Anti-oil, pro-Obamacare

Wow! Thank you, Arnie Martin, for your very informative letter to the editor on Nov. 30!

I am totally opposed to any oil trains coming into Aberdeen for what I believe to be obvious reasons given our already struggling economy based on fishing and tourism, but I had no idea that Alberta tar sands crude is so much worse than the North Dakota Bakkan crude, and that’s bad enough.

Anyone reading your letter would have to be out of their minds (or have a vested financial interest in the process) to want that stuff being delivered and stored and shipped anywhere near our fragile ecosystem.

We need to fight against this possibility with all we’ve got, and the smell is certainly not the worst of it.

Also, in response to Fred Rapp’s letter on the same day, I would have to guess that he is not one of the 20 million people who have finally gotten medical coverage under Obamacare.

Does he really think insurance rates are going up because of the Affordable Care Act?

Insurance companies have ruled our healthcare system for some time. At least under Obamacare there is some control over what they can and cannot do, and while the ACA needs lots of tweaking to be sure, let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater.

So far, I have not heard any viable suggestions from the Republicans to replace it.

Of course, you, Mr. Rapp, will likely still have your employer provided insurance or government provided Medicare no matter what happens. Aren’t you lucky?

Patty Lavallee

Ocean Shores