The rally's agenda
In regard to the story "Religious freedom urged" (March 25), I don't for a minute believe that those who attended and spoke at the "Taking Back Our Freedom" rally Saturday are concerned with religious freedom because they can't offer sectarian prayer in Forsyth County commissioners meetings — they just want the government to show preference to their religion so that they can continue to think that they're better than everyone else.
I will change my mind and join their ranks tomorrow if they form a coalition with Muslims, Jews, Wiccans and atheists and rally to take turns offering prayer in county meetings (with the atheists most likely opting for a moment of silence, which would be their valid choice).
If they're just as concerned about other people's religious freedom as they are their own, then I will admit that I'm wrong. But as long as they push for sectarian prayer in the name of Jesus alone, I think it's pretty clear what their real agenda is.
BUDDY OSBORNE
Winston-Salem
Religious freedom?
The Pattie Curran who felt "ambushed" by a multi-media piece of art inspired by recent controversies on birth-control access ("Opera patron unhappy with art," March 16) is the same Pattie Curran who co-organized Winston-Salem's "Rally for Religious Freedom" on March 23 ("Rally scheduled to protest birth control rules," March 21).
In the March 20 Salisbury Post story "Winston-Salem rally to protest contraception mandate," Curran stated, "This is not about the issue of contraception and abortion drug coverage — this is about protecting religious liberty as it is enshrined in the United States Constitution." Really, not about birth control or abortion? Pro-Life Action League and Citizens for a Pro-Life Society are the coordinating anti-abortion groups behind these "religious freedom" rallies.
In Pattie Curran's blog, "A Catholic Life," out on the Internet for anyone to see, she posts photos of herself and others holding signs that say: "I have a say. Cecile Richards does not speak for me. Here comes the Catholic Church." Cecile Richards, the president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America? I really felt ambushed! I could have used a warning upon entering her website.
Curran told the Post, "This rally is intended to draw attention to the injustice of the federal government's ignoring the First Amendment." I'm for protecting freedom of speech, including artistic expression. Never let it be sacrificed.
Don't let false definitions of "religious liberty" camouflage agendas of the religious right. Goddess help us if that were to happen!
PATTY GOODRICH
Winston-Salem
Tarheel born
Whether Andrew Jackson was born in North or South Carolina has been a matter of long dispute. All we know for certain is that he was born close enough to the border, down below Charlotte, for both states to claim him as a native son. Most authorities appear to believe South Carolina is the best bet, however.
Is all that about to change now that the border is being moved southward, owing to mistakes made in the original measurements? Is it possible after all that Jackson was irrefutably a Tarheel born, a Tarheel bred and, now that he's gone, a Tarheel dead?
Maybe somebody, somewhere, someday will provide a reasonable explanation as to why Carolina was originally divided in the first place.
HUNTER JAMES
Winston-Salem
Approachable Motsinger
I recently attended a reception to meet Elisabeth Motsinger and hear more about why she is running to represent North Carolina's 5th District in Congress. I found her to be incredibly down-to-earth, warm and approachable — quite the opposite of our current representative in Washington.
Her thoughts and vision on the direction we need as a state and as a country are spot on. It is clear that she has a passion for representing the best interests of all people, not just those with deep pockets.
I encourage everyone to go to the polls on May 8 to vote for Elisabeth Motsinger, and againstAmendment One.
KEVIN MUNDY
Winston-Salem
Finish the Thought
Briefly complete the sentence below and send it to us at letters@wsjournal.com. We'll print some of the results in a few days. Only signed entries, please, no anonymous ones.
"If 'the marriage amendment' fails …"
#1... These sectarian prayer advocates are trying to force on the general public at official governmental functions something they would never do privately....listen to the prayers of others. Can you imagine Berea Baptist Church opening their services with rotating prayers from other religions, yet they would force the public to do so.
ReplyDelete#3... Andrew Jackson, ah yes, the man who gave us the despicable Indian Removal Act of 1830, opposed by such notables as Davy Crockett and Abraham Lincoln. Leave him in SC.
ReplyDeleteJackson did however participate in two of the most interesting elections, 1824, where he received a plurality of electoral votes and a plurality of popular votes in the states that counted popular vote (Delaware, Georgia, New York, South Carolina, and Vermont chose their electors by the state legislatures and not popular vote at that time) and 1828, Jackson's revenge against Adams and Clay which was one of the nastiest and personal elections ever.
DeleteAn interesting historical tidbit: The first president born an American citizen is also the only president whose first language was not English, it was Dutch...#8 Martin van Buren.
ReplyDeleteNowadays Fox would go after him for that...probably accuse him of wanting to legalize weed & prostitution et al.
DeleteSorry, Bob...I can name another president whose first language was not English...
DeleteTwo examples from many:
"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." -Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004
"Mission accomplished!"
-USS Abraham Lincoln, May 1, 2003
Oh, and both marijuana and prostitution were legal when Van Buren took office.
DeleteSome regulation of marijuana began in the 1850s, but it was not totally criminalized until the 1930s.
Prostitution is a state matter, with a wide range of laws. The only Federal laws deal with immigration and crossing state lines, i.e. Chuck Berry, Charlie Chaplin.
Van Buren would probably have been accused of looking old fashioned and being too nice a guy.
I tried to put those foreign phrases in google translate and all I kept getting was "duh"
DeleteMaybe that's the name of the language..."duh" as in "duhb-ya"?
Delete"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we."
DeleteCome to think of it, in light of all that has happened, this actually makes sense. Georgie boy was making a sort of forecast.
A fitting epitaph for the Cheney administration.
Another President spoke a foreign language, as in, "Ah never had sex with that woman . . . Miss Lewinsky."
DeleteAs did his wife, "I don't recall." And "vast right-wing conspiracy."
DeleteHi Stab...good to see that you are still out there.
DeleteBut I am shocked that you didn't manage to work unions into your Bubba references...you're slipping.
I'd rather have a president who lies to me about sex than one who lies to me about WMD. I imagine that there are many parents and loved ones of dead soldiers, not to mention the dead soldiers themselves, who would agree.
Teddy Roosevelt's first language was pictorial, as in the photos that he spent a small fortune on portraying him as war hero, great white hunter and cowboy, in buckskins no less.
Many of them were shot in studios using carefully assembled props and backdrops. He was the first president to understand the power of the new-fangled camera, as FDR with radio and JFK with TV. Wherever Teddy went, his faithful photographer was never far behind.
Except on the tennis court. Teddy loved playing tennis, but never allowed himself to be photographed doing so, because he considered tennis to have an "effete" image.
The only known depiction of TR playing tennis is a pencil sketch that he did of him playing against "Mr. Cooley" from one of his "picture letters" to his children.
Hi Cuz!
DeleteI just picked the most familiar of the torrent of untruth that spewed from Willard's mouth. He lied about a lot more than sex. Amazingly, he could have lied more, but was spared by the pliant press. No one bothered to question the relationship between Chinese contributions and the departure of our military secrets to China.
Unions: I note a similarity between card check and voter ID: both are vote suppression. Obama and friends favor the latter.
Ah, that's more like it. I had begun to worry.
ReplyDelete