Friday's letters: Kavanaugh protests, Rick Scott and more

Protesters ineffective at Kavanaugh hearings

Growing up, and later in the workforce, it was impressed on me that raising my voice gave the other guy the upper hand.

It was an indication that I had lost control of the situation. Cool heads will always prevail.

Judging from the behavior of protesters at the Brett Kavanaugh hearings, they either weren't taught this life lesson, or they were out of control, or they subscribe to the Saul Alinsky rules for radicals — or all three.

It was an embarrassment to watch important hearings — to select someone who will have a serious and major impact on our country for years to come — turn into a media circus.

If there was evidence that this sort of disruptive protesting yielded results, it would be easier to understand.

If the cameras were to ignore anything but the exchange between the questioner and the person being interviewed, I'll bet the incidences of protest would drop.

These are people who don't have a clue as to how to effect change without behaving badly. Don't give them 15 seconds of fame.

Bruce Butler, Englewood

Article tells how Scott crippled water districts

Thank goodness for PolitiFact and its recent eye-opening article in the Herald-Tribune, “Did Scott pare $700 million from water district budgets?”

Don’t let Scott’s campaign ads, stating that he has budgeted millions for our waterways, fool you.

Scott cut $700 million in 2011 for funding water management districts. He even claimed responsibility for the budget cuts in a radio address in August 2011.

He did try to rectify that decision by adding more to their budgets since 2012, but was it enough? Not according to the awful, sickening smells from Naples to Tampa and the loss of tourism money.

Scott will try to tell you that “water management districts independently create their own budgets.” That’s true, but those budgets are eventually approved by many groups, including the water management district’s governing boards, which are appointed by — guess who? — the governor. Businesses should be able to sue the governor for loss of tourism income as they did BP for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

When it comes time to vote for Florida’s senator in November, just remember that sickening smell we all dealt with over the summer, and remember who was responsible for that: Governor Scott.

If Scott treats Floridians that way, how do you think he’ll treat the country as a senator?

Melissa T. Martinez, Sarasota

Two men seek solutions to environmental crises

By now, most of us have heard of the great trash island that floats in the Pacific, larger than the state of Texas. Plastic bags, fishing nets, and, yes, those dreaded plastic straws, as far as the eye can see — and farther.

And almost everyone has shaken their heads and bemoaned the fact that, with all the technology in the world, with all the government agencies, no one is doing a thing to clean it up.

But 24-year-old, Dutch-born Boyan Slat just launched the first of several booms projected to remove half of the "trash continent" in the next five years and send it to recycling.

Finally, someone decided to do something about this monstrous environmental problem.

And, by now, we all know that red tide is decimating the place we call home. Red tide, which has been affecting our water for centuries, still seems to be a mystery to the scientific community. With all the technology, with all the government agencies charged with protecting our environment and us, no one seems to have a clue.

So Bradenton’s Curt Bowen, a 54-year-old retired firefighter, has decided to get to the bottom of things. He filmed the bottom of our coastal waters, bringing up evidence of the damage done to sea life. He brought up water samples to be analyzed.

It remains to be seen whether the efforts by Slat and Bowen will have effective and lasting consequences, but thank God someone is making the effort.

Don Bruns, Sarasota

Glossy political mailers go right in recycle bin

Regarding the print-and-mail businessman’s recent letter to the editor: I go right from the mailbox to the recycle bin and pitch all of those aggravating, glossy mailers. I don’t even bother to see who sent them.

Several months ago, I got a glossy mailer from Rep. Vern Buchanan. He called it an “information survey,” and, in very small print, which you needed a magnifier to read, it said, “Paid for by taxpayers,” or some words to that effect.

So, not only do they send out these boastful, aggravating postcards but we pay for them.

When we called Buchanan’s office about this, we were told that it was a survey for his constituents. Yeah, right.

Judy McClarren, Holmes Beach