Boosters of oil drilling just don't get it

People who claim the answer to our energy problems is to drill for oil on our own property don't get it. First, the Earth harbors no infinite supply of oil. Eventually it will be gone. Then what?

Second, does anyone really think U.S. oil companies will give up huge profits just because oil is domestic? Don't count on it.

Our energy problems will begin to subside only when we come to that realization. There are alternative sources of energy that are not being exploited.

ERIC PEARSON

Atlanta

Think sustainable, long term

The administration's latest energy proposal offers no short-term economies and aims for the wrong ultimate goal.

Even were exploration to begin immediately, years would pass before lower fuel prices could be seen at the pump. Furthermore, the huge investment funding needed for drilling in ANWR and the continental shelf, extracting shale oil and constructing new refineries would commit us to many additional years of dependence on polluting technology.

Currently, oil company tax breaks are used to subsidize world-record profits and golden parachutes for corporate officers instead of encouraging nonpolluting solutions that could get us out of this energy mess years sooner. Teleconferencing, four-day workweeks and additional transportation options offer interim relief.

We must formulate policy that directs investment toward clean, renewable energy. Only a strategy that permanently breaks our oil addiction is the right energy goal.

JOHN S. LEVITT

Felton

A very likable 'As You Like It'

I wonder if Wendell Brock and I saw the same play, "As You Like It," at Georgia Shakespeare ("Bard's work cool enough without hipness of '60s," Living, June 18).

Although I have often disagreed with Georgia Shakespeare's "modernizing" of classical plays, I thought its interpretation of "As You Like It" was well-done. The 1960s-inspired costumes and music added to this charming comedy, and the cast should be commended on an energetic performance. A panning of Georgia Shakespeare's production of "Julius Caesar" a few seasons ago would be justified, as not even the "willing suspension of disbelief" could make a viewer believe that Caesar ever celebrated Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

My three theater companions and I, all former college professors of literature or theater and not ones to give a poor production a pass, would have given "As You Like It" a much higher grade than the mediocre "C" that Brock gave it.

FAYE CLARK

Clark is professor emerita of communication and theater at Georgia Perimeter College.

Workers falling through cracks

Michael L. Millenson hit the nail on the head in his column "A chronic case of 'not my problem,' " (@issue, June 11) concerning the rising number of middle-class workers without health insurance.

"They" are my son, who fell off a 5-foot retaining wall, broke his hip and shattered his wrist. Because his company keeps employees at just under 40 hours per week, he has no health insurance. Type 1 diabetes makes him uninsurable with private plans at any cost.

"They" are three of his friends, all employed. One was forced to come up with $3,000 in advance before treatment for an infected appendix. I don't presume to know the answer. But I pray that new leadership will put aside partisan politics (and earmarks that benefit only their constituents) to establish a public/private partnership that offers affordable health care for all workers.

MICKEY GOODMAN

Marietta

Luckovich the lobbyist?

Leave it to Mike Luckovich to run a parody of John McCain's reversal on exploratory drilling (which the vast majority of Americans believe is necessary) the day after Sen. Obama flip-flops on campaign financing (@issue, June 20). Obama's hypocrisy is astounding. Maybe Luckovich should apply for a full-time lobbying position with the Obama campaign and get paid for his efforts!

MATTHEW RACHELS

Dunwoody