Web Extra Letters to the Editor

The letters we couldn't fit into print this week

A PLANET OF LUXURY

James Barber’s letter “A Future to Believe In” (1/25) is full of slogans but not wisdom. Are Oregonians going to celebrate building more ugly, energy inefficient, inherently unreliable windmills that kill birds and bats, and raise the cost of our electricity beyond our means to pay?

Solar energy in cloudy Western Oregon is a costly bad joke. Do we want to produce more biofuels, thus raising the cost of food even higher while speeding topsoil erosion and increasing, rather than
decreasing, air and water pollution?

Barber blames our fires and all our problems on “climate change,” which is not a scientifically valid observation. Too much fuel in the woods and lack of proper forest management was our problem, not
unusually hot weather.

There is nothing wrong with Earth’s current average temperatures. Barber has succumbed to a psychosomatic
illness, climate change fever, which has been pumped into his brain through years of political hype. Please watch “Climate Hysteria” on YouTube for the real climate facts stripped of politics and trendy new-age environmental religion.

Humans could increase atmospheric CO2 levels 300 percent and still exist in luxury on this planet with healthier, faster plant growth because CO2 is what plants eat. Carbon dioxide is the prime molecule all life on
Earth is made of, but too small a molecule to trap enough heat to make any significant difference in our climate. The limited light frequencies CO2 traps are already trapped by water vapor, so adding
more CO2 only makes Earth greener, not hotter.

Christopher Calder

Eugene

 

WE WILL ANNIHILATE YOU

Sometimes I think to myself, “There’s no way Eugene Weekly could make a comment or voice an opinion more poorly founded or ignorant,” and every time I am proven wrong.

Recently, Eugene Weekly put in a column that they supported tearing down the walls of Kesey Square to create access points for neighboring businesses. This suggestion is rooted in crony capitalism and against the common will of the free people of Eugene.

Kesey Square has survived attacks on its existence in recent years, first avoiding sale and complete destruction and then avoiding a name change based on elitist’s hatred for the Kesey Family. Now, since the haters of Kesey Square have failed again to sell or destroy the square and again to rename it, they seek to infringe on the borders of our city’s public square — just like how these Limousine Liberals infringe on the gun rights of honest hard working Americans — by chipping away at the edges with the end goal of complete annihilation.

Opening up the walls of Kesey Square to business entry completely destroys the essence of a free and public central town square. That land can and should be left alone for the good people of Eugene to exercise their rights.

Allowing the gentrification of that land by turning it into a walkway for elitist capitalist enterprise is a sham that EW should be ashamed of promoting.

Stefan G. Strek

Eugene

CLOTHING THE EMPEROR

The various iterations of the metaphor “the emperor has no clothes!” as used in reference to Donald Trump seems to me to be spot on: Emperor Trump does not have the clothes that, as emperor, he should be wearing.

Instead of clothes befitting an emperor of this stature, he continues to appear in a drab business suit with an obscenely long red tie. With the exception of his tie he looks like a carbon copy of any Wall Street high-roller.

I have not made an exhaustive review of the dress code recognized by emperors in other countries. But military headgear, gaudy displays of medals, sashes, side sword and the requisite shiny leather boots all seem customary.

However, the Emperor of the United States needs distinctively fitting attire. And here lies the problem: Who should be the designer?

I believe the solution is right under our noses: Eugene is blessed with many creative artistic clothing designers. The award-winning dress, made entirely of playing cards by one Eugene designer, comes to mind. Certainly, our emperor deserves no less — perhaps a flowing robe made from hotel receipts?

Must we run a refereed Design-the-Emperor’s-Clothing contest? If so, as an inducement, I would offer a $500 prize to the winning artist (tailor/seamstress) who designed the official robe to be worn by Emperor Trump.

Indeed, the Emperor has no clothes! Wake up Eugene.

Robert L. Weiss

Eugene

FREEDOM ON ICE

Siraj Hashmi in the Washington Examiner said it’s time to put feelings on ice that are offended by football players kneeling. That does not work for me, because feelings are not involved in this disparagement of the country equivalent to burning the Star-Spangled Banner.

Here is the clearest musical symbol of the Constitution I swore to support and defend. Therefore, for me, grievances must be solved while maintaining basic reverence for the country. My allegiance requires standing for the National Anthem, and kneeling to pray for my country. These actions proceed from the indefinitely binding oath excerpted below.

“I, Nolan Nelson, having been appointed an officer in the United States Navy, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same.”

When America’s fallen arrive at Dover Air Force Base, the caskets are covered with a star-spangled banner. When they are buried the flag is removed, elegantly folded, and given to a relative.

For me, contemplating this oath and that ceremony renders the protesters feckless and self-absorbed, and their causes become squalid and frivolous.

I remember when success was defined in terms of marriage, raising kids, career, etc. Now success can mean convincing others to adjust their behavior for the supposed emotional damage projected by people deciding to infect themselves with an apparent grievance. The result forces people into codependent relationships, which I will not join.

Nolan Nelson

Eugene