Published: September 05, 2008 10:33 am         

Letters for September 05, 2008

Burn ban takes away freedoms

I have had several opportunities, on the phone and at the recent meeting in Herkimer, to question state Department of Environmental Conservation officials about the proposed outdoor burn ban, the main target of which is dioxins.

Dioxins are created from burning certain materials at low temperatures. Thus far, the state has admitted that the figure 57 percent _ the amount of dioxins supposedly released by burn barrels _ is an extrapolation based on several very limited studies. They can’t or won’t answer these questions:

How many residents of New York become ill or die as a direct result of open burning? What’s the life expectancy here and how much will it improve with the proposed ban? Why does the proposal ban wood and brush fires bigger than 9 square feet, when they admit there is no substantial difference in pollution between a 3-by-3-foot campfire and a 5-by-5-foot bonfire?

Do we want to live in a free country or live a little longer (theoretically) with the state controlling every aspect of our lives? I share Patrick Henry’s view.

The main job of government is to protect the rights of the people. When it fails to do this, it has outlived its usefulness and should be replaced.

At the meeting in Herkimer, I discussed these things with three men for about an hour. When I asked whether they believed in property rights, one responded, “The only right you have is the right to die.” While they didn’t refute his statement, at least his fellow environmental conservation officers didn’t express agreement.

Is it any wonder our state is in perpetual recession? No matter what the disguise, environmentalism, progressivism or public safety, socialism never works. Freedom has made this the best country in the history of the world. We’d do well to remember that.

Carl F. Wenner

Fly Creek

Party of God is Democratic

Letters can sometimes have an effect.

Starting in 2005, I wrote five letters to Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, telling him that Democrats had to start wearing religion on their sleeves, like the Republicans, and that Democrats were the true “Party of God.”

He never answered, but he did something better. He appointed an ordained minister as the CEO of the Democratic convention in August, organized the first meeting at the convention as a convocation of all the faiths, and had each convention session end with a minister’s prayer.

You are finally learning, Mr. Dean, and teaching your party.

I told Dean that the policies of the Democratic Party were in line with Jesus and the Hebrew prophets. The policies of the Republicans were against any decent acts that might help people and forward the goals of our representative democracy.

Right-wing ministers write to The Daily Star with obvious right-wing propaganda, and so do other area residents. I always thought that right-wingers were ignorant. I now see that they do not know the Bible. They don’t honor Jesus and are a complete loss to our country. If they left and went somewhere else, I wouldn’t mind. They might like Putin’s Russia or repressive Burma, some place like that. Our country would be better off without them, without the Republican Party and without anti-religious conservative philosophy.

Martin Wank

Oneonta

High-risk acts cost us more

A big thumbs up to Jo-Ann Lamonica for her letter of Aug. 27! She said exactly what I have been feeling since the article about Myrna Thayne came out in your newspaper. Let’s give Myrna a break. All she was doing is clarifying the “existing plan” of health care and at the same time trying to save the county money!

Living a homosexual lifestyle puts folks in a high-risk situation as far as health goes. In the end, it costs more for health care for all of us.

A marriage is a union between a man and a woman. To be fair to gay people, the Lord is not happy with any lifestyle outside of marriage between a man and a woman _ be it among people of the same sex or people who are heterosexual. Both are wrong lifestyles, and both put people in a high risk as far as their health is concerned. Both are immoral and God’s offer is the same: Repent and receive the forgiveness of Jesus Christ!

Praise God, there is hope for those caught up in this type of lifestyle. Jesus Christ offers redemption for those willing to repent and receive his gift of salvation.

As far as health care is concerned, I’m not necessarily against providing health care to people who place themselves in high-risk lifestyles, but they should cover the higher costs associated with such lifestyles.

Dixie Sperbeck

Stamford

Choice of Palin insults many

John McCain’s choice of Palin for his running mate becomes more comical by the minute! McCain insulted an entire gender by assuming women lack the intelligence to make an educated decision for a candidate based on his or her ideals, strengths or qualifications. The women of the United States supporting Hillary Clinton did not do so simply because she was a member of the “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pantsuits,” they supported the direction that a Democratic leader would be taking this country with its declining economy and its health care crisis. To think that liberal women voters would be so easily manipulated is ridiculous!

We want a president who represents us, not one who looks like us! The fact that Palin would have the ability to step in and be the president of the United States is nothing but absurd.

To my fellow women, don’t be fooled by a decision meant to do just that!

Tifanne Wells

Oneonta