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Professor's view comes from out of left field

Radford professor Jack Call's essay, "Obama could shape the Supreme Court" (Dec. 29 commentary), continues a seemingly endless barrage from professors at Virginia's institutions of "higher education" (liberal indoctrination). It could be a last-minute contender for most ludicrous professorial column of 2008, although that competition is daunting.

Call's column is ideological drivel from yet another "progressive" professor out of touch with reality. He characterizes the makeup of the Supreme Court as three conservatives, four moderates and two swing votes. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, John Paul Stevens, Stephen Breyer and David Souter are all deemed moderates by the politically tone-deaf professor.

One has to wonder how far-left a justice would have to be to receive a liberal designation. Would Barbra Streisand, Sean Penn or even Fidel Castro earn that tag?

A more germane question is why parents continue to send their already NEA-indoctrinated high school graduates off to continue their "education" (brainwashing) by Call and others who regularly display a lack of common sense in Times columns.

Without such economic support, perhaps these educators might have an opportunity to step outside the narrow, politically correct confines of academia and gain a more balanced insight into the world around them.

For shame for mocking the disabled

I was recently watching a comedy skit on TV featuring a comedian who goes by the name Larry the Cable Guy. He did a piece in which he said something like, "I went to Wal-Mart the other night at 2 a.m. and I saw some of the strangest people. There was a guy who walked like this." Then he twisted his arms into an unnatural pose and walked around the stage as though one of his legs was stiff, swinging his stiff leg wildly.

This skit was performed before a large live audience and that audience howled with laughter.

If those folks were confronted by a disabled person struggling down the aisle at Wal-Mart, would they laugh? I am confident they would not.

Larry has a line he uses over and over. When he has finishes a routine, he likes to say, "Now that is funny. I don't care who you are, that is funny." Regarding Larry's skit featuring a disabled man walking down the aisle at Wal-Mart, I would like to say, "No, Larry, it is not funny. It is not funny at all, and you should be ashamed of yourself."

Here's the ticket for filling state coffers

There is a simple solution to Virginia's money woes without raising any taxes. Just enforce the speeding and safe driving laws. I recently drove to Rocky Mount from Elliston and could count on one hand the number of cars doing the speed limit.

I also would never drive the interstate unless it was an emergency.

Evidently, the new cars do not come equipped with turn signals, either. The shape of yield and stop signs are foreign to a lot of people, too, who also must be color-blind. The good Lord help us if we ever get a big snow.

Liberal protests ran true to form

John Sappington's Dec. 16 commentary, "You might be a liberal," got at least three indignant responses, each proving there are at least that many reasons why "You might be a liberal if ... ."

One responder considers Sappington to be a propagandist while using telltale phrases like "evil hallmark of people like Rush Limbaugh." Another feels that Sappington's article "bombed" and wants to compare it to 15th and 16th century "conservatives," while the writer would never accept what we 1950 liberals believed.

A third has a misconception of the word "stereotype." Sappington never used the phrase, "You are ... ." He followed Jeff Foxworthy's routine using the phrase, "You might be ... ." I could fit several of his examples quite nicely except I'm not in favor of my government deciding what's good for us.

Try this. You might be a liberal if you believe that only supporters of a mommy government can be allowed to ridicule others when there's no rational support for your position. And you are surely a member of homo sapiens if you tend to first choose your beliefs and then accept which information supports those beliefs.

Keep sports off the front page

I open my morning paper and on the front page must be the most important thing facing the public, according to The Roanoke Times: "Who will be the Hokies' backup QB next year?" (Dec. 26 Sports section preview).

Put stuff like this in the sports section of the paper and see if you can find something more important to put on the front page. Few days go by that there isn't something on the front page about Virginia Tech or some Tech players.

Make sustainability work for all of us

Profit is based on quarterly reports. Nothing in our society is made to last forever due to the profit motive. Why make a computer that would last 100 years? It isn't profitable.

Make sustainability profitable, and you have a winning ticket. The economic apparatus should be a tool to create infrastructure like solar panels, robots and high-speed rail that will serve us for increasing amounts of time, worldwide, without further care.

Profiteering is really a vestige of slavery. It assumes that the profiteer gets something for nothing, and consequently everyone else has to work to feed his profit. The disparity of incomes between the world's richest (making billions) and the vast majority of the world's poorest (more than a billion people living on $2 a day) is the stark example of that.

Make sustainability profitable -- and free us from global slavery. The only work we should have to do is in the service and maintenance economies, and that should be very little. Let's enjoy the passions of our hearts, and give our children hope for a very real paradise on Earth.

Neo-Nazi's arrest shows system's hypocrisy

It appears that Americans are now being punished for exercising free speech, as neo-Nazi Bill White is now a scapegoat. The only restrictions to the First Amendment should be the committing of proven slander and fraud.

No one should be surprised at these brutal tactics of censorship and quashing dissent, all through blatant and shameless manipulation. No one knows when they are crossing the line until it is too late.

In other tyrannical nations, wealth is not openly a motivating factor in police-state implementation. Yet here, people can lose a fortune in bar-induced legal actions just for citing information.

It is hypocritical that bar attorneys, who do and charge as they please, are allowed to pass judgment on those who practice the Bill of Rights.

Photos didn't warrant reprinting

After looking at the "Photos of the year" (Dec. 28) on pages 8 and 9 in the Extra section, I must say I was very disappointed by your choices. None of the photos is so outstandingly special that it justifies this kind of publicity. I have seen photos much more memorable on the Internet.

Nothing's unusual about the cat picture or the mother hugging her child. Same with the tattooed arms hugging the sad-looking girl, the baseball team or the dance photo.

The one I consider the worst, however, is the one showing the birth of the calf. The poor cow is so filthy, obviously from lying in the filthy stall, and the sight of the newborn calf hitting the ground any minute made me feel terrible. Not an enjoyable picture, but one that makes you feel sorry for the poor animals.

Sad that The Roanoke Times could not come up with more meaningful, touching or unusually artistic photography.

Correction

Due to a technical error, a Web address in a letter Wednesday ("After Obama's win, stay plugged in") was incorrect. The correct address is: tinyurl.com/9vn2q5.