Thursday, November 05, 2009
President Obama's fallen hero salute speaks volumes
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President Obama's fallen hero salute speaks volumes
The picture that appeared on the front page of Friday's paper is truly worth 10,000 words. It showed President Obama saluting as caskets of casualties of the war in Afghanistan were unloaded from a plane at Dover Air Force Base.
That this president felt an obligation to get up in the wee hours of the morning to go to Delaware without fanfare and pay his respects to those who gave their all in a war that was not of his making says volumes about Obama's character and caring.
It also stands in stark contrast to the president who was responsible for the wars in the Middle East, and who ordered that the thousands of casualties of those wars should be returned in secret, lest the American people be reminded of the terrible human cost of his military adventures.
Whatever one thinks of Obama's politics or programs, one has to admire a man with such guts and compassion.
Daylight saving article a waste of news space
Re: "'Fall back' buys bars more time to serve," Oct. 31 news story:
Is the most significant news that local bars will have an extra hour to serve alcohol thanks to daylight saving time ending? That is what you chose to print above the fold on the front page of your paper Oct. 31.
Such a pointless article is a waste of time, talent and my subscription money. Its prominent placement, in both your print and online editions, signals that you perceive it contains at least some value. It does not.
I'm no old fogey, but I think you can do better.
Obama intimidates to gain power
With health care reform in disarray and his popularity plummeting, President Obama attacks his enemies.
All the president's men are involved, and no one is spared: The financial industry is threatened with more regulation, and czar Kenneth Feinberg reduces executive compensation; Humana, a publicly traded company, is attacked for sending its clients a memo criticizing health care reform; Rahm Emanuel criticizes the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and Valerie Jarrett summons industry leaders to the White House to discourage chamber membership; David Axelrod accuses Fox News of not being a legitimate news organization. Not satisfied with their own boycott of Fox, other networks are asked to exclude Fox from White House briefings.
The president will do anything for the power of government-controlled health care. It matters not that the American people have spoken clearly against it, that even Democrats are split on it; Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are told to slip the public option into the final bill.
The Obama administration's use of an enemies list is far worse than Nixon's. They do not hide their list or deal in subtleties. They use it to coerce and intimidate. We should not be surprised: It's the Chicago way.
Blowing away fall's transitory pleasures
Aah! The sensual experiences of fall: the sound of leaves rustling in the trees; the sight of bright yellow, red and orange trees flashing their glory in the sun, their leaves twirling and dancing as they fall; the smell of wet leaves as one walks through the yard or the woods; the nip of chilly air in the morning; the lingering smell of smoke from the occasional fireplace fire; and the whining, gnawing sound of leaf blowers, like a dentist's drill on steroids, grating on my every nerve.
When I am emperor of the world, the first thing I will do is ban weapons of mass destruction. The second thing I will do is ban leaf blowers.
Let's put local vendors in Ukrop's building
Here's an idea for the Ukrop's building:
How about using this space as an indoor market building on this side of town? Much of the facility would be easily adapted for food vendors. Parking is much easier than dealing with downtown parking issues (which is the main reason I do not go downtown to eat lunch). It would be nice to allow only local vendors to participate.
Since it takes Roanoke City Council years to make a decision on anything, how about letting the community vote on it? Just keep national chains out of it. We have enough of that in Roanoke.
A wise reminder about nature
As I read about the mountaintop removal issue currently in the news and reflect on Florida's loss of water table due to draining the Everglades (and Army Corps of Engineers efforts and dollars to put it back the way it was, so to speak), and oh so many other repercussions of our human lives on this good Earth, I hear the voice of Wendell Berry: "Whether we and our politicians know it or not, nature is party to all our deals and decisions, and she has more votes, a longer memory and a sterner sense of justice than we do."
Hunting does more harm than good
Undoubtedly, pigs will fly before The Roanoke Times features children winning an award for music, painting, writing, etc., on its page 2 hunter-hoopla, iconically and forever reserved for grinning young children propping up a dead animal they allegedly killed.
Gary Justus, holding a dead squirrel, was the photo featured in the Oct. 21 page 2 hype. He and other children have many future years in which to do good and be merciful. How painful to realize they are not being taught compassion for living creatures, but, in effect, as hunters are taught to shoot anything that moves. (Whoops! All those innocent leaves shot.) How uncaring will they be to people judged weak by children who hunt? Killing animals as a culture creates a brute nature in a child who will become a brute adult.
Yes, we will hear the ubiquitous claptrap of donating a portion of the deer or bear to food pantries, turning the slaughter of an animal into an emetic, philanthropic act, or hear of the family who respectfully eats the once-living animal.
Would that hunting families had more intelligent pursuits for their children's growth/future than the mindless culture of killing animals.
Valley Bank's interest went down
The Nov. 1 article "Shifting deposits," by Jeff Sturgeon, refers to Valley Bank CEO Ellis Gutshall's statement "the success of our MyLifestyle Checking ... has been exceptional over the last 12-15 months." The article further states that the MyLifestyle program offers checking account holders interest of 5.01 percent a year for meeting certain account-activity requirements. This is not correct, because Valley Bank recently sent a letter to checking account holders that "effective Oct. 29, Valley Banks's MyLifestyle checking accounts will begin earning 3.51 percent APY."
It seems that now that they have increased their depositors base and the amount of deposits has increased by 8.36 percent, as stated in the article, which in turn increased their net profits, they now see fit to decrease their enticement rate of 5.01 percent to 3.51 percent.
