Letters do not necessarily reflect the position or intent of Vermont Daily Chronicle.
To the Editor:
You and I don’t buy helicopter gunships or bunker-busting bombs or F-16 fighter jets. As much as we might like to. As much as we might fantasize. The agencies who place orders at and keep the lights on at the likes of Raytheon and Lockheed-Martin are governmental.
Those same companies turn around and deluge Warshington with lobbyists, flush with cash. Cash that greases palms and ends up in the pockets of politicians. It funds election and re-election campaigns. It’s one big, giant wheel.
Within the last 6 months, both Victoria Nuland and Antony Blinken came out and said, essentially point-blank, that death and destruction anywhere on the planet is great for the U.S.: It means jobs for Americans. They left out the other half of the equation: A certain amount of the money that Warshington hurls at military-industrial complex companies gets kicked back to politicians.
If the Gazans aren’t completely genocided by our November election day, they surely will be if Biden, Trump, or RFK Jr. ends up in the White House. All 3 major candidates support Israel unconditionally.
If our proxy war against Russia hasn’t escalated to the level of WWIII before our November election day—and I’ll be very surprised if it hasn’t, given what just about all western leaders have decided in the last couple of weeks—the only major candidate whom I feel certain would ratchet everything back on that front is RFK Jr.
Anyway you look at it, the Gazans are toast. But the rest of the world might be saved—depending on how Americans vote.
As a final note, is anyone on this planet so dense as to think that CO2 emissions (that gas that Godness in their wisdom decided we should exhale, 24/7; that teeny-weeny trace gas in the atmosphere) can hold a candle to another global war, when it comes to death and destruction?
Sometimes I think that Mother Earth sends tornadoes and floods so that we might experience the type of destruction that we fund and engage in incessantly, in one place after another.
-Jacqueline Brook, Putney
To the Editor:
Cris Ericson, acting chairperson, is trying to start a new minor political party in Vermont, the United States Marijuana Party, because recent news reports a man in Rutland, Vermont was denied some unemployment benefits because he tested positive for cannabis marjuana even though that is legal under state law. His employer tested him for drugs under federal law. The case is now being brought to the Vermont State Supreme Court.
In the meantime, acting chairperson of a new proposed minor political party, Cris Ericson is trying to raise awarenes to the fact that this one case could devastate people in Vermont where 10,000 Vermonters received types of federally subsidized benefits such as food stamps, fuel assistance, federally subsidized housing, collge grants, medicaid, etc. If this one man is punished for using medical cannabis marijuana because it is NOT legal under federal law, then thousands of Vermonters could be at risk, and if they start losing benefits, then grocery stores and landlords and medical facilities and colleges will all suffer from the loss of federally subsidized benefits in Vermont. This feels like entrapment. http://crisericson.com
-Cris Ericson, Chester
Dear Editor:
I am writing this letter in support of the candidacy of Jan Payne of Andover for the office of state legislator representing the House district of Andover, Londonderry, Weston and Winhall. I have known Jan for nearly a decade and found her to be intelligent, articulate and most importantly honest. Seeing her potential, Jan has been approached and encouraged to run for a seat in the House by a number of experienced people who know her as well as the State governance process. She comprehends the need for critical seats to be filled in the state legislature to level the playing field in Montpelier, and will work tirelessly to represent her constituency to the best of her ability.
Our state government is in desperate need of political balance in the legislature. The tax and spend agenda imposed upon Vermonters by the supermajority in Montpelier is crushing us. This agenda is unsustainable and has to be tempered by representation that understands the damage that has been done to our ability to make ends meet and save for our futures. Jan has the backbone and integrity to vote NO on increasing taxes and YES to making Vermont a more affordable business and family friendly state. I encourage you to support Jan and vote for her in the Republican primary on Tuesday August 13 and in the general election on Tuesday November 5.
-Wanda Mauti, Andover
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