America’s future

Everyone wants a change, and change is coming, but it could basically destroy our way of life as we know it.

The “bailout” nonsense for the financial corporations was made so the executives can continue their high method of living with tremendous annual bonuses and very high salaries. Then comes the bailout of the automobile industry, which so far is a means to keep the unions alive and produce the expensive automobiles that we do not need.

There are demands for other bailouts — home builders, arts programs, grocery chains — and at the same time we face the tremendous waste of having one of the most expensive inaugurations in history, a change of the president at a cost of well over $40 million for a parade and show.

A $1-trillion stimulus package is now planned when we get the new president. Change — that will really change our country. Our debt will be too high to calculate.

If anyone needs the bailout, it is our veterans who are defending our country against the terrorists — those wounded, and those who have given their lives. Do we really need a change?

Ray Roberts,

Denton

Overworked inspectors

I found “Voicing the silence” (Page 1A, Dec. 31) very interesting, especially if you work the numbers on Texas’ oil and gas well inspectors a little.

The Texas Railroad Commission has 83 inspectors, each of whom is assigned 3,259 wells. Based on a presumed annual inspection and a 50-week work year, this means they have 250 days to inspect these wells once a year.

Dividing 250 into 3,259 comes out to 13.036 wells a day for each inspector.

Based on a presumed seven-hour workday, that would mean they have to inspect 1.86 wells an hour, and I assume there’s some distance between each well since this is big ol’ Texas, after all.

Those guys must be pretty busy — all day, every day!

With this number of inspectors for the state’s 270,526 (and counting) active wells, it’s no surprise that the General Accounting Office report cited in the article is titled: “Drinking Water: Safeguards are not preventing contamination from injected oil and gas wastes.”

Bottled water, anyone?

Scott Simpkins,

Denton

Verbal dyslexia

Ms. McPherson [Letters, Jan 4], Caroline Schlossberg cooked her own goose during a string of recent disastrous interviews in New York state by being unable to intelligently express herself while episodically relying on the verbal tics, “um” and “you know.”

The New York Times actually included the 142 “you knows” in the printed version of its interview with her.

Here’s another example: “Um, this is a fairly unique moment both in our, you know, in our country’s history, and, and in, you know, my own life, and um, you know, we are facing, you know, unbelievable challenges, our economy, you know, health care, people are losing their jobs here in New York obviously um, ah, you know. …”

Another senator who expresses themselves like most Dallas Cowboys.

I don’t think so.

Roger T. Horrell,

Denton