot tub and flooring shipped via fossil fuels all the way from Brazil. Only in America can designer kitchens with granite countertops and whole-house air cleaning systems be classified efficient and sustainable. And the idea of selling closet and bathroom light timers as sustainable mocks the fundamental assumption of sustainable living: that we take personal responsibility for our environmental footprint rather than rely on consuming extra resources to build extra gadgets to save us when we “forget.”
In a world facing the reality of global warming, bigger and more is not better. We Americans, being 5% of the world’s population using 25% of its resources, have to become realistic about the effects of our supersized consumption of resources. To promote meaningful energy efficiency and environmental sustainability necessitates consuming less, conserving more and buying local. Maria Weick
January 24, 2007
To the Editor;
The President once again used fearmongering in his State of the Union Address to rally support for his folly in Iraq: escalate the War in Iraq or risk losing the "War on Terror." President Bush's obsession with using military force to solve complex world problems is bleeding this country dry of the human and financial resources needed to meaningfully address domestic and international issues. His foreign policy emphasis on preemptive military attack rather than diplomacy is isolating the US in the world community and making the world a more dangerous place, especially as it undermines the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons.
It is the responsibility of Congress and we the people to insist that President Bush change course! Maria Weick
January 15, 2007
To the editor;
I'd like to suggest that the President and every member of Congress read Dr. Martin Luther King's speech, "Beyond Vietnam: ATime to Break Silence," delivered at Riverside Church in NYC on April 4, 1967. That 40 year old speech is as relevent today to the War in Iraq as it was to the Vietnam War the day it was spoken. The folly, greed and arrogance it describes that got us into Vietnam are the very same flaws which have landed us in Iraq. What Dr. King said then applies now: "The world now demands a maturity of America that we any not be able to achieve. It demands that we admit that we have been wrong from the beginning of our adventure...." Maria Weick
October 18, 2006: They printed this after editing the punch out of it.
To the Editor: Why is Congress repeatedly refusing to perform its duty to uphold the US Constitution? Its latest quashing of the Constitution comes with the passage of the Military Commissions Act that gives the President the power to detain anyone he chooses, including American citizens, for as long as he wants and without specifying the charges. To give the President such power negates the Constitution which is all that protects our civil rights as free citizens from the caprice of a kingly head of state. The American Revolution was fought to wrest just such powers from an English King George.
And here we are today, more than two hundred years later, voluntarily empowering a King George of our own making. If this law is allowed to stand, it is to the shame of our Congressional delegates, and even more so it shames the American people who are meekly allowing the civil rights guaranteed by the Constitution to be given away without a fight. Maria Weick
Sept. 2, 2006
To the Editor: On September 11, 2001 America suffered a horrendous terrorist attack from without. Since then our Constitution has suffered repeated attacks from within as the Executive Branch of government has used fear to accumulate political, military and economic power. To counter these attacks, we the people have a duty to uphold the Constitution and demand that our elected officials do so also: that Congress check and balance the Executive Branch, protect our civil liberties and do its duty under Article VI of the US Constitution to end the War in Iraq.
And we the people, to protect civil and human rights and eradicate terrorism must substitute the study of history for our current susceptibility to patriotic jingoism. History shows that most often our actions on the world stage have not matched our rhetoric: too many people throughout the world have experienced the loss of human and civil rights and life itself as the result of US policy which has supported repressive regimes in exchange for access to economic resources. Maria Weick
June 21, 2006
To the Editor;
Article VI of the US Constitution says that international treaties signed by our government are "the supreme law of the land." The United States is signatory to the United Nations Charter, the Geneva Conventions and the Nuremberg Principles which means that US citizens, and all elected and appointed officials of every branch of government, state and federal, are bound by the terms of these treaties. It is important for citizens to know that according to this international law the US military invasion and occupation of Iraq are illegal.
Furthermore, empowered by the Constitution, international law stipulates that every citizen has the right and duty to oppose our government's illegal acts which currently include not only the illegal invasion of a sovereign nation, but also torture, illegal detentions, extraordinary renditions and warrantless surveillance. Citizens of this country have the power to stop the war and bring the troops home. We have the power to stop our government's abuse of human and civil rights.
But for some reason civic will on the part of the people is lacking just as political will to reinstate the rule of law is lacking on the part of politicians. What will it take to provoke large numbers of us to deliver the message to Congress and the President: "No more. Not in our name?" Maria Weick
October 23, 2005
To the editor;
In her op-ed of 10/23/05 Renee James excuses the use of plastic and paper bags because they're recyclable. However, according to the National Resources Defense Council less than 1% of the plastic bags used in America are actually recycled and Americans throw away over 100 BILLION plastic bags per year. Most of those billions of bags will remain in a landfill for hundreds of years.
Bags that have been rescued by the wind end up killing thousands of land and marine wildlife yearly and the ink from these bags seeps into our groundwater.
The Organic Trade Association estimates it takes 12 million barrels of oil annually to produce the plastic bags used in America alone.
Other countries are not taking the inundation of plastic bags lightly. Ireland has imposed a twenty cent (US) per bag tax and reduced consumption by 95 percent. Some form of bag tax or ban is also used in Australia, Italy, South Africa and Taiwan. Certain cities in India and Bangladesh have banned plastic bags completely, citing public health concerns after discovering in 1988 and 1989 that plastic bags had clogged urban drainage systems causing flooding and an outbreak of waterborne diseases.
And there's not much comfort in the use of paper bags. The production of plastic bags is actually more earth-friendly than the production of paper bags. According to the NRDC most of our paper grocery bags originate in one of two places: Canada, where ninety percent of the timber is harvested from old forests; or the southeastern US, where timber companies are rapidly replacing native southern forest with monocultural tree plantations. And, according to the EPA, to transform timber into paper, manufacturers use more fresh water than any other industry on the planet. Good environmental stewardship requires that at the very least we recycle our bags!
Reusing bags before they're recycled is better. Best of all is pressuring our supermarkets to provide cloth bags to customers at cost. And generic cloth bags can be used in any type of store to carry just about anything. I have used the same cloth bags for over fifteen years. They're still going strong. Maria Weick | 
