Letters to the Editor Policy

Junior Keeps His Promise

“Politics is an omelet. Promises like eggs get broken.”

I would consider making book on the preceding text in quotes being a hard-headed appraisal of politics in every place and time and race. How eggs get broken, how omelets get cooked… all that makes for interesting politics.

Here’s how I understand the circumstances, in which President Barack Hussain Obama Junior finds himself with regard to a certain promise. Yes, he did promise to shut down the prison at Guantanamo. At the moment, his doing so will cost him dearly as a politician. Provided, that closing means transferring the incarcerated bedbugs to facilities in the States.

I would consider making book on his keeping that promise and keeping the bedbugs incarcerated where they are now. This is most likely to happen. President Obama will transfer the facilities out from under military responsibility over to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a civilian entity.

When that happens, the bedbugs will no longer be under the protection of the Geneva Convention as irregular combatants. They will no longer enjoy the aura of warriors. Instead, they’ll have to deal with being criminal suspects.

As for those charged with crimes, committed inside this country, they can still be tried in a mainland court. Technically, it would be simple enough to set up certain television facilities. That way, they can still be incarcerated in Guantanamo, and still get tried in, say, a New York court.

Sincerely,

A Alexander Stella

Susquehanna, PA

Whatever Happened To Frank?

On a hot Saturday afternoon in a long-ago summer, there was only one place to go. Mom rummaged through her purse and pillaged the sofa pillows for change. Finding the required amount, she gave it to me: a dime, two nickels, and two pennies. Just right.

Now a dime, back then, was an affordable but not insignificant sum of money. But it was money to be well spent. For Mom it brought a few hours respite, and for her rambunctious son it bought a ticket to the City Theater, a rundown movie house that had never known better days.

Soon boys from all corners of the neighborhood would converge upon the besieged cinema. I say, “boys,” because no girl would subject herself to this raucous assemblage.

This was a gathering of males. It was a mildly unruly troop of kids mostly under thirteen or in the idiom of the day, “on the clock.” A homogeneous brotherhood, a fraternity of oneness before fate had channeled each of us into our separate paths.

Price paid and inside the dimly-lit theater the first stop was the candy counter. A favorite was Sugar Daddy, a flattened mass of caramel on a stick. A 5 cent Sugar Daddy was guaranteed to outlast the longest movie, even a double feature.

Next a soda. Another nickel. Two cents more would buy you a foot-long pretzel thick with big salt crystals to keep the soda company. Then, prepared and fortified, we were ready. Lights off, the curtain opened, the movie began: “White Pongo.”

White Pongo was a ferocious albino gorilla that stalked the impenetrable jungles of Africa. This, as you can see, was long before we discovered that the pugnacious primates were really timid beasts that would run faster from us than we from them. And it was a “jungle” then, not a fragile ecosystem as now.

Costarring with the ill-tempered ape a was a hunter clad in the requisite costume for an explorer: riding boots, safari vest, and pith helmet; and, of course, a pretty girl. Now I think you can see what is going to pass for a plot. Gorilla meets girl. Gorilla sweeps girl off her feet - literally. Gorilla steals off with girl into the unexplored wilds.

Girls and oversized gorillas were a recurrent theme in early celluloid. (You can guess why.) There was King Kong who was bedazzled by a blonde. His son, Son Of Kong, was smitten over some now forgotten lovely. And Mighty Joe Young was taken by a brunette.

But these star-crossed relationships never worked out. Undoubtedly, that was for the best. KK took the fast way down from the Empire State Building. Son Of Kong drowned in the flood waters of sinking Skull Island. And Mighty Joe Young died a sacrificial death saving a child from a burning orphanage.

As for the hairy protagonist of the day's movie, he was shot and the girl was rescued - they were always rescued - and secure in the embrace of her intrepid hero. A more promising relationship.

About this time soda bottles were starting to empty. It was time for the grand finale. Empty bottles were rolled down the floor making a rumbling and clanking sound as they tumbled along the wooden floor and careened off the metal legs of chairs. On cue, Frank would make his appearance.

Frank was the theater's usher. In our untried judgment, he was about a hundred years old. Armed with a flashlight, Frank would frantically race up and down the aisle searching for the culprits but always in vain.

But inflation and time were to take their inexorable tolls. Ten cents became 15 cents, then to an unheard of quarter. The times, too, were bypassing the City Theater. One day it was gone, disappeared along with the super sized simians, the cardboard heroes, the pretty waiting-to-be-rescued girls, and the noisy mobs of rascally boys. Frank, too, was gone.

Perhaps I'll meet them later on. Maybe in some timeless, parallel universe they still play their parts.

White Pongo and his kingsized kin, pith-helmeted heroes, and damsels in distress. And Frank with flashlight in hand like a cinematic Diogenes searching fruitlessly for mischievous scamps will be there. And watching them all with rapt attention will be that irrepressible club of youths and maybe one lad with a Sugar Daddy, an orange soda, and a foot-long pretzel thick with salt.

Sincerely,

Bob Scroggins

New Milford, PA

Fellow Americans

Before the president makes his State of the Union address, let us all take a look at his first year in office and what he has been doing. We’ll do it by categories.

His bills:

TARP - Ask Geithner and Bernanke why there has been no accounting of where the TARP funds went, or who got what. The real cost? It will be in the trillions.

Stimulus I - Where has $787 billion gone? To fund mythical projects in mythical places, to “save” and “create” jobs in places that don’t exist. For example, in the 23rd Congressional district in Pennsylvania, $1,487,259 dollars in stimulus money was spent. THERE IS NO 23RD DISTRICT! Nor is there a 00th, 96th, 21st or 65th district, but it all added up to $12.6 million dollars that allegedly created-get this-32.2 jobs.

Cap and Tax - Obama has stated that “of course, under my plan, energy costs would necessarily skyrocket.”

Climate Change - Leaked memos have proven global warming to be a fabrication and nothing more than a “get rich quick” scheme for individuals, the UN and developing nations.

Health Care Reform - It’s a massive power grab designed to force every American into a health care system that they don’t want or need. It will change and increase the power of the IRS, allowing direct access to your bank account. It does have Death Panels, it will invade our privacy, limit health care to the sick and elderly, be a tax burden on the young, the middle class and the poor, force doctors out of practice and hospitals to close, and allow the government to take over another 16.7% of the economy. The bill also calls for the taxing, fining and possible jailing of those who refuse insurance coverage.

His policies:

To spread the wealth.

To fundamentally transform America.

To close Guantanamo Bay Detention facility.

To try the 9/11 terrorists as criminals in Federal court in NYC.

America is no longer a Judeo-Christian nation.

No lobbyists and no earmarks - really?

To be transparent in government - really?

To apologize for America because it is flawed and it has been derisive and dismissive of other nations.

His teachers, pals, appointments and czars:

THE TEACHERS

Reverend Jeramiah Wright-radical cleric who said, among other things, “God damn America,” and other vicious remarks that show his hatred of America, his bigotry and racism.

THE PALS

William Ayers-Weather Underground terrorist bomber; Bernadine Dohrn-Ayers’ wife and member of the Weather Underground and terrorist bomber; Tony Rezko-convicted real estate dealer, financier, swindler and Obama supporter; Andy Stein-president of SEIU, a socialist, left-wing union leader who stated that he would use the “force of persuasion or the persuasion of force” to get things done.

THE APPOINTMENTS

Valerie Jarrett - Chief of Staff, confidante, slum landlord and pal.

Rham Emmanuel - Obama’s Chief of Staff who once sent a dead fish to a political lobbyist whom he thought “disloyal.” Former ballerina; currently, arm-twister.

David Axelrod - Presidential Senior Advisor, public relations strategist.

Eric Holder - Attorney General and partner in a law firm that represented Guantanamo terrorists; has ordered “trials” for the terrorists who brought down the Trade Towers in 2001.

Timothy Geithner - Treasury Secretary and tax cheat, former president of the Federal Reserve Bank, who had leadership roles at the Treasury Department, the IMF and the Council on Foreign Relations. But he doesn’t know how to use Turbo Tax.

Anita Dunn - Communications Director who “looks to Mao (Tse Tung) for inspiration.”

THE CZARS

Richard Holbrooke - Afghanistan Czar; ultra liberal, anti gun, pro-abortion and legal drug use.

Ed Montgomery - Auto recovery Czar. Black radical anti business activist; affirmative action and job preference for blacks; ACORN board member.

Jeffrey Crowley - AIDS Czar. Gay rights activist; believes in gay marriage and special status, including free health care for gays.

Alan Bersin - Border Czar. Served as Border Czar under Janet Reno “to keep borders open to illegals.”        

David J. Hayes - California Water Czar. Sr. Fellow of radical environmentalist group, "Progress Policy;" No training or experience in water management.

Ron Bloom - Car Czar. Auto Union worker. Anti-business and anti-nuclear energy; he has been replaced by

Steven Rattner - Car Czar. Former New York Times journalist and investment banker, and involved in a burgeoning kickbacks scandal.

Dennis Ross - Central Region Czar. Believes US policy has caused Mid East wars.

Lynn Rosenthal - Domestic Violence Czar. Director of the National Network to End Domestic Violence; vicious anti-male feminist; supported male castration.

Gil Kerlikowske - Drug Czar. Devoted lobbyist for every restrictive gun law proposal.

Carol Brower - Energy and Environment Czar. Former head of EPA; strong anti-gun ownership; Socialist; calls for “global governance” and says rich countries must shrink their economies to address climate change.

Joshua DuBois - Faith Based Czar. Political Black activist; seeks a separate black nation.

Cameron Davis - Great Lakes Czar. Chicago radical; anti business environmentalist.

Van Jones - Green Jobs Czar (since resigned) - Black activist; member of American Communist Party and San Francisco Communist Party; said George Bush caused the 911 attack and wanted Bush investigated by the World Court for war crimes; said whites are poisoning blacks.

Daniel Fried - Guantanamo Closure Czar. Rights activist for foreign terrorists; believes America has caused the war on terrorism.

Nancy-Ann DeParle - Health Czar. Former head of Medicare/Medicaid; strong health care rationing proponent.

Vivek Kundra - Information Czar. Controls all public information, including labels and news releases; monitors all private internet emails.

Todd Stern - International Climate Czar. Anti-business; strong supporter of the Kyoto Accord; pushing hard for Cap and Trade; blames US business for global warming.

Dennis Blair - Intelligence Czar. Ret. Navy; chair of ultra liberal "Council on Foreign Relations," which blames American organizations for regional wars.

George Mitchell - Mideast Peace Czar. Left wing radical; has said Israel should be split up into "2 or 3" mediumer [sic] or more manageable plots;" anti-nuclear energy, anti-gun; pro-homosexual.

Kenneth Feinberg - Pay Czar. Has capped the salaries of bank executives and believes it’s in his domain to cap all executive compensation, no matter what the industry.

Cass Sunstein - Regulatory Czar. Liberal activist judge; believes free speech needs to be limited for the "common good;" says animals should be able to sue people.

John Holdren - Science Czar. Claims US business has caused world poverty, no science training; OK to abort a child until the age of two; thinks trees should be able to sue humans.

Earl Devaney - Stimulus Accountability Czar. Believes in open borders to Mexico; author of statement blaming US gun stores for drug war in Mexico.

J. Scott Gration - Sudan Czar. Native of Democratic Republic of Congo; believes US does little to help Third World countries.

Herb Allison - TARP Czar. Fannie May CEO responsible for the US recession by using real estate mortgages to back up the US stock market.

John Brennan - Terrorism Czar. Anti-CIA activist; believes in open borders to Mexico and a dialog with terrorists and has suggested that Obama disband the US military.

Aneesh Chopra - Technology Czar. Anti doctor activist; supports Obama health care rationing and salaried doctors working exclusively for the government health care plan.

Adolfo Carrion Jr. - Urban Affairs Czar. Puerto Rican anti-American activist and leftist group member in Latin America; millionaire "slum lord" of the Bronx, NY.

Ashton Carter - Weapons Czar. Leftist; wants all private weapons in US destroyed.

Gary Samore - WMD Policy Czar - Former US Communist; wants US to destroy all WMD unilaterally as a show of good faith; has no other policy.*

Mark Lloyd - Chief Diversity Czar. Rails against the fact that the American people overwhelmingly prefer to listen to conservative (and Christian) talk radio rather than the liberal alternative, and suggests ways the federal government can “remedy” this free-market created “problem.”1

*Source material for preceding “Czars” obtained from “Rense.com”

1Michele Malkin.com

These “czars” work outside the scrutiny of the public and are not, as a whole, vetted by Congress. Some of the salaries paid to them are unknown. If they, like Van Jones, are “outed,” they are sent to the Center for American Progress, a think tank formed by Hillary Clinton and John Podesta, but now under Podesta’s control. The CAP has been termed a “shadow government.” Some of these “czars” have been rightly termed “left wing loons.”

There is one interesting fact to be derived from all of the above. IF Mr. Obama was to be investigated for his friends, associations, activities or his beliefs, then he would not be able to get the security clearance necessary to VISIT the White House, let alone reside in it.

We could continue this article for another ten pages. There is ACORN, its scandals and its funding. There is a lack of coherent foreign policy. The domestic agenda seems to be working for the destruction of our economy. There is rising unemployment and a staggering, ever-increasing national debt. Our new anti-terror policies have made us a laughing stock to the rest of the world. The right to assemble, freedom of speech, and maybe even the right to bear arms are under attack. We have an administration that has trashed the Constitution and ignores the will of the people.

We have let it happen. Every time a politician uses the word “progressive,” substitute the word “socialism” or “communism,” and vow to throw that politician out of office at your next chance. If they vote “their conscience” instead of the Constitution, it’s time to go. American greatness seems a thing of the past. For now, we will have to listen to the report on the “state of the union,” even though we know what it is already. There are elections in 2010. Make the most of them.

Sincerely,

Bruce and Edna Paskoff

Montrose, PA

Restoration Of The Gospel

When Christ walked the earth He atoned for all of our sins, overcame death, and established His church on the earth. Jesus called 12 Apostles to help spread the truth abroad. Each Apostle was given the power of God so they could perform miracles while preaching unto the people (Matthew 10:1, 7-8) (John 3:16-17).

Unfortunately Christ, His Apostles, and all those that believed their words were rejected. Jesus Christ was crucified by the Roman soldiers, and three days later he was resurrected. After He came back to life He showed himself unto many then ascended back up to Heaven, but after Jesus went back up to His father one by one all the Apostles were killed off. Because all of them died the true authority was lost, and many religions began to pop up. God caused that there would be a famine in the land. It was not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. This was the cause of much confusion. (Luke 24:33-47) (Amos 8:11-12)

There was a young boy that was searching for the truth. He went to many different churches, but each one taught something different and claimed that they had the truth. So being confused he turned to his scriptures and came across James 1:5 which says “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” Joseph put this scripture to the test and went out to a grove on a beautiful day, away from all the distractions of the world. This is what happened in his own words. “I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me… When the light rested upon me I saw two personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spoke unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other - This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!”(Joseph Smith-History 1:16-17)

Joseph Smith was told by God the Father and His Son to join none of the churches because none of them had all of the truth. Jesus stated “They draw near unto me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines of men, having a form of Godliness, but they deny the power there of.” (Joseph Smith-History 1:19). Joseph Smith was then called of God as a prophet to restore the True Church on the earth once more. In the Bible whenever the gospel was lost a prophet was called to restore it. Noah, Abraham, and Moses are just a few that were also given the same task.

After Joseph saw God and Jesus, both Joseph and Oliver Cowdery were visited by other heavenly messengers. John the Baptist appeared to them and conferred upon them the Aaronic priesthood, which includes the authority to perform the ordinance of baptism. Peter, James, and John appeared and conferred the Melchizedek priesthood upon Oliver Cowdery and Joseph Smith. Now all the keys and authority of God’s True Church had been restored, and through Joseph Smith, Jesus Christ called twelve Apostles so the authority would never be lost again.

This time period we live in is referred to by Bible prophets as the last days, or even the dispensation of the fullness of time. That is why The Church is named, The Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints. We are still lead by a living prophet named Thomas S. Monson. President Monson is the authorized successor to Joseph Smith. He and all the Apostles trace their authority back to Jesus Christ in an unbroken chain of ordinations through Joseph Smith.

If you would like to learn more about God’s True Church, please call us at home, (570) 853-3951, or our cell (607) 331-5301. Our Church services start at 9:30 off of Locust Hill on Church road. We look forward to helping you come unto Christ through His restored gospel! Take care and may God bless you!

Sincerely,

Elder Helferstay

Susquehanna, PA

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