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OPINIONS
Voice of the people
Support bill to save W.Va. land
What a vision! A large crowd chanting: "Our mountains. Our streams. Our Future!"
Wearing red, 1,000 people gathered in Frankfort, Ky., on Feb. 14, protesting mountaintop removal mining. I was thrilled to be there, showing my love for the mountains of Central Appalachia. I wonder: When could this happen in West Virginia? Soon, I hope!
Like the good people of Kentucky -- rallying around a "stream-saver bill" -- we now have a bill introduced that would effectively ban the massive valley fills created by mountaintop removal mining. Thanks to Sen. Jon Blair Hunter, D-Monongalia, for introducing S.B. 588.
We the people of West Virginia need to think about the legacy of our children and grandchildren. Do we want them to grow up in "Almost Heaven" or "Almost Level"? Do our children deserve clean water and abundant hardwood forests? Do we want them to enjoy the beauty of this state and region forever?
To preserve our heritage and our children's future, let's get behind S.B. 588 with all our heart, mind and soul. Like those in Kentucky, let's claim our power. Let's follow the vision: 1,000-plus people gathered and chanting: "Our mountains. Our streams. Our future!"
Robin Blakeman
Barboursville
Base your vote on issues that matter
As it gets closer to election time in the Tri-State area, I urge people to get more informed about the candidates. I have read several articles where women are talking about voting for Hillary Clinton just because she is a woman. Don't be blinded by the fact that she is a woman; look at what she is saying about the issues.
This country cannot afford four more years of the same old, same old, and with Hillary, that is what we will get (even if she can beat the Republican nominee).
Barack Obama is the best man for the job. He brings hope that we can turn things around in this country. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to afford health insurance, gas and food, and how about a family vacation?
We had eight years of the Clintons and eight years of Bush (12 if you count his father). Don't you think it's time for change? So come election time, vote with the issues in mind, not on the false rumors or the fact that there is a woman in the race.
Anita Snyder
Chesapeake, Ohio
Rahall added to decline of state
As a former resident of Huntington and a graduate of Marshall University, I enjoy visits back to the area trying to keep up with current events, friends and family. But over the years, I have become increasingly concerned about the changes that I have witnessed taking place in the area that I still call home.
The once-proud culture in the Mountain State of self-reliance, hard work and strong families appears to be in sharp decline.
I believe that most of the blame for this decline lies at the feet of liberal politicians such as Nick Rahall who implement huge entitlement programs that result in the creation of a dependent class of people. The moral decline created by this liberalism results in thousands of broken families and unwed mothers caring for multiple children on welfare.
The good news for Nick Rahall and politicians of his ilk is that these handouts buy votes and the affected people have become a reliable voting block.
Recently, Rahall accused the president of balancing the budget on the backs of West Virginians. If anyone is guilty of amassing a fortune and building a career on the backs of working families in West Virginia, it is Nick Joe Rahall.
Walter Quate
Carmel, Indiana
Clinton has what we need in president
I agree with the lady who does not want Ted Kennedy to pick our next president. May I add a little to that? I do not want Oprah to do likewise.
Barack Obama is raising millions more than Hillary Clinton. Are we all so naive that we don't know where his money is coming from? Oprah has picked him as our next president, and she will spend millions of dollars to see it happen. She says there is no gender or race issue with her choice. She simply wants him as our next president because he is brilliant.
"Give me a break," as Bill Clinton would say. We all know the truth.
Wise up and don't let a Kennedy or a very rich woman buy our president. Hillary Clinton has done much for our country, and if elected, she will continue to do so. We should all stop and look back at the Clinton administration. Hillary stood behind a good president, and if elected, she will have a good one behind her.
All I can say is, "You go, girl, and if nominated, I will be in line to vote for you."
Remember, the Republicans would love for Obama to be nominated because it will leave an open field for John McCain. Do we really want another Republican president in office who will keep the Iraqi war going on indefinitely? Think about it.
Nancy Young
Huntington
Columnist just as bigoted as others
On Feb. 10, a guest columnist lamented the fact that several of his party's state legislators support a "Marriage Protection Amendment." The columnist supports same-sex marriages and believes those legislators are mean-spirited bigots because they support traditional marriage -- one man and one woman.
All states in the past have established limitations on the issuance of a marriage license. They are two people of legal age, of the opposite sex, who are not close blood relatives nor already married. Why does he object only to the one limitation about "opposite sex"? Why not allow a marriage of three persons or close relatives?
If I am a bigot because I believe marriage should be limited to two people of the opposite sex, why isn't he equally a bigot for wanting marriage limited to two people? Does he support removing the other restrictions? Perhaps the guest writer could expand his ideas of diversity and advocate multiple person marriages, of any sex, to include blood relatives. That would remove all bigotry and make West Virginia the enlightened model for the entire country. Wouldn't it?
Ken Kirschenmann
Huntington
Future is shaped by our choices now
We are now in the midst of a new gilded age where the rich get richer and working families get debt. It has been fueled by a deep tax cut for the wealthy and the cheap inhuman labor of globalization. The U.S. national debt is now $9.3 trillion and is expanding at a rate of $1.4 billion a day. We have a president who is ultimately a CEO of the corporations and a vice president who says, "What the government does is none of our business."
We have an infrastructure that has been neglected since the days of the WPA, and water mains are destructing at an alarming rate. At a time when education is critical to our survival, universities have been taken over by corporations where the major interests are the bottom line and sports.
In spite of the fact that coal has almost destroyed our state, it is still the energy source choice by the powers that be. Take for example the federal appeals court that threw out the Environmental Protection Agency's approach to limiting mercury emissions. Coal-fired plants account for about a third of the 48 tons of mercury emitted. Mercury, which is a byproduct of burning coal, drops out of the air into lakes and rivers, where it winds up in the tissue of fish. If expectant mothers and children eat the fish, the mercury harms the brains of babies and children.
If we don't solve our problems, nature will. The future of our children is now being shaped by the choices we make today. It's time we make the right choices.
Winnie Fox
Huntington
Kennedy, Obama strange bedfellows
This letter is in response to Sen. Edward Kennedy's endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama.
Until then, I was a strong admirer of the Kennedy family. However, this latest act by Edward Kennedy has completely changed my mind. It really amazes me that these two limousine liberals can put ego above party at the expense of bringing back the "rising tide to float all boats."
Harry Truman once questioned John Kennedy's youth and inexperience, yet it was far more than what Obama brings to the table today. The late Sen. Lloyd Bensten is probably turning in his grave with the comparisons between Obama and JFK. Talk about hypocrisy; you never see any African Americans in those Kennedy home movies at Hyannisport. Perhaps it is because the closest they were allowed to come was to pick up the trash at the end of the driveway.
Joe Bialek
Cleveland
