March 19, 2024

Letters 10-12-2015

Oct. 9, 2015

Our simple rules: Keep your letter to 300 words or less, send no more than one per month, include your name/address/phone number, and agree to allow us to edit. That’s it. Email info@northernexpress.com and hit send!

Replacing Pipeline Is Safe Bet

On Sept. 25, Al Monaco, president and CEO of Enbridge, addressed members of the Northern Michigan Chamber Alliance. His message was, "I want to be clear. We wouldn’t be operating this line if we didn’t think it was safe."

We pretty much have to take him for his word.

In cooperation with Michigan Tech, Enbridge has employed an underwater device that will reveal the external condition of the line four times each year. In addition a surface buoy will provide continuous water and weather conditions.

But what about the internal conditions of the pipe, now reaching 60 years of age? There is another device, the "smart pig," that Enbridge uses to monitor from within, having diagnostic systems which can identify problems in the wall due to corrosion, cracking and other damage.

Why don’t they reveal this data to the public for reassurance? Because, under government agreements, they don’t have to. Something is wrong here. I believe betting on the safe side: Replace the line now. The gamble is too risky not to.

Thomas E. Hagan, Empire

Know The Root Of Activism

Author and rabbi Harold Kushner has said, "People become activists to overcome their childhood fear of insignificance." The need to feel important drives them. They endeavor good works not to help the poor or sick or unfortunate but to fill the void in their own empty souls. Their various "causes" are simply a means to an end as they work to assuage their own broken hearts. And they move easily from one issue to another, searching fruitlessly for the one thing they desire most, respect.

Activism is therefore ultimately selfish; it uses other people for its own personal reasons and, in the end, cares very little about those in need.

RD Johnson, Gilmore Township

Climate’s Cost

One of the arguments used to delay action on climate change is that it would be too expensive. Such proponents think leaving environmental problems alone would save us money. This viewpoint ignores the cost of extreme weather events that are related to global warming.

Think of the cost of the extreme weather event in South Carolina that not only cost human lives but has damaged infrastructure. Since 2010 we have had six such extreme weather events. By taking action now, we can prevent a more than two degree Celsius global temperature increase, which would save us huge sums in the long run and livable damage in the short run.

Besides property damage, the burning of fossil fuels affects our health. For each degree increase Celsius caused by increase CO2 emissions in our atmosphere, the resulting air pollution would lead annually to about 1,000 additional U.S. deaths and many more cases of respiratory illness and asthma.

Contact your representative to join his fellow Republicans in supporting a resolution on climate change.

Ronald Marshall, Petoskey

A Special Edition Cuckoo Clock

The Republican National Committee should issue a special edition cuckoo clock commemorating the great (and lesser) debates and campaign 2016.

This clock has 17 (or 15, or 13?) cuckoos on two levels, emerging only on the right side. Each cuckoo tries to stick out farther right than its competitors, squawking that it’s the rightest, until they all get tangled up in lunacy and lies. The pendulum swings only to the right, never coming back so far as an Eisenhower-era center, and has no weights or counter-balances.

A special pied piper feature plays patriotic hymns, hypocritically appealing to racial segregationists, small-government anarchists, wrathful religionists, and antieverythings. He pops out on a tiny train, throwing caricatures of all those people the cuckoos despise onto the tiny tracks, under the tiny wheels.

The clock’s roof is made of impervious material, so that compassion, evidence, higher order thinking, rational discourse, and real climate science slide off without making any impression on the cuckoos.

The hands of the clock are gold-plated, with little money bags marking the hours, befitting a party so enamored of profits. Major donors receive solid gold keys so they can wind their clock up and watch it run to their tune.

Of course, the clocks only have to run for another 12 months, when they should be retired to a "cuckoo’s museum." But anyone who recognizes the pernicious effects of right-wing assaults on the poor and middle class will simply want to throw the cuckoos out at the first opportunity.

David Newhouse, Cadillac

Problems On The Left

Contrary to letters in the Oct 5th edition, Julie Racine’s letter is nothing but drivel, a mindless regurgitation of left-wing stuff, nonsense, and talking points. They are a litany of all that is wrong with the left: Never address an issue honestly, avoid all facts, blame instead of solving; and when all else fails, do it all over again.

She is right about one thing, though: Half -- actually 51 -- of the country is unhinged. That is the group that put Obama in office and then, after seeing what a disaster and shame he was, put him back in office to continue his war on the American Republic.

Carole Underwood, Maple City

Thanks, Jack

It is so very difficult for the average American to understand the complex issues our country faces in far off places around the globe. (Columnist) Jack Segal’s career and his special ability to explain these issues in plain English in many forums make him a precious asset to all of us in northern Michigan. Pay attention to what this smart, courageous man says to us.

No politician can do what he does.

Ralph Cerny, Traverse City

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