Out of touch
Mayor John Bost's offensive, nonsensical comments in the Nov. 9 Journal ("Clemmons voters overhaul council") indicate he can best serve our village by not accepting his marginal, unopposed, write-in win. Obviously, Bost and the council have become insular and out-of-touch with voters, as evidenced by the voter turnout and the election results. Further, voters should be wary any time a group of elected officials unanimously agree on any major issue, with unanimity suggesting cloning of their thought process.
Bost's calling the vote "corrupted," "immoral" and "blind leading the blind" is simply reprehensible and unconscionable of any elected official and offensive to voter intelligence.
Obviously, Bost opines that voters are incapable of making independent, informed decisions absent the typical posters and handouts at the polls, which influence a very small minority of voters. Perhaps Bost believes that elections should not be held, but decisions left entirely to an elite group of intellectuals, in defiance of the basis of our Founding Fathers.
The mayor and council failed to conduct voter informational meetings with an opportunity to hear voters and sense the overall pulse and failed to examine low-cost alternatives to alleviate the quarter-mile Lewisville-Clemmons Road "problem area," such as coordinated and timed traffic signals. They allowed the Journal to introduce in the Oct. 10 edition the 27 percent tax-hike bond issue ("Bonds are sought for roads") during these difficult economic times and left dialogue and communications to The Real Friends of Clemmons.
My "no" bond voting decision was made well in advance.
VAN P. McGEHEE
Clemmons
Inaccurate and distorted
The Oct. 28 letter "Gilad Schalit returns home" is defamatory and has inaccurate and distorted statements. One concerned Palestinian children killed by Israelis. It is sad that any children or other innocents on either side are killed, but in fact no effort is made by Palestinian fighters to remove their children from military areas. Instead, they hide among women and children, using them as shields in schools, mosques and homes while firing weapons against Israelis.
Palestinian suicide bombers have killed countless Israeli children and other civilians in schools, malls, buses and restaurants. Since Israel's withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, Hamas, the terrorist organization voted into power by the Palestinians, has bombarded Israel with more than 12,000 rockets and missiles, with Hamas proudly claiming responsibility for Israeli civilian deaths.
Israel does not target civilians. Israeli soldiers, endangering themselves, have often gone from door to door in Palestinian areas to root out terrorists and minimize casualties, dropped flyers over homes, sent text messages and telephoned countless people, urging them to vacate targeted areas. In addition, Israeli hospitals routinely take care of Palestinian children and adults with serious injuries.
The letter writer said the Hamas Charter calls for Jews, Christians and Muslims "to co-exist in safety and security." He neglected to add that the Charter also says, "Safety and security can only prevail under the shadow of Islam."
This same writer had a letter printed in the Journal on Oct. 9, 2009, praising Iran and President Ahmadinejad.
ALICE G. SOLOMON
Winston-Salem
Celebrating profits
It is clear that the writer of the letter "Corporations" (Nov. 6) is convinced that corporate America exerts a sinister influence on national life, up to and including determining who will occupy the White House, at least if the electoral winner happens to be a Republican.
It is hard to know where the writer is going with his philosophy because he offers no real alternatives to our capitalistic system and the wide range of businesses that operate within it.
There may be, I acknowledge, a grain of truth in some of his assertions; after all, corporations, just like any other human institution, are owned and managed by people, some morally principled and some not. The trouble with the letter writer is his lack of balance and penchant for grossly overstating the case.
He surely must realize that corporations are more than executives drawing large incomes. Tens of millions of Americans rely on the profits businesses earn for their own security, in the form of paychecks and retirement benefits. Rather than sneering at profits as somehow immoral, we should be celebrating them.
Certainly, large corporations have political power, but they are far from the only power centers in the country and hardly are united in their support of a given party, as the writer implies.
The left will continue to vilify and demonize the private business establishment to our national peril.
DON GORDON
Clemmons
Mayor John Bost's offensive, nonsensical comments in the Nov. 9 Journal ("Clemmons voters overhaul council") indicate he can best serve our village by not accepting his marginal, unopposed, write-in win. Obviously, Bost and the council have become insular and out-of-touch with voters, as evidenced by the voter turnout and the election results. Further, voters should be wary any time a group of elected officials unanimously agree on any major issue, with unanimity suggesting cloning of their thought process.
Bost's calling the vote "corrupted," "immoral" and "blind leading the blind" is simply reprehensible and unconscionable of any elected official and offensive to voter intelligence.
Obviously, Bost opines that voters are incapable of making independent, informed decisions absent the typical posters and handouts at the polls, which influence a very small minority of voters. Perhaps Bost believes that elections should not be held, but decisions left entirely to an elite group of intellectuals, in defiance of the basis of our Founding Fathers.
The mayor and council failed to conduct voter informational meetings with an opportunity to hear voters and sense the overall pulse and failed to examine low-cost alternatives to alleviate the quarter-mile Lewisville-Clemmons Road "problem area," such as coordinated and timed traffic signals. They allowed the Journal to introduce in the Oct. 10 edition the 27 percent tax-hike bond issue ("Bonds are sought for roads") during these difficult economic times and left dialogue and communications to The Real Friends of Clemmons.
My "no" bond voting decision was made well in advance.
VAN P. McGEHEE
Clemmons
Inaccurate and distorted
The Oct. 28 letter "Gilad Schalit returns home" is defamatory and has inaccurate and distorted statements. One concerned Palestinian children killed by Israelis. It is sad that any children or other innocents on either side are killed, but in fact no effort is made by Palestinian fighters to remove their children from military areas. Instead, they hide among women and children, using them as shields in schools, mosques and homes while firing weapons against Israelis.
Palestinian suicide bombers have killed countless Israeli children and other civilians in schools, malls, buses and restaurants. Since Israel's withdrawal from Gaza in 2005, Hamas, the terrorist organization voted into power by the Palestinians, has bombarded Israel with more than 12,000 rockets and missiles, with Hamas proudly claiming responsibility for Israeli civilian deaths.
Israel does not target civilians. Israeli soldiers, endangering themselves, have often gone from door to door in Palestinian areas to root out terrorists and minimize casualties, dropped flyers over homes, sent text messages and telephoned countless people, urging them to vacate targeted areas. In addition, Israeli hospitals routinely take care of Palestinian children and adults with serious injuries.
The letter writer said the Hamas Charter calls for Jews, Christians and Muslims "to co-exist in safety and security." He neglected to add that the Charter also says, "Safety and security can only prevail under the shadow of Islam."
This same writer had a letter printed in the Journal on Oct. 9, 2009, praising Iran and President Ahmadinejad.
ALICE G. SOLOMON
Winston-Salem
Celebrating profits
It is clear that the writer of the letter "Corporations" (Nov. 6) is convinced that corporate America exerts a sinister influence on national life, up to and including determining who will occupy the White House, at least if the electoral winner happens to be a Republican.
It is hard to know where the writer is going with his philosophy because he offers no real alternatives to our capitalistic system and the wide range of businesses that operate within it.
There may be, I acknowledge, a grain of truth in some of his assertions; after all, corporations, just like any other human institution, are owned and managed by people, some morally principled and some not. The trouble with the letter writer is his lack of balance and penchant for grossly overstating the case.
He surely must realize that corporations are more than executives drawing large incomes. Tens of millions of Americans rely on the profits businesses earn for their own security, in the form of paychecks and retirement benefits. Rather than sneering at profits as somehow immoral, we should be celebrating them.
Certainly, large corporations have political power, but they are far from the only power centers in the country and hardly are united in their support of a given party, as the writer implies.
The left will continue to vilify and demonize the private business establishment to our national peril.
DON GORDON
Clemmons
Having driven the entire length of that road on numerous occasions, I can see why it's called Lewisville-Clemmons Rd. and not vice-versa.
ReplyDeleteLTE #3... I thought wages and salaries were pre-profit.
ReplyDeletethey are reported as expenses.
ReplyDeleteNow bloomberg is reporting Freddie Mac paid Newt Gingrich $1.6million... as a historian and I have a revolving account at Tiffany's
ReplyDeleteLeftover from yesterday, the OWS library really was a little bit of everything, from Marx and Lenin to Hayek and Friedman to Twilight. And that's just as it should be.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.librarything.com/catalog/OWSLibrary
Arthur....I played your You Tube ditty. Pretty good. It shows there is some hope for the "time out" generation when it comes to cleanliness and cleverness. Just when, though, did young women start using the F word out loud in public?
ReplyDeletePretty girls who say the f word are funny. Sarah Silverman's built her career on it.
ReplyDeleteExplains a lot I guess.
ReplyDeleteI say the "F" word in public all the time. Now, if I were both pretty AND funny, I'd be a triple threat.
ReplyDeleteGood afternoon folks!
ReplyDeleteLTE 1: Don't live in Clemmons and only go there if I'm going to Tanglewood so doesn't matter to me if Bost stays or goes, however..."Perhaps Bost believes that elections should not be held, but decisions left entirely to an elite group of intellectuals, in defiance of the basis of our Founding Fathers" - the FF's did want decisions to be left entirely to "an elite group of intellectuals". That's why they preferred a republic over a democracy. They in fact did think the public to be "incapable of making independent, informed decisions".
LTE 2: The destruction of Israel was omitted by the author, but the Israeli govt isn't exactly the innocent, peace loving good guy either. Palestinians aren't welcomed with open arms by Isrealis. Lots of hatred on both sides.
LTE 3: Mr. Gordon is correct that corporations do not uniformly support one party. Many give very generously to both parties to hedge their bets. They may not be "the only power", but if you follow the money behind all of the lobbyists and pacs, you will see that coroporations are the big elephant in the room. Citizen's' United gave the elephant a throne for sitting in the room. The vilification is due to the perception that corps are in cahoots with the govt to rig the system so that only the top 1% or 10% gets to enjoy 90% of the profits while everyone else has to fight for the 10% crumbs that may be left over...that is if they can even have a chance at those crumbs instead of someone overseas.
Back in the '90's, there was a lot of publicity about the fabulous fortunes being made. I distinctly recall Maria Bartrimono (one of my all time celebrity crushes) stating Bill Gates being worth more than GM. However, nobody cared because UR was very low and everyone felt they had a fair piece of the pie. Contrast to the last 3 years where companies having been laying off hundreds or even thousands of workers while holding the remaining workers' wages static. Then people see the CEO's of those companies given 25% raises as well as bonuses and stock options resulting in millions of dollars. People also see those companies posting record profits, but the jobs created are all overseas. So yes, there are a lot of people who are p.o.ed and see Big Corp as the villain. After I was laid off at my previous job along with 104 others, the CEO received a $300k bonus. I never wanted to work for another publicly traded firm ever.
ReplyDeletedotnet...I'm glad you wrote and didn't use the F word even if you are qualified :). Question- I am a long way from technology savvy. So, if the kids at the Occupy Wall Street locale in NY were using lap tops, were they able to use WiFi from that park to power their computers? If so, where did the WiFi come from?
ReplyDeletesprint, verizon, at&t, they all have wireless cards you can connect to your laptop and get the internet anywhere you can get a cell phone signal.
ReplyDeletealso if wifi is nearby and strong. I've connected to Whole foods while sitting in my car in their parking lot. So it wouldn't be a stretch to connect to any available wireless sources around the park.
ReplyDeleteNewt and Freddie, it just get's better every day
ReplyDeleteBob...I don't know anything about the phone cards but I do know a little about wifi since we have it here at home. A little flat white box sits on our service box and has lots of blinking lights. I may need to check into the cards if I get stuck in a hotel that has no wifi.
ReplyDeleteHey WW - Bob is correct about wifi. It's pretty much everywhere now. You can even use your neighbor's wifi if it isn't password protected. Your laptop just needs to support wireless connections. That's why you should always include the password when setting up your cable modem, so you aren't paying for your neighbor's internet as well.
ReplyDeletethanks. Using a neighbor's wifi would be similar to stealing cable I guess?
ReplyDeleteA cell phone signal (3G / 4G) could be used if the card is installed on the laptop, but the bandwidth is much narrower then wifi, although it is improving. Tablets such as the IPad are set up to use either, but then again they are essentially larger, more powerful smart phones without the phone.
ReplyDeletesimilar, except it's not illegal.
ReplyDeleteout internet infrastructure is way behind:
ReplyDelete. According to a new study, Internet access is on the rise in subway systems all over the world. The New Cities Foundation surveyed the 121 subway systems in cities of more than 750,000 people and found that riders can access the Internet on 59.5 percent, or 72, of them.
Only highlights of this survey are available online, and the data is only broken down by region, but the differences between regions are pretty stark. Asia is leading the world, with 84.4 percent of its subways accessible. South Korea and China are at 100 percent, and Japan’s not far behind at 87.5 percent.
The Middle East is the second-best performing region, with 66.7 percent of its subways accessible. Latin America and the European Union countries are at 57.1 percent and 56.3 percent, respectively. The U.S. and Canada are second-to-last with 41.2 percent. Central Asia and non-EU countries have just 25 percent accessibility.
Not using a password on your wifi is the network equivalent to leaving your front door open all day, every day whether you are home or not. If you don't mind that someone can wander in, then I suppose the concept of "stealing" is a bit nebulous, however, if you think of your wifi network as yours only since you paid for it, then yes it would be stealing.
ReplyDeleteHmmm, sounds like the world is getting complicated and dangerous or dangerously complicated. We use password on wifi. I've never even held those other devices---tablets, iphones etc. Maybe one day. I am so backward in this area, I still like making the pilgrimage to B&N to actually BUY a real book and take it home and keep it!!
ReplyDeletethe internet has fundamentally changed civilization
ReplyDeleteI need to catch up!
ReplyDelete“Subsidies of the Rich and Famous” by Tom Coburn
ReplyDeleteIf you're out and about quite a bit, WW, a smartphone does come in handy. If not, a cell phone and a laptop are all you need. The only purposes I can see for a tablet are either cheap internet access or to get rid of all your books and download them instead. Personally, I prefer curling up with a book instead of a tablet...well curling up with a beautiful woman and a book ;)..then again if I'm curled up with a beautiful woman..skip the book!
ReplyDeletedotnet...there is a proper order for things! If I admit to being curled up with a woman, Mrs WW will demand to know where I've been.
ReplyDelete