Letters to the Editor: Pipeline is not for the ‘public good’

If you go to your doctor for an annual checkup and the doctor says your cholesterol is high, is that the end of discussion?

That is the way Summit Carbon Solutions addresses the need for its dangerous, wasteful and unnecessary pipeline. They sell this project on the need to remove CO2, without acknowledging there are two types of CO2.

“Good” CO2 that is necessary for plant food production and “bad” CO2 generated by the burning of fossil fuels.

Your doctor will work with you to promote “good” cholesterol and reduce “bad” cholesterol. Summit’s pipeline project removes "good" CO2 and increases the production of "bad" CO2. This is the opposite of the intended outcome of a project claimed to be for “public good.” Summit has bought and paid for Iowa's politicians that are supporting this pipeline project. It’s time to elect people who are public servants.

Gordon Garrison, Estherville

Another day in paradise

How many times have I heard people who live in good health, have a job, have money and behave in a controlling way say this?

They complain in a good-natured, annoying way as if we should feel sorry for them.  Oh, the Audi has a dent.  The air conditioner is lagging.  The heat is coming up too strong on the second floor. They can’t find the arugula at their local grocery store.  Their retirement fund is only at $1 million — how can they retire on that? Their children are experts on computer games and they stay on so long — how can they possibly get good grades at their exclusive school?

About 80 million Americans are experiencing this sort of affluent lifestyle and life trajectory.

The other 266 million Americans are in a different boat. They are the ones that the affluent are standing on. Living off of. Extracting from. In fact, almost 40 million Americans are living below the poverty line.

So, when I used to hear this sort of whiny, pasty complaint spoken with falsetto intonations of suffering unknown and incomprehensible I used to feel sick to my stomach. Now, I just do my work. I try to help my neighbors and friends, even if I don’t like them.

One day all this will change. Just as Jesus said we will always have the poor with us. We will also have the rich. The poor of spirit who pass through life without really living.

Alfred Brock, Wayne, Mich.

Kennedy backpedaling

Vaccines have saved 174 million lives over the past 50 years, according to “The most comprehensive modeling analysis of historical vaccine impact,” as reported in the highly respected medical journal Lancet. (Dec. 17, 2024, theconversation.com)

This study encompasses 194 countries and 14 different pathogens, including diphtheria, influenza, hepatitis B, polio, rubella, tetanus, TB and yellow fever. Soon Covid-19 will be on that list.

The Lancet article says, “Vaccine since 1974 has made the greatest contribution of any health intervention to mortality reduction and years of full health gained.” So, HHS nominee Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. wants to destroy the technological equivalent of the wheel, the internal combustion engine and the computer chip, all on his ignorant say so.

Kennedy is currently back pedaling from his long-time abolitionist position and is now saying he doesn’t want to take vaccines away from those who want it, only from those who don’t want it. Who wants a shot! If he institutes this policy we will lose “herd immunity” in America.

Herd immunity is the protection everybody gets because the great bulk of people get vaccinated and this prevents the virus from infecting even science-deprived people who don’t want the shot.

Kimball Shinkoskey, Woods Cross, Utah