Moral high ground
According to the Bible, Pontius Pilate claimed the moral high ground and washed his hands of any blame for the persecution of Christ. Given that famous precedent, is there any wonder that the president of the United States, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are claiming the moral high ground for themselves and preparing to throw four young combat Marines under the bus ("Video called 'deplorable,' " Jan. 13)?
Marines may take justified pride in having each other's back, but they had better learn not look to their commanders to do the same.
Semper Fi!
ROSS MECHAM
Winston-Salem
Boo Pitts
Why did the federal government spend the latter part of the 19th century enacting and enforcing laws against polygamy?
According to columnist Leonard Pitts ("A loud, vigorous 'Boo!' to Rick Santorum," Jan. 16), "there is not and never has been a large culture of people who felt biologically driven toward polygamous behavior."
So, if polygamy was not a problem, why enact laws against it, and why were Utah, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona required by the federal government to incorporate anti-polygamy provisions into their constitutions as a condition for admission to the Union?
Why does Pitts need to ignore the facts, and why does he resort to name-calling (bigot) in his bias against conservatism and Rick Santorum?
RALPH HOLLAND
Advance
Sum It Up
The Sum It Up question from Sunday was: Do you think the state legislature should approve in their session beginning in May $50,000 for each living victim of the North Carolina's forced sterilization program?
I think the N.C. state legislature should approve the $50,000 compensation for the living victims of our state's forced sterilization program. The N.C. General Assembly had no problem approving $25 million for a fishing pier in one of the more affluent communities in our state this past year, and these victims deserve some type of compensation for the horrible injustice they suffered.
SUZANNE CARROLL
Pandora's box will be opened!
DONALD R. CREWS
No. While what happened is so hurtful and emotionally damaging, there are better and more meaningful ways to apologize. Health care, a memorial, a program in every school that teaches our children what happened and instills in their minds the intrinsic value of every life. Let's get creative in our efforts to respect and honor those who were harmed, and to make sure it never happens again.
It would be one thing if the actual perpetrators could be prosecuted, but what this "compensation" suggestion does is further drain coffers that are running on borrowed fumes already (see any number of articles in the newspaper just last week). Money will not heal hearts — only forgiveness can do that.
RUTH MAGERS
Yes, considering the ignorance of the folks who imposed their foolish notion upon the victims, $50,000 is a minimum.
The writer of the letter "Sense in compensation" (Jan. 15) has excellent suggestions regarding how the awards should be administered.
KENNETH B. SCALF
Of course! We found the money somewhere to sterilize them, we must now find the money to at least say we're (the state is) sorry.
KAM BENFIELD
The idea of payment to the sterilization victims, like the discussions of reparations for slavery, is a knee-jerk reaction to something that, while reprehensible in today's society, was legal when done.
So the questions remains, what is to be done and by whom? Having the state pay this out of revenues means that people who were not even alive and/or living in North Carolina will be paying this with no say in the matter. It means innocent people are paying the fines of the "guilty."
Assuming the governor and legislature in power at that time won't be held financially accountable since they, too, may be deceased or are immune to litigation, then I suggest we allow the people of North Carolina be given the option to designate part of their 2011 taxes toward paying this. Take the money out of the government budget and do not raise taxes.
The government did this, and the government needs to pay the price and suffer the consequences.
KEN HOGLUND
As I see it, there is no amount of money that can compensate those affected for the terrible things that were done to them without their consent. Having said that, before we can make an intelligent statement on this subject, we need many answers.
CATHERINE W. PITTS
LTE #1..."According to the Bible?" That's never a sound argument. It could be valid but never sound because the premises of a sound argument must be true and the Bible is based on belief because if it were true, you wouldn't have to call it faith now would you? Well according to US Military Law and the Geneva Convention, these soldiers broke the law. I think in Matthew5:44, Jesus said love thine enemies, not piss on their dead corpses and take a video. If that makes the few proud....
ReplyDeleteRoss Mecham's LTE sounds like he feels that those Marines were justified in their actions. I know Ross and he isn't the type to justify his or anyone else's actions, but he IS a VERY proud and loyal Viet Nam era veteran.
DeleteEverybody seems to think this is such a big deal. If somebody had just tried to kill you, you might feel like pissing on them too.
DeleteThe only reason this matters is because we don't want it done to our soldiers' bodies.
Don't get me wrong, when I heard about this the first thing I said was that these guys should get court-martialed. A corpse, in any culture, is sacred and should be honored. Ross's loyalty skewers his empathy and compassion that I know he has for humanity.
DeleteYou know, Bucky boy, it is hard to imagine that someone as stupid as you manages to survive day to day. This IS a big deal, for a number of reasons that are way over your pitiful head. Here's a few:
Delete1. It is a violation of the international rules of war, and so is a WAR CRIME.
2. It provides a great recruiting tool for the Taliban, Al Qaeda and anyone else who means harm to the USA.
3. You are probably one of the fools who thinks that the all powerful USA can stand alone in the world. Of course, you would be dead wrong. We haven't won a war since 1945. We need the help of many other nations if we are to survive, which means that we also need their good wishes. Crap like this won't help.
Having served with some outstanding ones in Viet Nam, I have the highest regard for the US Marines.
ReplyDeleteBut what these Marines did in this case is a violation of the Geneva Convention, and a violation of the Convention is also defined as a crime under the UCMJ.
Every Marine is given thorough training in both the Geneva Convention and the UCMJ, so there is no excuse for what happened.
They have shamed themselves, the Marine Corps and our nation, and weakened our moral stance in the eyes of the rest of the world. And somewhere down the line, other Marines will pay a price for their stupidity.
Please, while you were handing out batteries, the Marines were doing the real fighting.
DeleteWrong war, chump. It wasn't until the CheneyBush wars of liberation that combat turned into a battery powered video game.
DeleteThe only need we had for batteries in Viet Nam was to power our transistor radios so we could listen to the Stones and the Doors while trying to avoid getting killed.
You haven't really lived until you've heard a bullet sizzle past your head while Jim Morrison is intoning "This is the end..." You might start believing that it is.
And speaking of military stupidity, the much ballyhooed and incredibly expensive F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which already has a long list of serious faults, including some potentially fatal ones, recently failed yet another test.
ReplyDeleteThe F-35C version, 200 of which are on order by the US Navy and the Royal Navy, cannot land on an aircraft carrier. I guess the Navy will have to mothball its carriers and start building land-based airstrips. No more "Anchors Aweigh".
CNN's John King got slammed last night in the Republican debate by Newt Gingrich. It's about time.
ReplyDeleteMany people are fed up with CNN's liberal leaning nonsense. And, incredibly, it professes to be the most trusted name in news. Pooohey!
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57362440-503544/gingrich-slams-cnn-for-asking-about-ex-wife/
So when John Edwards cheats on a sick wife, he's the devil. When Na-Ginga cheats on two sick wives, it's the media's fault? Whatever.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that Gingrich spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of campaign funds on his girlfriend? Not only that, his wife wasn't dying of cancer. Then, Johnny gets indicted. I didn't think you'd see the difference. Whatever....
DeleteCNN's John King, in typical liberal style, tried to back out of the question at the end. Then he got slammed again. It was a beautiful thing.
DeleteRightie double standards. It's pretty funny actually. I eagerly await the airing of the House Ethics Commitee report (where he was fined a large amount of $$$). My man has more dirt on him than Pigpen.
DeleteJackie had tumors and Marianne had MS. Newt is truly a prince among men. My favorite description of him is "what a dumb person thinks a smart person sounds like.
Have you ever read CNN Fareed Zakaria's background? He is suppose to be CNN's expert on all things America. He so far left that he's probably never used his right hand.
DeleteCNN's John King was completely neutered by Gingrich's response.
DeleteThat one will be on 'youtube' for a long, long, time.
I'd like to also mention that the liberal media said it was a 'personal' matter when Clinton was causing Monica Lewinsky's dress fees to go up. Now, because Republicans are involved i.e. Cain and Gingrich, the public needs to know.
DeleteSo, don't pull out your liberal baloney on me. I'll ram it up your CNN!
I'll take liberal baloney over "pious baloney" anyday.
DeleteNewt's little temper tantrum played well to the dingbats in attendance, but Santorum "won" the debate with his own little truth telling statement aimed at Newt's bluster.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite moment in Newty history was in 1995 when he was going around bragging about how he was going to bring Bill Clinton down by shutting down the government. Clinton took him out to the woodshed and when they emerged, Newty boy had his tail between his legs and the gov was back up and running.
So we have Mr. Bluster defending Mr.Bluster here.
The bottom line is we need a new president. I don't care if he's a badend banger. We need somebody that's qualified and knowledgable enough to lead the country out of the economic mess we're in.
DeleteIt's clear to most sane people that Obama can't do it.
DeleteDotNet:
ReplyDeleteLTE 1: Mr. Mecham is missing the point. The video is a PR nightmare for the US. It should be quite obvious by now that it doesn't take much to get the people in the ME all stirred up. What the Marines did was bad enough, but to have it videoed then released for the world to see was just downright stupid and deserving of whatever punishment is meted out.
LTE 2: Being a guy, I do admit to having known multiple women whom I wouldn't have minded being in simultaneous intimate relationships pretty much since puberty, so I would say from my perspective that polygamy does have a biological factor. In practice, though, having multiple wives could definitely drive a guy to stay in the office all day and the bar all night. While Pitts may have been wrong concerning polygamy, his description of Santorum as a bigot based on Santorum's statements about gays seems to be accurate.
Sum it up: I have no problem at all with the victims receiving the payout. I thought Ms. Carroll had the best response. Mr. Hoglund's response was umm...interesting. The citizens of NC should not have to pay, so the govt should pay from its revenues...which come from NC's citizens. I do recall reading the funds for compensation are already available. I wonder if the same people who say NC cannot afford this because it's broke are the same ones who are opposed to Gov. Perdue's proposal to reinstate the penny sales tax.
Something that's been on my mind: Why is it that whenever I see Newt Gingrich, the person that comes to my mind is Richard Nixon?
Perhaps because both were forced to resign from high federal office for being lying scumbags.
DeleteIt is indicative of the level to which the Republican Party has sunk that just a couple of months ago some polls had Newty as the favorite in the GOP presidential farce by as much as 50%.
Newt and Bucky boy are two of a kind, motormouths who drone on into the night...yet when you examine what has actually been said you find the same result...nothing, nought, nada, nil, nichts, rien, niente, ничтоы́, gerekli, 什么都没有，无。
Forgot zero.
DeleteMost cats are smarter than most humans by about a mile, but we once rescued a near dead kitten who, despite heroic efforts, never fully recovered. We found him on a cold rainy night and he must have suffered some brain damage from exposure, because he could never quite figure out how things worked. One day while drinking from his water dish, he somehow let his head slide under the water and drowned.
Hoping to toughen him up, we had named him Butch. But at his funeral service, our three year old son said "His real name was Zero." "Why do you say that?" his mother asked. "Because that was his cat-Q," our son replied.
So henceforth, in this land of Nod, Bucky shall be known as Zero.
I'll just stick with 'nitwit' when I address you. It just seems to fit.
DeleteWhere's our forum Cholaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! NancyDrew/RielleHunter/nowCholaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! What name will she earn next?
ReplyDeleteWhat a bimbo!
DeleteBeginning at 0825hrs, there was a perfect opportunity to have a rational, mature discussion. Instead, you feed the need to feel superior with name calling.
DeleteThe only response you've gotten IS YOUR OWN!!!!!!!!!!
. . . and you're calling me the bimbo?
HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HAHA, HA, HA, HAHA, HA, HA, HAHA, HA, HA, HAHA, HA, HA, HAHA, HA, HA, HAHA, HA, HA, HAHA, HA, HA, HAHA, HA, HA, HA!
I figured I'd draw you out Cholaaaaaaaaa! What's the stupidest thing you've done today. And keep it under 500 words.
DeleteYou didn't draw me out dude. I've been here all along. Watching you ack da fool is priceless, but when you have a need to respond to your own comments because no one else will . . .
DeleteICING ON THE CAKE!!!!!!!!!!!
What happened to your Cholaaaaaa! picture, Chola?
DeleteI can't get over that PR girl calling the Mexican girl trashy in the video. What a pair!
Delete. . . and I responded without name calling, defamation, and disrespect.
DeleteI'll bet my life YOU CAN'T!
Well Chola, you haven't exactly been a model forum participant you know?
ReplyDelete@Tim the Fired Volunteer: Can you HONESTLY say that YOU have?
DeleteChola, I'll keep repeating it. I'm not Tim.
DeleteNow, are you going to answer my question? What's the stupidest thing you've done today?
You first.
ReplyDeleteYou take no offense to me calling you any other name. Tim is a thorn on your side. Why?
Tim:
DeleteI will keep a promise I made you early on: you reveal yourself and I will reveal my self.
BTW and an afterthought: I found some FCSO volunteer pictures on the internet . . . you wanna catch up?
DeleteLaSombra has got Zero pegged. His routine is the same, day after day.
ReplyDeleteEarly on he makes some idiotic comments. Then someone demolishes them with actual facts. Instead of dealing with the facts, he starts calling people names. Then people start ignoring him, so he ends up making more idiotic comments, engaging in an irrelevant dialogue with himself, and when that fails to draw a response, reverts to random name calling.
How pathetic.
As I said earlier, Newt and Zero are two of a kind. And Arthur summed it up perfectly. They are both "what a dumb person thinks a smart person sounds like."
Ditto
DeleteTim is now mysteriously absent . . .
ReplyDeleteAnother of his characteristics. When people finally get fed up with his nonsense and start calling a spade a spade, Zero simply vanishes.
DeleteHe will start up tomorrow as if today didn't happen. Sort of like some really twisted "Groundhog Day"...living the same day over and over. A truly meaningless existence.
Ditto
DeleteHey nitwit, why don't you tell us some of the details of your treacherous battery handing out expeditions while you were in Viet Nam?
DeleteYou're pathetic.
Hey Zero, I've got a better idea. Since my service to my country extended over three years, including 15 months in Viet Nam, and is well documented in official Navy records, why don't you tell us about your service to your country.
DeleteI'm sure that you can pick up some tips from such yellow-bellied draft dodging chicken hawks as George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Rush Limbaugh and Paul Wolfowitz, your kind of creeps.
@Tim:
DeleteI repeat: You take no offense to me calling you any other name. Tim is a thorn on your side. Why?
Tim is not my name. That's the only reason.
DeleteYou can continue to be a buffoon if you wish. I really don't care. But just know I'm laughing at you, Rush, and Bobby everytime any one of you mentioned that name and me in the same sentence. All it does is confirm my belief that you all aren't the brightest bulbs on the tree.
My routine is to make fools out of you pathetic, thick headed liberals, which isn't too hard.
DeleteBobby is not my name either, Timmehhhhhhhh.
DeleteBucky, when your routine is failing, it's time to get a new routine.
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