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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters to the Editor, Sept. 29 MailTribune.com Writer Posted Sep. 29, 2015 @ 12:01 am Posted Sep. 29, 2015 @ 12:01 am » Social News p bs:newslist StartDate="20121121" EndDate="p bs:datecalc Months="3"" DateSort="1" UseObjects="1" ObjectClass="81" Taxonomywords="2325,665" ExactTaxonomyMatch="1" Image="1" Count="4" --> Tribute to Yogi Tonight we will honor the late, great Yogi Berra — not just for his baseball career, but for his colorful contributions to the "American" language. We will drive to a popular restaurant and, on seeing the waiting crowd, will leave immediately, observing Yogi's favorite "restaurant review": "That restaurant is so crowded nobody goes there anymore." Yogi's "It ain't over till it's over" also resonates. He was wrong about himself: His life may be done, but his influence "ain't over." He'll always be an American icon, both for his baseball skills and his quotable, good-natured humor. Ray and Claire Engle Medford A serious joke The cartoon Sept. 22 was a serious joke about a false claim that every weather extreme condition is due to so-called climate change, was called global warming until the evidence disproved it and last year was a super cold year back East. Why not do some real journalism? Print the article, "The Green Scare Problem" from the Wall Street Journal. Kenneth Hodgeman Medford Hoping Walden will join Ten or 12 Republicans in the U.S. House have come to see climate change as a serious danger and have decided they can no longer sacrifice the well-being of their constituents, not to say the peoples of the world, to partisan politics. Representative Walden is not one of them. The House Resolution (HR 424) introduced by Rep. Chris Gibson, simply says that human activity contributes to climate change and calls for actions to respond to the threat. I hope that Walden will join his colleagues in confirming this sensible position. Ken Deveney Ashland Morally reprehensible The continued climate change denial by Republicans in Congress and Republican presidential candidates (see the most recent debate) is morally reprehensible. It flies in the face of the clear scientific and real-world evidence. A city in Iraq recently recorded an unprecedented 168 degrees F.; glaciers worldwide are melting; Greenland and much of the Antarctic are adding to sea level rise; now towns, not just forests, are being destroyed by firestorms resulting from drought; worldwide high temperature records continue to be broken; climate refugees are increasing (a main contributor to Syrian civil war was drought). Many parrot the excuse “I am not a scientist” — fine, then listen to the scientists. Ninety–seven percent of practicing, published climate scientists see the evidence as clearly pointing to the reality of human-induced climate change. If Republicans are so afraid of the growth of government as to deny science, then they should support market-based mechanisms such as a broad carbon tax, while they still have a chance of working — as even six major oil companies and some libertarians (Niskanen Center) do. Contact your state and federal legislators to take all possible actions to reduce fossil fuel usage as quickly as possible. Robert John Scheelen Medford Rents are too high Now that Jackson County’s economy is getting better, the cost of housing is rising even faster and that spells more trouble for renters. On May 3 this paper published a story about the rental crisis that said families looking for a three-bedroom house to rent would have to pay $950 to $1,800 a month to find anything decent in the Medford area. It’s no wonder that working folks who make the minimum wage ($9.25/hour) are becoming homeless along with veterans with PTSD and other health issues. Pushing people into the streets like this costs us more in emergency services than it would to create housing for them. Don’t we the citizens of this beautiful county have an obligation to ensure that everyone has a home they can afford? One thing we can do is urge the state Legislature to allow local governments to require apartment builders to provide a percentage of apartments in each development be set aside for low-income folks. A current state law prohibits needed “inclusionary zoning.” Another thing to do is to put pressure on landlords to provide housing for low income folks. Landlords, do the right thing: lower your rents for those in need! Allen Hallmark Talent Only in the USA A Sept. 21 New York Times article reported on a study revealing that the Republican Party in the United States is the only conservative party out of nine main Western nations that denies the reality of global warming due to greenhouse gases from fossil fuels. Makes you wonder why only in the USA, doesn’t it? My first thought went immediately to the fossil fuel-funded propaganda that has been inundating our media close to 40 years. Exxon and the Koch bros et al. have been profligate in this arena, funding corporate think tanks who disseminate the disinformation while simultaneously purchasing legislators and media outlets. But why is it mostly Republicans who seem to believe the propaganda? And why is it mostly Republicans who are so susceptible to the bribery? And why is it only U.S. Republicans who refuse to believe the consensus of scientists around the world? The only possible reasons I could come up with were that the U.S. Republican Party: 1) Values money more than life itself. 2) Is exposed to and influenced by propaganda more than others (think FOX viewers). 3) Is not very logical or evidence-driven. 4) Is a totally owned subsidiary of the fossil fuel industry. Lee Lull Talent MailTribune.com Writer Posted Sep. 29, 2015 @ 12:01 am » Comment or view comments /* $( document ).ready(function() { // Jquery mobile is trying to style the button and leaving a blank gry button on top of a white button $("#viafouracoms .vf-comment-controls li.vf-right").html(' Submit '); });*/ » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. calendar Connect with MailTribune.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services Home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Announcements Obituaries Story ideas Since you asked Alerts Email Alerts RSS Feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Propel Marketing Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Mobile Site Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. 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