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.

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.

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.