Friday, September 24, 2010

America - Still the Land of the Free

A friend of mine, and a good person in spite of that sent me a copy of a letter to the editor and asked for my opinion.
The letter was sent to a newspaper in Tawas City, Michigan which is a lovely waterfront town on Saginaw Bay quite a bit north of Detroit and almost closer to Canada.
The letter has been circulating around the internet and is supposedly representative of the thoughts of many right wingers.
Everyone has an opinion that they are entitled to share on just about every subject.  And since this is my blog I will hereby share mine.
First the letter in question.

Hopefully you can read the above but if not either click on it to enlarge the thing or "Google" the writer's name.
In the man's rant he makes many points or at least puts forth his fiery questions in a manner more confrontational than argumentative.
I counted 23 somewhat different points and tried to respond, not in kind but as best I could without animosity.
My reply may be better understood if you first read the letter and/or have a copy of it handy to refer to but I leave that up to you. 

Dear Dalia,
Okay – As always my thoughts are eclectic.

1.  Congress lying sucks and should be treated as a crime except in the narrow lane that is National Security. In other words State Secrets.
2.  Blacks treating whites badly IS the same as vice versa and should be treated the same. I believe the law would think so if a crime ensued. At least I hope so.
3.  I totally agree on the criminal vs. victim thingy.  Convicts should be put to work and some of the money they generate should be used to compensate in part their victims.
4.  Teachers don’t teach that homosexuality is okay merely that it should not be treated as a crime!
5.  As for God, unless you are going to teach about EVERYBODY’S GOD then you better not choose just one!
6.  I don’t wish to get into the abortion law with you but the law was tested in Roe V Wade and abortion as written in that law IS the law.  The question is and has always been Child or Fetus?
7.  As for execution I happen to be in favor of it in certain cases and with certain safeguards.  I just wish we could get it right.
8.  Rewriting books?  Look at Texas and how they have bastardized the nation’s textbooks.  That’s the real crime!
9.  Comparing our country’s border with Mexico (or Canada for that matter) to the 38th parallel in Korea is just plain stupid fear mongering and the jerk should be ashamed of himself for including it in his rant.
10. Protesting against any President is in fact protected in our laws and is considered your 1st amendment right.  Nobody calls them terrorists unless and until they perform terrorist activities.
11. Pornography should be regulated but is protected by 1st amendment speech regulations.
12. But the nativity scene in a publicly funded park is against the separation of Church and State foundation of our country. (See point #5 above.)
13. Criminals gone – sick people replaced them????  I don’t get that one at all unless he himself is sick.
14. Stem cell research, which is being used by enlightened scientists all over the world to find real cures for real human diseases DOES NOT USE A FETUS!
15. I am conflicted on the animal research stuff and cannot answer that one here in a short answer.
16. Taking money from hard workers & giving it to people who don’t want to work? I want names. Not every unemployed person is lazy. I personally want to meet this guy and discuss it further.
17. We all support the constitution – PERIOD! The statement is QED.
18. Freedom of speech is for all. If not would we be subjected to the crap that is coming out of the mouths of the Republicans these days? Privatize Social Security???
19. Parenting replaced by drugs & video games? Perhaps for this guy but not everyone is the same – Stupid generalization.
20. The land of opportunity stopped being that land when the wealthiest of the land figured out how to cheat and steal and pillage and turn the middle class into their bitches.
21. Similarities between the Bush administration’s non-response to the Katrina disaster (remember “Heck of a job Brownie?”) and the ongoing clean up of BP’s oil spill is far fetched at best.
22. The entire next paragraph is a silly rant and is quite wrong.  But government always appoints a committee to look into problems. That will never change since all politicians want to give their friends cushy jobs.  The ‘threatens’ ‘passes laws’ ‘raises our taxes’ to get re-elected is just stupid.
23. The writer was able to get this inane rant into a paper (I assume) even though most of it is drivel.  That alone should tell the jerk that the Land of the Free is alive and well.
Let’s see the dissatisfied American moron go to Iran and write the same thing about Achmadinejad.  In fact I’ll pay his way!


Note: My reactions to the letter were of necessity brief. If you would like to argue a point or wish me to expand my view on a particular 'reply number' just ask.  As you know I love to talk (write.)

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