Letters to the Editor category, Page 119

Good fear, bad fear, birthed by truth, or, alternatively, lies. Good fear brings action and remedy. Bad brings chaos, fear and destruction. Global warming, truth or lie? Democrats say carbon dioxide levels are the greatest threat to life as we know it. To quantify the threat, think Heinz Field with...

Lessons for Pa. from Kansas Kansas voters’ crushing rejection of the amendment that would have removed the right to abortion from the state’s Constitution sends a loud message to Pennsylvania’s GOP legislators. Underhanded tactics likely won’t play well here either, even with many conservatives. The Kansas amendment was deliberately worded...

American Rescue Plan Funds are finally being used in Westmoreland County. Commissioners Gina Cerilli Thrasher, Doug Chew and Sean Kertes, thank you for your preliminary work. You now have a moral obligation to spend the remaining $70 million to help those most devastated by the pandemic. Allocating funds toward blight...

Regarding the letter “Jefferson may have OK’d Jan. 6 insurrection” (July 31, TribLIVE): Thomas Jefferson was a revolutionary. He wrote the Declaration of Independence in 1776. He wrote the Virginia Statute of Religious Liberty in the 1780s. His friend James Madison codified citizens’ liberties in the 1791 Bill of Rights....

Why is the turnpike raising tolls when they have almost $150 million of tolls that are past due (“Pa. Turnpike tolls to go up for 15th straight year,” Aug. 2, TribLIVE)? Sen. Kim Ward and her staff have known about this for several years and haven’t done anything about it....

For a while now, I’ve notice highway markings around the valley have been missing, unnoticed or disappearing. The public works departments are great and hard workers, especially in the winter when roads are snow- or ice-covered. But the markings at Route 366 (Tarentum Bridge Road) and Leechburg Road in New...

Kansas voters’ crushing rejection of the amendment that would have removed the right to abortion from the state’s Constitution sends a loud message to Pennsylvania’s GOP legislators. Underhanded tactics likely won’t play well here either, even with many conservatives. The Kansas amendment was deliberately worded to confuse voters and hide...

We need to elect a leader for governor who will take the initiative to get things done. But, wait, what sorts of things? Josh Shapiro, as attorney general, stepped up when a fight between health industry behemoths UPMC and Highmark threatened the care of thousands of Pennsylvanians. He brokered a...

To understand Joe Biden, you must understand the Peter Principle. Laurence J. Peter developed The Peter Principle, which states that a person rises to the level of their incompetence. In a hierarchical management system, a person is promoted due to past success until they reach a level where they can...

Letter-writer Kathleen Bollinger (“Jan. 6 witch hunt,” Aug. 4, TribLIVE) compares the investigation into the attempted coup against our government to the terrible events of the Salem witch trials, wherein hundreds of people were imprisoned and 20 were executed for their alleged crimes of “witchcraft,” all without a shred of...

Rights can be considered to be individualistic or society-wide. The Founding Fathers, understanding that individual rights don’t actually lead to freedoms, wrote the Bill of Rights to provide the American society with certain freedoms. Take the Second Amendment. When people cite it as justification for our lax gun laws, they...

Finally, true democracy in action. Hooray for the all the voters of Kansas. The issue of abortion was put on the ballot for the voters to decide. I think there was a bigger issue decided here. It wasn’t just the right to keep abortions legal, but the rights of the...

Pennsylvania Sen. Kim Ward is creating fear about a problem that doesn’t exist. That is clearly the point of her op-ed, “A step toward election integrity in Pa.” (July 24, TribLIVE). Voters are losing confidence in elections solely because of the Big Lie told by Republicans. The 2020 election was...

The House made the right decision in overwhelmingly passing the Big Cat Public Safety Act, House Resolution 263. Law enforcement and animal welfare groups agree that it’s reckless to allow private citizens without the resources and know-how to keep endangered tigers and lions in their backyards and basements. It is...

People who are quite old (me, for example) may remember the 38th POTUS (1974-77), Gerald R. Ford. He took some actions to stanch inflation, which was serious at the time and a walk in the park compared to what is happening now. He instituted a wage/price freeze and distributed lapel...

While growing up in North Irwin, I knew people with many different political and religious views. We still got along for the most part, and I miss that. During my lifetime, I’ve seen civil rights afforded to Black people. I’ve seen women get the right to own property without a...

“My body, my choice,” Planned Parenthood: Sounds to me that you want what James Bond has, “a license to kill.” Lots of aid is available to you if you want to keep your baby. Larry Howard Plum...

I’d like to offer letter-writer Sandy Kremer some factual corrections (“Stop legislators’ power grab,” July 29, TribLIVE). She claims constitutional amendments are done to “circumvent the bill-writing and vetting processes.” In truth, these measures must be approved in two consecutive sessions of the General Assembly. She claims that for a...

Letter-writer Robert Mitchell (“What the real science world says about climate models,” July 1, TribLIVE) states that climate models have predicted for decades that the global temperature would now be about 1 degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels, in good agreement with current measurements. Mitchell’s information is derived from a publication...

Many elites in the media and politics think populism is a threat to democracy. But are they correct? A dictionary definition of populism is “a political approach that strives to appeal to ordinary people who feel that their concerns are disregarded by established elite groups.” What’s so wrong about that?...

Ed Collins is wrong in his letter ”Jefferson may have OK’d Jan. 6 insurrection” (July 31, TribLIVE). Thomas Jefferson would not have approved. That insurrection was neither good, nor brief. It is ongoing, and I predict it will end in a Trump dictatorship if not stopped. Sure, Jefferson is famous for his...

According to the article “Chip shortage leaves 95K GM vehicles incomplete in storage” (July 1, TribLIVE), “The global shortage of computer chips forced General Motors to build 95,000 vehicles without certain components during the second quarter (of 2022).” The article notes that the shortage of chips has forced many automakers...

I rarely write to the paper, but this time I was compelled to do so. In my opinion, the big reason churches are forced to close in the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh has little to do with income, although it may be a lesser factor. I personally believe the major...

The writer of the letter, “Climate change hysteria destroying economy” (July 25, TribLIVE), is a master of irony. Could it be that he is blissfully unaware of the already destructive events in this nation and the world due to climate change caused by human actions? Record high temperatures in the...

The Democratic Party has gone from being the middle class, workingman’s party of the moderate presidents, Jack Kennedy and Bill Clinton, to today, the Biden/Pelosi/Schumer left-wing, socialist, Democratic Party. In order to promote their “religion” of global climate control, they are trying to eliminate the American gas and oil industry...