Letters to the Editor Policy

Committing Verbal Sacrilege

January 22, 2011 marks the 38th anniversary of the infamous Roe V. Wade Supreme Court decision which made abortion on demand protected by the law of our land. Since that ruling over 53 Million innocent babies and future tax payers have died. This slaughter of our Innocents is being well championed this year by a horrible ad being planned for the Super Bowl. Pepsi Cola and Doritos have teamed up to commit verbal sacrilege against the Roman Catholic Church by showing a priest replacing the most precious Body of our Lord with a Doritos and the Most precious Blood with Pepsi. This would only be allowed against the Catholic Church which has publicly and valiantly fought against this slaughter of the unborn. One would never see such an ad mocking the Holy of Holies of the Moslems, Jews, Buddhists, or any other religion.

Before the Roe V. Wade ruling, its backers promised all children would be wanted and the child abuse would stop. Instead children are routinely snatched from their homes and killed, or worse. Our society has become crude and crass and respect for human life, personal freedoms and individual worth of every life created by God has diminished drastically. When a country enshrines the right to kill children, in law, it loses its moral compass. When mocking the Holy of Holies of the Roman Catholic Church becomes publicly comical and acceptable it proves all of my points. Please pray that our Country stops this horrible slaughter and returns to the moral laws that have made us so great. And pray for those who thought this ad acceptable. God will not be mocked or ignored without consequences.

Sincerely,
Annette Corrigan
Jackson, PA

Agree To Disagree

As a senior citizen and veteran serving during the Vietnam War, I write this letter in response to “Letters to the Editor,” date of January 12, 2011.

In response to your letter “Making Me Sick,” as a “T” Party Democrat (who may go independent), I notice the following: The Tea Party does not reject any system for taking care of the uninsured. Republicans propose to obtain health insurance out of state, as we do with auto insurance. I agree with this proposal since I now save as much as $700 on auto and house insurance. Secondly, I notice a trend in verbal attacks against “T” Party persons. You say, “America clearly has neither a brain nor a heart.” I for one donate to various charities every month; some are the Salvation Army, Red Cross, Saint Jude’s and City of Hope. Often I hand $100 to any needy person and support a food drive every November and December at Penn National Bank in New Milford.

In response to “Everyone Will Benefit,” I agree with 99% of it. We need to become an energy efficient country. We need to use American labor, which will reduce unemployment. Here is the 1% I have comment on or slightly disagree. I am a retired “Central Telephone Office” employee of RCA (Radio Communication of America), from 1975-1990 (we never throw away old rotary or ringing phones). The phone lines supply these devices with 48 volts of ringing power. Believe me, you do not want to touch this voltage. It will not kill you, but it sure hurts. This is why you see them in spy movies. Hence, when you loose normal 110 AC power this type of telephone will still work. The loud ringing noise aids my mother-in-law who is hard of hearing. She lives in California and this type of telephone makes us feel more secure in communicating with her in case of some type of emergency. You can also attach a “light” to this line, which will alert you of a phone call. (If you wish to have an old phone, you may go to a flee market or ask a telephone company representative. They may have something similar).

God bless our infant nation. It will have growing pains.

Sincerely,
Larry Gary
Gibson, PA

The Real Reason For The Second Amendment

Last week a correspondent repeated the popular NRA-promulgated explanation for the Second Amendment: that it's for people to protect themselves against criminals and against the government. This is simply not true. An examination of the historical background of the Amendment reveals the Original Intent, as does a look at the often ignored first clause, "A well-regulated Militia."

At the time our Government was founded, the states did not believe a distant central Government would be able to quell internal insurrections. They wanted to be able to handle it themselves, so they were granted the right to organize State Militias, under the authority of the governor. (Who else has the authority to "regulate" but the government?) It did not create an individual right to own weapons. For over 200 years the Court never held that it did, until a recent verdict by an ideologically stacked, right-wing activist Court created new law on the subject. Even then, they still said that some regulations may be appropriate. We need them badly.

In the early years of this country, there were periodic rebellions by crazy hotheads, such as Shay's Rebellion and the Whiskey Rebellion. The hotheads involved felt that they were taking on the "evil" government, much like the NRA justification. But the government put them down by force. George Washington himself led the effort to quell one of these insurrections. Today, when the government possesses far more sophisticated weaponry than muskets, from tanks to nuclear missiles, it is suicidal folly to think that you, with your rifle, can possibly take on the "evil" government. It is especially presumptuous and inappropriate when we still possess the right to speak out and to vote. Yet the attitude that a disgruntled individual or band has a right to pick up a gun to express his malcontent led to Ruby Ridge and Waco.

And who's to say that it did not lead to the shootings in Tucson? Jared Loughner had a grudge against Rep. Giffords. In a climate where the government is being frequently vilified, being represented as "evil" in so many words, he may have followed the NRA idea of taking up arms against the "evil" government. She had just had the temerity to be re-elected in a Republican district. I will consider this explanation a possibility until it is disproved.

Meanwhile, high on the list of utterly irresponsible rhetoric is the lunatic notion that it is appropriate to pick up a gun when you don't get your way or you have a grudge, and even worse is the false notion that you have a right to. I say with confidence that the Founders would never have approved of this, all the more so when we have firearms far more lethal than the muskets of their time. Those who believe in Originalism should discard their modern weapons and go back to muskets.

Sincerely,
Stephen Van Eck
Rushville, PA

A Pretty Face

Last week I commented on the likeability of Barak Obama. I was pleased with the way that he handled the memorial service for the Tucson massacre, even if it did turn into a pep rally. I also said that I cannot embrace his message. This past week, the WSJ poll numbers for President Obama have risen. I find that very scary. Here is a man who is at the forefront of the Progressive attack on our Constitution and civil liberties who, by virtue of compromising with the opposition on the specter raising taxes, is now viewed as moving to the center. Here is a man who made a very impressive memorial tribute to the fallen in Tucson now being hailed as a moderate. I don’t get it. Recall two weeks ago I reminded you that the leopard doesn’t change his spots. Check history - despots of the last half century or so were also accomplished orators. Look it up. President Obama wants to get re-elected and, as a pragmatist, will do most anything to accomplish that goal. For the life of me, where has his political view changed in the least? He needs the veto power for four more years to cement in place the entitlement programs enacted his first two years. People, if what I have seen is all it takes to be “The One” again, I am more than ever concerned about our future.

As a reminder, “President” Hu of China has opined that the US dollar is not fit to continue to be the worlds’ reserve currency. Unfortunately, he is right. And that says a great deal about the people who are and have been running our country. Also, have you tried lately to buy something made in the USA. I did find some batteries, namely Duracell and Energizer. Other than that, a slow agonizing trip down the aisles of Wal-mart produces remarkably little else. Folks, is that all that there is? Americans selling Chinese manufactured goods? Buying foreign made is a great deal less that saving a buck or two. It is the engine of our unemployment, national decline and all the costs surrounding that fact. We desperately need to start making things again, and soon. We all need to support our neighbors. We need solid government support for our businesses and manufacturing companies or we are going to be a third world country quicker that even I imagined. In a scary few short years, who is it going to be to counterbalance a rising Communist China? Please, keep your eye on the goal, that being the rest of the needed change in 2012. Don’t let yourself be swayed by a pretty face, for God’s sake. Will it be said that you learned nothing? Or can Susquehanna County go down in history as the place it all started? You decide.

Sincerely,
Joe McCann
Elk Lake, PA

The Unwinnable War

A recent survey of Afghan men asked why the American military was in their country. Ninety-two percent had no idea. Isn't it about time we asked ourselves that same question? Why are we in Afghanistan?

The U.S. is entering its tenth year in a war against a nation that never had, never could, posed any threat to us. There are some very smart people in the White House and the Pentagon. Surely someone could clearly state why we're in Afghanistan. Why we squandered $370 billion dollars there in the last decade? Why two coalition troops die every day in a nation that few could find on an unlabeled map?

This month a lieutenant accompanied by a sergeant introduced themselves to the parents of Private 1st Class Ira Laningham, Specialist Ethan Hardin, and Lance Corporal Joseph Giese. They were the first to die this month. Each was informed that their son died on a battlefield 7,000 miles from home for a reason we know not.

No, no. That won't do.

The Laninghams, Hardins, and Gieses, were told their sons died fighting for freedom, they died fighting over there to keep us safe, they died for democracy, they died heroes all. Any such nonsense is better that saying, we don't know why your sons died.

The three, all in their early twenties, are added to the list of 2,300 coalition fatalities, 1,455 of whom were American servicemen, sacrificed on Mars' insatiable altar.

Other mothers and fathers will be informed by phone and letter that their sons were seriously wounded. The cause, they will be told, was a roadside bomb. Those seriously wounded by high explosives are the invisible casualties of war, the 2,200 Americans hurt, very badly hurt.

The seriously wounded are given the best medical care. A team of doctors will treat the injuries commonly caused by high explosives: shattered bones, deep abdominal penetrations, crushing traumas, stumps, third-degree burns, and multiple foreign matter inclusions. It's a grisly business. Not fit for the nightly news. (View youtube.com BBC documentary Part 1/11)

But what we do know is this: We are no closer to victory - whatever that means - than when we disembarked in Afghanistan in 2001. A graph of coalition deaths shows the number of fatalities have increased every year since 2005. But in the last three years the graph shoots up at a 45 degree angle: 2008 = 295; 2009 = 521; 2010 = 711. It's not getting better. It's getting worse.

The head of Central Command, Gen. David Petraeus said, “obviously the trends in Afghanistan have been in the wrong direction and I think everyone is rightly concerned.”

Afghanistan is the kind of war we cannot win. Supercarriers and nuclear subs are useless in landlocked Afghanistan, 65-ton battle tanks are powerless in mountainous terrain, and F-35 stealth jets are ineffective in guerrilla warfare.

Look at these lopsided numbers.

On one side are the coalition forces numbering 150,000, plus an equal number of mercenaries, and some 250,000 Afghan army troops. And against whom is this formidable assemblage fighting? According to the International Security Assistance Force, the Taliban, 25,000 men armed with antiquated AK-47s and old artillery shells cobbled together to make roadside bombs. That's an overwhelming superiority of 22 to l and we're losing.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, described the situation in Afghanistan as “deteriorating.”

The truth is there is no winning strategy, no brilliant change of command, no additional troops such as the 1,400 Marines that Obama recently committed, that will bring us any closer to an undefined victory.

The Ruskies learned their lesson in 1989. They left Afghanistan after nine years losing 15,000 Soviet soldiers. We have yet to learn ours.

So we will stay and die. It is so much easier to bleed than to say we were wrong. We're sorry Mrs. Laningham, but Ira died for nothing. No, Mrs. Hardin, Ethan did not die a hero's death. He was killed in the explosion that destroyed the armored personnel carrier he was in. Our profound regrets, Mrs. Giese, unfortunately, Joseph's death did nothing to make us safer nor further any grand cause.

We never should have invaded a nation that had nothing to do with 9/11. But we did. It was all a mistake. The lives lost, the bodies crippled, the money spent, were all for a purpose for which we are still searching. Sorry.

Sincerely,
Bob Scroggins
New Milford, PA

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