The American Spectator

Reader Mail

Kudos and Apologies

7.25.07 @ 12:01AM

(Page 3 of 4)

Our Founding Fathers were moved to revolution in response to moral issues involved in unfair taxation. How long do we, today's citizens, sit and allow our lawmakers to pick our pockets? We are far from a point of needing to revolt; we have a far more simple solution: elect fiscally sane representatives and hold them responsible while they breathe in the intoxicating airs inside the Beltway. Spending someone else's money can be intoxicating and addicting, but if the citizens of this country keep their eyes on their wallets and the Congress, we can keep more of our hard earned money. Remember, thieves remain upright citizens as long as somebody is watching the cash register.
-- Ira M. Kessel
Rochester, New York

It is hard for me to believe the proposed cigar tax will pass, as it is so intrusive on the lives of people who just enjoy a good relaxing smoke in the privacy of their own house or yard. But I fear it may pass due to Congress being so detached from the reality of what people do to enjoy themselves. I go back to JFK having Pierre Salinger round up hundreds of Cuban cigars for the president's enjoyment before he stopped the common man from having them. The Democrats and Republicans are so far out of step with the average American that there must be a total house cleaning to right the ship. Unfortunately I am too old to see it happen, but it will happen.
-- Dan Mittelman

KNOW IT ALL QUACKERY
Re: Jay D. Homnick's Global Kellogging:

The thought that the idle rich know what's best for Joe Six Pack is appalling. Nothing in their education and experience makes them experts in the subject matter. Only their pedigrees give them a voice in the public square. And I, for one, refuse to listen to their nonsense. Their views are not based on science but on faith, not on reason but belief.

The scientific method begins with a hypothesis and gathers data from experiments and observations to test the hypothesis. What these trust fund babies prefer to do is cherry-pick the data that supports their hypothesis. And the scary part is we continue to use junk science to formulate public policy at tremendous cost to taxpayers with little if any benefit and a myriad of adverse unintended consequences.

The ethanol craze is a perfect example. My car gets 20 miles per gallon on gasoline and 18 miles per gallon on a 90/10 gasoline/ethanol mix. The addition of ethanol provides no benefit as my car would still go 18 miles on 0.9 gallons of gas anyway. And the real cost is higher food prices, wasted energy converting corn to ethanol and additional transportation costs. Meanwhile, millions die of starvation while we "selfish Americans" put food in our gas tanks.

The carbon offset is another foolish idea. According to Louisville Gas and Electric, my electricity usage generated 1.6 metric tons of CO2 last month. That would be 1,310 metric tons of CO2 over the next 70 years. According to Carbon Neutral, six trees remove one metric ton of CO2 every 70 years. So just to "offset" the CO2 from my home electricity usage would require an additional 7,862 trees. Based on reforestation figures from the South Carolina Forestry Commission, this equates to 11 acres of trees for my 2,000 square foot house on a one fourth acre lot. The 2000 census counts 55 million single family homes which would require 600 million acres of trees. The USDA identifies 2.3 billion acres of land in the US, 651 million acres are already forests and another 442 million acres are farms. So half of the remainder would have to be planted in trees just to offset the CO2 from homes. We have yet to consider offsets for commercial buildings, multifamily dwellings and transportation.

By the way, won't the 651 million acres of existing trees be more than enough to offset the carbon footprint of all single family homes?
-- Bob Staggs
Goshen, Kentucky

Jay D. Homnick is spot on with his article on the quackery of Al Gore and the fraud of "GLOBAL WARMING"! I have been ridiculed for an letter to the editor in my home town paper in Northern Michigan in which I questioned the science behind Global Warming and stated that 25 years ago, Al Gore would be the guy wearing sandwich board saying the ski is falling as he walked around all disheveled in sack clothe robes and tire sandals, wild haired and bearded and laughed at by people! No one has been able to explain why if Global Warming is caused by man's industry, what caused the glaciers that gouged out the Great Lakes and then caused the glaciers to thaw if man wasn't industrious then, only aboriginal hunter gatherers! Great article, thanks a lot!
-- Ron Moore
Harbor Springs, Michigan

That "Doctor" Kellogg was a "piece'o-work" when it comes to the topic of sexual repression. Another item or two might complete the sorry picture of this consummate creep: Dr. John Harvey Kellogg also apparently was so enthralled with the topic of masturbation that he suggested sewing-up boys' foreskins with silver wire, and putting carbolic acid on the clitoris.

Methinks that Jay minimized that supreme nutcase's weirdness, or perhaps he was sparing us from Kellogg's strange behavior, lest the populace of that Michigan area suffer a nasty case of the vapors, or (at the least) terminal teeth-gnashing.
-- frost

TRUE SHARING
Re: Ralph R. Reiland's HillaryCare Revisited:

Someone should ask all Democrats running for any office (and any Republican who support Hillarycare, for that matter) the following:

"Would you support an amendment (to Hillarycare) that would require that elected officials use Hillarycare and not private or other special medical care in any form?"

If it is going to be so great, I sure want "them" who votes for it to be in the line taking a number with us little folks.

Letter to the Editor

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