Letters: Time to see through the politician’s act; Congressmen failed during time of need

Time to see through the politician’s act

Magicians and politicians know the secret to success is diverting audience attention away from the real action. That’s how they sneak something past those not really paying attention.

There’s no harm in this with the magician. After all, we fully expect to be hoodwinked. The magician and the audience are partners in the entertainment.

But there’s a terrible cost to all when the politician performs this act.

Congressmen Thompson and Keller, Pennsylvania Senator Corman, and Pennsylvania Representative Benninghoff are experts in keeping our attention away from their real act.

They grab our attention by attending our parades and festivals, cutting the ribbon at the new fire hall, and handing out grant checks and Eagle Scout badges here in their home districts.

Then they return to Harrisburg or Washington and do the real action, the part of the trick that matters, the real harm. They bow to party bosses and vote to cut environmental protections. They vote against expanding voter access and in favor of voter suppression. They vote for tax cuts for the rich and vote against support for the very people who elected them, the rural and needy.

If you go to Las Vegas it may be difficult to figure out the trick, but it’s pretty obvious here at home. The magicians make good money from their trickery. So do Thompson, Keller, Corman, and Benninghoff.

It’s time to see through their act. It’s time we stop letting them get away with smiling — and hosing us — at the same time.

Congressmen failed during time of need

Last week, I participated in Mel Curtis’ awesome food distribution effort by helping distribute food to needy folks in Penns Valley. Driving home, I thought about how hard Mel was working to ensure no one went hungry during this trying time. It is heartbreaking to realize so many people out there absolutely need this help, but heartwarming to know there is someone out there who recognized that the need was there and organized help to do something about it.

I think Congressmen Glenn Thompson and Fred Keller would benefit from working with Mel Curtis for a week or so. Apparently, they don’t know how close to the edge many people are living because they voted against the president’s COVID relief bill.

In the previous four years, they made over 100 attempts to take away health care from 20 million Americans and they supported a massive tax cut that added $1.6 trillion to the deficit that mainly benefited corporations and the richest Americans, yet they wouldn’t vote to help local restaurants who have been devastated by the pandemic, and they wouldn’t support a tax credit for kids and low-income families, and they wouldn’t extend unemployment benefits for those out of work, and they wouldn’t support funding for COVID vaccinations.

The sad part is that we keep voting against our own interests by sending these people back to congress every year. Just when we needed our elected representatives to help us during our time of greatest need, they just weren’t there.

DOE rules negatively affect consumers

In December, the Department of Energy finalized new rules to roll back water efficiency standards on shower heads, washers and dryers.

These rules negatively affect consumers. They call for shower heads using so much water that families could run out of hot water in as little as 10 minutes. The previous standards helped typical households save about $500 a year on utility bills.

Given that central Pennsylvania has had drought watches as recently as last summer, along with two-thirds of Earth’s land on pace to lose water as the climate changes, I strongly disagree with these wasteful, short sighted water regulation rollbacks. When clean water is crucial to our survival, the last thing about which we should be cavalier is wasting water. Write the Department of Energy at the.Secretary@hq.doe.gov and share your concerns.