LETTERS IN THE EDITORIAL MAILBAG.Byline: The Register-Guard Philip Morris supports FDA FDA abbr. Food and Drug Administration FDA, n.pr See Food and Drug Administration. FDA, n.pr the abbreviation for the Food and Drug Administration. bill The recent report by Harvard University Harvard University, mainly at Cambridge, Mass., including Harvard College, the oldest American college. Harvard College Harvard College, originally for men, was founded in 1636 with a grant from the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. that concluded tobacco companies have deliberately increased the amount of nicotine that smokers get from cigarettes over the past seven years, if true, raises legitimate public and scientific concerns. News of this report has increased the volume of those voices (editorial, Jan. 23) that favor regulation of cigarettes by the federal Food and Drug Administration. Philip Morris USA Philip Morris USA is the United States tobacco division of Altria Group, Inc. General information On January 27, 2003, Philip Morris Companies Inc. changed its name to Altria Group, Inc. Even under this new name, Altria continues to own 100% of Philip Morris USA. continues to support the legislation introduced in 2005 to grant the FDA authority over the product, including the regulation of tar and nicotine. Such authority would directly address the concerns raised in the Harvard report. Philip Morris is currently the only major cigarette manufacturer that supports it. The nicotine in cigarette smoke is addictive and an important health issue. But the report's conclusion, that there was a trend of more and more nicotine in cigarettes between 1997 and 2005, is not true for Philip Morris USA. We recognize that is a strong statement. And we understand it is important for us to demonstrate why and in what ways this conclusion is not accurate. Contrary to the implications of the report, we have not changed the design of our cigarettes with the intention of increasing nicotine yields to make the product more addictive. The nicotine yields in Marlboro cigarettes were the same in 1997 as in 2006: 1.86 milligrams per cigarette. We understand that many are skeptical of what we say and do, but our actions and the data are trans- parent. JOHN R. NELSON, president Operations & Technology Philip Morris USA Richmond, Va. Who is the real enemy in Iraq? When President Bush and Defense Secretary Robert Gates whine that Congress' opposition to the Cheney-Bush-McCain doctrine of escalation will "embolden em·bold·en tr.v. em·bold·ened, em·bold·en·ing, em·bold·ens To foster boldness or courage in; encourage. See Synonyms at encourage. the enemy," wouldn't it be helpful if the noodle-spined news reporters would demand to know who within the Iraq quagmire is the "enemy?" PAUL WERTZ Eugene Traitors prolonging Iraq war Iraq War: see under Persian Gulf Wars. Iraq War or Second Persian Gulf War Brief conflict in 2003 between Iraq and a combined force of troops largely from the U.S. and Great Britain; and a subsequent U.S. Another crock crock - [American scatologism "crock of shit"] 1. An awkward feature or programming technique that ought to be made cleaner. For example, using small integers to represent error codes without the program interpreting them to the user (as in, for example, Unix "make(1)", which from Michael Rooke-Ley (Commentary, Jan. 21). His essay literally made me sick. He admits he was a Vietnam protester. Was he one of those who spit on our troops? He seems proud to have been a part of the effort to ensure our defeat. I wonder if the hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese who were slaughtered by the communists after our disgraceful withdrawal would thank him. Their blood is on his hands. Now he wants another Vietnam. His pathological hatred for President Bush is so great he's willing to sacrifice his own country to bring him down. I'd guess he's a card-carrying member card-carrying member n → miembro con carnet card-carrying member n → membre actif card-carrying member n → of the American Civil Liberties Union American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), nonpartisan organization devoted to the preservation and extension of the basic rights set forth in the U.S. Constitution. . We should all know who and what they are. They, along with the editors of The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times and their sycophants at The Register-Guard, have invested heavily in the effort to destroy this president. Check out the history of the ACLU ACLU: see American Civil Liberties Union. and its founder. It wants no borders, no religion, no judgment and to bring about a totalitarian state Noun 1. totalitarian state - a government that subordinates the individual to the state and strictly controls all aspects of life by coercive measures totalitation regime . History tells us if this happens, ACLU members will be the first to be executed. In my opinion, Rooke-Ley, like many of the letter writers and columnists appearing in this newspaper, is an abject coward. They will retreat in order to avoid conflict until their backs are against the very wall that awaits their execution. I won't shed a tear. This war would be over by now if it wasn't for their traitorous actions. The blood of our soldiers is on their hands. TOM PREUSS Creswell Walker isn't a scientific expert In Sen. Vicki Walker's rebuttal rebuttal n. evidence introduced to counter, disprove or contradict the opposition's evidence or a presumption, or responsive legal argument. (letters, Jan. 22) to George Taylor's guest viewpoint that goes against Walker's opinion of global warming global warming, the gradual increase of the temperature of the earth's lower atmosphere as a result of the increase in greenhouse gases since the Industrial Revolution. , she manages to call him a man who "professes to be the state climato- logist." I guess I am entirely surprised to find a politician who is willing to attempt to make one of her state's citizens look a fool, or maybe this was an effort to make herself look like some kind of expert in a field of science when she calls him a "laughingstock laugh·ing·stock n. An object of jokes or ridicule; a butt. Noun 1. laughingstock - a victim of ridicule or pranks goat, stooge, butt April fool - the butt of a prank played on April 1st of the scientific community." This is not the kind of senator I want. She manages to quote an article from Willamette Week Willamette Week (WW) is an alternative weekly newspaper published in Portland, Oregon, United States. It features reports on local news, politics, and culture. Its weekly circulation is 89,807. (an obvious scientific journal) in which there is "confirmed evidence" by "hundreds of scientists" that the current warming trend is caused by human intervention. I guess there must not be many folks now who remember when, in the early to mid-1970s, there was a scare that we could be moving into another ice age, all caused by carbon dioxide carbon dioxide, chemical compound, CO2, a colorless, odorless, tasteless gas that is about one and one-half times as dense as air under ordinary conditions of temperature and pressure. pollution that was blocking the sun's rays. I am not against stopping as much pollution as we can, but I am against the uber-paranoia that politicians like to use to further their careers. ROBERT CUSSINS Eugene Health care report confusing A recent article on health care reform (Register-Guard, Jan. 22) failed to clarify the competing proposals under discussion and certainly raised more questions than it answered. Health care is vital to all citizens and deserves serious and more complete coverage. The sidebar headlined "Universal coverage" was especially confusing. The section on John Kitzhaber John Albert Kitzhaber (born March 5 1947 in Colfax, Washington) is a physician, member of the Democratic Party and former two term Governor of Oregon. He graduated from South Eugene High School in 1965, Dartmouth College in 1969, and then Oregon Health & Science University with a and the Archimedes Movement concluded with the sentence: "Individuals and employers could offer extra coverage not available in the basic state plan." We can't imagine which individuals would be offering coverage. The description of the Bates-Westlund plan mentioned "as-yet-unspecified employer contributions from all employers and individuals." Why would individuals be contributing if it's an employer contribution? People need healthy lives and access to quality health care, not insurance. Providing that would be a genuine reform, not just a political word game. DAVID David, in the Bible David, d. c.970 B.C., king of ancient Israel (c.1010–970 B.C.), successor of Saul. The Book of First Samuel introduces him as the youngest of eight sons who is anointed king by Samuel to replace Saul, who had been deemed a failure. SAUL DEBORAH HEBERT Eugene Buffalo Exchange a family firm I was a little surprised to see that in the article in the Ticket section on the best secondhand clothing stores in Eugene (Register-Guard, Jan. 26), Buffalo Exchange was dismissed as being a chain and therefore relegated to "the giveaway pile." The owner of the newspaper's choice was once manager of our Austin store. I always find it interesting that Eugene seems to have a prejudice against so-called chain stores. Buffalo Exchange is a family-run business that has been operating for more than 30 years. I always have had a difficult time understanding why some people in Eugene feel that growth is automatically bad. Buffalo Exchange is a good employer that pays its employees better than average wages, offers benefits and gives back to the community. The wages and taxes that are paid go back into the community and help make it a good place to live. Buffalo Exchange donates thousands of pounds of clothes a year to local shelters and people in need. Buffalo Exchange long has been involved in environmental and charitable causes and donates thousands of dollars annually to these groups. Since 2000, our stores have donated more than $150,000 to environmental causes alone. I consider both Eugene and myself to be extremely fortunate that Spencer, Kerstin (both of whom graduated from the University of Oregon The University of Oregon is a public university located in Eugene, Oregon. The university was founded in 1876, graduating its first class two years later. The University of Oregon is one of 60 members of the Association of American Universities. ) and Rebecca Block decided to take on the risks and responsibilities of growing a small business into an enterprise that helps improve not only local communities but also the world in which we live. MARY KOLEGO, area manager Buffalo Exchange Eugene Forest biomass is just logging I was dismayed to see Associated Press reporter Jeff Barnard's pro-logging article praising "forest biomass" extraction, which is simply the latest attempt by the logging industry - responsible for a century of clear-cuts and industrial fiber farms - to cheat Americans out of their public forests. While some elements of biomass might replace fossil fuels use - such as manure biogas bi·o·gas n. A mixture of methane and carbon dioxide produced by bacterial degradation of organic matter and used as a fuel. biogas Noun gaseous fuel produced by the fermentation of organic waste , solid wastes and landfill gas - forest biomass is just logging by another name. According to Harper's Index, burning every tree in the United States would provide only a single year's worth of energy. The solution to the climate crisis is not to devastate dev·as·tate tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. our remaining 5 percent of native forests left in the nation, especially when deforestation deforestation Process of clearing forests. Rates of deforestation are particularly high in the tropics, where the poor quality of the soil has led to the practice of routine clear-cutting to make new soil available for agricultural use. is a leading cause of global warming. The push for forest biomass is based on the myth that our forests are unhealthy and a fire risk. The byproducts of forest thinning would power biomass factories. However, fire has been a rejuvenating influence in our forests for millennia. The claim that chain saws can somehow fix a complex native forest ecosystem is merely propaganda serving to tighten the logging industry's stranglehold on our public forests. Our forests provide us with clean air, pure water, fertile topsoil and a livable climate - the foundations for life on Earth. Any decisions that endanger the life-sustaining benefits of our forests must be approached with the precautionary or do no harm principle. Please urge your elected city, county, state and federal officials to oppose any form of greenwashed forest biomass extraction in your public forests. JOSH SCHLOSSBERG Native Forest Council Eugene |
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