LETTERS
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NOT-WHAT-YOU-THINK-IT-IS NEUTRALITY I fell off my chair when I read Jim Hightower’s explanation of net neutrality (“Net neutrality in the way of corporate profits,” Nov. 20). He misses the whole point.
Net neutrality is about taxing the Internet in the same way that wired and wireless telecommunications are taxed. Mr. Obama is using his puppet, Tom Wheeler, chair of the Federal Communications Commission (a man that I worked with for years), to push for more federal taxes. All of the lesser issues that Jim Hightower tried to describe are nothing more than off-tune background music.
Take a look at the taxes on your telephone bill if you want to see what’s coming if the Internet is taxed. Like so many things, the term “network neutrality” was specifically chosen to fool the consumers into thinking that it is a good thing ... it’s not. Jim Proffitt Jacksonville
CLOSING DALLMAN 1-3 Ms. Rachel Goldstein’s comments (“Gloomy days for CWLP,” by Patrick Yeagle, Nov. 6) are wellintentioned, but uninformed.
At least she learned that CWLP already uses clean energy after sending out a message to Sierra Club members that the city should “set a precedent” by starting to use renewables. The benefit of closing the older Dallman units is that most of their output wouldn’t need to be replaced, despite what the Sierra Club spokesperson suggests. The new Dallman 4 plant is enough to meet the city’s energy needs on its own.
The financial benefit of closing the older units sooner than later is that keeping them running will require CWLP to borrow more. The utility already has a major debt problem. Will going deeper into debt to upgrade coal plants that may be forced to shut down in the next five years anyway really put CWLP in a better financial position? The city council should be asking hard questions about what the next two, three, four, five and more expensive upgrades that will be needed to keep Dallman 1-3 open. If we do spend more to keep them running, can we be sure energy prices will rise enough to make that investment worth it?
I can’t blame the Sierra Club/ Green Corps organizer for being uninformed. She’s a recent college graduate with no history in Springfield. But you can blame her manager who thinks it’s appropriate to send an organizer to influence city elections with no local knowledge or meaningful collaboration with local leaders. It’s part of an organizing approach that doesn’t respect local knowledge or local people, but only answers to what their major funders see on a metrics chart. Will Reynolds Springfield
ERA IS HISTORY IN THE MAKING The Equal Rights Amendment was authored by Dr. Alice Paul, a Republican, introduced into Congress by a Republican and supported by the Republican Party until 1982. I so look forward to witnessing Illinois Republicans as they reclaim their long history of supporting women’s rights and vote YES on the ERA. (Guestwork, “It’s time for Illinois to ratify the ERA,” by Susan Allen, Nov. 20.)
Did you know that “As early as 1896, it was the Republican Party that called for ‘equal pay for equal work’”? The ERA is a civil rights issue and the right thing to do. Women and girls in the United States will not be free until the ERA is ratified. I’m looking forward to Illinois being the first state in the 21st century to ratify the ERA. When ratified, the ERA will provide constitutionally guaranteed equal pay for equal work for women. It’s so hard to wrap my mind around the fact that women are putting their lives on the line to protect our country and yet they are not equal citizens. The time is now to make this wrong a right.
A huge thanks Speaker of the House Michael J. Madigan, Rep. Lou Lang and all who will vote yes and stand on the right side of history by supporting equality for women and girls in our country. This is a national issue and we just need three more states to ratify. I would be remiss not to thank the Illinois Senate for voting yes in May. I love watching this historymaking unfold in the great land of Lincoln. Mr. Lincoln was a major force in the emancipation of people of color in our country, and now the great state of Illinois will be a driving force in the emancipation of women and girls. Go Illinois! Portia A. Boulger Chillicothe, Ohio
