Well maybe that is an over reaction but I sent them the following Letter to the Editor, and the conservative twirps did not even acknowledge that they received it. Since the new owners took over they have started running op eds by Walter “the madman” Williams from George Mason (alleged) University, that is about as right wing as you can get.
Editor
State Journal Register
One Copley Plaza
Springfield, IL 62701
Emailed – 9/17/07
Dear Editor:
Your Stanford Levin op-ed piece was incredibly deceptive and disingenuous. He says, “Let the Markets decide” about whether we burn ethanol or foreign produced oil as gasoline. Those self same markets are killing us and killing our country. The reason for this is that the markets are wedded to the internal combustion engine that simply BURNS up resources. We have done just about all the burning that we can do in this country.
How nice it would have been, if during his tenure on the ICC from 1984-86, he had advocated a move away from burning coal in power plants and increased efficiency trucks. Instead he continued the passive dependence on coal and gasoline, which has led us to global warming. If he had shown courage 23 years ago and demanded stringent efficiencies in the coal fired power plants that he regulated and a shift to power plants that burn natural gas he may have done some good. If he insisted that those utility companies invest in wind and solar portfolios then Illinois would lead the United States in those power sources but instead we have broken down, and leaking Nuclear power plants.
Yet Dr. Levin wants to trot out the old Ronald Reagan saw one more time and say, “Let the markets decide”. Deregulation has been nothing short of an economic disaster for the middle and lower classes. But, that is nothing compared to the environmental disaster that this country has been exposed to as a result. The North Pole is melting and Dr. Levin wants to make some telling point about which fuel source we should burn, biodiesal or gasoline. BAAAA (wrong answer) The answer is we should not be burning either and the MARKET will never give us that answer. Are we to wait another 23 years, while the captains of industry are driving huge ocean going vessels through their “Northwest Passage” and Russia is drilling on the artic floor before we blow the whistle and end the play?
Sorry Dr. Levin, but as you should have realized in 1984 the markets require hard regulation before they ever respond. The internal combustion engine is obsolete and you could have helped us move away from it. You did not. Join us at www.censys.org or call 629-7031. Community Energy Systems plans on helping Illinois move to a non-Burning future.
Doug Nicodemus
948 e. adams st.
riverton, IL 62561
629-7031
dougnic55@yahoo.com