Sounding off: Pa. not so welcoming; Biden destroying nation; GOP suppressing voters; working together on climate change

Vote to make Pa. more welcoming

I am a local physician who has been practicing in Greensburg and Latrobe since 2009. I would like to point out that some of my physician colleagues are not white. Some are not Christian. Some are immigrants. And they are the kindest, most caring and most morally upstanding people you would ever want to meet. I have seen many excellent physicians leave the area over the years, and I know that it is very difficult to recruit new talent.

I am left to wonder if my colleagues would have stayed if our community had been more welcoming, if they had not faced racist comments at restaurants, if their children had not been teased in school because they don’t celebrate Christmas or if they were not afraid to let mothers go to the grocery store wearing hijabs.

I want to retain the talented physician pool we now have, and I would love to recruit more physicians to Westmoreland County. Already, patients have to wait months to see a neurologist. Already, we have no local rheumatologists. Already, we have a severe shortage of psychiatrists.

When you are voting this November, please consider this: Which candidate is going to help Pennsylvania recruit talented professionals, regardless of race, religion or country of origin? Which candidate will drive them away? For the health of our community, please vote wisely.

Dr. Marti Haykin

Unity

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Biden destroying our nation

I disagree with letter-writer Leonard Mucci (“Biden has done much good,” Aug. 17, TribLIVE), who wrote that President Joe Biden has done more good than 45 could do in a lifetime as president but never gave examples of Biden’s achievements. In the 19 months since Biden’s inauguration, our country has fallen apart. In my opinion, let’s be honest — Biden is only in charge of his ice cream flavors.

Let me help Mr. Mucci understand the Biden administration’s destruction of our nation. Since his inauguration, inflation has risen to 9%, gas prices are up 44% and energy prices are up 54%. It’s difficult to purchase a new vehicle, small businesses have been destroyed and our country is divided. I don’t think Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act will have any impact on helping working, middle-class Americans or lower inflation.

The Inflation Reduction Act contains funding for elements of the Green New Deal and will add 87,000 new IRS agents. The American taxpayer will pay their salaries. I cannot afford to have more taxes removed from my paycheck.

In my opinion, the Biden administration has weakened the military; the Afghanistan withdrawal was an embarrassment and Biden’s border policies are allowing criminals, drugs and sex trafficking into our country.

I believe the Biden administration’s and the Democratic Party’s goals are a globalist new world order, censorship, cancel culture, socialism, open borders, teaching young children about critical race theory and transgender issues, defunding the police, reducing the military and ending the Second Amendment.

Wake up, America, before our freedom and liberty are gone.

Pamela Anderson

Mt. Pleasant Township

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‘Election integrity’ is just voter suppression

Pennsylvania Rep. Eric Nelson’s piece “Pennsylvania is Exhibit A for why election integrity matters” (Aug. 11, TribLIVE) repackages voter suppression as ‘election integrity’ in a coordinated Republican disinformation campaign. See the same talking points from Sen. Kim Ward (“A step toward election integrity in Pa.,” July 24, TribLIVE) and “Camera Bartolotta: Pennsylvanians need to know that the people elected were really elected” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 4, 2022). Coincidence?

Nelson calls for states to remove dead people from voter rolls. This already happens. Officials removed 84,577 deceased voters and 180,918 out-of-state movers from the Pennsylvania voter rolls in 2020. Pennsylvania also requires risk-limiting audits, the gold standard for secure elections. The 2020 election was investigated extensively — largely by Republican election officials — and found to be the most secure ever.

Nelson calls for all elections to happen on the same day. Does he mean getting rid of mail-in voting, instituted in 2019 by the majority Republican Legislature? Because we already have one day for voting — it’s called Election Day. This year, it’s on Nov. 8, when I will vote for Democrats who won’t waste our time on nonexistent problems but focus on the economy, climate change and protecting individual freedoms.

Elaine Rybski

Point Breeze

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Let’s stop fighting and work together on climate change

Your article, “Biden signs massive climate and health care legislation” (Aug. 16, TribLIVE), was good to see. I cannot stress enough how much investing in Pennsylvania’s future is aligned with fighting climate change. As someone working with businesses and educating future decision-makers, I know how important all efforts to reduce pollution are to improving the future of Pennsylvanians, providing jobs and enabling a healthier population.

A solution is already available to us that can have a multiplicative effect with this new climate legislation. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) is a bipartisan multistate program that works by setting a cap on pollution from power plants and then reducing those caps each year. So the air keeps getting cleaner and cleaner each year while also requiring power plant owners to pay for their pollution, thus incentivizing them to cut their emissions even faster. We can then invest the money raised in renewable energy projects and energy efficiency and conservation, which further cuts climate pollution.

Pennsylvania has officially begun participating in RGGI, but a lawsuit by coal and gas industry interests is trying to stop this. We need to stop fighting each other, and, instead, invest in RGGI and fight climate change together.

Robert Sroufe

Blawnox

The writer is Murrin Chair of Global Competitiveness in Duquesne University’s Palumbo-Donahue Graduate School of Business.

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Is pope giving Biden a free pass?

I am not now or will I ever be a Biden Catholic. The Catholic Church has laws; the government at different levels has laws. No one is above the law, not even President Biden. The pope is supposed to be the guiding light for the days of our lives. I think he is giving Biden a free pass before he slinks into retirement.

Edward G. Biskup

Penn Township, Westmoreland County

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When will our leaders address border drug crisis?

It is wonderful that the drug manufacturers will pay $26 billion for a national settlement as a result of the opioid epidemic, but in my opinion, this money will do nothing to combat addiction. When will we address the real cause of this epidemic?

I’m sure these addicts are not getting these drugs from their doctors. There were nearly 2,000 pounds of fentanyl seized in July alone by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers. Will there be a federal lawsuit against the drug cartels as well? There were over 108,000 overdose deaths last year.

When will the murderous cartels be stopped? When will our government address the border crisis? Until then, our children and grandchildren will continue to fall victim to President Biden and Vice President Harris’ policies and the resulting damage. People must open their eyes and mouths! Will our children pay the price of our government’s stupidity?

Sandy Hahn

Jeannette

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Catchy names won’t help Americans

Amazing how quickly our politicians have learned that it’s not what’s in the many bills they vote on. It’s giving them a catchy name. This automatically sells it to the masses of blind faith followers.

Who can vote against the Save the Puppies Bill even if it contains millions to fund 87,000 new poop-scooping agents to monitor if you are keeping your yard clean and free of puppy waste. (You know … climate safety patrol stuff.)

Remember, if the name sounds good, then the bill is good. Simple. Don’t worry about reading the 1,200 pages. We’ll see what’s in it after it’s passed.

It’s not like something called the Inflation Reduction Act might include $700 billion to fight inflation caused by … you know … overspending.

I’m ready to Build Back Better as long as it does just that! (Whatever that means.) It’s not like it’s going to give billions to rich folks to help buy electric cars, right?

I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to Make America Great Again by Building Back Better, doing things a “For the People Act” might do and any other glorious plans our two parties have for us.

I’m letting my representatives know that I’m 100% in favor of the Electric Planes Will Be Tested by Congresspeople Act. You?

Imagine how many wonderful things our parties could do if they didn’t spend 90% of their time investigating each other, grandstanding for the cameras and sitting around trying to figure out what comes after “trillions.”

Tim Kaczmarek

Natrona Heights