Letters to the Editor | Jan. 13, 2023

I truly wish everyone in the media would point out — every time something is written or said about immigration — that Congress is responsible for immigration laws. Repeat it over and over and maybe voters will send people to Congress who will take responsibility for it. There are many complaints from our elected officials but very little work done to remedy the crisis. Asylum-seekers have the right to seek asylum. Congress needs to come up with a plan to handle that, no matter how many people are crossing the border in search of safety for their families. We need to keep telling Congress to do its job. Fix it and stop blaming the administration when people are just coming here to live a better life.

Anne Vallery, Ambler

The Inquirer Editorial Board had good reason to not endorse Brian Fitzpatrick for Congress. Once again he has joined the far-right MAGA Republicans in his vote to defund the IRS and increase the nation’s budget deficit by $114 billion. Fitzpatrick is truly a sheep in wolf’s clothing, voting to protect wealthy GOP donors by hamstringing the IRS, voting to force the House to pass revenue legislation by a supermajority, and giving away the store to the MAGA right on House rules.

Bruce E. Endy, Wynnewood

With the holiday party season over, now is a great time to make a New Year’s resolution to drink responsibly. One of the keys to doing so is understanding how much alcohol is in our drinks, something too few consider carefully. A recent national survey found that the overwhelming majority of adults don’t know what constitutes a standard drink — an important piece of information for practicing moderation when consuming alcohol. That needs to change. Moderate drinking is defined as consuming up to one drink per day for women and up to two drinks per day for men. That may be less alcohol than many expect. To learn more, check out the StandardDrinks.org website, which includes a helpful calculator that allows consumers to see how their beverage measures up to “one standard drink.” And remember, it’s not what you drink, it’s how much alcohol you consume that counts.

Kathleen Zelman, nutrition expert and former director of nutrition, WebMD

People are worrying about the implications of the speaker of the U.S. House giving up some of his power. Here in Pennsylvania, good government groups are promoting more power sharing in our state House as well. The key difference is the focus here on bipartisanship. The Pennsylvania House is being asked for a change in rules that would allow bills with clear bipartisan support to move through committees and onto the floor for a vote — bills that have routinely been blocked by powerful speakers and committee chairs. Let’s pay close attention to the rules, and support those that truly enhance democracy and government in the interests of the people.

Pamela Haines, Philadelphia, pamelahaines1@gmail.com

In the Jan. 6 article “What you need to know about natural gas safety in Philadelphia,” Inquirer reporters Sean Collins Walsh and Jesse Bunch said Philadelphia Gas Works expects it to take 40 years to “phase out all cast-iron pipes.” That puts the completion date at 2062, well after the 2050 date set by the 2019 City Council resolution to achieve a fair and equitable transition to the use of 100% clean, renewable energy. The process of replacing the pipes is expected to cost over a billion dollars. Those funds would go a long way toward moving to clean, renewable energy for all. It could begin to fund the transition to the networked geothermal system suggested by PGW’s own diversification study. If Philadelphia is to meet its goal, it needs to get serious and stop expanding the use of gas, which fuels the climate crisis.

Emily Davis, Philadelphia

I read with horror about a Virginia 6-year-old boy shooting his teacher, Abby Zwerner, in the chest. There are also reports that the parents in the school district are up in arms, calling for transparent backpacks, metal detectors, and armed guards in the schools. They’re even asking why these measures were not in place at the time of the shooting. Those parents, while rightfully fearing for the safety of their children, are looking to fix the effect of the shooting, not the cause. The questions that should be asked are: How did a 6-year-old take a loaded weapon from his home with no one noticing? And more importantly, how did that boy think that the only way to solve a disagreement was to shoot someone? This is not something that he learned in school, and it is not something that school can instill in a child if they do not receive that message at home. The laws and courts are not established or equipped to deal with 6-year-old children who shoot people. An armed guard in a first-grade classroom is not the solution. What type of person could shoot a young child, even one with a gun? I believe that the school district, perhaps underfunded (as most are), should hire more school guidance counselors and psychologists, and make sure that each student speaks with one of them at least once a week. This would take a big infusion of funds to the school districts but is certainly well worth it.

Judyann Sheehan, Havertown

These billion-dollar lottery jackpots are obscene. Would it not be better for society if 25 bettors won $25 million each? Construct a lottery system that guarantees awards to multiple winners. Players would still be motivated to win a relatively large pot knowing they might be holding one of 20 or more winning tickets. The potential good that could be done across the country if the jackpot went to more than one ticket holder is incalculable. Hurrah for those who win hundreds of millions of dollars under the current Mega Millions and Powerball systems. Let’s reboot to make these insane jackpots work better for America.

William Powell, Philadelphia

I am old enough to remember Congress in the early to mid-1950s, when Sen. Joseph McCarthy (R., Wis.) was known — and eventually censured — for irresponsibly conducting bogus “political investigations” designed to smear and ruin innocent peoples’ lives. This resulted in the addition of the justifiably pejorative term “McCarthyism” to the American political lexicon. We as a nation must not allow U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to now, some seven decades later, permit yet another shameful episode of such unjustifiable political witch-hunting — call it McCarthyism redux. The new speaker cannot imperil our democracy further by employing House committees to repeat the earlier McCarthy’s disastrously destructive inquisitions. Nothing less than our Constitution is at stake.

Bruce C. Cooper, Ardmore

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