Talk radio: Little substance

Every day we see letters from frustrated Americans in the D-H. They are seeking answers to our country's problems by listening to conservatives like Savage, Rush, O'Reilly and Larson on talk radio. They say Obama is totally wrong about everything he does, but they never give us any solutions.

How about, enough of the talk-talk-talk guys? If you know all the answers, let's hear them. No, all they know what to say is: It's the liberal media or the liberals or the Democrats.

Maybe that's why they call it talk radio. Lots of talking and little substance.

Jack Long, Jefferson

Food stamps: It's not junk

I have read a lot of articles about people saying that soda, chips, or cookies and other junk food shouldn't be bought with food stamps. I am a person that gets food stamps for me and my kids, and feel that what we buy with them is our business not any one else's.

If one of my children gets sick I give them 7-Up or Sprite to help their tummies. If I am making nachos for lunch or taco salad for dinner, I buy chips to go with it, and for picnics or camping I buy chips because it is something that my kids like, and not all chips, soda or cookies are bad for you.

I purchase 100-calorie snack packs of cookies that are good for you, and diet soda, and corn chips or chips that are whole wheat.

So people shouldn't say that that stuff shouldn't be bought with food stamps, because there is nothing wrong with eating healthy.

Jsoenne Krueger, Albany

Enforcement, but how?

I wonder if the people who want to control how food stamps are used have any good ideas how this could be done?

It has been suggested that the food scanners could be programmed to reject inappropriate items. Can you imagine the checkers informing people that some of their choices have been rejected?

Would they then have carts nearby they would place these rejected items in, and would extra people be hired to restock these items, some of which are frozen?

Perhaps there would be cards throughout the store to label those rejected items "not eligible for food stamp purchase." Or perhaps there could be separate grocery stores with "legal" food stamp items.

Who exactly would choose those items? I assume there would be a working group composed of dietitians, university food science and public health nutrition directors, and representatives from the American Dairy Council, the National Science Foundation, homeless advocates, the Beef Council, and Betty Crocker.

We would not have to worry about any such lists of "legal" items being devised any sooner than five years. I suppose they would have to be paid for their services, at a cost of tens of millions. In fact, there could be a whole new government department, under USDA, with a cabinet position called director of food stamp compliance.

I used to be a WIC nutritionist on an Indian reservation, and I got several calls from people wanting to know if we could control how food stamps were used. These same people were not concerned about how commodities, also still available on the reservation, were used, because they were not interested in rice, beans, flour, skim milk powder or mystery meat, although they would have used the cheese and butter.

Briana Walker, Lebanon

Let's speak for life

We recently marked the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that made it legal for women to terminate the life of their unborn babies. Since then over 50 million lives have been lost through abortion.

It started with performing abortions when the babies were tiny, referring to them as fetuses. The frightening thing is that this "permission" to kill the unborn has now extended to the process by which fully formed human beings are stabbed in the head as they emerge from the birth canal (partial birth abortion). Respect for life is being diminished. What's next?

Barack Obama is championing the agenda of a women's "right to choose." Our rights come from God, the creator of the universe. In his inaugural address, President Obama referred to the founding fathers and this is a partial quote from it: "But because we the people have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebears and true to our founding documents ... ."

Our declaration of independence states that all are born equal and have the "right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Those 50 million babies who were innocent victims were denied their rights.

We are not remaining true to the ideals of our forefathers. They formed our government on biblical principles.

Children are a gift - precious lives entrusted to our care. There are options other than killing them. Women in dire circumstances need to be helped and supported so they are not alone.

There are consequences for choosing evil. I pray for our government that truth, justice and mercy will prevail for all. I hope more people will stand up for innocent babies. We can all do something - pray, vote, speak out and financially support and volunteer to help groups that encourage the good choice: life!

Marge Alden, Albany

Rate hike saves money

Believe it or not, the PacifiCorp ratepayer hike proposed in the Oregon legislature for Klamath dam removal is the best way to save ratepayers money.

Engineering estimates suggest that federally mandated fish ladders and water quality improvements would cost the company millions of dollars more than dam removal, making SB76 the cheapest and most prudent solution.

The legislation effectively directs the Oregon Public Utilities Commission to recover up to $200 million to finance the removal of four fish-killing hydropower dams on the Klamath River.

If passed, SB76 will put negotiators working on a final dam removal agreement one step closer to realizing that goal.

Klamath Riverkeeper is pushing negotiators for several key changes in the agreement in principle to make dam removal more viable-namely stronger safeguards for water quality, limited immunity for PacifiCorp and securing money for removal independent of a California water bond. Rate recovery in Oregon that protects power customers goes a long way toward viability.

The small amount of power from these dams can be replaced with other clean, renewable resources such as the sun and wind. But dam removal is the only way to restore fisheries to their rightful place as an economic base and cultural staple of the peoples of the Klamath River and ultimately, the entire Pacific Northwest.

The take-home here is that power bills will go up in any scenario; SB76 is the smartest possible scenario for ratepayers and the river.

Erica Terence, Ashland