Views in brief
What can be done with Democrats?
IN RESPONSE to "Is it really 'Our Revolution'?": This article was great. Thanks for posting a very clear explanation of what mistakes are being made by Our Revolution.
In my opinion, the Democratic Party is way beyond repair. A party for the 99 Percent is needed badly. If the others reading these articles are like me, though, then for them, the Bernie movement gave people a single organization to follow.
I am all for Jill Stein, but I do feel that a movement is not behind her yet. Why? I feel like she is where we should be, but for whatever reason, the masses aren't there yet. I'm not sure what needs to be done, but there's a lot of energy out here to make change happen. But I think it has to be realistic, and somehow get the movement Bernie had at the end, and even more.
Steve Mendoza, Denver
West Virginia's pipeline battle
IN RESPONSE to "Facing down the oil company dogs": We are also fighting a pipeline in southeastern West Virginia, It's called the "Mountain Valley Pipeline," and the idiots want to build this 42-inch diameter monster, through our constantly moving karst mountains and valleys.
Karst is what produces sinking creeks and "sinks" areas of level pasture into a concave formation that never holds water because it sinks into caves. We have so many "jumping" creeks in our area it's a wonder the Greenbrier River stays above ground.
When we had a well drilled 25 years ago, it ended in a cave with three feet of running water at that time! After a couple of years, we noticed that when we had gully-washer rains, the water got cloudy for a couple of days, so we added a filter. We now know that if we have a leaking pipeline anywhere near here, it's like putting poison into a sponge and then trying to get it out by scraping whatever you find on the sponge's surface and calling it clean!
So pipelines are not actually needed anywhere in America, as the country has 84 year's worth of oil based on the consumption level of 2014--and America has assured all other countries that we will be off of fossil fuels entirely by 2050. How are you going to use 84 year's worth by declining its use annually in 44 years?
Oil is fighting to stay alive--and we are fighting to shut them down. They have the advantage of tons of money to buy greedy, stupid people (like my neighbors, who have signed up to let them build across their land--which in our case will destroy all water in the area!) We have logic and geological facts to counter their moneybags. It seems like an unfair game. Too many Americans have been taught from childhood on to love money!
America has the technology right now to stop all fossil fuel use in five years if we put a priority on the job, like America did to win the Second World War.
Monte McKenzie, Talcott, West Virginia
Taking on Big Brown
IN RESPONSE to "Do Black lives matter to Big Brown?": My name is Robert Walker, and I am the spokesperson for a group that is filing a class-action lawsuit.
We are trying to get 500 UPS workers and their families to Raleigh, North Carolina, on October 8, 2016, for a "Mask Rally." I have enjoyed reading your article and have passed it on to many employees, relatives and attorneys.
The attorneys representing workers in Greenville, South Carolina, where they have 13 employees with a class-action lawsuit, really appreciated your article. We currently have 12 in our group, and our class-action lawsuit is currently under review by an attorney.
The Mask Rally is on Saturday, October 8, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. We are calling it a Mask Rally because some employees will really have a mask on--because they feel that UPS will retaliate against them.
Robert Walker, from the internet
We can't wait for socialism
IN RESPONSE to "What would a revolution look like?": This is an interesting article with some great historical comparisons, but I felt there was a failure in it. The author neglected to discuss the unique situation we find ourselves in today, and that is the element of time not being on our side.
We do not have the time to slowly build our movements as they did in the past. Time is running out, because if we continue to twaddle along, inching into the improvements as suggested, the environmental damage we are now beginning to feel will end this planet. We need drastic environmental reforms now, or it is going to be too late.
Susan Shaffer, from the internet
Missed out about Star Trek
IN RESPONSE to "Socialism in one galaxy?": I wanted to say that I found this a very well-written and insightful article.
My one complaint is that there was no mention of the classic "City on the Edge of Forever" episode, written by left-wing author Harlan Ellison. I felt this episode was very important to a discussion of Star Trek on a socialist website.
Chris V., from the internet
