Letters and feedback: June 26, 2022

Charged up with EV questions

So far I have not seen anyone with an idea of the consequences of switching to electric vehicles.

A few thoughts come to mind.

First, what do we do with the some 300 million gasoline-operated vehicles? Do we scrap the, leave them in the desert, or what? No one seems to have even given this a thought.

Second, how do we ramp up the electrical grid to power all the electric vehicles?  California is unable to supply enough power  now to avoid rolling brownouts. I'm sure other states will have the same problem.

Third: Where do we get the rare earths needed by the battery makers, along with the chips that are needed in new vehicles? Environmentalists don't want them to be mined here. Where do we get them?

Fourth, how long will batteries last? Where do we dispose of old ones? What do people in Alaska do to charge batteries if we go to solar power? Winters are dark times there.

Finally, who is going to pay off loans that people have on their current vehicles? No one will buy them. Who is left holding the bag? This time let's find the answers before we rush headlong into things.

If we don't do that we will find that only the elite will be able to afford private cars and trucks and we will all be left at home.

Richard Bradley, Malabar

The consequences of endorsements

I always took endorsements for granted in our political system. You were running for an office and your union openly endorsed you to encourage other members to vote for you. Same for judge elections. So many voters are unfamiliar with judges and their qualifications so a local endorsement within the district helps a candidate.

Our world has now changed. I would first caution Megan Wright on the DeSantis endorsement. Anyone notice only boards that defied him are receiving endorsement announcements? That is a strong part of his MO and it is not pretty nor acceptable. He should stay out of local school board politics. Our local school board issues are just that — local.

Our former president is now flip-flopping endorsements and the smart candidates are starting to distance themselves for fear of the inevitable backlash this can cause. Just ask ol' Mo Brooks.

So beware, brave candidates, of endorsements that come your way from the wrong individual who will expect to own you in that vindictive political style we are now becoming all too familiar with.

Linda Crawford, Rockledge

Focus on what makes Brevard special

An article in the Wall Street Journal  "How towns will fill coffers" might be useful reading for current and potential members of the county commission.

The article noted that with many companies now allowing employees to work from home, that a better approach might be to focus on the county investing in attracting and retaining residents.

My personal thoughts are that the best approach may be to focus on ideas that make Brevard "Innovation Central," where local residents (or students graduating from schools like FIT) are incentivized to start businesses that in particular can generate revenue from outside Brevard — which brings "new" money into the county to be spent or invested.  Maybe providing a credit against property taxes could be a good incentive for local entrepreneurs, and local property owners, to create truly local businesses where profits stay in Brevard instead of being shipped to where a company is actually headquartered.

Ilene Davis, Cocoa 

Gov. DeSantis, do the right thing

There's a Republican presidential primary to worry about so DeSantis doesn't mind endangering lives. He's so hypocritical.

On one side of his mouth he talks about parental rights and on the other he denies the parents who want the vaccine for their kids the right to choose by not ordering the doses from the federal government

He says if parents want the vaccine for their kids they can go to their doctor or the hospitals but Florida facilities that rely on the federal vaccine allotment may not get the vaccine until the state places its order to the feds. Once again, DeSantis has denied Floridians an opportunity to safeguard their families while exposing his hypocrisy. He fought schools on masks, threatened businesses over vaccines, hired a surgeon general who agrees with all his misinformation, downplayed immunizations, attacked Dr. Fauci, downplayed immunization actions and misrepresented the science. He did all this in the name of freedom and parental rights, but now he is making it harder for the parents who want the vaccine for their children.

Even other governors who had objections to the vaccine ordered vaccines for their citizens. DeSantis, do the right thing. Order the vaccines and give Floridian parents the right to choose — for once, stop thinking about yourself and your political ambitions.

Junior Hart, Melbourne

Taxing us to death

Waste Management is requesting yet another increase for solid waste disposal. This on top of the increase approved last year by the county commissioners.

On top of the horrendous previous increase, Waste  Management requests a 7% increase for fiscal year 2022-23, and a 5% increase for fiscal 2024-25. I’d bet the commissioners are poised to rubber-stamp approval, as they always are for funding increase requests, whether it’s requested by the police department or school board or whatever comes next. This, even though all board members are political conservatives. Possibly this time, a solution can be worked other than burdening the property owner again, as we too are hard-pressed with inflation through the roof from gasoline, food, electricity, natural gas, you name it.

Currently Waste Management makes four pickups a week at homes not within incorporated areas. On Merritt Island, one garbage pickup on Monday, and on Thursday pick-ups for garbage, recyclables and debris from trees and such. So, this time, let's cut. Let’s cut out one of the garbage collection days. I*m sure there are 1,001 excuses why not this should be done, but then people would still whine and cry about the fee increase.

With the deletion of one garbage pickup a week, that should give the board negotiating room for a 25% reduction in fees, totally deleting the 7% and 5% increases and more. We’re tired of all the tax increases.

Gary Neff, Merritt Island

POTUS priorities seem 'out of phase'

A recent letter writer complained about the cost of fuel and the impact it has on the economy. He also noted that the president recently requested oil companies increase production to lower prices. Unfortunately, on day one, this president vowed to end fossil fuel use, reducing production. Basic economics shows us that a reduced supply causes an increase in price. So the current increase in fuel cost was predictable.

It appears that the president has his priorities out of phase with the country's needs. Ambiguous policies are a major disruption to global markets. Fossil fuels are a global commodity and disruptions in supply can be affected by the mumblings of a world leader.

The writer also mentioned the Democrat-sponsored "Consumer Fuel Price Gouging Prevention Act." What a wonderful idea. Should we allow politicians that are incapable of balancing a budget to determine the price of goods? Absolutely not. Remember, elections have consequences.

So this takes us back to the subject of the cost of fuel. Unwittingly the writer stumbled on the solution. We need more oil.  The president should create a energy "Manhattan Project" focusing on fossil fuels. Rescind all the mind-numbing restrictions on the production and distribution of fossil fuels. This will be a big boost to the U.S. and global economies. U.S. refiners are much cleaner than some foreign refiners and that should be important to the environmentalists.

Jack Ward, Melbourne

The future of the species

The Bible says to go forth and multiply. Nature has made us and all animals with a powerful drive to continue the species.

So where does that leave us? In the animal world, the bottom of the food chain takes care of the surplus by an abundance of offspring, like frogs, insects, and rabbits. We humans have increased our population to the point of overcrowding and not enough resources for all.  We do have the intelligence to control our sexual drives by abstinence but I personally don't know many people who would practice that method, especially the male. I 'm not criticizing, just accepting the drive that nature has instilled in all species.

So what is our next alternative? Contraceptives. There are too many people who refuse to provide contraceptives, ergo too many pregnancies.

I don't like abortions, but I prefer them to raising an unwanted child in a life of pain and misery only to grow up to be fodder for our next war. Science has proven that the more crowded a species becomes, they tend to become chaotic. So doesn't it make sense to safely destroy an amoeba-like growth in a woman's body before it has any nerve growth? Too many women haven't got the resources to raise a child for 18 years and if one tries to get help, as in welfare, they are reviled for being too lazy or slothful. Many women have already had too many children and just can't handle any more. It's fine for the men to say to have the child and give it up for adoption. I might agree with them if they could do the child-bearing: It is no fun.

Another thought: If every child born were wanted and loved completely, I believe it would end most crime, because a loved child is less likely to be filled with hate for the world.

Ruth Ceike Meier, Melbourne

What happens to fossil fuel workers?

In a June 16 USA Today story titled "Biden to oil refiners: Produce more gas, reap fewer profits," President Biden blames oil refiners for the roughly $5 per gallon cost of gas. He asserts that gas prices were averaging $4.25 a gallon (10% lower) when crude oil was last priced at $120 per barrel in March.

Bernie Sanders is quoted as advocating a 95% profit tax on profits in excess of pre-pandemic averages.

The article notes "Refineries have gone through unprecedented, unplanned maintenance globally in the last three months. Further "U. S. refiners cannot increase capacity beyond current limits".

The refiners are discouraged from investing capital by Biden's plan to convert vehicles from fossil fuels because they cannot recover the capital expense.

Apparently Biden and Sanders expect the companies to reduce gas prices to satisfy voters before the fall elections. This would lead to shortages since production is limited and demand has increased as people have started to drive more as pandemic restrictions have eased. Lower prices will lead people to drive more.

The high gas price is driving people to purchase electric cars and take other steps to reduce gas use which supports Biden's green goals.

Biden does not have any plan for what happens to the workers in the fossil fuel business other than talk about "high paying union jobs" his plan will produce. So far his action to reduce solar cell tariff has produced non union jobs in China.

James Beasom, Melbourne Village

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Letters and feedback: June 26, 2022