Letters to the Editor, Feb. 26, 2010

Published: February 25, 2010

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A question of ownership

EDITOR: I smell a rat (U.S. government type) in this Toyota vehicle uproar. I cannot recall when the U.S. Congress held three (or more) hearings on a vehicle recall problem. Who profits by Toyota's misfortune at this time? Well, General Motors and Chrysler of course. Who owns a significant portion of both General Motors and Chrysler? Right! The U.S. government in all its wisdom and fairplay!

P.S. I do not own or ever have owned a Toyota.

Geo Houser

Burlington Twp.

It's the Merrill Parkway...

EDITOR: Not an expressway nor a speedway. It's a beautiful unimpeded stretch of roadway by the Susquehanna River in Towanda. Enjoy the ride at 25 mph, not up to 70 mph. It is frequented by walkers and joggers. It's also lined with businesses and homes, of which mine is one. Fast and loud vehicles disrupt the neighborhood for visitors, residents and wildlife. You'll get to your destination soon enough even when you follow the speed limit and be better for the experience.

Margo Fox Picou

Towanda

Ban open burning

EDITOR: There are now laws preventing smoking in public places, but when are we going to ban the use of "burn barrels" and open fires in our towns?

As a resident of Towanda and an allergy sufferer, I can tell you there is a real need to prevent this kind of burning.

We know what inhaling smoke damages the lungs and that babies and young children, the elderly and those with poor immune systems are the ones to suffer the worst damage. Towanda is full of these people, yet we still allow open burning in the borough. Why?

Why do we not ban all open burning within the borough as an effort to give our residents cleaner, fresher air to breathe and possible prevent allergies and illness?

I live on York Ave. and there are many times that my residence is permeated with smoke due to several neighbors burning at the same time. And it is very clear that they are not burning just paper, but garbage, dirty diapers, etc. Thereby putting dangerous carcinogens into our air for our infants, children and elderly or sick to breathe! We need to stop this horrid practice now!

Give our residents cleaner air to breathe, please. Do it now before hot weather sets in.

Rosemary Manuel

Towanda

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15 posted comments

Joe Doherty,
Thanks for the backup. You notice how they didn't address that, but went on with their rants. "Most" of the time that is the deal, they insult, call names, rant and ignore any evidence to the contrary. As far as the Toyota matter, it's interesting to see the circus, which was apparently not resorted to when US cars were recalled in the past. While I don't absolve them of wrongdoing, I do object to the spectacle of this. It looks like they are using this to grandstand and bash the competition, especially since the government takeover of GM etc. Remember the cash for clunkers and how the top sellers were Toyota?
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Former-MP,  02/27/10 10:59
So Ali G. you think waterboarding is bad. How about state sponsored and directed homicide? Someone driving along in a vehicle is blown to pieces on the order of the President of the United States. No attorney, no due process, etc. And we invade the airspace of another country to do so. And the President that does this? Barack H. Obama. Happens every day in Pakistan. When shall we start the hearings on that?

Please get your facts straight when talk about international agreements. The Geneva Convention only applies to the uniform combatants of a nation-state engaged in armed conflict with other nation-states. Not the case here. In fact international law allows for the summary execution of non-uniformed combatants caught committing or planning acts of violence during a conflict. Seems that Bush and Obama are on the same page and legally justified when ordering these missle attacks.

The hypocrisy of liberals and Bush bashers is absolutely incredible. They attack Bush and Chaney on measures that they took to protect the country while turning a blind eye to Obama taking the same drastic actions. Tell why should we bring terrorists to the continental US for trial or detainment? Military trials do have due process and event his administration has used them. Gitmo is much better and more humane than any number of maximum security prisons in the United States. Waterboarding? I've seen frat boys do worse. The information we got from Khalid Shiek Mohammed by this method was worthwhile and saved lives. You are not outwit a hard core terrorist such as him by warm and fuzzy psycho-babble techniques.

You have to do unpleasant things when you are in a fight against an enemy that desires not only your death but the death of your way of life. Even Obama has come to realize that. You then step back away from such methods when the time has past. We have done that countless times in the history of our country.

While you choose to live in a moral fantasy world, I'm glad the leaders of our country do not. Quite frankly it is too bad that that Khalid Shiek Mohammed and his colleagues were not caught in the crosshairs of a Hellfire missle fired from a Predator drone. I sincerely hope that more Taliban and Al-Quada leader and members meet this type of fate.

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ThomasPaine,  02/27/10 10:10
Ross, The tin foil hats they're currently wearing seem to be doing the job just fine. For Joe, I don't really care who or how many from which party were aware that waterboarding was occurring. And in Washington you can always find an attorney to cover your butt and tell you what you want to hear. The buck stops with the president, or in this case, the V.P., because I really don't credit Bush with the intelligence to understand what was happening, or to realize that it was wrong. He's a hapless goof who was just trying to bumble along in a job for which he was sorely unqualified. The evil and the intent to break the law lie with Cheney, who was really in charge all along.
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jail is too good for them,  02/27/10 7:54
Joe & Joe: Now seems like a good time to let you know that I'm putting a discount on my handmade tinfoil hats for paranoid right-wingers. How does 50% off with free shipping sound?
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Ross,  02/26/10 11:53
Thanks, Thanks, but I didn't really need your input. Joe, do you watch television? Did you hear Dick Cheney just days ago admit that he personally ordered waterboarding? Did he understand that that was illegal? Did he know that it was specifically prohibited under the Geneva Convention, to which America is a signator? Do you wonder how much Libby was paid to take the rap for the outing of a CIA operative? Can you honestly say you don't believe that was specifically ordered by Cheney? Can we talk about war profiteering? It has always been treason, but in Iraq and Afghanistan we seemingly forgot that historical mandate, and allowed numerous private contractors to make billions off a war that was illegal in and of itself the first place. I don't hate Bush or Cheney. I feel sorry for Bush because my party convinced him that he was presidential material when he wasn't morally or intellectually fit to function dog catcher. While Dick Cheney might deserve my hatred, I hate more what he did to a once noble country, reducing us to the status of street thugs. And he still doesn't "get it", and continues to rub our noses in it when he should have enough dignity to shut up and fade away. No offense intended to the honorable profession of dog catcher.
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Ali G, from the GOP,  02/26/10 10:49
Let’s see now, the original post from "Ali" said Bush should be jailed. I asked for facts to back up his heavy statement. Ali did not respond however “thanks but no thanks” and “Robert” did; neither of which answered my question. “Where is the supporting data to put President Bush in jail?”
I will answer Mr. “Thanks but no Thanks” first with just a small smidgeon of irrefutable facts complete with sources. They follow below. If you can jail Mr. Bush for approving what was then a legal form of interrogation then you must jail the others who signed on with him on this as well. Actually you cannot do it anyway since at the time it was legal. I don’t know why I bother myself with you ostrich like people. WAKE UP AMERICA!
As far as Robert’s snip that Mr. DuPont and I have become the leading recruiters for the Bradford County Democratic Party, I ask; who are they? How many people are left in that camp? On a national basis, your leaders are packing their bags and hitting the exit turnstiles quicker than the roadrunner zooming by Wylie Coyote. Again from the left, NO DATA, just self serving innuendo. Rave on guys, nobody is listening to you.

Try this: http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Rice_gave_early_waterboarding_green_light_0423.html
The US Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel orally advised the CIA on July 26, 2002, "that the use of waterboarding was lawful," a finding it put in writing on August 1, 2002, the timeline said.
A US congressman, Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, spoke out Thursday in an opinion piece against Obama's decision to release details of the enhanced interrogation techniques, saying "members of Congress from both parties have been fully aware of them since the program began in 2002."
"We believed it was something that had to be done in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks (of 2001) to keep our nation safe," Republican Hoekstra wrote in The Wall Street Journal.
"After many long and contentious debates, Congress repeatedly approved and funded this program on a bipartisan basis in both Republican and Democratic Congresses."

And this from:  http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/271387

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) attended secret CIA briefings on interrogation procedures that clearly laid out the details of waterboarding and other "harsh" CIA interrogation techniques in 2002.
Pelosi and other Democratic Party members on the committee had full knowledge of waterboarding technique and queried CIA as to whether waterboarding was harsh enough to extract information. The Speaker and other attending Democratic Party committee members voiced their approval, and encouraged the CIA to go forward with their program that included water boarding according to a Washington Post article dated December 9, 2007. There are multiple accounts of Pelosi's involvement and approval of "harsh" waterboarding techniques used on terror suspects planning and fighting against the US civilian population.
Democratic members of Congress with direct knowledge of the matter who held oversight roles during the period include Pelosi, Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), and Rep John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.VA). None of the Democrats took any action against the CIA program while they were charged with its oversight while they were responsible for oversight. A growing number of Americans believe that if there is going to be an investigation, it should start with Nancy Pelosi among others, however the Democratic Party is only interested in investigating Republicans.
Some say Pelosi is laying low now, letting Obama and Clinton attack the CIA, former President Bush and the military for fear that she will become implicated due to her direct knowledge of CIA procedures prior to it being termed "torture" by leading Democrats and Barack Obama. Obama has flip flopped on his intentions and it is now unclear what his intentions are although he has left the door open to prosecuting the people who defended the US for using such techniques approved by Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats in 2002.

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Joe Doherty,  02/26/10 7:53
Keep up the good work Joe Doherty and Joe DuPont. You are becoming the top recruiters for the Bradford County Democrat Party.
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Robert,  02/25/10 8:33
Ali G. well if you need any help on the Dick Cheney issue, how about water boarding? Of course I would love to hear your "facts" Mr. Doherty? I have a feeling those facts are all major hype. I guess it depends how you see it. Some people it is great to do such things, but others don't think when people admit to all kinds of things because of water boarding that they didn't even do, that perhaps the intelligence might not amount to much. Of course since Cheney had lawyers that gave him the go ahead he is in the free and clear. As a matter of fact I have a feeling I have already read just about all the baloney that you are ready to spread about our current Commander in Chief and quite frankly I am just not all that interested. Sadly some people just don't want to hear from someone who has a bit of intelligence. I wonder if it scares them.
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Thanks, but no thanks.,  02/25/10 5:54
Ali G: That's quite a statement you made there about President G.W. Bush and Dick Cheney. "Jail” you say, can you back that up with fact or is this something spawned by your personal hatred for them? I am not slamming you; I would just like some provable information from you that's all. As far as jailing or impeaching a president, I have lots of facts I can give you about your current CIC.
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Joe Doherty,  02/25/10 3:42
Joe DuPont; If you think Obama is evil, what must you think of Dick Cheney, or of 'W' Bush? Both of them should be in jail, but Obama, our great constitutional scholar, is too much of a wimp to do what should be done; what the law demands. As a result, we don't learn from history, and leaders yet to be elected will believe they can commit treason and get away with it. Ignorance of the law can not be used as an excuse at the county level, and should not be allowed at the federal level. "My attorney told me it was OK" should not immunize lawbreakers from prosecution.
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Ali G.,  02/25/10 11:57
All these congressional "investigations" every time there is a major news story are just an opportunity for those in Washington to showboat for the cameras. It is absurd how often they do this.
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Buck,  02/25/10 10:15
Margo Fox Pico,
That Expressway is so beautiful that I don't even see why they don't make it five miles per hour. I mean Towanda just goes by too fast as it is. Whenever I enter the town it amazes me how it is so small, yet it takes almost an hour to get from one end to the other. Since it is a highway, they could have never blocked off some of the houses like in Tunkhannock and used it as a highway (heaven forbid, and let the walkers have a platform, or anything so that way people could actually not have to get up a whole hour early to make it through the town. However, it is a quaint little place isn't it? I guess eventually once all the gas is gone, and when nobody wants to live there because the job situation is so pathetic, then maybe it won't matter so much that it takes at least an hour to get from on end to other, most especially on a Friday. That Parkway certainly is not used to cut down on any of the traffic at the speeds it is posted at, but yet York Avenue should be more of a major thoroughfare? I simply can't understand the thought process?
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I don't get it?,  02/25/10 9:51
Dear Joe Doherty,
I thought about that chip concept but did not know that perhaps some others had the same suspicion. You only found coke bottles in the doors of Ford, Chevy , Chrysler cars.. as I recall.
It would make some sense.. seeing how everything is being orchestrated in this new administration of Obama Land.
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Joe DuPont,  02/25/10 9:27
I believe that Mr. Houser might be on to something. Remember when FORD made the business decision not to recall the Pintos? They felt that it was cheaper to pay the medical bills of the burned people than solving the problem!!!!! That was MURDER. Well the Toyota workers are also guilty of being non-unionized! Union workers will have their paid health benefits subsidized by you!
Obama Obama Obama.. what an evil man.
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Joe DuPont,  02/25/10 9:19
Dear Geo Houser: Saint Rush Limburger says this federally sponsored “raping” of Toyota has at its root a single cause; UNIONS. “General Motors & Chrysler are United Auto Worker (UAW) union employers, Toyota is not.” (End RL quote) . (My thoughts) Ford is also a UAW employer but was not part of the Automobile makers bailout “government takeover” so they are not involved in this overkill investigation.
This US Government tribunal is humiliating the CEO of Toyota while it is hinted (from other sources) that the problems with their vehicles could well be industrial sabotage; i.e. altered “chips”. Could it be possible that someone really high up has a debt to pay to the unions and this may be partial payment? Remember, our citizens paid the price in blood and wrecked vehicles!
Service Employees International (SEIU) Union President Andrew Stern has visited the White House 22 times as of six months ago far more often than any other invited guest. As a leader in the national AFL/CIO of which the UAW is part do you think there may be some kind of connect-ability here? I am a retired union worker myself but understand that this once worthy idea has long since been corrupted by politics. We have come a long way from Walter Reuther, George Meany and Ronald Reagan as well. The first two started these organizations (for good cause) while Reagan busted one; the Air Traffic Controllers (for just cause.) Maybe it is time for the right to work law huh? We have an opportunity in PA to do this, choose your gubernatorial candidate well.
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Joe Doherty,  02/25/10 7:19