My wish
My wish for the world is that all people would have the same heart for human beings that letter writer Pamela Price has for horses: "You don't turn and walk away from 30 living, breathing, helpless, dependent animals just because your life got tough" ("Horse abuse," March 17). And I wish that the painful situation of a woman in a crisis pregnancy would no longer be fodder for a comic strip.
Kudos to Managing Editor Carol Hanner and Editorial Page Editor John Railey for running the said "Doonesbury" strips on the op-ed page on March 17. They show how much women have been devalued.
ROSE WALSH
Lewisville
Other people's lives
The writers of the March 15 letter "Problem solved" and the March 21 letter "The 'marriage amendment' " think they've found a solution to the side-effects of Amendment One — namely, to keep from losing benefits, people who cohabitate should just get married.
It's easy to tell other people how they should live their lives, isn't it?
I've got a better idea. They and others like them should just stop trying to run the world and keep their noses out of other people's relationships.
What in the world makes them think they should be able to pass laws to limit my freedom, I'll never understand.
MARK B. HOWARD
Winston-Salem
Amendment One
I hope your readers will examine Amendment One and ask themselves if they are willing to tolerate its inevitable damaging consequences for North Carolina if it passes. This vindictive amendment is nothing more than a political attempt to further fracture our neighborhoods and jeopardize our state's future.
How could a yes vote in the May 8 primary encourage anyone who already lives here or attract those who'd like to live here? Do we really want to turn many brilliant, talented people away because of an unjust law?
I want to be proud of North Carolina and I believe that voting no to this proposed amendment will be speaking up for our best interests. Vote no and be a proponent of a proud state and a good people.
SONDRA SCOTT BARNES
Winston-Salem
Sum It Up
The Sum It Up question from Sunday was: Should illegal immigrants brought here as children by their parents be deported?
No, illegal immigrants brought here as children by their parents should not be deported. We need to get serious about immigration reform, and it's more than building a fence around the border. So many people complain about illegal immigrants, yet these same people turn a blind eye when they frequent businesses that employ illegal immigrants such as restaurants, construction sites, car and house cleaning, and landscaping.
We can't have it both ways, which is why the DREAM Act is essential in confronting the issues surrounding illegal immigration.
SUZANNE CARROLL
No. Most, if not all, have assimilated into our society and are just as much a part of the United States as any other group and have or will become an asset to our community.
FRANK SCISM
Children of illegal immigrants need an opportunity to become legal citizens. The DREAM Act can help with that.
LAURA SPANGLER
No, but when and if they reach the age of maturity, and if they are crime-free, they should be given the usual test that other immigrants take, and if they pass the test they should be sworn in. If they do not pass the test they should be given the materials to study and try again.
After the third attempt that results in failure, using any available exceptions, the decision should be made by the proper authorities as to their capabilities and moral standing, etc. After all efforts have failed, they should be deported. The parents should also go through the same procedure.
This is a tough question. There are many exceptions to be explored. We, as citizens, should be careful to separate the illegals from the legals. Most of our ancestors came here back in the 1700s and 1800s. In those days there was no such thing as an illegal. We are a nation made up of a mixture of many nationalities. That is our strength, and should be our blessings and our generosity.
CATHERINE W. PITTS
Sure. Let's start with the children of Leif Ericson and Christopher Columbus.
KAM BENFIELD
Yes; illegal is illegal. They want to get on the government gravy train at my expense.
WILLIAM SAMS
Yes, yes, yes. Go out to California and see what happens when a state is overrun with illegals.
SUSAN RISNER
How could anyone be so cruel as to send an immigrant, who was brought to this country as a young child, to a place they have no memory of? Imagine this happening to your own child; would you feel the same? Our Christian principles teach us differently. We are to love others as we love ourselves.
NAOMI J. DAVIS
No. Although we didn't invite these young immigrants, the United States of America, itself, has demonstrated the goodness to protect and nurture them.
The Supreme Court, along with Congress, in a series of actions spanning the 1960s, '70s, '80s and '90s, specifically guaranteed such children equal access to education and required that states establish special programs to support their success. The United States understood that the child is not responsible for the acts of his or her parents, understood that the child of illegal immigrants has the same needs as other children, and, therefore, determined to protect and nurture the child of the illegal immigrant. America got this right, and the result is that these children are another great story of American immigration.
But now that the children are all grown up, would we the people call them "illegal," deny them employment, arrest and deport them? What kind of people are we?
DAVE KING
"What in the world makes them think they should be able to pass laws to limit my freedom, I'll never understand."
ReplyDeleteMark B. Howard
I've asked myself the same question regarding taxes Mr. Howard. But Obama tells me, I'm just paying my 'fair' share. If it was fair enough last year, how come I have to pay more and more each and every year with Obama as president?
I think 'freedom' went out the door a long time ago Mr. Howard.
It seems people think Tim Tebow is too nice for NYC (Jets). Maybe I should go with him, I've been dealing with nasty, liberal people for a long time.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp_t3#/video/bestoftv/2012/03/22/nr-tim-tebow-ny-jets-reax.cnn
#2 and #3 additionally, Russell and Sally Robinson, who have been married almost 59 years, live in Charlotte, are active in the Republican Party, and like many North Carolinians, they both strongly oppose Amendment One. Mr. Robinson, a Duke Law-educated lawyer, expressed strong disapproval of the amendment in a video released today by the Protect All NC Families, the coalition effort to educate North Carolinians about the harms of Amendment One.
ReplyDelete“The amendment is completely unnecessary. Same-sex marriage is now prohibited in North Carolina,” said Robinson.
Additionally, Robinson calls the amendment “poorly worded” and “absurdly broad,” criticisms that Mr. Robinson and many other legal scholars assert could lead to legal challenges in North Carolina courts for years to come.
GRANDSON OF NC CONSTITUTION’S PRINCIPAL DRAFTER OPPOSES AMENDMENT ONE
Support Amendment One yard signs are popping up like spring flowers all around town though.
DeleteSum it up, No, these kids should not be punished for their parents mistake. When I was very young, my family attended South Fork Baptist where I learned a song. The lyrics went something like this: "Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. " A great song for reflection. "All" is a very inclusive word.
ReplyDeleteThe law of Intended consequences
ReplyDeleteI think Blackstone's formulation should be applied here.
Delete"better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer", especially considering the paucity of voter fraud convictions. In a 5 year crackdown on voter fraud conducted by the Bush Administration there were only 120 cases and 86 convictions.
Thanks for the link, Bob. The voter ID idea isn't a bad idea, just a badly thought out one. States and municipalities issue a voter registration card already, and in conjunction with a current unexpired state issued driver license or ID card (which the poll workers are supposed to be verifying ANYWAY), there should be no need for additional identification. And yet so many people after being able to vote for most of their lifetime are having to go through this process of acquiring a voter ID at, sadly, great personal expense and demeaning consequences.
DeleteI particularly liked the 96 year-old black woman who said she's having a harder time voting now than in Jim crow times.
DeleteI've got news for her...voter ID is the new Jim Crow, dreamed up by Republicans who will do anything to disenfranchise likely Democratic voters.
We are supposed to be protected from such shenanigans by the Supreme Court, but the current court, dominated by proto-fascists like Scalia, Alito and Thomas, has already shown that it is willing to trample state law to decide a national election and to laughably declare that a corporation is a person.
Our own home grown proto-fascists, Bill Whiteheart and Gloria Whisenhunt, have just forced a resolution onto next week's county commissioner's meeting to endorse the non-existent NC voter ID law.
Republicans want just the people legally eligible to vote to be able to do so. We've got more than 12 million people here illegally that have a vested interest in corrupting our government. We need to pass a law that will enforce the integrity of our elections.
DeletePeople always say, where's the voter corruption, there are few arrests for voter fraud each year? Do you think AG Holder is going to enforce the voting laws when he refused to prosecute a Black Panther with a billy club in Philadelphia voting station and how many ACORN members went to jail?
Liberal Democrats just want to maintain the status quo corruption in order to maintain power. That's the long and short of it.
It's interesting how, no matter HOW abstract the current topic, everything CAN and WILL be tied into a Liberal conspiracy.
DeleteHow DO they DO THAT?!?!
All these examples of voter suppression and there are many more and the only recent case of voter fraud I am aware of is James O'Keefe of Acorn fame in NH. He may have been trying to make a point, but committed a crime non the less. Perhaps if they offered laws which didn't go into effect until 2016, it would be more palatable and less political. Kinda like congress voting for a pay raise only goes into effect for the next congress not the current.
DeleteEasy...just combine clinical paranoia with vast ignorance...voila! Democratic conspiracy.
DeletePoor reading skills don't hurt either. You-know-who was unable to read and understand what Bob said above about the famous Bush war on voter fraud...86 convictions in five years, an average of 17.2 per year.
That comes to 0.000000172% of all votes cast during the period...no doubt, fraudulent votes swung quite a few elections...probably even put Obama in the White House.
As always, stupid is as stupid does.
Y'all should read Paul Krugman's piece in the Times today. He discusses GOP paranoia and conspiracy theories in some detail.
DeleteI've had an on-going dialogue with a person this week concerning the young man brought over illegally by his parents who just ended his hunger strike while in jail for protesting. He said the Immigration Act of 1986 made it illegal for the undocumented to work. I told him that it only made it illegal to hire the undocumented which is not the same thing. He insisted it was illegal for the undocumented to work. I asked him to show proof via section, paragraph, sub-paragraph where in the bill it stated it was illegal for the undocumented to work. He could only reply with insults :D
DeleteRomney is now saying that Bush and Paulson saved the economy, so good old fashioned lying is also still a part of the package
DeleteOn the Journal site..btw
DeleteYes, saw the Krugman piece. Gotta love this:
Delete"Stop, hey, what’s that sound? Actually,it’s the noise a great political party makes when it loses what’s left of its mind."
I guess it's hanging out with the other clowns, or whatever, because Romney is now officially as crazy as Palin, or Bachmann or Perry.
You have to have a drivers license to drive, but liberal Democrats don't want people to have to have an I.D. to vote? As Dr. Henry Lee so famously said, 'Something wrong here'.
DeleteDemocrats are already promising illegals that they will be legalized if Democrats are elected. Who, then, has an incentive to vote illegally for Democrats? That's right illegals.....DUH!
Of course, we learned during the Clinton years that liberals and/or Democrats will do virtually anything to maintain power. I'll never forget seeing congressional Democrats on the White House lawn clapping after Clinton was impeached.
DeleteWhat a classless group they were too.
On a sad note, Mike asked me to pass along that Susan's mother, Evelyn, passed away this morning.
ReplyDeleteSad to hear of this. My condolences to Mike and his family.
DeleteLosing your mom, a pet and your mother-in-law all within a year. That totally blows. Not sure why death always seems to come in clusters, but it absolutely sux to have to go through..especially for a great guy like Mike, it just doesn't seem fair.
DeleteI'm sorry to hear that also.
DeleteThe Los Angeles Police Department will soon start ignoring California state law, which requires police to impound the vehicles of unlicensed drivers for 30 days.
ReplyDeleteThe majority of unlicensed motorists in Los Angeles are immigrants who are in the country illegally and have low-income jobs. The LAPD says the state's impound law is unfair because it limits their ability to get to their jobs and imposes a steep fine to get their car back.
_____________
Well, if they are going to start ignoring specific traffic laws, why don't the police just start ignoring all traffic laws in California? Paying a speeding fine is a hardship for average 'white' and 'African Americans' too!
Oh, I've got it figured out. The mayor of Los Angeles, who just happens to be 'Mexican American', is just helping out 'his' people. So it's okay.
Never underestimate the left coast's ability to do something utterly ridiculous.
Good afternoon folks!
ReplyDeleteLTE 1: Those cartoons were too good not to show. Trudeau definitely hit the mark.
LTE 2: Umm...I do not recall any suggestion that those cohabiting must marry under penalty of law, only that the marriage not cost anything and have no strings attached. A little reading comprehension helps at times.
LTE 3: Valid points especially re attracting companies. The best companies want to hire the best employee candidates regardless of race or sexual preference. Presenting a heterosexuals only image to the rest of the country can only bode ill for recruitment efforts.
Sum it up: Based on responses on the Journal site regarding any article on the subject, I thought there would be more answering to the positive, so this is a pleasant surprise. I thought Ms. Pitts had a rather intriguing response, while Mr. King had the definitive response.
Hello folks. Thank you for the kind words re Susan's mom. dotnet, actually we're 2-3 on the year: I dragged Dad and Roscoe back, though Dad will be iffy from now on. OTOH, Roscoe is in full form, sitting on table with me as I type. Susan, exhausted by her vigil, is sleeping. Again, thanks for the well wishes.
ReplyDeleteSorry for your family's loss, Stab.
DeleteHi Stab...sorry to hear about Susan's mom...there has been a rash of mom deaths in my world lately, two of my best friends. It is always tough...
ReplyDeleteMy mother has been gone for nearly thirty years and I still think about her every day.
Thank you to all for your kind words, and from Susan as well. And a special thanks to my family and the blog's good friend Bob, who brought us a fine New England boiled dinner, appropriate to the reason St. Pat's Day, and gratefully received and eaten by our family. Bob, it didn't make it to dinner time. We ate lunch after returning from the hospital. Many thanks.
DeleteSusan is sleeping now, after only about 5 hours in 2 days.
I was just reading about the new film, "Hunger Games." It was filmed near Hildebran, NC at the Henry River Mill. I've been there many times. When I lived in Alexander county, one of my friends worked there at the Henry River Dam, he was sorta of the caretaker and sometimes night watchman on the property, 20 yo with an assault rifle and 45. He took me on a tour of the dam. The gates were closed and so we went down into the turbines and bowels of the dam. Pretty cool. I see the property is up for sale now too. Someone with a lot of money and good imagination could really make something very nice there.
ReplyDeleteInstead of 'Saturday Night Live' routinely making fun of southerners on its program, I've got an idea. Why don't they start doing skits about Gov Jerry Brown and his moon-beam liberal crowd out in LaLa Land A/K/A California? The worse comedian in the country could have a field day with those people.
ReplyDelete73% of Democrats said that the president can do something about gas prices while Bush was in office. Now....., now...only 34% say the president can do anything about gas prices.
ReplyDeleteYou gotta love these liberal Democrats. Watching them is better than watching the cartoons on Saturday morning.
Our beloved state legislature is exploring the possibility of bringing fracking to Stokes County. Great idea...ought to be good for the burgeoning wine industry in the Dan River basin. The town of Walnut Cove relies entirely on wells for its water. Who cares if Walnut Cove gets wiped off the face of the earth?
ReplyDeleteHere's something that a friend of mine sent to another friend who lives in Walnut Cove:
My response to these fools would be this:
What is the #1 export of the US today?
Answer: Refined oil.
What is the #2 export of the US today?
Answer: Crude oil.
If we are in such desperate straits re imported petroleum, why are the above answers true?
Answer: Because the BushCheneyPerryWhoever Oil Magnates In General don't give a f__k about the United States of America. The only thing that they care about is that they can make a bigger profit by selling our petroleum overseas than they can by selling it at home.
Solution: Line all the traitors up outside the State House in Austin and shoot them every one. And then give Texas to Mexico as a gift. The revenge of Santa Anna!
Good news on a sad day: Sarah has been accepted at UNC.
ReplyDeleteGood news on a sad day: Sarah has been accepted at UNC.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea why the above double-posted.
ReplyDeleteBecause it is very good news, which should always be repeated.
DeleteUNC is one of the toughest schools for an NC resident to get into, because so many top students apply.
One of my sons applied to several of the top schools in the country and applied to UNC as a "backup" in case he didn't get into one of the others.
Guess what. He was accepted at every one of the top schools and turned down by UNC. That says a lot for your Sarah. Congratulations to her.
Yes, great new indeed. It is really difficult to get in Chapel Hill today. I'm sure Bob would have no problem, but I think my application would go straight to the recycle bin.
DeleteThis is a tremendous accomplishment for Sarah, and I'm glad the family has some good news to celebrate in the midst of their sorrow.
Go Heels! Not pretty, but they are plodding along without Marshall.
@LaSombra 9:50AM
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting how, no matter HOW abstract the current topic, everything CAN and WILL be tied into a Liberal conspiracy.
How DO they DO THAT?!?!
From Good.is by Jaclyn Friedman
The rules are set up to ensure we fail.
Don’t want to have sex with Rush Limbaugh? You’re a humorless feminazi. Want to use contraception while having sex? You’re a filthy slut. Have sex without contraception and find yourself pregnant? You’re an idiot. Need an abortion? You’re a murderer. (If someone raped you causing you to need that abortion, you're a liar, too.) Decide to keep the baby and raise it yourself? You’re a child abuser. The conservatives waging this war against your body are doing it on purpose. If we accept their terms, we will always lose in the end.
What every woman needs to do is to heed my late mother's advice: "Consider the source," she always said when someone had upset me or one of my sisters.
DeleteAnd having done so, we always felt better, because the source was always some fool or another.
Same applies here. Even Mit Romney, who a year ago seemed to have some sense, has become a blathering fool. Consider the source.
"Don’t want to have sex with Rush Limbaugh? You’re a humorless feminazi."
DeleteThat just makes you a regular human being with a normal sex drive. Think about it...what kind of weirdo would actually want to have sex with that?
That's why Rush spends so much time in the Caribbean and Central America...he can buy it cheap down there.
DeleteI think he threatened to move to Costa Rica once.
Delete6 years ago I went to CR on vacation. (Great trip BTW...gorgeous country, food's good, people are really nice) At the San Jose airport there were public warnings (in English) about soliciting underage prostitutes. Maybe that was part of his motivation.
Yes, I imagine that Rush is one of those monsters.
DeleteAnd indeed the Rich Coast has both beautiful nature and beautiful people. A camping trip that we took with a naturalist from the university in the "cloud forest" remains one of my most memorable experiences.
We found the monkeys especially interesting. I think that they found us merely amusing.
And yes, Rush promised that he would move to CR if Obama won in 2008. We're still waiting. Maybe he will finally go in November.
@Authur 4:44 pm you are correct, but I liked the sequence and for me it is an example of LaSombra's how everything is a great Liberal conspiracy.
DeleteI gotcha. I thought it was pretty funny too.
DeleteMike, that is wonderful news.
ReplyDelete