The following is a reader response to blog entry 'Aborting the Cost of Anti-Abortion' as it was printed in Hernando Today.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR:
As a former columnist at Hernando Today it was my understanding that perhaps the first rule of thumb was to do proper research and assure the accuracy of statements published under my byline. Assuming this applies to conservative columnists as well as progressives, I must question the column by Ron Rae which appeared in Hernando Today on Sunday, June 14, 2009.
First, Ron’s claim that he is “not necessarily a Republican” is questionable since he mentions no Republican whose age is perhaps too advanced. He mentions Sen. Robert Byrd (D) W. V. as the oldest member at age 91. He next states “There are five other Democrats in the Senate who are 83 or older..” when actually only 3 are in that age group: Frank Lautenberg, N.J. (age 85), Daniel Inouye, Hawaii (age 84), and Daniel Akaha, Hawaii (age 84). He claims that term limits will give us a younger House and Senate, but that would depend upon at what age the candidates were first elected, would it not? So then, is this an issue of term limits or really an issue of age restrictions for candidates?
His real problem seems to be that he is a Republican who thought it was fine when the GOP had total control of the Executive and Legislative branches of our government for 8 long and devastating years, but now demands a bi-partisanship that was never extended to Democrats for that 8 year span. Incidentally, fast approaching the age limit(s) Ron is objecting to are following Republican Senators : Jim Bunning, Kentucky (age 77), Richard Lugar, Indiana (age 77), Chuck Grassley, Iowa (age 75), Robert Foster Bennett, Utah (age 75), and Richard Shelby, Alabama (age 75). Is Ron saying that none of these Republicans should be allowed to run for re-election because they would still be serving when they were in the over 80 age group?
Apparently, Republicans who have become the “party of no” are desperately trying to eliminate Democrats from the Senate with nothing but scare tactics, lies and innuendoes, with nary a responsible idea or plan to offer except more of what got us where we are today. Funny that Hernando Today, which appears if not 100% right wing, certainly comes really close to that figure, has had to go to 5-day publishing instead of 7 and seems to be losing some staff members of long standing.Apparently, all a right winger has to do is claim that he is "not necessarily a Republican" and try to pass himself off as what...an Independant? Anyone think that this “newspaper” might be losing readership due to its lack of fairness and accountability?
Frances Earl
177 Rusk CircleSpring Hill, FL 34606
(352) 688-5993
http://us.mc1101.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=fearl@tampabay.rr.com
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Right On, Rush Limbaugh!
The First 100 Days handed populist President Barack Obama a high-five regardless which poll happened to cross your eyes. A CBS/The New York Times poll of 973 adults presented a 68% approval rating while a USA Today/Gallup poll shows that of the 1,051 Americans polled, 79% view his performance as having been at least "okay."
But what of Obama’s acclaimed nemesis, Rush Limbaugh? On January 16, in response to an invitation to express, in writing, his hopes of the new Administration, the talk-radio host decided to go loco-vocal, saying, “I would be honored if the Drive-By Media headlined me all day long: ‘Limbaugh: I Hope Obama Fails.’ Somebody's gotta say it.”
He expressed this hopelessness of the 44th President, “I know what his politics are. I know what his plans are, as he has stated them. I don't want them to succeed.” He then added, “….what is unfair about my saying I hope liberalism fails?”
At the 2009 Conservative Political Action Conference in February, he discussed 50 years of Democrats bridling Americans with a welfare system that has held so many back from being successful members of society. “… I want everyone in this room and every one of you around the country to succeed. I want anyone who believes in life, liberty, pursuit of happiness to succeed. And I want any force, any person, any element of an overarching Big Government that would stop your success, I want that organization, that element or that person to fail.”
During a March broadcast of Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, the host offered his interpretation of the Limbaugh broadcast that, instead of wanting the president to fail, it’s the policies to which Obama adheres that Rush wants to fail. Mr. Wallace was affectively chastised for his statement but, when taken in context, Limbaugh pointed out his personal concern for the country and the kids and grandchildren of Americans when he questioned, “Why in the world do we want to saddle them with more liberalism and socialism? Why would I want to do that? So I can answer it, four words, ‘I hope he fails.’”
On his April 22 radio show, Limbaugh said of the First 100 Days, “I'd like to refer to it, my friends, as “finals week.” And his take on Obama’s performance? “It's embarrassing incompetence and inexperience.”
He rattled off a roll call of Obama embarrassments: “Fidel Castro, one of Obama’s idols, call him superficial.” “We had the nomination of tax cheats to his cabinet… five tax cheats in the Obama administration.” “He has run around the world and apologized for the greatest, the most compassionate, the most innovative and freedom-loving country in world history.”
Speaking on behalf of his American followers, Rush said, “Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He doesn't know all this that's happening in his administration.”
Of DHS Secretary, “Janet Napolitano said the 9/11 hijackers actually got into our country through Canada. So now the Canadians are up in arms and the National Post in Canada today has a piece asking how in the hell did this woman get her job?”
Right on, Rush! You could justly question how other members of the Obama Administration were chosen for such high profile positions.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is said to be the “wonder boy” but Paul Volcker, former Federal Reserve chairman and now head of the Economic Recovery Advisory Board, of which Geithner is also a member, told Congress during a February hearing that it was “shameful” Geithner has no assistants. Not so. Former Secretaries Lawrence Summers, his mentor, and Robert Rubin, a protégé, Geithner’s policies are anything but void of others’ influences. His experience relies on that of others.
Just as the president is pressing UBS to hand over a list of American companies guilty of tax evasion in Swiss bank accounts, the same should be pursued by Geithner for the billions of dollars handed over to Fed chairman Ben Bernanke and his cozy attachment to American bankers.
As a member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, Austan Goolsbee appeared more juvenile than an American Idol contestant with his wrinkled nose and a childish grin during an interview defending the President’s intent on closing tax loopholes and tax havens for American companies. With achievements as a debater and an acclaimed economist, he remains an inexperienced cabinet member.
Perhaps most questionable of Obama’s appointments is that of Robert Gibbs as Press Secretary. If ever a person were in need of a teleprompter, Gibbs is the prime candidate; a robot would be a welcome improvement over his inexperience as a public speaker.
However “un-American” people view his repeated hopes for Obama to fail, I respect Rush Limbaugh for upholding the most precious of our freedoms: the First Amendment.
“Right” on, Rush!
But what of Obama’s acclaimed nemesis, Rush Limbaugh? On January 16, in response to an invitation to express, in writing, his hopes of the new Administration, the talk-radio host decided to go loco-vocal, saying, “I would be honored if the Drive-By Media headlined me all day long: ‘Limbaugh: I Hope Obama Fails.’ Somebody's gotta say it.”
He expressed this hopelessness of the 44th President, “I know what his politics are. I know what his plans are, as he has stated them. I don't want them to succeed.” He then added, “….what is unfair about my saying I hope liberalism fails?”
At the 2009 Conservative Political Action Conference in February, he discussed 50 years of Democrats bridling Americans with a welfare system that has held so many back from being successful members of society. “… I want everyone in this room and every one of you around the country to succeed. I want anyone who believes in life, liberty, pursuit of happiness to succeed. And I want any force, any person, any element of an overarching Big Government that would stop your success, I want that organization, that element or that person to fail.”
During a March broadcast of Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, the host offered his interpretation of the Limbaugh broadcast that, instead of wanting the president to fail, it’s the policies to which Obama adheres that Rush wants to fail. Mr. Wallace was affectively chastised for his statement but, when taken in context, Limbaugh pointed out his personal concern for the country and the kids and grandchildren of Americans when he questioned, “Why in the world do we want to saddle them with more liberalism and socialism? Why would I want to do that? So I can answer it, four words, ‘I hope he fails.’”
On his April 22 radio show, Limbaugh said of the First 100 Days, “I'd like to refer to it, my friends, as “finals week.” And his take on Obama’s performance? “It's embarrassing incompetence and inexperience.”
He rattled off a roll call of Obama embarrassments: “Fidel Castro, one of Obama’s idols, call him superficial.” “We had the nomination of tax cheats to his cabinet… five tax cheats in the Obama administration.” “He has run around the world and apologized for the greatest, the most compassionate, the most innovative and freedom-loving country in world history.”
Speaking on behalf of his American followers, Rush said, “Obama doesn't know what he's doing. He doesn't know all this that's happening in his administration.”
Of DHS Secretary, “Janet Napolitano said the 9/11 hijackers actually got into our country through Canada. So now the Canadians are up in arms and the National Post in Canada today has a piece asking how in the hell did this woman get her job?”
Right on, Rush! You could justly question how other members of the Obama Administration were chosen for such high profile positions.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is said to be the “wonder boy” but Paul Volcker, former Federal Reserve chairman and now head of the Economic Recovery Advisory Board, of which Geithner is also a member, told Congress during a February hearing that it was “shameful” Geithner has no assistants. Not so. Former Secretaries Lawrence Summers, his mentor, and Robert Rubin, a protégé, Geithner’s policies are anything but void of others’ influences. His experience relies on that of others.
Just as the president is pressing UBS to hand over a list of American companies guilty of tax evasion in Swiss bank accounts, the same should be pursued by Geithner for the billions of dollars handed over to Fed chairman Ben Bernanke and his cozy attachment to American bankers.
As a member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, Austan Goolsbee appeared more juvenile than an American Idol contestant with his wrinkled nose and a childish grin during an interview defending the President’s intent on closing tax loopholes and tax havens for American companies. With achievements as a debater and an acclaimed economist, he remains an inexperienced cabinet member.
Perhaps most questionable of Obama’s appointments is that of Robert Gibbs as Press Secretary. If ever a person were in need of a teleprompter, Gibbs is the prime candidate; a robot would be a welcome improvement over his inexperience as a public speaker.
However “un-American” people view his repeated hopes for Obama to fail, I respect Rush Limbaugh for upholding the most precious of our freedoms: the First Amendment.
“Right” on, Rush!
Right-Wing Radicals
“Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment" What a title! Without following news sources, I might have thought there was evidence that Republicans and oil companies were enlisting an army of lobbyists to quell rumors that global warming poses a threat to the planet and that the banking industry was prepared to finance offshore drilling with taxpayer investment dollars.
The report, released on April 7 and labeled “Unclassified//For Official Use Only” by the Department of Homeland Security, ruffled some feathers, particularly with reference to the Oklahoma City bombing and wording that suggested disgruntled war veterans are likely to be recruited by extremist paramilitary groups for covert actions against select groups of Americans.
Timothy McVeigh, a Bronze Medal veteran during the Gulf War, masterminded the deadliest act of domestic terrorism. By lethal injection, he was the first criminal executed by the federal government since the 1963 hanging of Victor Fequer, who killed Dr. Edward Bartels seeking drugs that the doctor may have been carrying.
The outcry of invoking the memory of the 13 barrels of explosives loaded in, and exploded from, a Ryder truck seems disrespectful of the estimated 387,000 residents in the Oklahoma City area who knew someone directly affected by the bombing. Over 800 people were injured and 168 killed on the 19th of April 1995 – of which 19 were children. FBI investigations found evidence that McVeigh had been scouting the federal building since the previous December, aware of the daycare center. McVeigh showed no remorse for the deaths of the children, referring to them as “collateral damage”.
McVeigh’s anti-government feelings began when given orders to execute surrendering prisoners while serving in the Gulf War. His anger intensified in 1992 when FBI sniper fire murdered Vicki Weaver at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, as she stood unseen behind a door. 14-year old Samuel Weaver was shot in the back while retreating from gunfire.
McVeigh specifically chose April 19th for the bombing because on that day in 1993 the federal government ended a 51-day standoff with members of religious sect Branch Davidian in Waco, Texas, leaving 4 federal agents and 74 Davidians dead. Four hundred rounds of now-banned CS tear gas failed to flush the group out. The eventual use of assault tanks and explosive devices by the FBI ignited fires and destroyed the resident compound. These actions caused the majority of the deaths.
The Columbine High School massacre occurred on April 20, 1999, one day after the intended day of executions. The timing of the release of the report was appropriate.
The details of the report were justly assumptive. Foreclosures, job losses, unemployment, immigration, abortion and racist concerns over the election of the first black president are all probable causes that may attract enlistments into right-wing extremist groups.
Take note that one in five returning veterans (roughly 300,000) from Iraq and Afghanistan combat regions have been diagnosed with mental/psycho-social disorders They return to low wages, joblessness, homelessness and marital problems. Many forgo treatment because of the stigma surrounding mental health claims. A few receive minimal therapy while some are completely ignored and commit suicide.
Since these soldiers have no one to lean on for assistance, they may in fact respond to the recruitment of militia groups that seek their combat skills toward their causes and offer solace with the butt of a rifle positioned cheek to shoulder.
When released, the report spelled it out in black and white – it failed to acknowledge the majority of dedicated veterans who fought for the red, white and blue stripes of the American flag in defense of our liberties.
Steve Barry, a white supremacist and an Army Special Forces soldier, wrote in The Register, a publication of neo-Nazi group National Alliance, an article titled “Planning a Skinhead Infantry”:
“Light infantry is your branch of choice because the coming race war and the ethnic cleansing to follow will be very much an infantryman's war. It will be house-to-house, neighborhood-by-neighborhood until your town or city is cleared and the alien races are driven into the countryside where they can be hunted down and ‘cleansed’.”
“As a professional soldier, my goal is to fill the ranks of the United States Army with skinheads. As street brawlers, you will be useless in the coming race war. As trained infantrymen, you will join the ranks of the Aryan warrior brotherhood.”
The article was published in 1999. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a non-profit organization known for tolerance education programs, reported the number of hate groups have risen 53% in America from 602 in 2000 to 926 in 2008, including Neo-nazi, Neo-Confederate, black separatist, white nationalist, and various skinhead and Klu Klux Klan affiliates.
Therefore, “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment" was appropriate.
The report, released on April 7 and labeled “Unclassified//For Official Use Only” by the Department of Homeland Security, ruffled some feathers, particularly with reference to the Oklahoma City bombing and wording that suggested disgruntled war veterans are likely to be recruited by extremist paramilitary groups for covert actions against select groups of Americans.
Timothy McVeigh, a Bronze Medal veteran during the Gulf War, masterminded the deadliest act of domestic terrorism. By lethal injection, he was the first criminal executed by the federal government since the 1963 hanging of Victor Fequer, who killed Dr. Edward Bartels seeking drugs that the doctor may have been carrying.
The outcry of invoking the memory of the 13 barrels of explosives loaded in, and exploded from, a Ryder truck seems disrespectful of the estimated 387,000 residents in the Oklahoma City area who knew someone directly affected by the bombing. Over 800 people were injured and 168 killed on the 19th of April 1995 – of which 19 were children. FBI investigations found evidence that McVeigh had been scouting the federal building since the previous December, aware of the daycare center. McVeigh showed no remorse for the deaths of the children, referring to them as “collateral damage”.
McVeigh’s anti-government feelings began when given orders to execute surrendering prisoners while serving in the Gulf War. His anger intensified in 1992 when FBI sniper fire murdered Vicki Weaver at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, as she stood unseen behind a door. 14-year old Samuel Weaver was shot in the back while retreating from gunfire.
McVeigh specifically chose April 19th for the bombing because on that day in 1993 the federal government ended a 51-day standoff with members of religious sect Branch Davidian in Waco, Texas, leaving 4 federal agents and 74 Davidians dead. Four hundred rounds of now-banned CS tear gas failed to flush the group out. The eventual use of assault tanks and explosive devices by the FBI ignited fires and destroyed the resident compound. These actions caused the majority of the deaths.
The Columbine High School massacre occurred on April 20, 1999, one day after the intended day of executions. The timing of the release of the report was appropriate.
The details of the report were justly assumptive. Foreclosures, job losses, unemployment, immigration, abortion and racist concerns over the election of the first black president are all probable causes that may attract enlistments into right-wing extremist groups.
Take note that one in five returning veterans (roughly 300,000) from Iraq and Afghanistan combat regions have been diagnosed with mental/psycho-social disorders They return to low wages, joblessness, homelessness and marital problems. Many forgo treatment because of the stigma surrounding mental health claims. A few receive minimal therapy while some are completely ignored and commit suicide.
Since these soldiers have no one to lean on for assistance, they may in fact respond to the recruitment of militia groups that seek their combat skills toward their causes and offer solace with the butt of a rifle positioned cheek to shoulder.
When released, the report spelled it out in black and white – it failed to acknowledge the majority of dedicated veterans who fought for the red, white and blue stripes of the American flag in defense of our liberties.
Steve Barry, a white supremacist and an Army Special Forces soldier, wrote in The Register, a publication of neo-Nazi group National Alliance, an article titled “Planning a Skinhead Infantry”:
“Light infantry is your branch of choice because the coming race war and the ethnic cleansing to follow will be very much an infantryman's war. It will be house-to-house, neighborhood-by-neighborhood until your town or city is cleared and the alien races are driven into the countryside where they can be hunted down and ‘cleansed’.”
“As a professional soldier, my goal is to fill the ranks of the United States Army with skinheads. As street brawlers, you will be useless in the coming race war. As trained infantrymen, you will join the ranks of the Aryan warrior brotherhood.”
The article was published in 1999. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a non-profit organization known for tolerance education programs, reported the number of hate groups have risen 53% in America from 602 in 2000 to 926 in 2008, including Neo-nazi, Neo-Confederate, black separatist, white nationalist, and various skinhead and Klu Klux Klan affiliates.
Therefore, “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment" was appropriate.
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