We all deserve clean and affordable energy
As the country and the rest of the world experience another year of scorching heat waves, private for-profit utility companies — who we rely upon for our basic necessities like heating, cooling and electricity — are keeping us reliant on climate-wrecking fossil fuels while reporting record profits.
When they work well, utilities exist in the background of our lives: They power our homes, cool us down when it’s hot, and give us heat when it’s cold.
But too often, they are sources of aggravation: The power goes off when it’s dangerously hot or cold out, our bills skyrocket, and these for-profit companies threaten to shut off services when we’re unable to pay.
We know that climate change raises those stakes even higher, and utility companies themselves play a massive role in exacerbating the climate crisis: 80% of electric utilities in the U.S. run on fossil fuels.
Shifting utilities to clean energy is integral to working toward a safer climate, but these private for-profit companies would rather maintain the status quo and keep the public in the dark. Utility companies are charging us more while they get paid off by the fossil fuel industry to block the transition to renewable energy.
Utility companies have gotten away with profiting at the expense of people and our planet for too long. It’s time we hold them accountable and demand they stop using our money to burn our future while individuals and families struggle.
We deserve an energy system that allows everyone to have access to clean and affordable energy.
Erica Wesselman
Captain Cook
Cannot let Israel drag US into war
Benjamin Netenyahu believes he can start a war with Iran because his big dumb puppy dog country will be there to back him up when those mean Iranians strike back. That is not something an ally would do.
Getting right down to the wire, our involvement in this fluster cluck would be worse than Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan combined, and anybody who believes we should get involved in this flailex is an utter moron!
Drop Israel before they get us into another protracted land war in Asia. Gen. Douglas McArthur warned us about getting involved in a land war in Asia, but does our government listen? Is our government capable of listening to such sage advice?
Something will explode, Iran will be blamed, our nation will be worked up into a lather and, sooner or later, American troops will be dying on the battlefield in western Asia.
Netenyahu will say it’ll be over in a month or two, just like Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” in Ukraine.
I recommend you read the two books written by Victor Ostrovsky, a former Mossad katsa, “By Way of Deception” and “The Other Side of Deception,” about his time both in and out of the Mossad.
Mossad doesn’t like attention, so this may not make it to print.
Dave Kisor
Pahoa