Sum It Up
The Sum It Up question from Sunday was: Is there any middle ground left in American politics?
Who defines "middle ground"? That's a bit "relative," don't you think?
WES PATTERSON
Yes, there certainly could be, if we would install term limits for all elected officials, such as one six-year term for all elected officials, having an election every two years with one-third being new every two years. This way, each could vote his conscious instead of the party line and not worry about being re-elected.
FRANK SCISM
I would hope so, but I don't see it.
WILLIAM SAMS
No, not until the current Congress is voted out. When defeating Obama is more important than what is best for our country — even to the extent of causing the loss of our AAA credit rating — it is hard to be optimistic.
NAOMI J. DAVIS
There is room for middle ground in America if our politicians focus on the common good of their constituents instead of the good of their special interests, share with the people they represent their ideas on public policy, stop vilifying those with whom they disagree and quit telling us how "conservative" they are. I, for one, would like them to drop the ideology and focus on right and wrong. Many campaign ads I see on TV stink!
WILLIAM K. ACH
Sadly, no. The Democratic Party has stayed more or less where it has always been since the New Deal era. The Republican Party has moved to the right of Attila the Hun and has systematically purged most of its reasonable politicians — Dick Lugar being the latest example.
ARTHUR S. LINK III
Different desires
There's very little real pleasure in "winning" the marriage amendment vote, especially when it seems to have created so much animosity.
I admit that some of the people on my side were angry, too — it's hard not to be angry when you're attacked for standing for what you believe is right. And I can understand those who voted against the amendment — society has taken the "sting" out of homosexuality and portrayed it as a civil-rights issue. Proponents of homosexuality have just about won the day. Nobody wants to be seen as a bigot.
I don't think that homosexuals are abominations; they're normal human beings who for some reason have different desires than most everyone else. And we don't really know why — it could be biology or it could be some kind of arrested emotional development. Maybe someday we'll discover the real roots and it'll be nothing we suspected.
But there are people who are attracted to children and we don't say, "Well, that's just the way they are." We consider them evil, or at the most sympathetic, mentally ill.
For most of history, like it or not — and not just because of the Bible — homosexuals have been seen in a negative light. And they've been attacked in harsh and unjust ways, and that's wrong.
But sometimes society creates taboos for good reasons.
Traditional, old-fashioned beliefs are sometimes wrong, but not always. We shouldn't be in a rush to abandon them.
AVERY FISHEL
Winston-Salem
Looking good
Those who voted for the passage of the marriage amendment make John Edwards look good.
BEVERLY M. BURTON
Winston-Salem
Good paper
I think the Winston-Salem Journal is a very effective, informative and well-laid-out newspaper. I say this because the same topics are always in the same place in relation to other topics. For instance, the local weather is always in the back of the business section of the paper every single day. The articles are also very well-written, providing lots of information at either a brief look, or continuing the article on another page with this noted at the appropriate points in the article.
Although there are more reasons the Winston-Salem Journal is a fantastic newspaper, these are the only two I have room to type.
MATTHEW SHEALY
11 YEARS OLD
Winston-Salem
According to Jim Mourdock, tea party candidate in Indiana, compromise and bi-partisanship means "Democrats must agree with Republicans."
ReplyDeleteJim Cooper (D-TN) "what Mourdock is saying is popular but it's very dangerous. You have to compromise in order to build a great nation."
Matt, your parents should be ashamed of themselves. Using your name to pander to the grossly, inept piece of trash that masquerades as a newspaper is unconscionable.
ReplyDelete"I don't think that homosexuals are abominations; they're normal human beings who for some reason have different desires than most everyone else."
ReplyDeleteAvery Fishel
This is a good example of a person not re-reading what they have written. 'Norm' mean a behavior that generally complies with society's behavior as a whole. If homosexuals are different as he/she alleges, then they are not normal.
Avery, when you write in again, just make your point. I realize you fear that the PC Police will get you, but you'll feel much better about your letter if you just express yourself clearly without all of the superficial pandering.
The 'Protection of Marriage Amendment' passed. Here's a little music to celebrate: 'The Game of Love' with Santana and Michelle Branch.
Deletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UIojGDIBvI
P.S. Even if you don't want to celebrate, it's a good tune.
Not AGAIN!
ReplyDelete"I asked Mr. Martin if the voice calling for help was that of his son," the officer wrote. "Mr. Martin, clearly emotionally impacted by the recording, quietly responded `no."'
________
Remember when the mainstream media rushed to tell Mrs. Martin's story that it was definitely her son that was yelling for help on the tape? Well, it appears that once again, in the liberal media's rush to create racial unrest, it didn't truthfully represent the facts.
Here's some more hogwash the liberal media reported. Remember when they said Zimmerman weighed 100lbs more than Martin? Well, according to recent information, Martin was only 42 lbs lighter, but 5" taller.
DeleteAnd more information is surfacing, the child like photos that parents provided to the media are hardly representative of what Martin actually looked like at the time of the shooting.
What's really sad is that the bleeding heart liberals, many of which frequent this forum, bought into the whole contrived, race-baited story provide by the mainstream media.
Good afternoon folks!
ReplyDeleteLTE 1: There were no "winners" in the amendment vote. Those who voted for the amendment gained nothing. The losers are all couples who are in a civil union in this state as well as the state itself from the fallout to ensue. I have no idea why some insist on comparing homosexuality to pedophilia. Homosexuals are engaged in consensual relationships, whereas pedophiles are exercising control over children who are powerless to resist. The two have nothing in common. Old fashioned values should not include the dismissal of a person simply because the person happens to be attracted to the same gender.
LTE 2: Gov. Perdue said it made us look like Mississippi. I'm thinking more along the lines of Kansas.
LTE 3: I'm sure the Journal really appreciated the letter. Congrats on getting published, Master Shealey!
Sum it up: I will agree with Wes that the definition of "the middle" is a bit nebulous, however our very own Arthur laid it out quite well that the gulf between the ideologies has widened considerably which makes it more difficult to find a common middle. Furthermore, the "my way or the highway" approach taken by talk radio heads and various politicians who insist on idelogical purity combined with gerrymandered districts in which the ideologically pure are the ones most likely to show up on primary day has led to election of too many true believers who would rather see the US fall apart than compromise one iota. The only solution I see is to redraw the districts so that all reps have to pay attention to everyone in their particular district as opposed to just the most ideologically pure of their party.
"Gerrymander" entered the language in 1812 in reference to Massachusetts redistricting intended to favor the Democratic-Republican Party candidates of Governor Elbridge Gerry over the Federalists.
DeleteFederalist newspaper editors and others at the time likened the district shape to a salamander, and the word gerrymander was a blend of that word and Governor Gerry's last name. See the famous cartoon:
The Gerrymander
Our own 12th Congressional District is quite similar. It was sold as a way to ensure at least one black Congressman from NC, but the true purpose was to include as many urban areas as possible, thus allowing neighboring districts to incorporate a majority of rural hillbillies who can be relied upon to go against their own best interests by voting Republican. This is why, despite her crudeness and stupidity, Virginia Foxx continues to get reelected in the 5th District, which used to be "our" district.
The MellWattmander
I rather have Virginia Foxx than Mel Watt, the radical, liberal that sees everything through a racial lense. He's another good example of a affirmative action Harvard graduate that can't seem to find 'common sense' with both hands.
DeleteWatt and Obama are like two peas in the same nonsensical pod.
Oh and by the way, who cares what the worse governor in America thinks? She grew up right outside of West Virginia, and she wants to smear people by relating them to Mississippi? PULEEEEEEEEEEAZ!
DeleteObama's North Carolina Math Problem
ReplyDeleteRaleigh, North Carolina (CNN) -- The state Democratic Party here is consumed with an ongoing sexual harassment scandal. The embattled governor is so unpopular she decided not to run for a second term. And supporters of same-sex marriage were dealt a crushing defeat at the ballot box last week.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/18/politics/obama-north-carolina-math-problem/index.html?hpt=hp_t3
Even CNN is starting to face reality.
DeleteGood gravy. I just saw Wes Patterson's diatribe-reply to my letter. He's one angry dude.
ReplyDeleteYes, I saw that too. Wes, like our own Chatty Cathy, is an ignorant, selfish, hateful human sub-species that most of us should be ashamed to admit have any connection with the human species.
DeleteThey try to hide their hatefulness behind bogus, cherry-picked biblical nonsense, but because all of us know many real Christians, we can easily spot their bigoted bullshit.
People who live in most western European nations pay far higher taxes than we do, thus taking care of those of their fellow citizens who cannot take care of themselves, while enjoying a higher standard of living than we do.
The US leads the world in mental illness and physical disability...one in five American adults suffer from a mental illness each year...one in four adults suffer from a physical or mental disability that prevents them from finding full time gainful employment. Those problems are directly proportional to the number of tax whining crybabies like the aforementioned.
When they run out of scripture to quote, they like to fall back on "support our troops" rhetoric. Well, get busy doing that lowlifes.
Troops returning home from the CheneyBush wars have the highest unemployment rate in the nation. The tens of thousands of severely wounded troops are not getting the care that they need. And the latest study by the Veterans Administration shows that about 300,000 of them are suffering from PTSD, at a time when getting help for PTSD is harder than ever.
Supporting the troops isn't about waving the flag and yelling "Kill, kill, kill!" It's about doing something about the problems mentioned above.
A couple of days ago, presumptive candidate Romney said "We should not be negotiating with the Taliban...we should be defeating them."
Really? Mitt, I think your boys had seven years to do that and failed miserably. I guess you've got a new plan that you're not quite ready to tell us about, huh? Keep on shaking that Etch-a-Sketch.
And as for Wes and Cathy, keep on drowning in your own crocodile tears.
If Romney can't stand up to the likes of Ted Nugent, he probably won't to Vlad Putin.
DeleteOr even worse, Grover Norquist.
In June, 2001, after spending about an hour with Vladimir Putin, W. said:
Delete"I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straight forward and trustworthy and we had a very good dialogue.
"I was able to get a sense of his soul."
Putin had to be putting on the best act of his life to avoid laughing in Bush's face. He had just used his skills as an old line KGB man to con yet another fool.
The fact that Ted Nugent and Grover Norquist carry any weight with anyone is a testament to how far the GOP has fallen.
All that hoo-hah coming from a so called "Christian", Arthur. Wouldn't want to be you if he WASN'T a Christian.
Delete;) LaSombra. Wes Patterson, Deb, Harvey, Linda D, the lawyer dude, all that ilk are less Christian than my agnostic self.
DeleteRush: Deb is like a puppy scampering away from a dog fight since I talked to her online editor. Wes talks the talk and I believe he walks the walk, with ALOT of BABBLE in between. Talk about the TOWER OF BABEL!!!
DeleteLove it. The Tower was always one of my favorite stories, because it revealed a serious weakness in the whole bible business...God had to resort to magic to defeat the efforts of the puny humans, or they would have been right up there in his face.
DeleteFigured that one out when I was about 8 or so and had it confirmed because adults would not answer my questions about it.
Great reply to sum it up, Arthur.
ReplyDeleteBucky, jury won't resume deliberations until Monday.
Thanks!
DeleteI wish I were on the jury, Wordly. I'd rev Johnny up!
DeleteA juror's job is to sit quietly, listen actively and think skeptically...then make an honest decision.
ReplyDeleteFortunately, the art of jury selection has advanced significantly in the last half century or so to the point that most fools who want to rev somebody up are now excluded, a crucial distinction to keep our legal system from collapsing entirely.
As always, stupid is as stupid does.