POLITICS
Gingrich making fools of a gullible electorate
Newt Gingrich’s candidacy is a joke on the people foolish enough to sustain his high-living lifestyle. Maybe he really is foolish to think he can rekindle a career that crashed and burned years ago. American history is replete with has-been politicos looking for a little more glory, while their hands are out for easy bucks. What Gingrich surely knows, however, is that it’s a good gig for a guy who loves the sound of his own voice — and it can help him sell books.
Jim Connah, Sandy Springs
ENERGY
Raise fossil fuel output, yet seek alternatives, too
I’m chagrined at the stupidity of the arguments (pro and con) over alternative energy. You would think that some bright individual would propose a balanced approach to the problem. It is widely understood that the development of alternative energy (i.e., solar, wind, nuclear, geothermal and others) will take years to develop into a meaningful source of energy. There is also the consideration of transmission (especially in the case of solar and wind), where energy must be transported over long distances.
Fossil fuel is readily available, but restricted by the environmentalists and the administration. Sources for this fuel can be tapped into rather quickly, and this could alleviate some of the dependence on foreign oil. The balanced approach would be to increase the amount of fossil fuel produced while the alternative energy sources are being developed — until the alternative energy is substantial enough to replace the fossil fuels. When the two sources are balanced, then the transition from fossil to alternative can take place.
Fred Hahn, Roswell
IMMIGRATION
Leaders are too fearful of losing Latino votes
If I live in one county and enroll my child in school in another county and get caught, I may face a large fine. If I am an illegal, it seems I cannot be asked my status and, therefore, I guess I can enroll my child anywhere.
Too many politicians (our president included) are too afraid of losing the Latino vote to do what is legally correct. This country is “politically correcting” itself into oblivion.
Cookie McClure, Peachtree City
IMMIGRATION
Guest-worker program is a win-win system
I grew up in California in the 1930s and 1940s. I have lived in Georgia for 30 years.
California once had the Bracero Program, which allowed Mexican migrants to work seasonally in the various crops where they were needed. The system was a win-win. As with all such programs, it worked — until the liberal politicians and the labor unions got their fingers into it. A perfectly good and working program was destroyed in the name of “social justice.” The chink was in the way the labor contractors treated the workers. Rather than police labor contractors, the entire program was lost.
As you may have guessed, I am in favor of a guest-worker program. From my vantage point of 85 years, I feel that we don’t have to make every mistake ourselves.
Bill Procter, Sandy Springs
