Shutdown is an opportunity
Editor:
As troublesome as the government shutdown has been, it’s just a taste of things to come if we default on the debt.
Congress periodically (including this Oct. 17) has battles on whether to raise the debt ceiling or default on our debt. That’s why it is imperative that we write to our elected officers and candidates to sell the world’s tropical rainforest owners the expertise for harvesting their land much more profitably (and sustainably.) This is discussed at www.rain-tree.com/facts, which has links to various rainforest organizations who might supply the experts.
(As for the subsistence farmers, the third item under the “About” button at www.rainforestsaver.org discusses how inga trees can grow in tropical rainforests; if crops are planted between rows of inga trees, those trees will provide mulch and other things that allow the same land to be cultivated over and over. This can be taught from neighbor to neighbor.)
As for the cutting down of trees for firewood, this can be replaced by the work of Solar Cookers International. It is claimed that it costs $5 to make a solar cooker lasting five years. It may cost more to ship. Solar Cookers International can be contacted at [email protected].
If the government is still shut down when this letter appears in the paper, maybe we can suggest
to our elected representatives that it might be part of a way out of the current crisis.
Alex Sokolow
Santa Monica
Time is of the essence
Editor:
There are 1,593 registered voters in the Idyllwild Fire Protection District; 1,200 votes cast were split between three candidates. That only makes 400 possible ballots cast for registered candidates out of nearly 1,600 registered voters. That’s a meager 25 percent of registered voters.
That means 75 percent of the voting population chose not to cast a vote for a registered candidate.
Don’t let the good-ole boys smear this any more. It’s time to change this equation for safer, faster, better and, oh yes, cheaper service to taxpayers.
Email your name and your perspective on a Cal Fire/AMR/CSA 38 takeover/realignment to:
[email protected].
It’s time to get this ball rolling.
Jeff Smith
Pine Cove
(Editor’s note: For the Aug. 21 Idyllwild Fire Protection District election of three commissioners, 1,593 residents were registered to vote. Of these voters, 591 (37.1 percent) returned ballots. Since voters could choose three of four candidates, the total number of possible votes cast was 1,773. The actual number of counted votes for the four eligible candidates was 1,203, 67.8 percent of the potential. So 63 percent of registered voters did not return a ballot. Of the ballots returned, the individual voted for only one or two candidates or chose to write in another name. We do not know how many ballots cast were in either of those categories.)
