Reader Mail
Cap-and-Taxed to Death
One terrible bill. Lott and Yeatman vs. Pelosi. Obama’s Persian adventure. Plus more.
(Page 5 of 6)
A Congress of freshmen who don’t take reelection for granted
would be a trove of creative new ideas.
— Nelson Lee Walker
Saratoga,
California
CHRISTIANITY BLUES
Re: Ken Blackwell &
Ken Klukowski’s A Religious Test:
We experienced the same treatment at a blues festival in Lebanon
Ohio and we got it on film. The police were taking the Christians
by the arm and leading them out of the public area. Needless to
say, we received an invitation to pass out literature anytime we
wanted to in the future and at, yes, the next blues festival. We
have a very savvy pastor who threatened to sue the city for
discrimination and violation of civil rights; they caved in and
gave us the right to pass out literature at any future event. I
know some of the other areas of the country do not accept that it
is a civil right to express yourself in public, especially if you
are are expressing Christian beliefs, but it can be done. It is
time we all stood up and demanded our right to peaceful assembly
and the right to speak freely with out retribution.
— Kenneth J. Roberts
Lebanon, Ohio
ICED TEA AND LEFTOVERS
Re: Quin Hillyer’s
After the Tea Parties:
How about a National Freedom and Liberty Day, with all of these groups coordinating together, pulling all Americans wanting to maintain their Freedom and Liberty together for peaceful marches and demonstrations at national, state, and local government office locations, all on the same day and repeat it every month if necessary until the current corrupt government gets the message. “We the People who are the United States of America are not going to sit quietly and idle while our freedom is taken from us and our country destroyed.”
Most of the men in my family and many of my friends have and are
serving in the United States military. There are a lot of “US”
but the “Socialists” and “Corrupt Government” are not taking us
seriously because they only see us once every three or four
months at the Tea Parties. How about all of these groups
coordinating together to start campaigning now against corrupt
politicians who out of greed are helping rob all of us of our
Freedom, using all means available: local rallies, internet
campaigns, radio and TV ads. There truly is strength in numbers
and if all these like-minded groups come together at specific
times we could be heard and make a difference.
— Debra
PERPLEXED ON PERSIA
Re: Peter Ferrara’s Obama’s Iran Blunder:
It is unbelievable that you could print such nonsense as Peter Ferrara’s article.
I like to get a glimpse of all opinions across the political spectrum, but this article is more than flawed — it’s dangerous and ridiculous.
I am a Jewish American, and naturally will line up to make sure Israelis can live in peace and security.
Peter says,
“Like Adolf Hitler, the theocrats who run Iran have told us exactly what they plan to do. They plan to build nuclear weapons, and use them to ‘wipe Israel off the map.’ They have said this plan is rooted in their fundamental religious beliefs and doctrines regarding the return of their God to Earth. They have said they will not abandon this plan for anything, not trade concessions, financial aid from the West, or security guarantees. Their conduct is consistent with carrying out this plan…”
Absolute nonsense.
They’ve said Israel should be wiped off the map because they feel the region was drawn up without legitimacy by western powers after World War II. I don’t agree with that argument, but that’s a far cry from misstating their words as if they are laying out their plans to build nuclear weapons and nuke Israel.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (17) | Leave a comment
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Old Texican| 7.3.09 @ 1:23PM
James Noble
Thank you. That was the most succinct, and thoughtful post I have read today.
You stepped back from the pointless grumbling and took it to the conclusion.
brrrrr...chill bumps!
billy| 7.4.09 @ 5:34AM
I say again.
Our elected officials need a history lesson.
Why did we tell the king of England (one of the most powerful men in the world) to take a hike 233 years ago today?
DoS_Conservative| 7.4.09 @ 10:32AM
"I don't usually read The American Spectator any more, though I do return occasionally to gloat. "
--Paul Dorell
I think Mr. Dorell needs to go back on hiatus because his letter is absolutely nonsense. He makes some hysterical claims how totalitarianism is great. It takes a liberal to praise totalitarianism. He has a great role model in the White House.
First, his claim that government controlled healthcare systems are more economical and effective than our current system of private insurance. Economical? Not to the tax payers who fund it. Perhaps to the government since they constantly deny treatment; therefore, they are not paying for it. As a Foreign Service Officer in the Department of State, I have lived overseas many years and have experienced government run healthcare first hand. I would not trade our current system for it. It is not great. Besides my problems dealing with that system, I have had two friends diagnosed with cancer while in Europe. The government run health care in Europe told them they had to wait 6 weeks just to talk about possible treatment options for their cancer. Then would have to wait just to get on the treatment program afterwards. They came back to the US and were immediately on treatment within days of returning to the US. If they waited in the European system, they would probably not be cured today. Also, those with money all pay for higher medical care at special hospitals for the well to do. They all know if you want quality healthcare, you pay for it out of pocket.
Second, his claim that the Chinese are on the right track in trying to control fertility rates when over population is a global crisis is just insane. If they are on the right track since they instituted their one child policy, then why is it that their population continues to increase? As someone who has lived in China for a couple of years, I can tell you. Because when the Chinese have girls, they continue to either kill them (infanticide), or abandon them in an orphanage so they can continue to try for a boy. Also, those Chinese with money can just pay the government to be an exception to the one child policy. Or perhaps I misread Mr. Dorell's point. Perhaps he was praising the Chinese population control mechanism of executing criminals for petty crimes as pickpocketing. Or massacring minority populations that don't agree with the Politburo. I guess the Chinese are on the right track. As a liberal, Mr. Dorell probably thinks this is a wonderful way to quell dissent.
Finally, Mr. Dorell blames the current financial crisis on too little regulation. He acts as if no regulation existed and caused this crisis. The truth is that if Congress (the overseers of the regulators) actually did their job and enforced the regulation already on the books, instead of catering to their special interest groups, we probably wouldn't be in the mess we are in today.
I think Mr. Dorell needs to continue to not read the Spectator and go back to his Huffington Post and Daily KOS blogs with the other brain washed sheeple who believe this nonsense.
Paul Dorell| 7.6.09 @ 11:44AM
DoS_Conservative,
You can rest assured that I don't intend to become a regular on this site. It was always fun stir the pot during Bush's second term, but that's old hat now. However, I will respond to some of your comments.
Studies have shown that the total per capita cost to the citizens of France for health care is about half of that of Americans, and that on balance the results in terms of infant mortality and other measures are better. I'm not saying that this applies to the poorer countries of Europe. I realize that there are waiting periods in some countries, and that treatment isn't always immediately available. As an individual, that would be undesirable, but for the country as a whole, it would be beneficial. One of the reasons why our health care system is the most expensive in the world per capita is that people are over-treated. In my opinion, it is appropriate in many instances to allow people to die rather than spend hundreds of thousand of taxpayer dollars to extend their lives by a few months. That is the norm here, and the current system has no internal mechanism to correct it. If immediate treatment is what particularly irks you, with any system that we're likely to legislate, you will still be able to get it - at the right price out of your own pocket. I do not commend Congress for their conduct over the last few years, but at least they're trying to move in the right direction now.
Regarding China, I was not applauding their human rights violations. Nor was I applauding the effectiveness of their attempt to control their population growth. I was applauding the fact that the government is attempting to prevent a disaster to their country that would also spill over and affect every corner of the globe. What I'm saying is that in principle, there is nothing wrong with the government regulation of the number of offspring that a couple my bear.
Regarding the financial crisis, if you had read my letter carefully, you would have noticed that I mentioned lack of enforcement as one of the causes.
Regarding my choices of reading, I do not read the Huffington Post or Daily Kos, though I usually agree with Paul Krugman, who has perhaps got a bit of a big head from his Nobel prize in economics.
As far as Obama is concerned, I'm happy with the job he's done so far and shudder to think what would have happened to this country with McCain-Palin in office. Obama is on track to become one of the greatest presidents in American history. The readers of The American Spectator now make up one of the wackiest fringes in American politics, but I don't imagine it will die any time soon, as it's still well funded.