January 24, 2019 600 AM
Dear editor, If this is American greatness, I’d hate to see America’s decline. A great nation does not turn one citizen against another, treat the disinformation of one cable news network as truth, or separate young children from their mothers who are seeking a life free of rape, assault and poverty. Despite a strong economy and a low employment rate, in the Trump economy we have children living in poverty and hunger, and a majority of American families living paycheck-to-paycheck, unable to raise $400 in an emergency, as recently reported in the news. A great nation does not turn against it allies of 70 years or embrace a former enemy who continues to undermine its democracy. A great nation does not allow polluters to poison its air and water in the name of deregulation. A great nation does not attack its institutions of national security or refuse to pay it public servants for services rendered in protecting its citizens. A great nation does not hollow out its State Department or undermine its diplomats working abroad. A great nation does not incur trillions in public debt to favor its most privileged citizens with a huge tax cut. A great nation does not allow its critical infrastructure, its roads, its bridges, its water and wastewater systems to degrade, thus threatening the health and welfare of its citizens. A great nation does not turn a blind eye to illegal money laundering and tax avoidance schemes. A great nation rectifies its mistakes by changing its misguided leadership. Thank goodness that here in America we have the rule of law and the opportunity to change presidential administrations every four years. A great nation’s citizens step up to their responsibility. They protest against authoritarianism, cronyism, unequal treatment of its citizens, and they vote. Pending the release of special prosecutor Mueller’s report, we may not have the opportunity to vote Trump out of office. America’s greatness will be on the road to recovery once our current incompetent and possibly criminal president is no longer resident in the White House in my opinion.
Joel Gormley Alpine
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Dear editor, In a letter to this paper last week the author wrote, “I have portrayed the president as someone who is working for the American people.” That’s an incredible statement considering how cozy Trump is with Vladimir Putin. Meanwhile the president portrays himself as this super negotiator/ businessman who “knows more” than all the true experts. Former U.S. intelligence officials, ambassadors, military leaders and many others portray the president as “a clear and present danger to democracy in the United States.” Scores of congress members and past and present public officials portray the president as a pathological liar, a crook, an inept childish bully and dozens of equally non-flattering terms including being the worst president in American history. My point is that most of these portrayals are opinions, not necessarily facts. The fact remains that only around 40 percent of Americans believe the president is actually “working for the American people” while some 56 percent do not believe it. The fact remains that multiple bankruptcies seem to prove the president is a totally inept businessman (unless you believe shafting suppliers, contractors and workers defines a great businessman). Of the other portrayals, the pathological liar description is easily proved; a crook, most likely; inept childish bully, pretty obvious; worst president in history, we’ll see but that also looks pretty obvious. The author of last week’s letter also wrote, “Migration is often about redistribution of wealth, not asylum, not freedom.” If you consider leaving a dirt poor existence and going somewhere with decent economic opportunity “redistribution of wealth”, I agree. But to downplay the horrors many migrants have endured in their home countries, in my opinion, is both callous and irresponsible. Remember the saying about walking in someone else’s shoes? Finally, in last week’s quote about Africa, “mutual respect” among the various ethnic groups was said to be instrumental in the successful integration of one group into another. The problem we have is that America is not Africa and our president and large numbers of his political party have no respect for non-white immigrants. Or non-white American citizens, for that matter. And that is a disgrace.
Fred Gossien Terlingua
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Dear editor, My wife and I have been reading the Sentinel for over 45 years, and have enjoyed every issue. We started going to Marfa country before it became tourist and artist oriented. The town existed for the local residents. We no longer visit the area because of the changes. We have traveled and hiked over the Chinatis, Sierra Vieja, Big Bend, etc. many times. We have met some wonderful and interesting people in the area. I remember when Presidio was just a remote, isolated community. We always enjoyed eating at the Oil Flyer when it was open. We shopped at Spencer’s store in Presidio and were amazed at his merchandise. Enough of my rambling. My main purpose of this email is to relate to you an article that was in a copy of the Midland Reporter Telegram newspaper dated January 13, 2019. It was about Gary Oliver, my favorite political cartoonist. The article originated in the San Antonio Express-News and was written by John MacCormack. You have no doubt read the article and knew about the info it contained, but I learned a lot of very interesting background about Gary. Very talented man. Wish I could have met him. You are very fortunate to have such a person on your staff.
The Sentinel has to be one of the best newspapers in Texas. Ardis McCasland Jr. Big Spring
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Dear editor, The difference between a northern polar bear and a southern polar bear is that the former eats raw salmon on his melting ice flow, and the latter will only eat pan-fried catfish in his kitchen. The coal that is burned in the casting of the iron skillet and the gas or electricity used to fry the fish indicts the southern bear for heating up and destroying the environment of all bears, whereas the Yankee bear is held blameless, provided he admits the bear factor in global warming and sends a Polar representative to the next climate change conference. Humanize the situation and that is pretty much what is being foisted on the public. There’s a lot of money involved for lawyers, lobbyists and scientists (through grants)—all subject to manipulation by politicians, who, like the poor, will always be with us. One of the things I learned during the four decades I spent climbing trees in urban forests, second growth forests and ancient forests, is that city, state and federal management of forests is subject to politics more than science. Here are a few basics to consider before you lose your cool (pun intended.) Peaks in the amounts of solar energy striking the earth occur at intervals of 100,000 years, 41,000 years and 23,000 years due to three factors. First, eccentricity of the earth’s elliptical orbit, which is modified by the gravitational influence of other planets and varies by their positions. Second, tilt (wobble) in the earth’s rotation and third, precession causing the point of the sun at the equinox to continuously move westward; precession is caused by the gravitational attraction between the earth’s equatorial bulge and the sun and the moon. The mathematically predictable results have been cross-checked with 450,000 years of data encrusted in Indian Ocean plankton shells. Explanation: the ratio of the oxygen 18 isotope to the oxygen 16 isotope in samples of calcium carbonate (shells of plankton) is temperature sensitive and records the temperature at the death of the organism. In other words, the real-world data supports the math. 6,000,000 years of data have been collected. Eight major glaciations of the earth have occurred in the last 800,000 years, followed by warmings. We are in a warming period. Warming periods last tens of thousands of years. It took 2,000,000 years for the current Arctic ice cap to form. Asians migrated on foot across the Bering Straits to North America 18,000 years ago. Enough ice melted 1000 years ago for Leif Ericsson to sail to Greenland, his son Eric the Red to sail to America, and for the Vikings to cross the North Sea, sail up the Seine River and sack Paris. Human migration and competition for resources accompany all climate change. The settlement of what became the United States started as a migration from Europe in 1500 AD and could not have been accomplished before the year 1000 AD. The suspensions of solid particulate matter (referred to by scientists as aerosols) in the air that influence the reflection and the retention of the sun’s rays (which vary by 11-year cycles) allow clouds to form that absorb some of the sun’s heat and warm the planet but also scatter incoming light, reflecting 30% of it back into space. The effect of greenhouse gases on Earth’s climate is one percent of the 30% or .3 of 1%. Mankind’s total contribution to greenhouse gases is a not-easily-determined percentage of that. I prune trees and remove dead ones to provide nature and mankind with a valuable service. I ride a bicycle to run errands in town and to tour the USA and other countries because I enjoy it. I think that’s why we should be energy conscious and pollute as little as possible—so that we can enjoy the planet without playing Romulus and Remus ahead of our knowledge and technology.
Rex Redden South Brewster County
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Editor: On behalf of the families and individuals who marched in the 3rd annual Big Bend Area Women’s March, the organizers would like to thank the Alpine Police Department and Brewster county judge Eleazar Cano and his staff for their for their assistance and support during the planning and execution of this year’s March. We appreciate the opportunity to safely exercise our American right to peaceable assembly. Respectfully,
Organizers Big Bend Area Women’s March
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Dear editor, Recently, the President offered temporary DACA relief to entice Democrats into breaking Party solidarity over funding the wall and ending the government shutdown. Let’s unravel the untruths promulgated blaming the Democrats. The following is easily verified in print and online publications.
1) The President said he’d accept the mantle of the shutdown.
2) The President reneged on signing the funding measure he, Democrats and Republicans agreed upon before the shutdown. 3)The President berated Speaker of the House Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Schumer, then stormed out of the meeting when she said they would not approve $5 billion of wall spending;
4) Senate Majority Leader McConnell has refused to bring the House budget measure to a vote, although it is the same measure the GOPapproved in December when controlling the Congress.
5) The GOP didn’t pass a wall spending package while controlling the Congress and White House for 2 years.
6) Wasn’t Mexico paying for “The Wall”? What basis is there to invest tax monies; add trillion dollar deficits, or give political credibility to a documented daily liar? Should conservatives demur, remember last November’s elections? Voters overwhelmingly rejected the modus operandi of GOP revisionism, and the President’s unfounded anti-immigration and pro-border wall contrivances. Notice, too, his pandering to fear of a non-existent invasion of refugees seeking legal asylum ‘coincidentally’ ending immediately after the election! Observe. Learn what happens when Lucy holds the football inviting Charlie Brown to kick it – again.
Rev. Barry Abraham Zavah Alpine
