Sunday's letters: Abortion ruling, rule of law, solar power, more
Ruling against abortion would be a disgrace
The conservative Supreme Court appears to be yielding to those who oppose the constitutional separation of church and state and ceding private control of people’s complex bodies to inhumane “legalities.”
The result, if the restrictive Mississippi abortion law is upheld, will be poor women going to backstreet abortionists and possibly dying in the process, or bearing their neonates in toilet stalls and discarding them in dumpsters. Young girls will be forced to bear the result of rape or incest.
This is progress? No, this is immoral and a violent regression in a supposedly advanced nation. A disgrace to the court and to law, justice and morality.
Juliette Muscat, Sarasota
Back attempt to return to rule of law
Kudos to Lourdes Ramirez: Her lawsuit to protect Siesta Key’s taxpaying residents from the pervasive lawlessness of the Sarasota County Commission deserves support and attention. A former head of the Siesta Key Association, this is a continuation of her service to our community (“Siesta Key hotel development challenged in court by Sarasota County resident,” Nov. 29).
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Perhaps more significant is her ongoing fight against the malfeasance of the leadership of Sarasota County’s Republican Party. For over a decade, she has fought to bring honesty and integrity back to the party.
Most Sarasota Republicans are totally unaware that their local party has devolved into nothing more than a rubber stamp for uncontrolled, taxpayer-subsidized development. As a result, our taxes, traffic and crime skyrocket as fast as our environment and quality of life plummet.
Enough is enough. People move here because they like it, not because they want us to become the next Miami Beach.
The protections afforded by our local land-use laws are meaningless because our county and local judges refuse to enforce them. Although history says she will be, let’s hope Ramirez is not just the latest protester standing in front of a tank in Tiananmen Square.
Let’s hope her lawsuit helps move our town back toward the rule of law. It would be a welcome change.
Mike Cosentino, Sarasota
Rooftops best bet for increased solar power
Our nation’s goal to produce 40% of our electric energy from solar by 2035 presents a daunting challenge. Consider that about 3% is produced today, despite solar fields seemingly popping up everywhere.
Already pushback from the public is on the rise given the transformation of once bucolic lands into waves of glass. Furthermore, the best sites from an infrastructure point of view have already been developed. Without significant additional investment in the grid, building many more solar fields is impractical.
Existing roofs present a solution. The National Reusable Energy Laboratory estimates that about 3,000 square miles of roof space in the continental U.S. is suitable for solar. That’s enough to produce 1.4 trillion watt-hours of electricity per year, or about 35% of the total needed.
Moreover, whereas new solar fields will need to be sited farther and farther from where electricity is needed, rooftops are already at the point of use, thereby requiring less new infrastructure.
Additionally, the widely distributed nature of electric production from rooftop solar will tend to stabilize the grid and provide more resilience during storms.
Larry Jordan, Venice
President letting most Americans down
Most Americans vote from the center, or slightly right or left of center. And yet, neither party can give us a moderate, common sense candidate.
The GOP still moves in goose step to Donald Trump's 2020 election distortions while the Democrats try to run the government with a far left agenda (just after the electorate voted against party members seen as “too progressive”).
Here are a few ways President Joe Biden has let the majority of Americans down.
• He and his team couldn’t have gotten us out of Afghanistan in a more fumbling, inefficient and humiliating manner.
• The border crisis continues unabated and is a monumental disaster.
• He cracked down on oil and gas production while asking OPEC and Russia to help us by increasing energy production.
• The administration pushes for more inflationary spending while inflation has heated up across America and while we’re stretched thin on adequate Medicare and Social Security reserves.
Yikes! Watching Biden and team is like watching the Keystone Cops!
Thomas G. Moore, Bradenton
Columnist deserves to lose his forum
“Three cheers for ‘Let’s Go Brandon,’” Nov. 26: A disgusting pack of lies perpetuating an unearned disrespect for the president and forgetting what a catastrophe the last guy was.
Get rid of Marc Thiessen. If he has to be this over the top with his opinions, he should lose his forum.
John LiMarzi, Sarasota
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Anti-abortion ruling would be a disgrace, focus on rooftop solar power
