Sunday, March 21, 2010

Daylight saving time is not nature's way

Daylight saving time is the biggest farce foisted on us since before global warming, WMDs in Iraq and Sarah Palin. Yet every person that is against government control of our lives has their clock set at 5:06 p.m. right now, just like I do.

We need to get government out of our lives and we need to start with doing away with daylight saving time. When the sun has reached its zenith on any given day, it should be 12 noon. This is what nature intended, and I can't wait to hear the arguments of those who are in favor of DST.

Bring them on.

Walker Moran

Rockland Key

Glad to see Di Gennaro shares health concerns

I can barely suppress my delight that finally I may have something in common with Commissioner Mario Di Gennaro, for it appears that the county commissioner has joined me at last in supporting government-funded medical care. I was one of the large majority of county voters who strongly suggested Monroe County continue to fund Trauma Star, finding it hard to trust LifeNet when it assured us it wouldn't hound people for lack of payment for the grossly overpriced helicopter life flights to Miami.

For me it was a matter of principle; for the commissioner it was a matter of a personal need suddenly highlighting the appalling state of medical insurance in this unhappy republic. Like the commissioner's son-in-law, my wife and I enjoy work-supplied insurance, but the truth is private health insurance is not the panacea we would like to believe.

Perhaps now our multimillionaire commissioner (whose wealth was reported by this very newspaper) can get behind the notion that government funding for health care is no bad thing at all. Sauce for helicopter flights might also be sauce to flavor Medicare for All -- or at least a strong public option as part of the health care reforms that are so heavily tipped in favor of the robber barons of the health insurance industry.

Perhaps Commissioner Di Gennaro could make history as the first Republican to support doing the decent thing for working Americans who aren't millionaires.

Michael Beattie

Ramrod Key

What is the deal with price-gouging tourists?

As a former resident and continual vacationer of Key West, I pose the following question: When did Winn-Dixie become a wholesale distributor?

While vacationing last week in Key West, friends and I had a barbecue and needed more charcoal to keep the food warm. A guest I brought down from Atlanta with my family and I walked to [a nearby] grocery store and purchased a $6.99 1-pound bag of Winn-Dixie brand charcoal.

First, why the price gouging? And second, isn't it illegal to resale franchise items at a profit?

Sure, a lot of the local convenience stores do this in the Keys, but this is ridiculous. This bag of charcoal costs $1.99 at Winn-Dixie -- and because we wanted to avoid traffic, my guest should be robbed? Convenience stores in the village -- or anywhere, as a matter of fact -- should be giving back to the community, not taking advantage of the current economic situation.

Willie Curtis

Atlanta, Ga.