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MY BEEF WITH DAVID PIMENTEL The “studies” that David Pimentel has
done on ethanol production were sponsored by the oil industry [David
Pimentel, “The beef with corn,” Feb. 28]. I really wish people
would read David Blume’s book Alcohol
Can Be a Gas. It explains everything in detail
about the history of ethanol, the real reason for Prohibition, production
costs, and the lies of Professor Pimentel. Anything and everything to do
with ethanol is in this wonderful book! I agree that corn is not the most efficient means of
producing ethanol, but we have such a surplus right now, why not use it?
Besides, the mash left over from distilling corn can be dried and used as
animal feed (dried distillers grains), which is 100 percent better than the
original corn. Livestock animals cannot properly digest corn; only a small
amount of the nutrients are absorbed, while the rest goes through the
animal and is wasted. An extremely large percentage of the corn we grow is
for animal feed. We have the means to have the best of both worlds —
food and fuel from the same crops! Ethanol can be carbon neutral, because the carbon
dioxide produced from burning ethanol would be absorbed by the next
season’s crop, and you would only need fossil fuels the first time
you produce ethanol. After that you could use the ethanol you just created
to make more. Did you know that you could make your own ethanol
from old bread, doughnuts, pastries, or just about any type fruit or
vegetable? It’s easy, and the oil industry doesn’t want you to
know.
Darren Stewart Athens
WE NEED A NEW MLK STATUE I believe that the statue of Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr. at the corner of Capitol Avenue and Second Street is a disgrace to the
great man who helped change the way we Americans live and interact with
each other.
We need to replace that statue with a nice big statue
of King in a pose in which he says, “I have a dream.” It
is worth spending that money. We can do private fundraising. I pledge $100
and help to raise more. Also, why can’t we have King’s statue on
the grounds of the Capitol? There is enough room in front of the Capitol on
Monroe Street, as well as on Second Street. He was great enough a man to
have his statue on the Capitol Building grounds. Actually it will add to
the beauty of the Capitol if we install King’s statue on the north
side of the Capitol just as we have Lincoln’s statue on the east
side. Harish G. Bhatt
Springfield
INVESTIGATING THE WRONG “PATRIOTS”
It is disheartening to realize that in spite of the
fact that the CIA has admitted destroying tapes of prisoners being
waterboarded (after receiving legal advice warning them not to do so) and
that, for the first time in our nation’s history, the practice of
torture has been sanctioned by the so-called leader of the free world, a
leading Republican member of the U.S. Senate, Arlen Specter, has decided
that an illegal taping of a football practice by the New England
Patriots’ heads coach must be investigated by Congress but the facts
surrounding the allegations of torture in the name of the American people
are really not a matter of great concern and require no further inquiry.
What unprincipled, unmitigated gall to ignore the
physical — and certainly illegal — torture of human beings and
get all worked up over the possibility that one NFL team had an unfair
advantage over another. This is typical of the manner in which the
Republicans have used their political power to protect the most criminal
and corrupt administration in memory. Americans are not shocked by allegation of illegal
activities or cover-ups by our political leaders. We almost expect it. This is, after all, the land of
opportunity. Ed Lazarus Springfield
TERM LIMITS FOR CONGRESS With all of this talk about change I decided to read
the most recent Newt Gingrich book. Its title is Real Change. In this book Gingrich
does a marvelous job of chronicling the blunders that our government has
made and also lays out a plan. However, until we deal with fanatical
steadfast partisanship, neither his plan nor anyone else’s will ever
come to fruition. Real change means including the legislative branch in
the 22nd Amendment (term limits). This single simple change will allow
government to serve the people instead of itself. With this real change every elected legislative body
will be focused on the people instead of loyalty to a corrupted political
party, and should they lose their only possible reelection it’s not
the end but a new beginning in a world that they helped shape. While in
office, they will be able to stand firmly on the values and principles
defined in the Constitution, as was the intent of the Founders. With this real change, there will still be a spirited
debate, but it will not go on forever because the stimulus of political
survival will have been replaced with a desire to actually solve our
problems. The corrupting behavior of lobbyists, and those they corrupt,
will be punished instead of accepted as normal procedure. Some will say, “Impossible,” but someone
once said, “ ‘Impossible’ is merely a word that describes
the degree of difficulty.” If we don’t make this real change,
our government will continue to build bridges to nowhere, and millions of
people will continue to invest billions of dollars and waste billions of
hours in a broken system of government. Bob Ruble Springfield
COUNTING THE DAYS Whatever I read seems to boil down to the word
“torture” — torture of persons held as prisoners by
American fighting forces. How can this be? I can barely stand the word. How
can our American soldiers, the kids down the road, bend to such barbarism?
They ate cinnamon toast in my kitchen; they rode our horses and picked our
strawberries. By condoning the practice of torture, Bush and his
administration have slashed a great gash in the brains and in the minds of
those who were once our children. A part of them has now become heathen
— a trait never to be erased. No wonder we read of suicides in the
military. We pity; that’s all we do. We, the supporters of the command of the U.S.
military, own the blame for the great wave of atrocities our youthful
generation is forced to commit on others and on ourselves.
The world moves on with great technology and in place
of more abundance, but mankind has been knocked to the barbarism of ancient
kings and courts. What relief we will all experience when King George and
his court exit our national government. Our revival should exude peace with
joy. Ain’t gonna make war no more, no more. Jane Johnson Gilson
MORE TICKETS, FEWER POTHOLES At least twice a week I see cars parked on West
Washington during the no-parking hours. I sometimes walk toward downtown
and find people with cars parked across the sidewalk. I am sure that
illegal parking happens all over the place. How many tickets would it take
to repair the potholes? Maybe people who are guilty of minor transgressions
that are rude to the rest of us could cough up the money instead of all of
us paying even more for gas.
Patrick Johnopolos Springfield
A BAD MOON WILL RISE If Barack Obama is elected president of the United
States, the sovereignty of the United States will end! The Obama baby, in
nine months, will birth the New World Order clones! The United States of
America will become the United Nations of America! Spending $200 million for a $400,000 job is not
right, and Abraham Lincoln would turn over in his grave today! Obama has that silver tongue that promises the world,
the moon, and the stars, but talk is cheap. What has Obama done for the
average American citizen in the last three years in the U.S. Senate? In one
word: nothing! If Obama is elected president, the bad moon will be
rising for the destruction of the U.S.A. The New World Order gurus and the
United Nations of America pagan will destroy the United States of America
in a million pieces! The Wizard of Oz has lost his cause. George Culley Pinckneyville
This article appears in Mar 6-12, 2008.
