Letters To The Editor, June 17, 2009
GOP Coverage Was Out of Dems Playbook
Editor, Times-Dispatch: Regarding the newspaper's coverage of the Virginia Republican convention, "Cuccinelli, Bolling Join GOP Ticket": In recounting Bob McDonnell's acceptance speech, the first item mentioned in the news story is McDonnell receiving applause when he commented on "innocent human life" and the right to bear arms -- as if that was the main thrust.
McDonnell's speech covered many pressing issues. He talked about taxes, energy, bailouts, tourism, small business, jobs, retirees, card check, and the skyrocketing cost of college tuition. Every speaker at the convention talked about the Republican belief in individual liberty and self-reliance as contrasted with the Democratic belief in social welfare and government dependence. There is not one word about any of this in the news article.
The article tried to convey the message that the convention attendance fell short of expectations. The 8,000 attendees were the most to attend a Republican state convention in Virginia in the past 15 years -- far beyond expectations.
There is space in the story to mouth the Democratic line that "Republicans turned down stimulus money for expanded unemployment benefits," but no space to explain the Republicans' stated reasons for doing this.
There was no mention of the remarkable speech by Adnan Barqawi, former Regimental Commander of the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets, about his life and what it means to be an American. He received two standing ovations and the loudest applause. The paper didn't showcase this accomplished ethnic minority who is a proud Republican.
This type of biased, skewed coverage of Republicans to fit a template is a page straight out of the Democrats' playbook. So, congratulations to this newspaper for fulfilling its role as the propaganda arm of the Democratic Party.
Jessee Ring.
Pulaski.
Many Question Global Warming
Editor, Times-Dispatch: In a reply to my letter, "Climate Change Needs DeBunking," Rod Elser wrote, "Climate Debunking Was Bunk Itself." Let me assist him in understanding global warming.
I'll begin with the following from Science (http://www.theregister.co.uk/science): "Two authorities provide us with analysis of long-term surface temperature trends. Both agree on the global temperature trend until 1998, at which time a sharp divergence occurred. The UK Meteorological Office's Hadley Center for Climate Studies HadCRUT data . . . shows worldwide temperatures declining since 1998. According to Hadley's data, the Earth is not much warmer now than it was in 1878 or 1941."
On Jan. 14, 2008, John L. Casey, director of the Space and Science Research Center (http://www.spaceandscience .net) wrote the following: "The Earth has been in a long-term cooling trend technically for 11 years. The significant drop in global temperatures that also occurred between January 2007 and much of 2008 should have been enough for most observers to finally accept that global warming is over, except that this information was intentionally not passed on to the American people."
In a March 2, 2009 letter Casey sent to President Barack Obama, he expressed his concern about the uncertainties of attempting to regulate the environment, especially "now that global warming has ended, the attempt to legislate and then impose cap-and-trade schemes on the American taxpayer and their businesses can only be described as highly speculative."
Some additional facts: CO2 is not a pollutant -- it is necessary for all life on Earth. Human activity produces only .038 percent of the CO2 in the atmosphere, with 96.5 percent of greenhouse gases derived from the oceans -- of which water vapor is the largest amount. Last, during the past millennium, levels of CO2 were often at higher levels than the current levels.
William Ryan.
Midlothian.
Can the Government Beat this Health Care?
Editor, Times-Dispatch: Two months ago, I wrote letters to Sens. Mark Warner and Jim Webb, and to President Barack Obama.
The letter outlined my health-related issues over the past two years which have included two surgeries, an extended stay in intensive care, numerous tests, X-rays, doctor visits, and hospital visits for pre-admission and other testing. During this time my care was tremendous. All of my doctors, health care professionals, administrators, even the insurance companies, have been great.
My question to my legislators and president was: How would the new health care plan suggested by the Democratic Party improve my health care? To my great disappointment, none of these men gave me the courtesy of a return communication. Either they don't know the answer -- or they don't want me to know. So much for transparency.
Ed Nugent.
Chesterfield.
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Reader Reactions
“Our troops coming home from Iraq kind of are suckers, I hate to say it.” Posted by FanTastic
Well Fan, a person who hates to say a thing ought not to say it; and you’ve spoken what you hate to say twice. In case you haven’t read my response to your post on the 7/16 thread I’ll paraphrase:
As a Disabled Veteran, I am offended by your remark. When I volunteered for service there was still a draft—I was young, but I was no “sucker.” Enlisted Soldiers & Sailors do not make the policies of war; just as “the ones who call the shots won’t be among the dead and lame.” As citizens, we call the shots, and it is our responsibility to ensure that the defenders of our Liberty are not sent into a war that is not needed. And, we owe it to them to live our public lives according to the principal of Right Liberty being mindful of the equal rights of others and the good of the country.
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“We call Nam vets heros…They went to kill people…” Posted by FanTastic
By and large young men did not go to Viet Nam, they were drafted & they were sent!
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“When we glorify war and militarism, we prepare another generation of young boys to join up and fight and die at the bidding of very, very rich men. Lets break the cycle.” Posted by FanTastic
Now you are on to something. Ultimately, in a constitutional democracy such as ours, it is the citizens that send the young to war. In my previous post I cited the “the August Madness” of 1914, when Europe rushed blindly to war. In towns and cities across the continent, the various declarations of war in late July and early August were greeted with displays of patriotic euphoria.
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/firstworldwar/first_world_war/over_christmas.htm
American Citizens are responsible for the tragedy of the Troops lives. Just like Europe of August 1914, Americans of this generation are prone to “glorify war and militarism.” American citizens sat in easy chairs, their eyes glued to televisions and cheered “our troops are heroes” as they sent the young to a ground war in Iraq, which the U.S. had hemmed in tight as Tupperware and no-fly zones secured over 2/3’s of the country since 1990. The American public could have prevented all of this. But they were too busy watching TV.
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Fan - I read your post to Greta about her thinking “as she was instructed to”. You know, Greta’s at least an honest broker who will admit an error - YOU certainly haven’t demonstrated that you’re free thinker - something you sem to cherish, but a quality that eludes you. You know your Animal Farm mentality: Republicans bad - Democrats good. If that’s not the same kind of lockstep, groupthink you accuse others of, I don’t know what is.
It’s too bad that you coat some of the few good points you make with this kind of tripe.
I do disagree with that. These young men and women volunteered to join the armed forces. They did what soldiers do. They followed orders.
Do you imagine that the military rank and file get to CHOOSE whether or no they go into a war zone?
Do you imagine that all wars are for righteous reasons? Of course honest mistakes are made and some mistakes that are not so honest. We did not get to be nor do we stay the most powerful nation on the planet because we always wear the white hats.
You and I enjoy safety and comfort that is unknown in a great part of the world.
Perhaps we went to Iraq because we knew that Saddam Hussein had NO weapons of mass destruction. Because he had become a sitting duck for a nuclear armed Iran?
The insurgency would have happened whenever Saddam was no longer in power.
Whether by way of assasignation or a coup or natural causes.
His fist out of the dike would have set off a civil war without an American presence to keep Israel from being blown off the map and the entire region going up in flames.
The “suckers” may have prevented a conflagration of WWIII proportions.
Any veterans out there?
Even if you don’t agree with my unpopular theory please let this gentleman know how wrong he is…
Our troops coming home from Iraq kind of are suckers, I hate to say it.
If you spent 15 months away from your family, getting shot at for terrible wages in an effort to remove weapons that didn’t exist and avenge 9/11 against a people that had nothing to do with it, you are a sucker. They had the best of intentions, I’m sure, but they did get duped. Do you disagree with that?
I dont ever understand it when we call them heros. What makes them heros? They weren’t protecting me, Saddam wanted no part of us. He had no navy, no air force, no ICBMs. He had nothing. He couldnt have hurt us if he wanted to, which he didnt. Are they heros because they are brave? If so, the 14 year olds that fought against them, in the face of certain death, are much braver, and therefore more heroic.
We call Nam vets heros all the time too, and I honestly dont get it. They went to kill people so that the person they had elected wouldnt get to run the country and make them communist. Why bother? MONEY!
When we glorify war and militarism, we prepare another generation of young boys to join up and fight and die at the bidding of very, very rich men. Lets break the cycle.
Let me first say that it is a damn shame that even one veteran is homeless and without care.
In my opinion this country could never do enough to repay their service. To imply that they were somehow stupid enough to be duped into that service is condescending to say the least.
To also imply that all those unfortunate veterans were “thrown into the street” by the Bush administration is either totally disengenous or totally ignorant.
That 23% of the homeless that are veterans hail from World War II, Korean War, Cold War, Vietnam War, Grenada, Panama, Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Nobody “supports war.“ We will be obligated to support this president in his foreign policy decisions. Even if we do not we will have to live with them.
I did not support all of the Bush policies and I will not support all of Obama’s.
I voted for neither…
What resolute failure in management existed to leave healthcare alone and profit driven for all these years?
Well greta, the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness and the Urban Institute estimates that veterans account for 23% of all homeless people in America. Roughly 150K sleep outside on any given night and 300K at some point over a 365 day run. So aparently they must just be lazy. They were tricked into fighting a war for profit, hailed as heros and promptly discarded when they returned.
You said Obama admin is turning a disaster into a catastrophe and I commend you for at least aknowledging that Obama (who I didn’t vote for) inherited an absolute mess, thanks in part to the wars and economic policies that you undoubtedly supported, as you were instructed to do so.
Of course there were no Democrats in congress during the Bush Administration!
With the majority that they have in congress now and Bush gone who are they going to blame for the disaster that they are turning into a catastrophe at warp speed?
A health care plan from this administration that is indeed hundreds of pages long and very short on details of how it is going to get paid for. It doesn’t matter they are not going to bother to read it anyway.
A “budget” and deficit that runs into the trillions and counting. But again it doesn’t matter, nobody bothers to read that stuff. That many zeros just gives everybody a headache.
Lets just pass it on. Lets just “dump” it on our kids and grandkids.
And nobody, nobody, Democrat or Republican is dumping sick and broken troops on the street.
Talk about screeching!
No kidding,
They loved bailouts when bush was in power. They loved war when bush was in power. They marched in lock step to his every command and parroted his talking points like so many school children. That’s what makes the new found “viewpoints” of Republicans ring so hollow. They’re dumping the war on the democrats just like they dumped the economy on the democrats, just like they dump our sick and broken troops returning from battle onto the streets. They ruin things, and then complain about the way in which their political opponents try to fix them. Absolutely pathetic.
They screech about socialism but can’t define it.
They screech about “Orwellian” policies of the Obama admin, but have never read Animal Farm or 1984.
They try to turn David Letterman’s comments about Palin’s little breeder into a political issue but can’t manage to put together a healthcare plan longer than four pages, much like their four page, numberless budget. WE PAY THEM 400K A YEAR TO DO THIS FOLKS!!!
So far, that bill has only passed in the house, with the Dems leading the way. Only 5 GOP reps voted for it. It could be argued that they voted against it due to the IMF funding and clunker programs.
The Dem caucus voted 221-32 in favor of funding the wars.
I guess principles depend on who’s in the White House.
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