Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Winston-Salem Journal LTE WE 05/30/12


New reader
If you'd like to have more educated subscribers, I'd suggest more balance on your opinion page.
Having just moved back to the area, I buy the Journal most Sundays but am not inclined at this time to subscribe for even one day, much less an entire week.
I am a 60-year-old retired attorney/senior corporate officer with money to spend. But I can't get past your politics. Not all of us are yellow-dog Republicans.

ARTHUR R. KAINZ
Kernersville
Good neighbor Obama
Thinking about a one-word adjective that describes President Obama, several come to my mind. I boiled it down to two words: Smart and kind.
Smart — many people are smart. There are more people who are smart than there are who are kind.
I settled on the one word: Kind. He is a kind man. He thinks of others.
He has a gentle smile. Not a political-made smile, but a genuine kind/gentle smile.
Yes, the one word is "kind." He and his wife would make great next-door neighbors.

CATHERINE W. PITTS
Winston-Salem
New owner
Since Warren Buffett now owns the Winston-Salem Journal ("Buffett group buys Journal, MG papers," May 18), does that mean we will subjected to unlimited liberal rubbish in the editorials? There's already too much of that on what pretends to be TV news.

CHRISTINE PULISELIC
Winston-Salem
Warren Buffett reaffirmed last week that he will take a "hands-off" approach to the 26 daily newspapers, including the Journal, that a Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary is buying from Media General Inc. Here is the link to the letter on that matter that Buffett sent to editors and publishers:
— The editor.
Many did not vote
Amidst the agonizing over who "won" the Amendment One vote, keep in mind that the vote of such importance to both sides was 1,303,952 to 831,788.
Impressive? Consider that 4,161,093 duly registered — and a whopping 5,157,221 voting-age — North Carolinians did not vote. At all. They sat on their hands.
I can only surmise what they were doing with their hands, but if they don't watch out there are people in this state who'll make that illegal, too.

JERRY ADAMS
Winston-Salem
Taking exception
As a 70-year-old, I take exception to the part of your May 23 article ("Protest of sermon planned") hinting that the age (71) of the preacher in Maiden, the Rev. Charles Worley, might explain his sermon about lesbians and gays. He preached that all of them could be put in something like a concentration camp so they would die out from not being able to reproduce.
On the other hand, there's nothing about being older and a preacher that makes him smarter and better educated than his congregation. I hope my same-sex-oriented friends will forgive me for saying so, but it's much closer to fact that homosexuals and religious conservatives have something crucial in common: They are born with those predispositions. In other words, God made them that way.

RICHARD TERRY LOVELACE
Winston-Salem
Sum It Up
The Sum It Up question from Sunday was: Who will win the presidential election?


* * * * *

I think Mitt Romney will win. I pray he will win. Another four years of President Obama and this country will be in more debt than we already are. He is the most arrogant, lying president this country has ever had. God bless America — we need his blessing.

LINDA LUCAS


* * * * *

The lesser of two evils.

MONA POTTS


* * * * *

The conventional wisdom of the Beltway indicates that if the economy goes sour, the incumbent is in trouble. Presently, the economy seems to be on a steady course of recovery, although the progress is not as strong as economists would like. Nonetheless, it is moving in the right direction and if, in the next few months, nothing happens to disrupt the trend, President Obama should have a slight edge over his GOP challenger, Mitt Romney. Moreover, President Obama holds a comfortable lead on minority and women votes and a slim lead among the independent voters.
President Obama's chance for a second term looks good, but it is not assured. I agree with most pundits that it is a close race because the power of money and the negative ads cannot be under-estimated. The Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United has opened the floodgate to allow an unlimited amount of unidentified money to the super PACs to attack the opponents of the candidates they support. It will be a race between corporate money and people power, and a choice between the GOP's policy pandering to the rich and the Democratic Party's call for economic fairness.

BOON T. LEE

47 comments:

  1. #5...Taking Exception
    Yes, Mr Lovelace, I'm reminded of my dear friends, George and Bill, who taught me to play bridge in the early 90's. Both in their late 70's and together in a committed, loving, monogamous relationship since the end of WWII, they met the day George returned from the war, had just arrived at the Chapel Hill bus station, and was hitch-hiking home in his cracker-jacks. Bill, in his 1947 Cadillac Series 62 Convertible, gave him a ride home. The rest is history. They lived with Bill's widowed mother for many years until she passed away. I only wished they both had lived until 1998, when my duplicate bridge partner, Mao Lin (the original linsanity), a software security designer for IBM,and I came in 13th in the North American Pairs Championship in Reno, NV. Bill and George were both 7 no-trump, vulnerable, doubled, re-doubled, and making 7. I miss you dear friends.

    ReplyDelete
  2. #3...New Owner
    Between the liberal rubbish and the conservative Bovinity, there's a mess out there.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Recently we have seen that something is really, really wrong when the best rapper is a white guy, the best golfer is a black guy, the tallest guy in the NBA is Chinese, the Swiss hold the America's Cup, the Pope is German, Europe's central banker is Italian, France is accusing the U.S. of arrogance and Germany doesn't want to go to war. A world dominated by fiat currencies will do this.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Boon Lee's last sentence is funny. Spoken like a true believer in modern day Bolivarian Revolution nonsense. When Obama loses, maybe he can seek refuge in South America with a few kindred spirits. At this moment, the political parties and their PACS are not running America. The Federal Reserve is in charge.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Just as I suspected all along, a republican has been running America since February 1st, 2006.

      Delete
    2. South America? Oh, I hope it's Peru. Machu Picchu is in the top 3 of my bucket list.

      Delete
    3. From POLITICO Playbook email today, presented by UnitedHealth Military & Veterans Services --

      GOP OUTSIDE GROUPS TO SPEND $1 BILLION ON '12, at least double Dem. outside spending - Insurgent right forces Texas run-off; Rep. Reyes loses -- Steve Israel, Kim Kingsley b'days Mike Allen

      GAME CHANGE - "GOP groups plan $1 billion blitz," by Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei: "Republican super PACs and other outside groups ... plan to spend roughly $1 billion on November's elections for the White House and control of Congress, according to officials familiar with the groups' internal operations. That total includes previously undisclosed plans for newly aggressive spending by the Koch brothers, who are steering funding to build sophisticated, county-by-county operations in key states. ... Just the spending linked to the Koch network is more than the $370 million that John McCain raised for his entire presidential ... Restore Our Future, the super PAC supporting Mitt Romney, proved its potency by spending nearly $50 million in the primaries. Now able to entice big donors with a neck-and-neck general election, the group is likely to meet its new goal of spending $100 million more." http://bit.ly/KVRzdF

      Delete
    4. Bobby, Machu Picchu is at an extreme altitude. Be sure you get a check-up before you go.

      I know I felt the difficulty in breathing, some years ago.

      Delete
    5. yes, after 10,000 ft one should only ascend no more than 1,000 ft per day and rest for a day after each 3,000 ft.

      Delete
    6. I think Machu Picchu is around 8,000 ft above sea level, but still the ascent is taxing for us ~sea level people.

      Delete
    7. My bff climbed to the south base camp of Mt Everest 15+- years ago to observe a full solar eclipse. He and the others were drinking hot chai tea as the sun was eclipsed. At that elevation, when the sun is blocked, the radiative cooling was so fast, their tea froze. He brought me a rock(granite) from the base camp, a rock(black carbon) from the summit of Kilimanjaro, two red (iron base) rocks from Santorini, a piece of the Great Wall of China, and a fragment from the Berlin Wall.

      Delete
    8. "GOP groups plan $1 billion blitz..." - I'm already sick of political ads. I'm thinking about starting up a FaceBook group dedicated to turning off the tv and radio until after the elections. That way, all of those $1B will go down the toilet. There's nothing that can be done to prevent the ads from airing, but at least we can take some satisfaction in making all of that money go to waste :)

      Delete
    9. If you stay at altitude for about a week before you go up, it's not too bad. The first few nights at 6,000 ft will keep you awake though. Drink two beers and you feel like you've had six.

      Delete
    10. But you don't drink? or don't drink anymore?

      Delete
  5. Such irony!! Mitt Romoney released his "Certificate of Live Birth" to Reuters on the same day he kowtows to Donald Trump. http://news.yahoo.com/romneys-birth-certificate-evokes-fathers-controversy-231534685.html

    ReplyDelete
  6. Good AM, folks!

    I shudder to think what Boon Lee thinks is economic fairness. That is a weasel phrase that the Left uses to mask coercion and confiscation. Synonymous is "social justice."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey now, Moses didn't ask the Egyptians for better working conditions, he demanded that they change the system and let his people go.

      Delete
    2. Bob, as clear as you usually are, I am missing the comparison between Moses and the Left's definition of economic fairness. IIRC, he was opposed to compulsory membership in the stone hauler's organization.

      Delete
    3. Ah, it was about social justice and not economic fairness.

      Delete
    4. I was not very clear. http://www.ecatholic2000.com/sj/socjust.shtml is where that came from.

      Delete
    5. If "social justice" is anti-enslavement, I'm all in, but the contemporary version appears to have ulterior and self-aggrandizing motives. I am not referring to you personally, mind you. But, when I hear a mountebank like J Jackson invoke the phrase, I sneer.

      Delete
    6. oh yes, I'm mindful, :), and with Mitt, social justice becomes social "just us."

      Delete
    7. We've got too many people in the U.S. with their hands out all of the time. If you want socialism, move to Cuba, or Europe, and have a good life.

      Let the people that want to work, live here, and enjoy the fruits of their hard work.

      Delete
  7. I don't read the syndicated W-S op-eds anyway. There's only do much of that prig Cal Thomas I can take. Not a big brother Gerson fan either.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wooooooowieeeeeeeeeee! You know how Hispanics don't pull any punches? Right? A lot of the jokes going around on the Spanish channels lambasts Obama for his support on gay marriage.

    I'm not so sure he's doing to be such a 'hit' with Hispanic voters this time around.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's interesting how the Democratic Party seems to attract the weak, the inept, the downtroddent, the uneducated, the sick, homosexuals, and of course liberals.

      Delete
    2. Bobby, you don't seem like the type that would be reading scriptures everynight. I don't know where that came from.

      Delete
    3. Jesus begins His ministry of bringing the Good News to the poor. -Luke 4:16-19

      Delete
    4. Yeah, I'll bet you read that verse everynight before you go to bed.

      Delete
    5. Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons are among the highest-scoring groups on a new survey of religious knowledge, outperforming evangelical Protestants, mainline Protestants and Catholics on questions about the core teachings, history and leading figures of major world religions.
      http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1745/religious-knowledge-in-america-survey-atheists-agnostics-score-highest

      Delete
  9. Boon T. Lee is always good for a good Heeeee Haaaw! Economic fairness....poooohey! Socialism is more like it.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Good afternoon folks!
    LTE 1,3: "The Journal is too conservative!" "The Journal is too liberal!" The Journal must be just right! If you only want to be exposed to your particular ideology, there are plenty of outlets for that. I'm personally interested in seeing what all sides have to say.
    LTE 2: An endorsement I gather? I don't think I would want a national politician living beside me.
    LTE 4: That probably is on the next agenda since the Bible prohibits the "spilling of seed". Oh well, at least it will prevent people from going blind.
    LTE 5: I believe the age reference was meant to address the generational gap between the AARP crowd who mostly oppose same sex marriage vs. the college age crowd who mostly have no problem with it, rather than make a statement regarding older people being wiser or more educated. While homosexuals are "born that way", I'm not sure about those who espouse religious conservatism. Someone on this forum may have more insight into this, but it seems to me that one's ideology comes from a combination of upbringing, education, and personal experiences.
    Sum it up: Too early to tell. I believe Romney has more of an uphill battle, especially if the economy continues to improve.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Is anybody familiar with a movie called 'Ground Swell' with Sean Penn? It's obviously a horror flick about gays taking over the world.

    I figured somebody in here would know about it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, but I have seen The Sum of Us several times, starring Russel Crowe as a gay Rugby playing plumber living with his father in Sydney Australia. The plot revolves around the comfortable relationship between widower Harry and his gay son Jeff and their individual searches for the right mate. Harry unconditionally loves his Rugby-playing son, and even takes an active part in Jeff's search for Mr. Right.

      Delete
    2. That's not the one, Bobby. I must have had a bad dream. I could have sworn I heard about such a movie somewhere.

      Delete
    3. No, it's not a dream, but my plans for world domination have only just begun. My faithful minion, Tim Cook, has just become CEO of Apple. Today it's Apple, tomorrow the WORLD. Not to worry, Bucky, you'll love the view from the moon colony Newt and I have planned.

      Delete
  12. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/26/us-climate-germany-solar-idUSBRE84P0FI20120526
    Germany sets new solar power record, institute says: (Reuters) - German solar power plants produced a world record 22 gigawatts of electricity per hour - equal to 20 nuclear power stations at full capacity - through the midday hours on Friday and Saturday, the head of a renewable energy think tank said.

    ReplyDelete
  13. LTE #1 – Got to love this one. Yet another person who knows a better way to run the newspaper.

    Mr. Kainz goes to great lengths to let us know how important and wealthy he is, then shows us what a fool he is…”yellow dog” belongs exclusively to the Democrats:

    "I admit that I said then what I now repeat, namely, that when the Democratic party of Kentucky, in convention assembled, sees fit in its wisdom to nominate a yaller dog for the governorship of this great state, I will support him — but lower than that ye shall not drag me!"
    Theodore Hallam, 1900

    In fact, there is no comparable term for a Republican. Since every yellow dog I have ever known has been considerably smarter than Michelle Bachmann, we could coin a new term with similar meaning…a Bachmann Republican.

    LTE #2 – Not in my back yard, please.

    LTE #3 – Yet another newspaper expert. Who knew that there were so many of them.
    Like sports “fans” who all know better than the coaches.

    LTE #4 – A shameful set of stats. And the voter ID fans would like to make the numbers lower.

    LTE #5 – Not sure that I understand this LTE, but he’s wrong at the end.

    Homosexuals are born, bigots are made…there’s a big difference.

    Who will win the presidential election? Gary Johnson of the Libertarian Party in a run-off against third party candidate Herman Cain of the Pizza Party. Stand by for more on this.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's plain to see to MOST people that the majority of the bigotry and hatred is being perpetuated by the left.

      Even one of my friends who lives in California admitted it to me. It's really getting out of hand. I hope they pass some laws against such abominable hatred.

      Between the union members and the homosexual liberals, it's getting like I heard the 60s were.

      Delete
  14. Mitt for a better Amercia? Amercia, wasn't that Deseret's sister?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That sounds like a male pattern baldness drug. Bless his heart.

      Delete
    2. lol, yep, but Mitt looks more like a Cialis commercial except he is stiff from head to toe. I guess that makes him a ..........

      Delete