Thursday Letters : Combing Yearbooks for Dirt

Houston Chronicle
February 7, 2019

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/letters/article/Thursday-letters-Combing-yearbooks-for-dirt-13595757.php

Comedy falling flat

Regarding “Embattled Va. governor mulls resignation” (Newsmakers, Tuesday): If Virginia’s Gov. Ralph Northam did it without racist thoughts, then it may not be a racist action and just a wrong approach to comedy.

Jim Kainer, Rosenberg

Smell of politics

Since when does one act committed 35 years ago define the entire life of a person, any person. Was it a racially motivated act? Only Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam knows. Not any of his harshest accusers can know this. U.S. Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kamala Harris of California and Kirsten Gillebrand of New York are some of the loudest voices condemning him. As I recall, they were some of the loudest voices in support of Christine Blasey Ford and against Judge Brett Kavanaugh during Senate Judiciary Committee hearings. All are senators and, in my opinion, should know better.

They condemned Kavanaugh although there was no corroborating evidence of her story. I hope that these events will be brought up should any of them be the Democratic nominee of their party.

Philip Tereskiewicz, Houston

Systemic abuse

Regarding “What you need to ask about Catholic scandals” (Outlook, Sunday): Not much frustrates me more than lines such as this one in the opinion piece: “The world has been aware of systemic sexual abuse in the U.S. Catholic Church since 2002, when the Boston Globe [...] exposed the breadth of this crime epidemic.”

No! Read Jason Berry’s “Lead Us Not Into Temptation” for details on the early 1970s abuse scandal in Lafayette, La., with charges continuing into the early 1980s, and look at the mid-1980s for Father Tom Doyle’s comprehensive report on priests’ sexual abuse, the early 1990s for abuse charges in Providence, Fall River and Boston, and the late 1990s for abuse lawsuits in Dallas, and then 2001 in Tucson — all before the powerful Boston Globe reporting. Note that this list is not comprehensive, and it includes only cases within the United States.

Catholics and their church must stop wringing their hands and pretending that this is a new aberration that they were somehow unaware of before 2002. That damaging illusion simply continues the abuse.

Sarah Jenkins, The Woodlands

Expecting carbon fee

Regarding “Oil industry’s future not as bright as government expects” (HoustonChronicle.com, Feb. 5): I am thrilled that my electric vehicle means I am polluting less. Besides my fuel cost is only 4 cents a mile, half of what I was paying with my gasoline car.

Shale oil is not cheap oil. They must work hard to get oil out of that rock. In the old glory days, the oil gushed out of the ground. But that's history. Wind and solar are now the cheap energy.

Gasoline prices are going up and up, and there are predictions that oil prices will rise 30 percent this year and more the next.

Most folks want their legacy to be prosperity, not the rising cost of climate disruption. So, I expect a carbon fee and dividend to be enacted. A carbon fee added to our energy bills would encourage folks to do the right thing for humanity's future. It would return that fee to working families as a dividend. It would inspire folks to save energy and to get electric cars.

Nan Hildreth, Houston