Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Winston-Salem Journal LTE Tu 02/21/12


Paternalistic party
Oh, that paternalistic old party. Pop is so concerned about protecting his girls that he keeps them barefoot and pregnant. He limits their access to health care while he eliminates them from the work force. Thanks, Pop!
He wants to protect the sanctity of marriage through legislation while he exercises his infidelity from airport bathrooms to Argentine hotels. Oh, Pop! He continues to buy shotguns for his arsenal in the basement even as water seeps in through crumbling walls. Stop, Pop!
Pop has been confused and not very well of late. His mailbox is filled with dividend checks, but he forgets to pay Carmela for washing his linens and Catfish for fixing his car. He talks about the good old days when Maya Angelou had her own drinking fountain and we added "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance under the watchful eye of Sen. Joseph McCarthy to keep us safe.
Pop's longing for the return of these halcyon days is disturbing. We can't get Pop to take his meds or pay his taxes, and he is obsessed with how we love and where we worship.
I pray that he will realize that the great fellowship of love welcomes him, but not his guns or his hate.

CARLOS MIR
Winston-Salem
True diversity
According to the writer of the sarcastically toned Feb. 16 letter "Diversity," having an imam at Wake Forest University means that the school has "embraced" Islam. I guess the fact that there are Christian ministers working on campus means it has also "embraced" Christianity. Or maybe Wake Forest truly embraces diversity and freedom.
That reasoning may escape the letter writer, though. It seems there's a minor strain of Christianity that fails to understand the concept of fairness and equality. It seems to teach that all Christians are equal and should be treated fairly — but anyone else? They're equally to be treated unfairly.
I couldn't help but notice, in the same edition, the story "Interracial marriage in U.S. hits new high." It's a strange juxtaposition, arriving just after the Conservative Political Action Conference, which featured presidential candidates Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich — and right-wing white-nationalist militants Robert Vandervoort and Peter Brimelow.
America is diverse. The American mainstream is diverse. Just who is out of step with the American mainstream?

JAMES T. FULLER
Winston-Salem
'Religious freedom'
This notion that President Obama's decision to have insurance companies offer free contraceptives is taking away people's "religious freedom" makes a good propaganda point for the Republicans, but it's a bunch of hogwash. Just because insurance companies offer free contraceptives doesn't mean that anyone has to take them. It's up to the individuals.
It sounds to me like conservatives would like a "big government" intervention so that Americans won't make choices they disagree with.

MACK FERGUSON
Winston-Salem

19 comments:

  1. PSA: Apparenly I made access too restrictive last night. I have adjusted the controls.

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  2. Sometimes it difficult to make sure the trees are just the right height.

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  3. "I am somebody"! I'm even in the phone book too!

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  4. Wordly, if you happen back through,I couldn't respond to your reply late yesterday as I could not get into the site. Not even with a wrecking bar and chisel. I'll repost here:Wordly, I'm with you on this. I say the same thing about taxes and I have similar attitudes re some tenants. It doesn't matter your ideology. No one likes to be taken advantage of. I know a great many real estate management companies around the state. Most of these folks run the political spectrum from what I have learned. When this 48% figure crosses 50%, politicians have less incentive to fix the tax code because the term "tax credit" is an allure to them because it sounds so good. Simply an income redistribution. I also understand about employees who work up to the point of qualification. We had to deal with two nursing homes for many years that were just plagued with this problem. Good nursing aides would just leave for a while only to return later. This kind of system will come crashing down one day as it can't be sustained. I've enjoyed reading your posts

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    1. I did enjoy conversing with you yesterday. I did check back in later, but did not realize that the site had been locked down until this morning.

      I usually go to bed with Bob, (or what I assume is the same time as Bob as he seldom posts late and usually has the letters up before 6 am).

      Hope this works as I have not tried to post today.

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  5. On the topic of contraception (LTE#3): My perception is that President O caved to a potentially LARGE Catholic voting bloc. Paraphrasing George Carlin, I was Catholic until I reached the age of reason. All the Catholics I know of child bearing age, male and female, concluded through reason and experience that they should use some form of contraception regardless of what the Poop says.

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    1. OMG, I AM GOING TO H-E-DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS. Pope, I meant POPE.

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    2. I guess we'll just have to use the eludium pu36 explosive space modulator on you. Brace yourself for immediate disintergration.

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    3. Oooh...somebody stole my eludium pu36 explosive space modulator! That makes me very angry, very angry indeed!

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    4. Different antagonist, but my favorite Warner Bros. cartoon short has always been "What's Opera Doc?".

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    5. Welcome to my shop, let me cut your mop, let me shave your crop
      Daintily, daintily
      Hey you!!
      Don't look so perplexed, why must you be vexed, can't you see you're next
      Yes you're next, you're so next

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    6. Bugs in drag as a Valkyrie didn't look half bad.

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    7. "OMG, I AM GOING TO H-E-DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS. Pope, I meant POPE."

      Sorry to be LMAO at this...I mean, LaSombra, we know what you really meant, no matter what you say you meant.

      Here is a link to the real pope/poop:

      pope/poop

      The good news, or the bad news, depending upon your outlook,is that there is no such place as H-E double hockey sticks.

      That is good news for people like me, who otherwise would be condemned to the Death Valley of eternity.

      But it is also bad news for people like me who have an extensive list of self-righteous fools who we would love to imagine going to H-E double hockey sticks.

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    8. . . . so the "everybody does it" defense won't work . . . ?

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  6. Good afternoon folks!
    LTE 1: Strawman, but the sad fact of the matter is that it's not too far from the truth as the R candidates are vying for the winner of the TB vote instead of for being the best candidate. It should be alarming that a theocrat like Santorum who has been a non-factor in his previous presidential attempts and lost his Senate seat by a 17% margin is leading in the R polls.
    LTE 2: Perhaps people read the headlines that state caucasians will be in the minority by mid-century and are panicking? This is the reality of the 21st century. Muslims attend WF as well as other schools, so why shouldn't the schools hire Imans to help guide them? Latinos are the fastest growing group in the US. People are marrying outside their race. Legislate and demogogue all you want, but you're not bringing back the 1950's...or the 1910's for that matter. A political party that insists on resisting the rising tide of social change runs the risk of becoming irrelevant.
    LTE 3: It's an election year, so anything said or done by any of the candidates will be twisted around to make the candidate appear "Un-American". Freedom of religion does not equate to freedom to ignore laws under religious pretense. Otherwise, a group could decide to resurrect an ancient religion that included human sacrifice as a ritual and claim immunity due to 1st Amendment right to religious expression.

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