Thursday, February 26, 2009
Extremist labels polarize our national politics
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Extremist labels polarize our national politics
Echoing the recent presidential campaign, James Bucy ("Obama's lies are already evident," Feb. 9 letter) and other conservatives are terribly loose (perhaps "liberal" would be a better term) with their use of "Marxist" and "socialist" to describe President Obama, Democrats in general and anyone else who happens to disagree with them.
At best, this extreme language only demonstrates a reckless partisanship. At worst, such demonizing both misleads and further polarizes us, even as the country attempts to put that style of politics behind us. It has no more legitimacy in our political discourse than conservatives and Republicans being called "fascists" or "Nazis" (short for National Socialist German Workers' Party, I might add, since socialism is also a characteristic of the far right of the spectrum, not just the left).
Interestingly, Bucy chooses not to condemn the Bush administration's bungled $700 billion TARP bailout (where did that money go?), nor its decision to get the federal government into the private banking business -- the same sort of evils for which he attacks Obama.
Greed makes for an uncaring world
Have you ever stopped and wondered, "What's happened to the world today?" I have, and have come to the conclusion that it's not the government. It's not the president. It's us. It seems every time you read the newspaper or watch the news, one big word comes to mind: greed.
Anymore, people are out for themselves, uncaring what they do or whom they hurt to accomplish their ends. It's no wonder our economy is in the shape it's in. There's simply no heart in the world today. Unless we all change our ways and open our hearts, we will never be blessed.
Asphalt plant isn't an appropriate use
On March 24, the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors will vote to deny or grant permission to locate an asphalt plant in Glenvar. The decision is at the sole discretion of the board based on appropriate land use.
The petition to the board contains the following three parts: 1. Rezone land site from present I-1 Light Industry to I-2 Heavy Industry use. 2. Include added conditions for the site use. 3. Add special use permit to allow asphalt plant use on the proposed site. Guidelines require the board to "evaluate whether or not the use as proposed, with conditional zoning and special use permit, has a minimum adverse impact to the surrounding neighborhood."
The petitioner, on behalf of Adams Construction Co., and the board of supervisors are fully aware that there are several other available sites presently zoned I-2 for such use. I-2 zoning requires that such sites have "relative remoteness and absence of substantial residential development which could be adversely affected by such development."
Ample recent precedents exist that will enable the board to vote to deny this petition. The proposed asphalt plant site is not an appropriate land use.
Organ funds could have been better spent
Re: "Change of keys," Feb. 17 front page:
In these economic times, I find it appalling that a church would spend more than half a million dollars on a pipe organ. Imagine how many people that money could have fed, housed or clothed.
This, to me, demonstrates what is wrong with religion in today's society. You don't need a $600,000 organ to sing praises to the Lord. All you need is a heart full of his love. The folks in charge of this project should be ashamed of themselves.
Keep government out of loan decisions
You have worked all your life and paid your obligations and mortgage, no matter how difficult it was. You have asked the government for nothing but a safe, secure place to live and work. After all of this, you are now dangerously close to having anything that you have accumulated through your efforts and hard work taken away at any time by our socialistic imperial federal government if it feels someone else needs it more.
Our economy is a mess due to our Democratic legislative leaders previously forcing lenders to make loans to those who cannot and will not pay them back. Today, your president wants to renew this same policy where a person does not earn the right to borrow money through previous actions or ability. They receive the loan because the government thinks they deserve it. This is in spite of the probability that they cannot or will not meet their obligation to pay it back.
This policy put Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and our entire economy in financial ruin, and it will do it to you if you continue to let it happen. Individuals or countries cannot spend their way out of financial crisis.
The GOP just doesn't get it
Sen. John McCain and several other GOP notables accuse President Obama of not delivering change with the new stimulus package. He says Obama is off to a bad beginning by actually doing something about the economic meltdown we find ourselves in.
Apparently, McCain and every other Republican who has voted against this bill doesn't yet get the idea that you can't tax-cut your way out of the mess they got us into in the first place. Ask any economist (or any first-year economics student) and you'll get the same answer.
What the economy needs is first and foremost the confidence of consumers. A close second is an impetus to spend -- on the part of consumers and, where necessary, of government. The people who don't have jobs couldn't care less if McCain cuts taxes -- they aren't paying any anyway. Why is that so hard for the GOP to figure out?
Reformatted paper is hard to share
When I first heard about the newpaper's changes, I thought, uh-oh, all everybody wants to do is complain and this'll be good ammunition for them. But I agree with Victoria Hay's letter to the editor, "Paper's format ruins the pleasure" (Feb. 14). My husband and I share the paper. I love the Extra section but when we sit down for the first time to read the paper, we want to read the news. One of us takes the front section and the other takes the Virginia section. Now we can't do that.
I may be wrong, but it also seems that you've cut back on the editorials. That's my favorite part.
Please try to find other ways to cut costs. I bet if you lowered your advertising rates, which shocked me when I found out how high they are, perhaps you'd get more revenue. When we first moved here, we checked into advertising with you like we used to do in papers that are much larger than yours up north. But we couldn't afford it. We used to advertise regularly in Jersey. We haven't advertised with you once. We couldn't. Just a heads-up.
