Robert Steffes – 11/8/09

This page was last updated on November 8, 2009.

Health care effort gets powerful voice; Robert Steffes; Beaver County Times; November 8, 2009.

For a little more background, a Post-Gazette letter indicates Mr. Steffes believes the only scientists who don’t believe humans are causing global warming are those who work for the energy industry. In another letter, Mr. Steffes tried to get us to sign a petition so Bob Edwards could keep his job at NPR. According to Mr. Steffes, “Mr. Edwards’ calm baritone stands alone in the sea of slime that has become commercial talk radio.” I could be completely off base, but I suspect Mr. Steffes really meant “conservative talk radio.” In one letter from Mr. Steffes, he sang the praises of a woman on a crusade against electronic voting machines and offered to send her a check. I wonder if he ever followed through?

The last Steffes letter I critiqued was entitled “State budget is too generous on drilling.”

Below is a detailed critique of the letter.

“I congratulate Sister Mary Pellegrino and the Sisters of St. Joseph in Baden for joining the call for affordable, quality health care for all as a moral imperative (‘Access to health care a basic right,’ Wednesday).

“I am so grateful we have such a powerful voice for peace and social justice in our community.”

[RWC] I mean no offense to Sister Pellegrino, but other than she apparently supports the same position as Mr. Steffes, what qualifies her as “a powerful voice for peace and social justice in our community?” An admittedly quick Google search found nothing to bolster Mr. Steffes’ assertion. Further, “social justice” is just a lefty euphemism for redistribution of income/wealth. Being “such a powerful voice” for that would not be a good thing.

One last point. If Sister Pellegrino had opposed a government-run healthcare monopoly on the basis that freedom trumps all, would Mr. Steffes had the same opinion of Sister Pellegrino, or would he have written about “separation of church and state?”

Please read my paper entitled “Healthcare.”