August 7, 2008
Discuss Thursday's commentary and letters
Thoughts on life's dramas
John Long
Long, a Roanoke Times columnist, is director of the Salem Museum and teaches history at Roanoke College.
My meandering mind: some random observations about life I've made recently: I was cutting bushes the other day and it occurred to me that I had not seen a praying mantis in ages. I thought of other animals I used to delight in observing as a kid but seldom see anymore -- colorful garden spiders, box turtles, bats, monarch butterflies, blacksnakes, woodpeckers, etc. Where had they all gone? Then it occurred to me -- they're still here, I'm just too busy to pay attention to fauna anymore. I sighed and went back to trimming flora.
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For zero risk, high energy prices
Winston Porter
Porter, an environmental consultant in Leesburg, is a former assistant administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
If the effort in Congress to deny oil companies access to new areas for offshore drilling is a bad idea -- and it is -- then the consequences of such a political move are even worse: less oil, more volatility in gasoline prices and reduced funding for highway repairs and maintenance. The cost of congressional inaction would fall on motorists -- and ultimately on anyone who suffers from high energy prices.
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Who else for the team?
Donald Nuechterlein
Nuechterlein, of the Charlottesville area, teaches American foreign policy at the University of Virginia. His most recent book is "Defiant Superpower: The New American Hegemony."
Two issues will dominate the presidential election in November: energy costs and the lagging U.S. economy, and the continuing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Opinion polls show that John McCain is stronger on foreign policy than Barack Obama, but Obama leads McCain on dealing with the economy.
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Read Thursday's letters here.
Comments
[August 7, 2008 9:37 AM]
Ed S.John, you are right. While still working hard to restore the powerful yet neighborly values we see in yesteryear, I sometimes hang my head in sadness that we are increasingly ruled by a ignorant majority. Some examples you gave (disruptive child, pocket knives) are some of the more obvious.
[August 7, 2008 12:32 PM]
AmyI would like to respond to Barbara Myers' letter in regard to the dental clinic patients: THANK YOU!
I would not consider myself poor, I am blessed to have a house, a good job, and a pretty good car (and yes I have tattos, also!). Yet I dont go to the dentist as much as I should. Why? Fear is the main reason. My teeth are so bad that I fear the dentist and his staff will make fun of me(as it has happened in the past). I know the way my teeth are is my own fault from not taking care of them when I was younger. I waited too long, and now I need so much work that I would have to get it done over a span of years if I didnt want to pay out of pocket (my insurance only covers so much). Its a sno-ball effect.
I participated in the first MOMs clinic in Roanoke to get teeth pulled because my insurance wouldnt cover it. I am very thankful to all those who helped start that in the region (especially the HOPE program and Dr Alouf that worked on me personally).
Bottom line- no one has ANY idea the depths of anothers issues. DONT JUDGE!
Thanks again Barbara.
[August 10, 2008 3:43 PM]
JimI'm always skeptical of any survey showing a socialist like Obama being portrayed as better for our economy than an advocate of free enterprise and low taxes like McCain.
If you look at how providers of capital who are most at risk from an Obama presidency, then you'll see they prefer McCain.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080723/pl_nm/economy_usa_politics_poll_dc