Obama will be met in St. Louis with protest over Keystone pipeline

When Barack Obama was elected president, some of my friends cried from joy. A lot has changed since that night, and it hasn't all been the kind of "change" we expected. We knew Mr. Obama was entering an incomprehensibly messy political situation, but we believed he was up to the challenge. He was our president. He needed us, and we needed him.

We have been particularly disappointed by Mr. Obama's inaction on climate change. He promised that if he were elected president, "the rising seas would began to recede and our planet would begin to heal."

Now he has a chance to make up for his inaction. He has the power to veto a permit that would allow TransCanada to build the Keystone XL a pipeline, a project that would be, according to NASA's top climate scientist Jim Hansen, "essentially game over" for the climate.

In August, 1,253 people were arrested in front of the White House. They had gathered to encourage Mr. Obama to stop the pipeline. Protests have followed the president across the country.

Now, it's our turn. Today, Mr. Obama is coming to St. Louis for a 2012 campaign fundraiser dinner. A group will protest outside the dinner, showing our president that there is massive opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline. We need to make sure Mr. Obama can hear our voices.

I believe he will listen. He still needs us, and we still need him.

Molly Gott • St. Louis

Puzzling situation

Because the Post-Dispatch has dropped Mallard Fillmore from the comics pages, I now have only the crossword puzzles left as a reason to subscribe to the so-called newspaper.

David E. Glidewell • St. Charles

No pity for Ameren

Don't feel sorry for Ameren. Even if the suit described in "Railroad rates targeted" (Sept. 30) were successful, it would have little impact on transportation costs. As the story said, the "rate base" figures in only when there is just one transportation choice. Neither Ameren nor most of the northeastern-Wyoming coal mines are "captive" to either of the two railroads that carry coal from that part of the country.

Ameren's parent has taken strong measures to ensure that all its big power plants have at least two choices of transport. Sometimes that's rail plus barge, sometimes it is two or more rail lines. Even for the Labadie plant, seemingly captive to Union Pacific, Ameren made a second choice by buying the defunct Rock Island line past Creve Coeur Lake to the plant. Ameren would have to invest in upgrading that line, but it's there and Ameren doubtlessly uses its existence to keep Union Pacific's rates in line.

James D. Wilson • Ladue

Keeping the heat on

The cold winter weather and turning on the furnace can be an especially rough time for our friends and neighbors who are elderly, living with disabilities or facing the challenges of the tough economy. They face high energy bills during the winter. They may not be able to maintain their heating systems or may have other heating system problems.

That's why I'm a proud supporter of the Project "Heat's On" program. This is the 25th anniversary of this important partnership between the Mechanical Contractors Association of Eastern Missouri Inc. and Plumbers' and Pipefitters' Local Union No. 562.

This community program has provided heating system inspections to thousands of disabled and needy homeowners in St. Louis and the surrounding areas in the last 25 years. This year's goal is to reach 350 homes.

Eligible recipients of this inspection service were identified by Sts. Joachim and Ann Care Service in St. Peters, Energy Care Inc., Home Services Inc., St. Louis Area Agency on Aging and St. Louis County Human Services. The work will be completed on Oct. 8.

I salute the Mechanical Contractors Association of Eastern Missouri Inc. and the Plumbers' and Pipefitters' Local Union No. 562 for their continued efforts to help those in need in our community.

Len Pagano • St. Peters

Deprived of company

Colleen Carroll Campbell may have a point in deploring the proscription of discriminatory on-campus organizations by some universities ("So long, freedom of thought," Sept. 29).

As an atheist, I wouldn't touch a religion-oriented club with someone else's 10-foot pole. It would be worse if I were homosexual. If one were homosexual, with all the societal grief that that entails, why would one want to add to that grief by forcing oneself into a milieu where, at best, one would be barely tolerated or perhaps be viewed as a pathetic object whose defining characteristic is something to be eradicated?

And if enthusiastic Christians actually "hate the sin but love the sinner," as they claim, then why are they always doing things such as boycotting employers that provide benefits to the same-sex consorts of their employes?

Ms. Campbell is right: Let smug, discriminatory, on-campus organizations continue to "deprive" outsiders of the "joy" of their "company." Why the heck should self-respecting outsiders care, anyway?

Donn S. Miller • Tamms, Ill.

Energy's red herring

Dana Milbank was right to point out in "The Birthing of Solyndra" (Sept. 30) that the Republican finger-pointing over Solyndra is hypocritical, but the reason why the right is raising a hue and cry about its failure is even more interesting. There is, of course, the perennial GOP allegiance to the fossil-energy industry that so lavishly rewards congressional supporters, but mightn't there also be a desire to distract from the disastrous effect that the GOP slash-and-burn budgetary approach has had on a still-reeling economy?

Solyndra represents only 2.9 percent of the U.S. Department of Energy's investment in renewables. Its photovoltaic solar approach failed because silicon-based solar became wildly successful. Solyndra's failure proves nothing about the future of green jobs.

Nor is it improper to "pick winners and losers" by "prioritizing" green industries, or, to translate from GOP speak, to engage in strategic planning of the sort that is common in the business world. In the 1950s, the government prioritized the automotive industry by providing its essential highway infrastructure.

What has the Republican jobs strategy done for us? From where I'm standing, it looks like they've managed to bring a very slow but steady economic recovery to a screeching halt, with job growth flat-lining at just abut the same time that the GOP budget cuts started kicking in. In these circumstances, you can understand why they might toss out a few red herrings.

Willy Kessler • Ballwin

Tale of woe

In "The birthing of Solyndra" (Sept. 30), Dana Milbank goes out of his way to say that former President George W. Bush is responsible for the giveaway of more than a half a billion dollars of our tax money to a solar panel manufacturing company. Mr. Milbank, who, like other liberal writers, makes a living by bashing Mr. Bush, comes on a little strong with his tale of woe.

Yes, the Bush administration did consider giving money to Solyndra, but had decided against it, as was shown in emails that turned up as the Obama team was planning to lay the blame on Mr. Bush. But Mr. Milbank spins this sorry story that to say it really was Mr. Bush's fault, and that Mr. Obama just followed through and approved the process.

Mr. Milbank is a sorry excuse for a journalist.

John Cooke • Glendale