Letters: Disappointing decision in Spanier case; Polls leave questions for Republicans

Disappointing decision in Spanier case

It is sad and disappointing to see the decision of a judge to uphold the sentencing of Graham Spanier for what is essentially third party guilt in his actions of more than 10 years ago in the Jerry Sandusky case. To sentence Spanier to two months in jail does nothing to provide restitution to the victim of Sandusky’s actions. It will not serve to prevent recidivism on Spanier’s part. He has already had to live for more than 10 years with this shame hanging over his head. He is, obviously, not a “threat to society” as a 72-year-old with prostate cancer, and there are few lessons to be learned by the mistake that he acknowledges. This is simply pure retribution for that and this punishment does not, indeed, fit the “crime.” When one sees a former president pardoning dozens of individuals who have truly harmed society, there are real lessons to be learned, i.e., that power is more important in going to jail (or not) than years of doing good in society and erring once. One hopes that Spanier’s time in prison can be swiftly modified to four months of at-home serving of his sentence or that this sentence be commuted, entirely.

Polls leave questions for Republicans

A recent CDT letter by a Port Matilda man cited a poll as reason to investigate the 2020 election. The writer states that because 36-47% of Republicans believed the election was “problematic” it should be “a priority for the swing states to figure out what went wrong.“

There’s zero evidence anything went wrong with the 2020 election. The Rasmussen poll shows that gullible people believed Trump’s lies. That’s what’s “problematic.”

If polls matter so much, perhaps the author can tell us why Republicans won’t give us sensible gun laws when poll after poll show the vast majority of all Americans support them.

Or why Republicans won’t expand health coverage when, according to Pew Research, a majority of all Americans say the federal government has a responsibility to do so.

Or why our Republicans won’t act on the climate crisis when two-thirds of all Americans believe the government is doing too little to address it.

Or why Republicans refuse to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection when, according to a Quinnipiac poll, 55% of all Americans say the attack on the Capitol was an attack on the very foundation of our country.

Or why Republicans in Congress won’t vote for the For the People Act to limit the influence of money in politics, end gerrymandering, or provide for easier/more secure elections, when 67% of Americans support that.

Finally, a Newsweek poll found “the majority of Americans want Trump to remove himself from politics entirely.”

That would be a poll to follow!

Representatives’ response to gun violence

Thanks to the CDT for running the story, “Victims of shooting recalled as loving, kind-hearted, heroic” (May 28). Nine more average Americans, just going about their jobs, mowed down in the tidal wave of gun violence that happens only in America.

And what are our representatives in Congress doing to try to bring an end to this madness? I mean Reps. Glenn Thompson and Fred Keller.

Do they promote even the simplest, common-sense actions that would reduce gun violence? No, they don’t lift a finger.

So, next year, it’s time for another tidal wave: a tsunami of Pennsylvania voters who will throw out these do-nothing representatives, and replace them with members of Congress who will work for the lives of Americans, not for their campaign donors in the gun industry.