Readers Write (Oct. 17): Ebola, Catholic Church, school choice

Will Steger contends ("Jobs are the newest sign of climate change," Oct. 16) that "green" energy is creating jobs in wind and solar in Minnesota.

Of course, there are new jobs. Whenever one makes a product less efficiently, there will be more people needed to make it. Solar and wind power are many times more expensive than natural gas, coal or nuclear power. The public pays the difference in their electric bills and in taxes that are used to subsidize these new "jobs." I almost gagged when Steger mentioned $75,000-a-year workers, because I am the one paying the freight and getting nothing for it.

Germany went down the solar and wind path, and ended up with the highest electric rates in Europe and a new term called "energy poverty." Lower- and middle-class people can't pay their electric bills and get shut off. The Germans are now backing away from green energy, while we run headlong into it.

Wealth is created by increased efficiency, not by making things less efficient to hire more people.

The "blame game" over the response to the Ebola epidemic diverts our attention from the true source of the problem. Our patchwork health care "system" leaves millions uninsured and vulnerable to acquiring and spreading fatal infectious diseases. Also, the training of health care workers is inconsistent and sometimes incomplete.

Yet we smugly assert that our health care is "the best in the world." Perhaps this is so for those covered under their employer's plan that provides comprehensive care using the latest technology. As is clearly evident in West Africa, the lack of a national focus on health care for all results in a limited and chaotic response to a virulent disease.

The Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare") is a start toward greater coverage for all Americans with more uniform control of disease protocols. It should be supported and improved rather than dismantled. We need the latest information, equipment and training for all our health care workers. That requires a national program, independent of local politics and control.

The tragedy is that we now have a true, if minor, threat of Ebola transmission in this country and that it understandably takes our resources away from the contagion in Africa. If the number of new cases isn't reduced in Africa, we, and the rest of the world, will have much more to worry about than the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's glib inconsistencies and one hospital's reckless indifference to anything but its bottom line.

To keep the U.S. threat minor, we need information from Texas Presbyterian Hospital on what it did and didn't do, not denials and apologies.

We need several things from our government. The CDC needs the power to impose requirements on hospital emergency rooms for the safety of hospital workers and other patients at the point of initial contact. We need something between a draconian no-fly ban, which would wreak havoc on our economy as well as limit aid, and the present laughable screening at only five airports. And we need a new face to communicate honestly with us; CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden has lost our confidence.

Finally, we need our elected representatives to resist the temptation to politicize this mess.

• • •

The underlying arrogance of this statement, especially in light of how our government has not prevented transmission of this virus within the Dallas hospital, is chilling.

Whether or not an Ebola outbreak in the United States will occur is primarily a function of the nature of the virus itself (Will it become airborne? Will it mutate?) and has little to do with government intervention. Making ex cathedra statements about the nature of this disease may ease fear in the short run. In the long run, we lose confidence in our government.

Two Oct. 15 letter writers questioned the potential effectiveness of the recent settlement over past criminal clergy sexual abuse in Minnesota. While the 17-point protection plan seems viable, there will now be termination of the secrecy, unwarranted respect for clergy and victims' fear of reprisals. Immediate reporting for law enforcement involvement, which always should have been implemented, and the earned distrust of parents will contribute heavily to zero tolerance for any new clergy sexual abuse of vulnerable children and adults.

Offending clergy were committing criminal acts completely outside their job duties and they will no longer be protected by the church. They are on their own and deserve the criminal penalties of any other citizen.

Finally, the church, unencumbered by flawed "church law" enforcement responsibilities, can pursue its religious mission with clergy totally dedicated to the cause.

Research shows that vouchers are an overall failure. Free public education educates all children; vouchers don't. The real purpose of vouchers is to give tax dollars to private schools: defund public education, privatize all education. Readers should compare educational apples to apples, and read "50 Myths and Lies That Threaten America's Public Schools" or "The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Undermine Education."

When you can blame your dentist for cavities and your doctor for your obesity, then you can blame schools for your child's educational failings. "Failing schools" makes a great slogan, but it is another glib propaganda slogan covering the true agenda. American students in schools with under 10 percent poverty rates are among the world's best, if not No. 1.

The "50 Myths" book demolishes the voucher scheme. All so-called reform ideas are limiting creativity and excitement in learning. We owe our kids better than misinformation.