Letters 6/9/05

June 8, 2005

Buried alive
I was placed in the hole at Jackson Prison in January, 1990 for an escape from there on the 26th of that month.
Four other men had escaped with me. They too were put in the hole. The first to get out spent four years and nine months in the hole, at Jackson and I-Max. The other three men were all in the hole for 10 years or more before being let out to the prison general population.
I am the only one still in the hole. In the 15 years and two months I have spent in the holes, at Jackson, I-Max, Oaks and here at Marquette Branch Prison, my neighbors have committed suicide (two here at MBP late last year alone), attempted suicide (too numerous to keep track of over 15 years) and poked their eardrums out to get a reprieve from the noise that is a constant in the hole, cut their fingers off just to feel “something,” tried to chew their own arms off.
I am 56 years old. Being middle-aged and spending all day, every day, in this maddening environment has taken more of a physical than a mental toll - - or so I tell myself.
The prison officials will not tell me why the others were let out of the hole and I was not. They will not tell me why I have been kept in the hole for over 15 years. They won’t tell me when I might be let out of the hole; nor do they tell me what I might do, or refrain from doing, to earn a release from the hole.
They have simply buried me here.

James Chipman Prison No. 130130 Marquette Branch Prison

Why we have a Senate
Daniel Tomaski of Gaylord, I am tapping upon my portable blackboard with a piece of white chalk to get your attention (re: Letters, 5/26). Tap, tap, tap...
Contrary to your woefully ill informed opinion, the United States Senate is not an egalitarian body empowered by the framers to preserve the rights of the minority.
For your edification I will list the three main reasons why the Senate exists as a Federal legislative body:
1.) Two legislative bodies create more wisdom.
2.) “...the equal vote allowed to each state [in the Senate] is at once a constitutional recognition of the portion of sovereignty remaining in the individual states, and an instrument for preserving that residuary sovereignty.”
3.) By requiring that a senatorial candidate be 30 years of age and by adding four more years to the term of office, the framers of the constitution hoped to ensure intellectual and emotional maturity in the body of the Senate, whereby stability in government might be better assured.
I see by the clock our time has expired. Your homework assignment is to read The Federalist Paper number 62 written by James Madison. You are now dismissed.

Steve A. Redder • Petoskey

Long Emergency redux
James Kunstler’s “Long Emergency“ doesn’t ignore the details, he commits error after error. If I were to write a review of his book I would have to write another book to explain all of his errors.
His message, however, is not in error.
Oran Kelley complains he ignores the details and then does the same thing, and even worse, he follows Karl Rove’s advice, “when the facts don’t support your conclusion imply that the facts are in doubt.“ (Re: “Don‘t Panic,“ Express 5/27.)
Kelley is distracting readers away from the problem with trivia. The shape of the oil production curve doesn’t matter, whether oil production is going up, down, or staying the same doesn’t matter.
Consumption matters because it is increasing faster than production.
When consumption matches production and there is no slack in the system, what do you think will happen to the price of oil? How many shortages will be caused by panic hoarding?
The facts are not in doubt, oil consumption will match oil production very soon, my figures indicate before 2010. Global warming is real and we will need more electricity for air conditioning. Have you paid attention to the temperature records over the last two decades? Have you paid attention to the rivers around the world going dry for some time during each year? Have you paid attention to the glaciers melting?
Have you paid attention to the electrical brownouts? What about the water problems in the West? Wake up America.

Richard Riker • Mackinac City

Where‘s the outrage?
As a trade journalist I used to do something news reporters consider unthinkable: before a story was published I submitted it to a source to check it for accuracy.
In the news business, that invokes a taboo called “prior restraint.” Before Newsweek included a line about the Koran being flushed down the toilet, they submitted it to the Pentagon for evaluation. There was no response for 11 days and when it came it did not mention the toilet incident.
The result is that there has been outrage among Moslems, riots and deaths. Yet the Newsweek report was not new, and those who perceived Newsweek as liberal have pounced.
But consider this: it is illegal to bring into Saudi Arabia any items of a religious nature that are not Moslem. Anyone who has traveled to Saudi Arabia will confirm that Christian Bibles, Jewish testaments, crosses, stars of David and other non-Moslem religious paraphernalia are confiscated and destroyed. So where is our outrage?
The Saudis protested that when U.S. forces were stationed there they included some Jewish personnel. Jews are not permitted to visit Saudi Arabia. The U.S. military refused to exclude Jewish personnel and prayer services were held in secret on base.
So where is your outrage? What? No demonstrations in front of Saudi embassies or Moslem mosques? No riots protesting Islamic intolerance of other religions? Maybe it’s because the Saudis have oil, and your gas pump price means more to you than respect for your religion.

Harley Sachs • Houghton