The race for N.C. commissioner of agriculture doesn’t get much attention, but your vote will have a profound effect on companion animals. The incumbent, Steve Troxler, favors keeping the gas chamber as a method of killing homeless dogs and cats. There are many problems with the gas chamber: Sometimes animals survive gassing and have to […]

We, the undersigned, are all former board members of Mountain Area Information Network. Media reports regarding management issues at MAIN and WPVM are only part of the story. More recent WPVM volunteers—as well as newcomers to the Asheville area—deserve to know some background regarding the founding of WPVM. Wally Bowen participated in the national lobbying […]

Thank you for running the excellent article on climate change. As Rebecca Bowe illustrates, global warming is the greatest threat we as humans have ever faced. In the face of massive species extinction, droughts and floods, it is easy to feel like we cannot do anything to stop it. Well, that’s what companies like Duke […]

I’m offering some ideas for local change that will benefit our community and our collective economy. • Local produce: Even though an apple from your local health food store is organic, have you ever considered where it came from? How about those eggs that say cage-free? Most often these products are being shipped from many […]

We got gouged! We went to two gas stations in Hendersonville [during Hurricane Ike], and both were completely out of gas. The third one had fuel (only high-test), and we paid $4.99 a gallon. Not the American thing to do! Very sad. What’s happening to this country? — Anthony Martin Hendersonville

If you’re like most Americans, you love a great big juicy lie—and the politicians who tell them. How else can we explain voting for Dubya in 2000? [Or] the lies it took by the lawyers, crooks (should I say Kathleen Harris?), and the (in)justices of the Supreme Court to get him into office once it […]

More than 500 persons from the Southeast, many while attending our recent Southern Energy and Environmental EXPO in Fletcher, signed postcards that have gone to candidates Obama, McCain and others, pleading for action to: • prevent the spread of nuclear weapons • end pursuit of new warheads • halt continued weapons production • engage with […]

Don’t ignore the coincidences that are happening right now in the national arena. [Prior to Hurricane Ike,] why were gas prices lower? The election season is in full swing. Some say [when] the U.S. dollar gains strength, the price of crude oil goes lower. … Another study shows that using less gasoline lowers demand and […]

Long a supporter of women in politics, believing they are strong and nurturing, I hoped Sarah Palin would be that kind of woman—instead of the Karl Rove-inspired, snarly, divisive candidate who distorted her opponent’s record and policies and lied about her own. When the president and vice president of their own party don’t show up […]

As this nation’s economy teeters on the brink of another Great Depression, politicians and talking heads fill the airwaves with self-serving blather. Meanwhile, the Bush administration prepares to bail out (at astronomical taxpayer expense) the financial industry, which has incidentally been his largest source of campaign contributions. The aristocrats on Wall Street have been raking […]

Recently, I received a correspondence from a dear friend—my twin brother—regarding his disgust with our elected officials for enabling appointed cabinet members to literally waste our money and incur debts that simply can’t be paid. Corporations who have failed because of fictitious accounting practices deserve what they get. Their shareholders should hold them accountable. The […]

In a week dominated with the unprecedented federal bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the collapse of yet another huge investment bank, Lehman Brothers, it is hard to fathom that the national media would give such extensive coverage to Barack Obama’s intentionally miscontrued comments about pigs with lipstick. Are the American people so […]

I am a Democrat who has voted for Elizabeth [Dole] once and will again. This is to let Kay Hagan know that Elizabeth and her supporters need those ruby slippers for Elizabeth to click three times to go back home to her U.S. Senate seat. Thanks, Kay, for bringing out those slippers. — Tim Garren […]