Holier-than-thou view was uninspiring

Holier-than-thou view was uninspiring

Betsy Biesenbach’s commentary in The Roanoke Times on July 19, “Deen gets her just deserts,” which condemns Paula Deen as well as her defenders, seems very sanctimonious.

Taken at her word, Biesenbach must be a truly exceptional individual and a paragon of political correctness. Too bad few of the rest of us are able to live up to her lofty standards.

Perhaps I’m just not trying.

BILL WEIKART
TROUTVILLE

Mature Citizens group tired of AARP politics

Re: L.M. Holfield’s annoying letter (“Obama’s programs are now the target,” July 24):

Yes, I did receive a welcome letter from the Association of Mature American Citizens, a refreshing alternative to the politically left-leaning AARP. I also received no fewer than five annoying letters from AARP, all now ensconced in File 13.

The AMAC offers a welcome alternative organization to represent seniors’ interests. Many seniors were shocked and disillusioned when AARP used its funds to promote a leftist liberal agenda and support left-leaning political candidates in the 2010 and 2012 elections, often in direct opposition to the political leanings and wishes of its membership.

Scant wonder, then, that AARP members are leaving the organization in droves. The AMAC does not exist to target President Obama’s programs. It exists, as does AARP, to promote programs and laws beneficial to its members, in this case senior citizens, a raison d’être of which AARP seems to have lost sight.

If the AMAC is opposed to some of Obama’s programs, it is because analysis reveals those programs are detrimental to seniors’ interests, and should be opposed by any organization purporting to represent seniors’ interests. AARP, take note.

L.M. MOORE
ROANOKE COUNTY

Rid the newspaper of Thomas’ column

The “other” Times, the New York one, has its conservative, David Brooks, as a regular columnist. He is thoughtful, coherent, often entertaining. Like all New York Times columnists, he is a great addition to a great newspaper.

Our Times, The Roanoke Times, has Cal Thomas. He shares none of Brooks’s qualities except the label “conservative.”

He was signed on by The Times in 1989. I have not read his rants for all these years until the other morning, when I wanted to see his take on “The president’s take on race.” I was not surprised, simply disgusted.

What planet or which century is Thomas living in?

He contradicts every one of the president’s statements on the black experience in this land of the free, the land where the police are called out when a (black) Harvard professor is seen fumbling with his keys trying to enter his own home; the land where a distinguished local minister is stopped for driving an expensive car while black.

The Times can do better to counter the vapid complaint that it’s a “liberal rag.” We don’t need this token conservative.

MORTON NADLER
BLACKSBURG

Obama is kowtowing to left with war on coal

Does everything have to be about politics?

The Obama administration recently announced it was going to go to war against the coal industry. The president claims that he must act to prevent climate change, but it’s clear he is trying to appease his left flank, in particular radical environmentalists who hate the coal industry.

This Obama war on coal is going to wipe out a lot of well-paying jobs in Virginia, and hurt thousands of people who depend on the industry to pay their rent and feed their families.

The president needs to let go of the political game now, and let us recover from the Great Recession.

Meanwhile, gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe needs to make it clear where he stands if he is serious about being an independent Democrat who is above politics.

In particular, he needs to stop having fundraisers with members of the administration, including Vice President Joe Biden and first lady Michelle Obama.

McAuliffe should speak out now, loudly and clearly, on behalf of the working families and poor of Virginia against the Obama/Biden plan. It’s high time he stopped putting his mouth where their money is.

BILLY MARTIN
BLUE RIDGE

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