Letter to the Editor
Unlike most people the most shocking thing that the Governor of South Carolina revealed wasn’t that he had an affair. After listening to him refuse the stimulus money when the people of his state were running out of unemployment, I was more surprised that this guy knew where Argentina was.
Letter to the Editor
In the early 1990s it was rare to hear about a Republican sex scandal. But after the Clinton affair was exposed Republicans started being caught cheating on their wives, fathering children out of wedlock, and caught with prostitutes (Livingston, Gingrich). Even Republican women like Helen Chenoweth were getting caught.
By 2006 Republicans had moved on to homosexual encounters in airport restrooms (Craig) and going after male congressional pages (Foley). Things were getting out of control. If the trend continued people would have had to tie up their dogs when Republicans were around.
Then Senator Vitter reversed the trend moving back from male prostitutes to female prostitutes, and now Senator Ensign, a Promise Keeper, was having an affair with a married female staffer. Governor Marc Stanford also caught having an affair with a woman. Is this a move back to traditional family values? I think so. Republicans might be disturbed by Senators Ensign’s and Governor Sanford’s affair but I think the Republicans are moving back to their traditional values. If the Republicans can get Vitter, Ensign, and Sanford to resign they can show their Christian conservative base that they believe what they say and prove the Atheists wrong.
Letter to the Editor
Now that the Iranian people are experiencing a stolen election they might have more sympathy for us Americans since we had the same thing happen 8 years ago when Bush stole the election from Al Gore.
No – we aren’t over it.
Letter to the Editor
The people of the United States made progress in taking America back from the corporations this week when the Senate passed a bill to regulate tobacco as a drug. It’s about time! The influence of big tobacco has been like a cancer on the Congress and finally the voters have cut the tumor out in the last election and big tobacco is a little smaller today. When the People unite then “Yes We Can” stop big tobacco. Now on to health care reform and taking the hospitals back from big insurance.
Letter to the Editor
The insurance companies want an exclusive in the health care business and are calling public health care “socialism”. But I want the same kind of health care system that Congress has for itself. I say lets have both and let the private system compete with the government and see who provides the best deal. Health care costs are bankrupting the country. When you look at what corporate America did to the economy I’m ready to give the government system a try.
Letter to the Editor
It’s interesting to listen to Republican complain about General Motors – that the government shouldn’t get involved in telling GM what to do. Huh? We are the taxpayers and we now own GM. As the owners it’s our company and we do what we want with it. We have to look out for our investment to make sure our company GM makes the right decisions. If not for us GM wouldn’t exist. Therefore we’re not taking away free enterprise’s right to sovereignty. Since we, the taxpayers, are stuck owning them then we get to shape our company in what we think is best for the public interest. Then we’ll sell it back to the private sector and when they pay for it they can do whatever they want.
Here’s an example of that. This right wing nutjob calls me up at 11:05 PM Pacific time May 22, 2009 from Alexandria Virginia (2:05 AM his time) and leaves me two voice mail messages. He has his caller ID blocked so he thinks he anonymous. I’m guessing that he probably read my letters to the editor that were publishing in the Washington Times. He calls twice. Here’s what he has to say:
WOW! Mr. Wyllie sure has a problem with Jews.
I have his phone number and I know who he is. The phone number he called from is (571) 313-xxxx. I did a reverse lookup and the guy’s name is John M. Wyllie, xxxx Spring Faire Ct. Alexandria VA. 22315. He’s using a Comcast phone so I’ll probably report him to Comcast and see what they have to say.
These mother fuckers piss me off. They think the can call people in the middle of the night hiding behind caller ID blocking and intimidate people. It’s a desparate move since the neocons got their butt kicked in the last election. But boy was he surprised when I called him up and he found out I figured out it was him. Same voice, but denying he called me. I think it will be me who has the last laugh.
So – if you are getting these kind of harrassing phone calls and you want to know who is calling you, breaking caller ID blocking isn’t very hard. Caller ID blocking doesn’t work if you call an 800 (toll free) number. On my cell phone (Verizon) I have a feature that will forward the call to another number if I don’t answer the phone. In my case the other number is an 800 number that has my voice mail. It takes the message and emails me a WAV file with the recording – and the caller ID of the caller – even if it’s blocked. So even though my cell phone says “Blocked Caller ID” my voice mail reveals the culprit.
These kind of calls are criminal and I’m exposing this guy, bringing him out of the shadows and into the light. I don’t know how many other people he calls up to hassas but maybe these Cheney fans will get the message that behaving like a terrorist isn’t going to work.
Letter to the Editor
I’m rather disturbed about Obama’s “compromise” to the religious right to “offer a conscience exemption to Americans who think abortion is wrong”. What President Obama doesn’t understand is the medical care is about the patient and not about the doctor. Are we now going to allow Jehovah’s Witness doctors to refuse to give a blood transfusion to a bleeding patient because the doctor has a moral problem? Do we allow Seventh Day Adventist doctors to refuse to work on Saturday?
Obama is so willing to please everyone that he loses track of the fact that the person who gets to choose is the patient. If the doctor can’t provide for the wishes of the patient then they should get a job as a priest and stay out of medicine. The last thing we need are Christian doctors imposing their moral values on Atheists or Atheist doctors imposing their moral values on Christians. Different people have different values and who gets to choose? The patient chooses. Not the doctor, not the government, not God, not Obama. My body, my life, my choice.
Letter to the Editor
I’m really really disappointed in President Obama’s decision to block the court-ordered release of photos showing U.S. troops abusing prisoners claiming that the release would “further inflame anti-American opinion”. Yes it might inflame some anti-American opinion in the short term but in the long term it will show the world the we are a nation of integrity and we don’t cover up criminal activity. It shows the world that we are serious about stopping torture. Torture is something America did and it’s not just going to go away if we ignore it. It makes me wonder if Obama is serious about torture. Does he not understand the magnitude of what torture means?
In particular I was offended by Obama’s characterization that Abu Ghraib had been dealt with saying that “the individuals who were involved have been identified, and appropriate actions have been taken.” Obama went on to falsely claim that the abuses were done “a small number of individuals.” What Obama doesn’t get is that Torture was ordered by President Bush and Vice President Cheney who is still arguing that Tortue is legal and that America is unsafe if we stop torturing. We can not let those who gave the orders go unpunished because if we do then it shows that America isn’t serious. All it says is that America doesn’t torture when the Democrats are in power. It says that the issue of torture is subject to interpretation rather than being an absolute rule.
When we elected Obama I thought we were electing someone who was a leader. He depicted himself as the guy who spoke out against the Iraq War, and that “Change doesn’t come from Washington, change TO Washington. Now it appears Obama is now Washington and those who are on the inside want to sweep out national sins under the rug and pretend it never happened. But torture is like hiding a rotting corpse in your basement. At some point you have to drag it out and get rid of it. Mr. Obama, it’s not going to just go away! You’re a smart guy so figure it out. The people are rising up and demanding resolution and you don’t want to be on the Republican side when the big wave comes!
Letter to the Editor
It now turns out that the torture program under the Bush administration included sodomizing children in front of their mothers at Abu Ghraib. These are crimes that were committed by Americans in the name of America under control of the President. These were not a few rouge low level prisons guards who were responsible and justice is not served by allowing those who ordered the raping of children to go unpunished. We as Americans have to at least prosecute the people at the top to show the world that we torture doesn’t change from right to wrong based on which party is in office.
Letter to the Editor
Last Sunday former Vice President Cheney said that he would choose Rush Limbaugh over Colin Powell when it comes to the future vision of the Republican Party. Bush and Cheney did such a good job of destroying the Republican Party that as a Democrat I have encourage Republicans to listen to Cheney. In a party where failure is considered to be the new success I wish Cheney all the success he deserves.
Letter to the Editor
I see stories in the news about who in the Bush administration will NOT be prosecuted for torture while each day we learn more and more about what happened. We do not yet know who did what, and we need to at least figure out what it is that happened before we make any decisions about who to or not to prosecute. Torture is a serious matter. Torture defines who we are as a people and as a nation. We hold ourselves out as a nation of laws. Yet if we try to cover up what happened and we fail to prosecute those who committed crimes amounting to Treason to the Constitution, we send a message to the world that our position on torture is dishonest. It is important that America show the world that we take the issue of torture seriously enough to at least find out what happened and that our laws of the United States apply to everyone, including the President.
Letter to the Editor
During the last 8 yes the Republicans have been waiving their flags and passing laws with names like the “Patriot Act”. Now that they are no longer in power Republicans are openly wishing the president fail in a time of national crisis. Republicans are talking about states seceding from the country. Where is all that patriotic talk now? Like fiscal responsibility, the Republicans have now abandoned patriotism.
The reason we are in this crisis is because for the last 8 years the Republicans were on a drunken spending binge. Now that the party is over the Republicans are running out of the bar without paying their tab. This is their crisis, they caused it, and Republicans should have to pay the price for their actions. Republicans need to take responsibility for what they did rather than heckling President Obama and the Democrats while they and the Taxpayers clean up their mess. I say, how dare they? How dare they?
Letter to the Editor
Many Republicans are upset that Arlen Spector left the Republican Party, but there isn’t really a Republican party to leave. The party of Ronald Reagan no longer exists. It is now the party of Bush, Cheney, Palin, Limbaugh, deficits, big government, wire taping, unnecessary wars, borrow and spend, Wall Street bailouts, Bank Bailouts, and torture. The party no longer stands for anything, has no vision, and the only thing left is the name and the logo. Now the Democrats are stuck cleaning up the Republican’s mess and Arlen Spector has decided to become part of the solution rather than part of the problem. I say, welcome aboard, and welcome to the real world.
Letter to the Editor
Like Bush, Obama says we don’t torture. However not a single person who tortured is being prosecuted, nor has anyone so much as lost their job. I think that for Obama to effectively pardon those who committed these crimes sends the wrong message. It just says that we are probably not torturing anyone right now. Not that torture is wrong. Crimes like torture are not something you can just sweep under the rug. We need to show the world we are serious.
Letter to the Editor
I’m glad that congresswoman Jane Harmon of California had her phone tapped. I think it’s about time that members of congress have their rights violated so that they can experience first hand what it’s like to have their privacy stripped. Let them feel first hand what the rest of us citizens have to put up with.
Letter to the Editor
Miss USA beauty contest judge Perez Hilton, a gay activist, proves the point of the people who voted for California Prop 8 that there is a difference between the gay world and the straight world. When it comes to Miss USA beauty contest, I don’t see how it makes sense to have a gay man be a judge any more that a straight man should be a judge at a gay male beauty contest. It is just plain wrong for Mr. Hilton to impose his gay values as a test question for gay political correctness in a female beauty contest. It is also unprofessional in his role as judge to go on national television and call her a b***h and a c**t. So as far as I’m concerned Carrie Prejean won. I don’t recognize Mr. Hilton’s vote. If he can’t control himself he has no place in a position of responsibility.
Letter to the Editor
On April 15th during one of the Republican sponsored “tea parties” the Governor of Texas Rick Perry suggested that Texas secede from the United States. Too bad Texas didn’t come up with that idea before their former governor George W. Bush became president and ran up the debt another 7 trillion dollars. The way I see it Texas and the Party of Bush should take with them the debt they created. If Texas is willing to take responsibility for electing Bush I say best of luck taking care of yourselves.
Letter to the Editor
It’s interesting to hear news stories about real piracy. The kind of piracy that has nothing to do with downloading music on the Internet.
Letter to the Editor
I’m still waiting for the Republicans to say “April Fools” after presenting their “Alternative Budget”. Surely they can’t be serious. What the Republicans are proposing is the old Bush budget that got us into this mess in the first place. Surely they don’t think that going back to the Bush era policies are going to fix the economy. But perhaps when you have a party that advocates failure as success, as Rush Limbaugh has done, then this budget proposal of theirs is consistent with that goal.
Letter to the Editor
One thing I think would help save the auto industry is if all 50 sates suspended the state sales tax on car purchases for 6 months. Here in California that would be a 10% price cut. Yes the states would loose some tax revenue but is it worth it to save the jobs and unemployment that the states would end up paying if they don’t do it? Suspending the sales tax on cars might save the auto industry.
Letter to the Editor
Apparently because of contracts there might not be anything the President can do to stop taxpayer money from going to pay bonuses to AIG employees. However, Congress could pass a new law imposing a 90% federal income tax on bonus paid to employees of companies that receive taxpayer bailout money. If we can’t stop the money being paid then maybe we can use tax law to get it back.
Letter to the Editor
I think sending Bernie Madoff to jail is a good first step but what he did was nothing compared to what Bush did to America. I think it’s time to go after Bush and his gang and put the real criminals behind bars. Letting criminals like Bush go sends the wrong message to politicians that they are above the law.
Letter to the Editor
It’s interesting listening to Republicans openly talking about wanting Obama to fail in the middle of a national crisis. Odd, during the election the slogan was “Country First” rather than the Republican Party first. But that was their slogan during an election and the election is over.
The Church of Reality ….
vs. the Drug Enforcement Agency …
Over the religious use of Marijuana.
The Church of Reality just received a scheduling order from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals challenging the final decision of the DEA denying the Church of Reality, a religion based on believing in everything that is real, its application to get a religious exemption for use of Marijuana by church members.
Letter to the Editor
Rush Limbaugh, the intellectual leader of the Party of Bush, says that it’s OK to want Obama to fail because Democrats wanted Bush to fail. Did Democrats want Bush to fail? Absolutely! Does that make it the same thing? Absolutely not! Even though it’s true on the surface that the Democrats fought against Bush the way Rush is fighting Obama, there is a big difference and that difference is reality.
Many of us on the Left believe in an absolute reality. We believe reality actually exists. Many of us are monorealistic in that we believe in the one true reality that we all live in. That we live in a world where what is true is different than what is false. We believe in cause and effect. We believe that if you make the wrong choices that you are likely to suffer the consequences.
Many on the Right don’t believe in an absolute reality. They think reality is all in the mind and that the consequences of your actions don’t matter. They believe that if you convince enough people to believe something that it replaces reality. For the last 8 years we had a president who turned his back on reality and reality is now punishing us for our sins. We are learning the hard way that bad choices have bad consequences. America has elected a new president who is dedicated to embracing reality and making reality our friend. There is a difference between right and wrong, between failure and success, and we have chosen to do it right and succeed. We Realists invite the Republicans to join us in embracing reality. Be part of the solution, not part of the problem. Reality changed my life, it can change your life too!
Letter to the Editor
It’s interesting to see how quickly the Party of Bush wants to try to shift the economic blame to Obama. It took Reagan and the first Bust 12 years to run the national debt up to 4 trillion. It took Clinton 5 years to turn that around and generate a budget surplus. It too Dubya over a year to squander the Clinton surplus. Obama hasn’t been president for 40 days yet and nothing that’s been past has gone into effect. So how is it Obama’s fault? I think it’s time that the Party of Bush who caused the problem to quit complaining and work on solving it.
Letter to the Editor
When the People elected a new President last fall we voted for change, a lot of change. We wanted so much change that we elected a guy who no one had heard of 5 years ago. Now it is our turn. This is our time. Change has come to Washington. We have taken America back and now it’s time to take out the trash. The Republicans and the Fat Cats and the Lobbyists better not stand in our way because the People are on President Obama’s side.
Letter to the Editor
There are people out there who don’t think that people making over $250,000 a year are rich. That’s over $20,000 a month. That’s like a person who works 40 hours a week making $120/hour. Most people making over $250,000 a year don’t pay as high of a tax rate as the working class because a lot of their money comes from investments and capital gains that are taxed at a lower rate. I think the rich should pay their fair share and $250,000 is definitely rich. Although the rich are hurting too in this economy they aren’t hurting as bad as minimum wage earners. The people who make less than $250,000 a year won this election and it’s our turn to get a break.
Letter to the Editor
It’s interesting to see Republicans running ads against the recovery act saying that if we spent a million dollars a day since Jesus was born that it would be less spending than what Obama is spending. The same argument would apply to the Iraq war or the tax cuts for the rich. In fact it would be closer to 10 million a day to pay for the combined deficits under Republican presidents. Republicans apparently think Christians are suckers and that if you use “Jesus” then people will accept it without thinking it through.
But what offends me more is that they used the name of Jesus to take a cheap and deceptive political shot. Even as an Atheist I find it offensive that if you really believe in Jesus that you would defile him by using his name as part of a deception. It sends a message to Atheists like myself that believers don’t really believe in Jesus, And that if you don’t really believe in Jesus then why should I?
