Republicans don't follow oath of office

Editor:

I believe in being fair to someone I do not agree with, so I was trying to listen to Republican Mitt Romney. At an appearance, he began by showing he remembered when a child how to say the Pledge of Allegiance. The audience joined in. He repeated it accurately. That was the total sum of his accuracy. Everything from there on was total criticism of our president and his so-called failed policies; whatever that means to a Republican. They use it a lot.

Our president did not and has not failed the American people. Since the election of 2010, the total Republican Party has been absent from the work that members of Congress are responsible in carrying out. Remember the promise of Sen. Mitch McConnell? It must be the Republican's first responsibility to see to it Barack Obama is a one-term president.

I call upon Shelley Capito to return to Washington and pass the jobs act bill the president sent a year ago for building roads, repairing bridges, upgrading schools, and such. She owes it to this state to do just that.

I gave Mitt Romney a fair listen only to learn that for one to profess to be a minister, he is extremely careless with the truth. The first 25 minutes into his fault finding, he proved to be more of a liar than a minister.

Since the election of 2010, the Republican Party went on a strike to try to make President Obama a one-term president. This to me is a violation of their oath of office to act as a member of Congress and to uphold and protect the Constitution. These are the ones failing to save America while the helpless who elected them are having a hard time providing for their families. They have no shame.

Charles Jones

Elkview

Darrell McGraw fights for people

Editor:

Who is Attorney General Darrell McGraw? I first met him in 1975, when he was serving in the West Virginia Senate representing Wyoming County. I was the executive coordinator of the Council of Senior West Virginians, a group of 3,500 dues-paying elderly West Virginians who were working to make this state a better place for people of all ages.

Our organization worked for pro-consumer legislation and funding for programs that benefited people of all ages. We kept a "legislative scorecard" of roll-call votes in the Senate and House. Darrell McGraw, as a state senator, scored 100 percent correct on votes we recorded in 1980, based on legislation addressing health insurance guidelines, low-interest loans for home repairs, a doubling of the Homestead Property Tax Exemption, and a supplemental appropriation for the Medicaid Program.

Later on, when Senator McGraw was elected to the state Supreme Court, our state built a solid record of court decisions that benefited coal miners, older people, consumers, the middle class and the poor. McGraw became a target of scofflaw coal mine operators and other so-called "business interests" that didn't like having to comply with the laws. I paid a lot of attention to these issues because I don't like to see people victimized by unprincipled business operators.

After watching McGraw for most of his adult life, including these past 18 years as our attorney general, it is safe to say that Attorney General Darrell McGraw always acts on behalf of the people, and works to get the bad apples preying on defenseless folks, out of the picture. His opponent doesn't offer any sort of specific actions to improve on McGraw's long and consistent track record of public service. There simply is no one better equipped to serve than Darrell McGraw.

Mike Harman

St. Albans

Voting against your own interests is foolish

Editor:

It is obvious that the politicians have wanted to preserve their congressional seats more than represent the poor or middle class.

The robber barons knew if they helped elect a black man, they could tap into innate racism in this country.

Organize a so-called tea party, that is comprised of social conservatives and they could achieve their goals.

As a former Republican, I saw the John Birch Society, eased out of the Party, but the Koch brothers helped form ALEC, and infiltrated the NRA.

Dick Cheney, who ran the country under George Bush, got the current Supreme Court in place, thus Citizens United (Corporations are people).

Elect Romney and Ryan, and you will know what poverty is. Your children and grandchildren will understand the wrath of the plutocrats, and they will never forgive you for centuries.

Ignorance is a terrible sin, which can lead to the destruction of a great nation. Being manipulated to vote against your own interest is abject foolishness.

Joan Porter Green

Charleston

Mountain Party benefits the people

Editor:

Why I support our Mountain Party.

To begin with, they do not take any money from the big business corporations. So as a result, their interest is not in what is best for some big money campaign donor, but what is best for the people of West Virginia.

They want to increase the participation of citizens so we will have more say in the decision-making process. They believe we should make the most of our resources to benefit the people of West Virginia and not just to profit outside interests. We should stop mountaintop removal, which destroys our land, fills in valleys with toxic soil poisoning our water. What is needed is a move back to traditional mining that employs more of our people.

We must move to diversify our economy with more types of industry, manufacturing, agriculture. I believe this is essential for our future to become the prosperous state we should be. Hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," should be suspended while it is studied to see if it can be safely done, as recent studies have shown there are adverse health affects for those living in nearby communities. We do need regulations to protect our lands, our water, our health. We can have a good economy, good jobs and a healthy environment that will benefit us all for generations to come.

They support promotion of better education and small business. There should be accountability for corporations and an end to corporations considered as people. Most of all, I like the standard question for any issue, which all of our representatives should ask, which is, "What best serves the interest of the people of West Virginia?"

Dave Herter

Princeton

How about none of the above?

Editor:

There should be a choice of abstaining on the ballot of at least national elections for the presidency. Are we voting for the best candidate or the lesser of two evils? Why can't our voices be heard? A country that cherishes the ideals of freedom of expression yet we are unable to express any dissatisfaction with the way our political structure is run.

 Secondly, what happened to campaign finance reform? Two billion dollars, not to mention the millions being spent on individual state races, could we not put this money to better use? I have maintained that at the start of each election cycle that the candidates pledge a percentage of this money toward constructive projects that promote employment, education and maintenance of our natural infrastructure! Instead of attack ads which only blur the lines of reality

Louis P. Cervone

St. Albans

Is Congress heading toward anarchy?

Editor:

About this time, almost exactly 50 years ago, 1962, Sen. Mike Mansfield of Montana, then the Senate majority leader, was so frustrated by the disorder in the Senate that he made a speech warning that it "would not be impossible to foresee a day when anarchy would rule in this body."

And Mansfield was not even speaking of a situation in which ideology played any true role at all. Rather, it was a situation when loyal Democrats in the Senate, most or all of them supporters of then-President John F. Kennedy, could not agree on details in several key pieces of Kennedy administration legislation.

Now, exactly half a century later, ideological polarization between the two parties has caused gridlock and political warfare, but not-as-yet anarchy. But if this situation continues, and our problems, already even greater now than then, continue to fester, will we see the late Sen. Mansfield's grim prophecy come true?

William R. Brown

South Charleston

Virginia attorney general not welcome in W.Va.

Editor:

I find it interesting and quite obscene that the attorney general of treasonous East Virginia, a state that seceded from the Union to protect the right of some human beings to own other human beings, should come to my state to plead the case of a carpet bagger from New Jersey who has made his career representing the medical pharmaceutical complex.

What side of the lawsuit against the tobacco industry were these two guys on?

Joe Neil

Charleston

Tomblin ignores Seneca2 activists

Editor:

"Hi, this is Governor Earl Ray Tomblin" the canned voice droned. I hung up, not regretting that that was as close as one Seneca2 member would get to the governor after eight weeks of multiple fruitless calls, trying to get an appointment for our group. We are no longer expecting to meet with the man in our state Capitol, although Sen.  Manchin has graciously received us twice.

The Gazette recently quoted Steve Roberts, president of the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce, as praising Tomblin for his "accessibility and willingness to work with business people and to address issues of concern to them."

Wow.

That must explain why he doesn't have time to meet with a group of activist women who would like to address our issues of concern, including a petition from some of his constituents asking why he doesn't support President Obama.

Yes, Mr. Roberts, "elections are about choices." Why then should we vote for a politician whose own executive appointment secretary said, "He doesn't discuss political issues." Why would anyone think he cares about ordinary citizens? His constituents are Big Business. Seneca2 doesn't support either the Republican running for governor or his sound-alike baby brother, Earl Ray.

Ruth Zika

Charleston

'Global warming' actually lessened Sandy's effects

Editor:

I picked up the Gazette on Wednesday and, sure enough, as I had expected, there was a huge editorial blaming Hurricane Sandy on global warming.

The Gazette seems to take great pride in relating every single weather event or anomaly, no matter the cause, severity or natural explanation, to climate change or global warming. Its standard position seems to be absolute authority that the weather is no longer a function of natural causes.

Fortunately, the recent unusually hot and dry weather has turned out to be a blessing in disguise, not the curse of something the Gazette claims to be a by-product of global warming.

The reported facts are: If it had not been for the dry ground left by an unusually hot, dry 2012 summer and early fall, we would be experiencing severe flooding from Hurricane Sandy.

The truth is, had it not been for the blessing of "global warming," the amount of damaged roads, downed trees and power outages would have been far worse than we expected or experienced.

There is a balance -- a wisdom -- in nature that is beyond our ability to comprehend, much less predict. Science has its place, but it is not absolute, and the blessing of the summer of 2012 proves that beautifully. God is not mocked, and we should tread lightly when we discard with so much indifference that which we do not understand.

Von Albert Ehman

Charleston