August 27, 2009

There are too many hypocrites in America
I choose to respond to Donna Maguire's recent Letter to the Editor sent from Sierra Vista, Ariz.
Let me confirm, Donna, that you are obviously looking at your country through rose-colored glasses.
You should understand that when 98 percent of the assets of this country are owned by 2 percent of the people, there is something radically wrong.
There is only one way that this could have been accomplished by the wealthy over the period of our history and that is they have engaged in class warfare against the poor.
I can certainly agree with you, Donna, that you are not an expert on politics. That can be said for the people of Taylor County also because if they were, they wouldn't be voting Republican. The reason people want to enter our country is so they can jump on the money wagon like the health insurance people, the pharmaceutical industry and, of course, the bankers.
Last year I had an operation at St. Joseph's Hospital in Marshfield. My doctor was a native of Egypt. He emigrated to this country for the money. I think that can be said for 98 percent of the people coming into our country at this time. I do not believe that is a very lofty objective for medical personnel.
Since I am reasonably sure that you did not vote for Obama, and that you are a conservative Republican, I can understand why you don't know much about politics. My Letter to the Editor that you seem to take offense at speaks to the truth. Republicans could seldom win elections if they told the truth. They lie like hell through their teeth in order to accomplish their rotten goals, that is, perpetuation of their lifestyle of ease and comfort.
As far as Israel is concerned, I want you to know that I am not a critic of the Jewish race. They are a brilliant race. Their accomplishments in music, education, arts and medicine are beyond reproach. However, that does not mean that I am going to roll over and play dead when I see them mowing down Palestinian youths who might be throwing some stones. I can tell you that 60 years ago I was originally in favor of the establishment of the country of Israel. I believe at this point that they are occupying lands that they should not be occupying and that those lands should immediately be turned over to the Palestinians. Israel has not proved to be a very reliable ally.
The Jewish Massad, their intelligence organization, was well aware of the fact that our embassies in Africa were going to be bombed. They chose not to inform us because they did not want to compromise their intelligence service. In other words, let the destruction go on.
A few years ago a very conservative national writer pointed out that Israel has cradle-to-grave health care. The American taxpayers support that. However, we can't have a decent health care system in this country now because the health care industries, including the pharmaceutical industries own Congress. The profits of the pharmaceutical and health care industries is inexcusable. My god, greed knows no bounds when it comes to that.
Donna, I spent last winter in Scottsdale, Ariz. In the course of my morning walks I ran into eight Canadians who were spending a month or two in Scottsdale. All eight of them, without knowing how I felt about health care, informed me that they were well satisfied with the Canadian health care system. One of the eight was a lady who was a pharmacist. She informed me as follows:
"I can't understand the American people going along with their present medical system. We Canadians are very well satisfied with the system that we have." She said, "When I see the Americans paying three times for drugs what our Canadian people are paying for them, I simply shake my head." Donna, pigs are pigs and they stink. That's where I would place the pharmaceutical and the health care insurance companies of this country. I have no use for hypocrites. Unfortunately, we have too damn many of them in this country. Republicans take the attitude, "I've got mine, to hell with you." Generosity has never been their strong suit.
Donna, you say our enemy hates us. Why do they hate us? Is it because they know that we are a nation of hogs?
— Jack Nikolay, Abbotsford

Writer asks: Where oh where is Congressman Obey?
As most Congressional Representatives are in their districts listening to their constituents during the August recess,  Mr. Obey seems to be missing in action.  When we e-mailed his office asking for his schedule, we were simply ignored.  The last time he was in the area (Shell Lake) for a “meet your representatives” session he refused to take questions citing a busy schedule.  Seems with important hot button issues like Health Care Reform and Cap and Trade pending, one would think Mr. Obey would want to know what the people in his District are thinking.  Does Mr. Obey simply not care what we think?  What is he afraid of?
Appears Mr. Obey has been in Washington D.C. far too long and has forgotten he is actually supposed to represent the 7th District.  It is time for this out of control spending spree to come to a stop.
It is time for Mr. Obey to retire or be fired.
— Dan and Lynn Hubin, Shell Lake

Wolves are beautiful, but they belong in the zoo
This is in reference to Ryan Goessl's letter. I see by his letters he is still selling people on the HSUS idea. The millions of dollars they spend trying to shut down hunting and fishing will never influence me. Ryan needs to remember in the Bible times sheep were slaughtered and they ate fish. Ryan talks about safeguarding ones livestock. That is impossible. A wolf will go anywhere it wants to.
He makes it sound like the damage is very small but that's not true. Ryan's arithmetic is on some other planet. He states there are 6,200 wolves in the U.S. Nobody knows accept to wild guess. He stated that there are 284 wolves in Wisconsin and Michigan combined. That is false. The DNR stated that as of 2009 there are 660 in Wisconsin alone. The DNR stated a wolf will kill an animal a week. I call that major collateral damage. I recently returned from nearly a month in Iron County and only saw two deer in all that time.
A Prentice man put up a trail camera and caught a wolf walking with a fawn. Wolves are beautiful animals but they belong in the zoo.
My friend in Franklin has 27 wolves all fenced in being cared for. He feeds them tons of chicken parts from the big chicken companies. It gets my hair up when somebody distorts the numbers just to push their agenda. Enough said. The HSUS doesn't help local societies.
— Don Duddles, Waukesha

Major Alaskan crater had positive results for today
Remembering something positive about a major impact crater near Barrow, Alaska
During the Perseid meteor shower August 12 and 13, I started thinking of objects falling from the sky.  It happens all the time, but most are quite small and not a problem.
But just about a month before, around July 18, an asteroid or comet crashed into Jupiter, leaving a large black scar.  Imagine what damage that might have caused if it hit our planet Earth, instead of Jupiter.
When we lived in Barrow, Alaska, we were informed about a large crater (known as the Avak Structure) about seven miles from town, which resulted from a meteor or comet slamming into Earth millions of years ago.
Chris and I would often walk the two Greenland Huskies near the site of that 5-mile-wide crater, which is not visible at the surface because periodic Arctic Ocean shoreline migration submerged it.
Geologists say the crater is about 2,000 feet tall, and that it must have been quite an impact sometime between 3 and 100 million years ago. The good news is that this celestial body slamming into the Arctic coastal area  actually trapped petroleum and natural gas now a part of the Barrow gas fields. Barrow residents use natural gas for efficient, affordable heating. 
The feature was first discovered in seismic surveys between 1943 and 1953 in the National Petroleum Reserve. Geologists first noted it as a “disturbed area” because of some unusual subsurface patterns.
Sometimes visiting astronomers and other scientists would ask us if we could drive them out to the general area of the impact. So we’d pile the dogs Avu and Nuna, and the scientists, into our little Ford Escort station wagon and go off crater hunting!
— Earl Finkler, Medford
 

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