Letters Save SCEE The idea that the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education intends to market the 22 acre parcel at Eva Street and Port Royal Avenue for development is an oxymoron to me. The Schuylkill Center’s mission says that its primary purpose is to promote through environmental education the preservation and improvement of our natural environment by fostering appreciation, understanding, and responsible use of the ecosystem. Passing off 22 acres of primarily native forest that supports unique species of flora and fauna to a developer ready to build multiple units runs highly contrary to and undermines the Schuylkill Center’s mission. I hope the Center will reconsider its intention. Willard Terry Missing column A question: What happened to Marie Lachat’s column, one of the very beset things about our weekly newspaper? Mary Walsh Thorell Pain in the pocketbook While I feel that The Fall for the Arts Festival is a welcome part of life in Chestnut Hill, I have to say that the parking/traffic nightmare it creates is most unwelcome. I live on Abington Avenue, a block from Germantown Avenue, and on the day of the festival, I drove around for over 30 minutes trying to find a parking spot that was within a mile of my house. Not only were there no parking spots, but the area was so congested with traffic that every turn I made brought about encounters with other unhappy drivers looking for a place to park. Finally, exhausted from the hunt, I reluctantly pulled next to a row of cars that had been parked on a patch of grass near Pastorius Park. When I returned to my car several hours later, I was not surprised to find a ticket, but I was shocked to find a $100 ticket. I find it reprehensible that the Parking Authority would ticket a local resident this outrageous amount of money during the day of a community festival (on a Sunday no less). I called the Chestnut Hill Business Association to see if there was anything that they could do to help me out, and while they were very friendly, their suggestions of next time parking in one of their $5 lots, or that I should call and complain to the Philadelphia Parking Authority, just didn't seem to help the sting of $100 being ripped from my pocket. While I would like to continue to see this fall festival, I urge the organizers of the festival to take more responsibility in working with the city come up with a more reasonable parking plan for both residents and visitors alike. Dov Campbell Editor’s note: The Parking Authority does not work during the Fall for the Arts festival. CHBA executive director Suzanne Biemiller told the Local she believes a resident probably saw cars parked in Pastorius Park and called the police, who came out and wrote the tickets. Impeach, don’t elect For three years, since the events of 9/11, President Bush has argued that in invading Iraq, he has fought the good fight against terrorism and the forces of evil that attacked us. Yet, every day, more reports — including those of the 9/11 Commission and a New York Times investigation on "Skewed Intelligence" (Oct. 3, 2004) — confirm that in invading Iraq, Bush attacked a country that had no connection to 9/11, no WMD, no nuclear program, and which had neither attacked, nor threatened to attack, the United States. In taking us to war, President Bush falsely claimed that our military intelligence had clear evidence that Iraq had WMD and a nuclear program — claims that were rejected by many in the intelligence community and which have been proven false. For launching a war that violated international law as well as for the abuses at Abu Ghraib and other prisons, President Bush should be impeached, not reelected. Let him retire to Crawford. There he will not have the power to further jeopardize the balance of a world already teetering on the high wire. David Culp Vote for change I have lived through the greater part of the 20th century and can well remember the great depression. President Herbert Hoover did not lift a finger to relieve the pain and suffering of the nation. Starvation, homelessness and despair covered the land. Children were dying of hunger, farmers were leaving their fields unplowed, potatoes were dumped in the ocean because there was no money to buy, and then the banks closed. Business was at a standstill. In 1932, during the election, Republican Herbert Hoover, promised “a chicken in every pot.” But the people responded with the demand for change of direction. Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected. Despite the growing fears of the fascist terror and war, the people organized, marched to Washington, picketed, and they sat down and took over factories, demanding relief. It was to the credit of the new president, that he listened, watched the polls and we won immediate relief. The National Recovery Act was passed and we won the biggest jobs program the nation had ever seen. Dams were built, parks restored, roads, schools and the arts were funded and much more. We won Social Security, unemployment compensation, Veterans benefits, farm aid and the Wagner Labor Relations Law that guaranteed labor’s right to organize unions. This was a president that responded to the peoples’ needs and the people honored him. He was the only president to be elected four times. This is the kind of “liberalism” that George W. Bush denounces. He says he was not elected to respond to “we the people” but to do what he thinks best and stick to his guns. Ask any senior if he or she is willing to give up Social Security. Ask any worker if he or she is willing to give up workmen’s compensation or unemployment insurance. Ask any veteran if he or she is willing to give up veterans’ benefits. We have new needs and demands for the welfare of our country. We need jobs at a living wage, an increase in the minimum wage, an end to racist and sexist discrimination, healthcare, quality public education and an end to terrorism and we need peace. If this is called liberalism, so be it. We must vote for change, not only for the presidency but for the Congress as well! Frances Gabow Success owed to community My daughter, Caroline Shuman, worked on a benefit for the Christopher Dalske memorial raffle and fundraiser for the Sunshine Foundation, dedicated to suicide prevention. The Chestnut Hill merchants graciously and generously contributed in such a wonderful way that the event was a huge success! Caroline and the event organizers experienced, once again, how privileged we are to live in a community committed to important causes and the well being of others. Thank you all! Ginny Maine GOP to blame for uncivil climate I have been mulling over a response to the letter from Ken Powell in the Oct. 7 edition of the Local wherein he was complaining about the lack of civility he was encountering this political season. I am acquainted with Ken, and to the extent any incivility has touched him or his family directly, that is too bad, because Ken is a decent person. However, he must look to his own GOP for the genesis of the current climate. How do you maintain civility when a President who is selected by a 5 to 4 vote in a locked room governs with the ideological arrogance of someone who has won a landslide mandate? How do you maintain civility when a President who benefited from the most egregious form of affirmative action (rich white father, Yale alumnus) but who would deny reasonable affirmative action to those who might actually need it? How do you maintain civility in the face of a President who, having avoided service in Vietnam and some of his Guard obligation, has his minions denigrate the very real combat experience of his opponent? How do you maintain civility in the face of a President who in effect is telling the victims (and their families) of tragedies such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s that they matter less than the frozen embryonic byproducts of fertility clinics that are destined to stay forever frozen in a drawer? How do you maintain civility when the President won’t let economically strapped seniors get prescriptions cheaper from Canada? Canada is not a third world country, their societal health statistics are better than those of the U.S. Their drugs are certainly safe. How do you maintain civility when the President’s number two man (Dick Cheney) can publicly tell a U.S. Senator to perform a biological impossibility and the President says virtually nothing? Is the White House no better than a locker room? Most importantly, consider this. The U.S. Constitution is one of the finest creations in the Western world. From its admittedly imperfect beginnings, it has always been expanding, being made ever more inclusive. How do you maintain civility when, for the very first time, a President wants to amend this document to enshrine bigotry and discrimination by the so-called “gay marriage” amendment? If the GOP is truly concerned about the institution of marriage, they would have commented on their icon, Newt Gingrich, who served divorce papers on his wife while she was recovering from breast cancer. When you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas. If you choose to be part of the infrastructure of a party that causes such incivility, you are going to end up scratching. Richard Saunders An arsonist hoping to be fireman Let's say a man lights his own house on fire — but continues his daily routine because he believes the flames will fizzle out on their own. Another man sees the burning house and says, "Try doing something else!" Instead of changing his course of action, however, the man in the house says, "You do not have a plan to fight this fire. I am the one who lit these flames — and that proves I know a thing or two about fire." What would you think if you learned that man wanted to run the fire department? Would you hire him for the job? One of the more confounding complaints against John Kerry is that he "doesn't have a plan to fight in Iraq." President Bush and Vice President Cheney repeat this constantly. It's one of the few remaining arguments Bush supporters have to inoculate the President from criticism of the conduct of the war in Iraq. How dare John Kerry suggest he could do anything with the mess we've got in Iraq? Anyone who says he can solve that disaster is lying. So is John Kerry lying — or just naive? That supporters of George Bush rely on this argument is evidence they've run out of plausible defenses for this administration's foreign policy. Ultimately the argument boils down to this: my guy screwed things up so badly your guy shouldn't even pretend he could do better. After all, who wants to contemplate death and loss on the scale this President has unleashed? George Bush has upped the ante so high, many can't bear the idea of losing so much and accomplishing so little. In these strange and confused times, it seems only trivial errors of judgment are held against presidents. Breathtakingly monumental errors of judgment are not. Even more amazing is how Bush uses the crisis in Iraq to paint himself as strong and resolute. President Bush uses this war to prove he is a man strong in the face of adversity. There was a crisis after 9/11. Bush reacted to this crisis by launching this war in Iraq. He then uses the very crisis he created in Iraq to show the need for even more strength and leadership. I say: let's try a president who won't create tragic messes. Bush is an arsonist who believes setting fires qualifies him to be a fireman. Every time this President shows "strength" and "leadership" he ends up solving one problem by replacing it with another. The difficulty is, of course, we now have two unsolved problems — Iraq and the War on Terror — each draining the resources needed to solve the other. To complain that Kerry might be weak in his conduct of a disastrous war Bush himself caused is beyond hypocrisy. Personally, I tend to believe those who show poor judgment in the past are more likely to show poor judgment in the future. This war is a hugely wasteful testament to Bush's poor judgment — and while he sits in a burning house, he has absolutely no business suggesting Kerry would do any worse. Robert Slack Vaccine crisis The current crisis over the shortage of flu vaccine prompts a question about how to resist the virus without a flue shot. Health professionals advise keeping yourself in the best possible general health, building up your immune system with certain nutritional supplements and a good diet, keeping off sweets and emphasizing dark green leafy vegetables. James Balch, M.D., author of Prescription for Nutritional Healing lists a number of nutrients to consider. Below are the most easily obtainable and effective ones. I have not included the dosages he suggests, as they are quite high. Perhaps one should rely on one’s experience with vitamin supplements in deciding this point. • Vitamin A, antioxidant and immune booster • Vitamin C with bioflavonoids, strengthens immune system by increasing the number of white blood cells • Zinc lozenges, potent immune stimulant that nourishes cells • Garlic capsules, antiviral and antibacterial properties • Multivitamin and mineral caps, needed for healing • B Complex, needed for healing. Quite aside from resisting the flu, this program had been found by many people to help maintain good health throughout the ordinary rigors of winter. Worth a try! Patricia Stokes |
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