Why not expand your camp at Florida State Park?

State Park Solutions

Buildings Protect State Parks | February 12th

If state legislatures want to expand state park amenities and increase revenue, there is a clear path. We will expand camping facilities. The park’s campsites were booked a few months in advance and cannot meet existing demand. An increase in camping facilities is to meet existing needs without environmental destruction of golf courses and hotels. It becomes more economical to increase revenue and conform to and maintain the purpose of preserving natural spaces.

Dave Pignitello of the Seminole

The wrong question

Is a massive deportation Christian? Florida leaders are thinking of questions | February 12th

I don’t know why Florida lawmakers are debating whether massive deportation is Christian. The word “Christianity” does not appear in the US Constitution, and neither does the Constitution refer to God or Jesus Christ. This should be a topic of local book clubs, not a representative of the state government.

The Constitution did not establish Christianity as an official religion more than it established capitalism as an official economic system. The First Amendment states that Congress cannot enact laws establishing religion or laws prohibiting free practices of religion. To condemn and punish the poorest and least influential people living here is a scam done by the real takers (mega-rich) and tries to make enough money to live in peace Not a poor, hopeless and low person with no rights.

Brian Valsavage, St. Petersburg

51st state?

Canada, we hear you. Thank you for the email | Line, February 16th

Go to Canada! I’m an American, but I’m very proud of Canadians for standing up to President Donald Trump and his country. You may have products from the US, but you don’t need them. There’s not much that the US has to be that you can’t reach elsewhere, or at least there’s no acceptable alternative. Mexico can fill the void left in your produce aisles, and almost every other country wants to have your steel, aluminum and oil. Mexico also has beautiful warm beaches that replace the expensive beaches you visit in the US.

Katie Pratt, St. Petersburg

A complex subject

I’m recovering from my loss of appetite. This is how I help my daughter navigate body image | Column, February 16th

I was grateful for this column by a mother who recovered from anorexia, where her children were trying to avoid the same fate. There are a few other truths that you should consider when dealing with weight and body image.

For one thing, men prefer women who are mostly clean, thin and shaped. If you’re a teenage girl who wants a boyfriend, this is a big reason to care about what you look like. And yes, women and men are interested in their looks. Appearance remains important until it fundamentally changes the way humans choose their peers.

Second, society has reached a point where many tasks can be performed without going down the rear end. Combined with the easy availability of delicious, inexpensive and often unhealthy foods, we have become an overweight country vulnerable to illness. This is a big problem for both individuals and society, and we cannot solve it by telling our children that no matter how big, all bodies are equally desirable.

The only answer is to teach children the importance of healthy diet, exercise and discipline, and instill confidence and self-esteem. Eating disorders still occur, but the obesity epidemic is just as amazing and needs to be addressed.

Liz Dreyer, Clearwater

State Fair’s Big Eater

Who eats Florida Fair Food? We did it and here’s what we found | February 12th

Every year, the state fair menu becomes even more extreme. Are we celebrating the right to get heart disease in the secondary order of obesity, diabetes and cancer? Sadly, it seems like that.

Martin S. Bernstein, Palm Harbor

It undermines research

Trump’s plan will cut federal research | February 7th

The Trump administration’s plan to significantly cut federal funding to support STEM research at US universities poses an existential threat to our country’s long-term excellence in global engagement . Federal funds awarded to institutions of higher education prepare our health, security, the economy, the environment and, above all, the next generation of scientists, mathematicians, practitioners and engineers to improve lives and collectively. Federal funds awarded to institutions of higher education are essential to better understand ecosystems and collective ecosystems. To address the threats we all necessarily face.

The happiness of our global society depends on research from American universities. Federal funding, equivalent to the entire annual budget sliver, is the main reason why the US controls the list of the best universities in the world. Of the list of US news and top universities reporting in the world, 41 of the top 100 are US institutions, most of them rank in the top 50. There are 32 schools in Western Europe and Scandinavian, while China has 16. Interestingly, there is nothing in Russia, Russia, Russia and former Soviet member states.

One of the great benefits of federal support for universities is that they come here to attract the best and brightest in the world, studying and implementing advanced graduate studies. Many of them remain to maintain STEM’s global leadership. Simply put, federal research grants to US universities are the best investment we can make to ensure a bright future for the improvement of all life on the planet.

Albert C. Hein, Seminole

Please say it

After reading “Anne Frank’s Diary,” I asked, why could the Germans not bear Hitler?

History is repeated in our country, when we all stood up and spoke. We cannot wear down when President Donald Trump is doing something else odd to empower himself, enrich himself and hurt people around the world. I cannot calculate that his last executive order or appointee would personally hurt me.

We must speak for immigrants, people in Ukraine or Gaza, federal employees who serve us all, or for the FBI and the Department of Justice who protect us all.

We must oppose press freedom and unfair tariffs that hurt our allies and increase costs for American citizens and businesses.

We are millions who die from a lack of legitimate science and medicine at the National Institutes of Health, hundreds of thousands who die from a lack of food and medicine from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the USAID. You have to speak out for that. We speak out for billions of people who will die from the failure of the world to respond to climate change and global warming together, or to respond to the free power of unselected billionaires donors. It must.

Trump is a threat to democracy, the weakest and most marginalized people, world peace and the future of our planet.

Leo E. Honeyfin, Sun City Centre