Celebrate Earth and not Lenin

I too, like the News Messenger editor Carol Feineman, consider myself a friend of the environment (April 15 News Messenger, page A5) but unlike Carol, I will not be celebrating Earth Day, April 22, which coincidentally is the 140th anniversary of the birthday of Vladimir Ilvich Ulyanov, commonly known simply as Lenin. The first Earth Day in 1970 was the 100th anniversary of Lenin's birth. A coincidence? I don't think so! I believe that the environmental movement has been co-opted by the Left, the Socialists, the admirers of Lenin. A new term for these pseudo environmentalists is watermelon environmentalists, green on the outside but red on the inside. Think about it, what better way to defeat capitalism than to choke it off from the inside with a feel good, touchy feely green movement. Create a false crisis, like anthropological global warming. It's not warming? Well, just change the name to climate change. Brainwash the kids in school, make them the vanguard of the movement. The leftist unions like the CTA will jump on board. Lenin would be proud of these modern-day believers in the new socialism. I'll keep hanging my clothes on the line, riding my bike, composting my garden waste, recycling my motor oil, using my AC sparingly, planting trees and encouraging a respect for God's green earth. But I will not celebrate Lenin's birthday.Don Stewart, Lincoln