Letters to the Editor 03-15-2005
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By -
- Counterproductive - National Anthem - Personal Attacks - Support Soldiers
Counterproductive
Editor, Times-Union:This letter is written in response to Gene May's letters over the past several weeks.
First, Mr. May, you are no longer welcome to write any letters in support of my own as you did with your Feb. 2 letter. Second, Mr. May, you definitely have the natural and constitutional right to speak freely in public and to be free from punishment from what you say. But you definitely do need to take a break from your letter writing to relax and regain your perspective on life. Third, this country and more specifically its government throughout its past and present has done its share of idiotic and oppressive acts and there are some dangerous trends that do need to be reversed soon as I have written about in previous letters. But this country and its government is certainly not on the level of a tyrranical regime such as the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Imperial Japan or Red China. Why, because we still have our elections, our courts, Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion, the Second Amendment, etc., no matter how battered they are, they are still there to be supported. Fourth, the letters that you have written in recent weeks along with Kent Coldren's Jan 25 letter are examples of the inflammatory divisive politics and rhetoric between Left and Right that if it continues, will lead this nation to a second Civil War. Which is what my Jan. 24 letter sought to address by outlining a constitutional amendment that would provide a peaceful solution for the United States if it were again on the verge of another Civil War as it was in early 1861 instead of resorting to war.
Finally, Mr. May, I can space out my letters to the editor, so I think you can take a break for a little bit because you don't have to express your personal opinion every week because what you have written is becoming counter-productive to the point of view you are trying to express in criticizing the Bush administration. Which, by the way, I am an independent and not a Bush supporter or a Republican or a Democrat like you are, or even a member of a third party anymore. And also if you keep writing the way you do, you are going to give more ammunition to the advocates of censorship, which is going to make those of us who do support freedom of speech, our lives much harder.
Alexander Houze
Leesburg
National Anthem
Editor, Times-Union:Over the last week or so I have noticed the question, "Do you know the lyrics to the national anthem?" Why would you not know the lyrics to it? If the question even has to be raised, I want to know why? Have we gotten so far from what's basic? Do schools not teach this? Do parents not teach their children the words?
On "Sunday Morning," Bill Geist was at the University of Illinois (his alma mater) and he knew the words to the fight song and the school song. There is something very comforting about that. I didn't even attend Warsaw and know the school song. I also know all the words to our national anthem, my high school song and the words to most musicals - I love music. My hope is that this is something that happens somewhere besides Warsaw. I've attended many basketball games,etc., and it seems the majority sing along. Granted we only sing the first verse and unless you are a real lover of Francis Scott Key the other verses are not memorized. We should also know the words to our state song - do you even know what it is?
Now granted, music is very important to me, but I am just amazed that people would not actually know the national anthem. Makes me wonder if you know the Pledge of Allegiance. We live in the greatest country in the world, folks - you should get goosebumps every time the anthem is played - and take pleasure in singing it on key or off key, whatever. So if you are of the many who do not know the words, learn them, cherish them and when you sing them, thank the Lord you live here.
Phyllis L. Barger
Warsaw
via e-mail
Personal Attacks
Editor, Times-Union:I ask you the readers, what has happened to society? What's happened when one person's OPINION is met with personal attacks upon their character? First Amendment rights gave us the ability to freely express ourselves without fear of reprisal, personal or threatening attacks against one another. I don't agree with everything everyone says, but I do take into consideration that the opionion was expressed using the processes of the mind that make up each one of us, and make us all individually unique. What happens,when due to a select few, others lose their ability to express theirselves through a forum such as this? I'll answer that for you ... We end up in a communistic society where NO ONE will ever have an opinion. If you do not agree with an opinion someone has, at least be sensible enough to debate the facts in an open forum. Personal attacks are the works of cowards who otherwise cannot express themselves in a public forum. If you need to resort to fear tactics to scare a person into believing what you do or making them think that their opinion is invalid, these are the people that should move to a communist society. America was founded upon the motto that all men have a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. What happens when society forgets that? I guess the better question is ... Who reminds them?
Mark G. Rogers
Warsaw
via e-mail
Support Soldiers
Editor, Times-Union:I recently received an e-mail from a soldier in Camp Ramadi, Iraq asking for my assistance. The problem is, because of the lack of a refrigeration unit at his camp, no stored blood is available for transfusing wounded soldiers. They must receive direct donor-to-patient transfusions if that is available or be transported 25 miles to the nearest cooler. They must be transported 25 miles at a time when their need is the greatest simply because the camp lacks a cooler. I understand that "you go to war with the army you have," but this glaring deficiency can be corrected and in doing so, young American lives will be saved.
I feel this is a vital issue that cannot be ignored and I will be asking family, friends and community members to send letters asking their elected officials to help make sure we are supporting our soldiers to the extent they deserve.
Please do all you can.
Mark Vandewalle
Pierceton
via e-mail
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- Counterproductive - National Anthem - Personal Attacks - Support Soldiers
Counterproductive
Editor, Times-Union:This letter is written in response to Gene May's letters over the past several weeks.
First, Mr. May, you are no longer welcome to write any letters in support of my own as you did with your Feb. 2 letter. Second, Mr. May, you definitely have the natural and constitutional right to speak freely in public and to be free from punishment from what you say. But you definitely do need to take a break from your letter writing to relax and regain your perspective on life. Third, this country and more specifically its government throughout its past and present has done its share of idiotic and oppressive acts and there are some dangerous trends that do need to be reversed soon as I have written about in previous letters. But this country and its government is certainly not on the level of a tyrranical regime such as the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Imperial Japan or Red China. Why, because we still have our elections, our courts, Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion, the Second Amendment, etc., no matter how battered they are, they are still there to be supported. Fourth, the letters that you have written in recent weeks along with Kent Coldren's Jan 25 letter are examples of the inflammatory divisive politics and rhetoric between Left and Right that if it continues, will lead this nation to a second Civil War. Which is what my Jan. 24 letter sought to address by outlining a constitutional amendment that would provide a peaceful solution for the United States if it were again on the verge of another Civil War as it was in early 1861 instead of resorting to war.
Finally, Mr. May, I can space out my letters to the editor, so I think you can take a break for a little bit because you don't have to express your personal opinion every week because what you have written is becoming counter-productive to the point of view you are trying to express in criticizing the Bush administration. Which, by the way, I am an independent and not a Bush supporter or a Republican or a Democrat like you are, or even a member of a third party anymore. And also if you keep writing the way you do, you are going to give more ammunition to the advocates of censorship, which is going to make those of us who do support freedom of speech, our lives much harder.
Alexander Houze
Leesburg
National Anthem
Editor, Times-Union:Over the last week or so I have noticed the question, "Do you know the lyrics to the national anthem?" Why would you not know the lyrics to it? If the question even has to be raised, I want to know why? Have we gotten so far from what's basic? Do schools not teach this? Do parents not teach their children the words?
On "Sunday Morning," Bill Geist was at the University of Illinois (his alma mater) and he knew the words to the fight song and the school song. There is something very comforting about that. I didn't even attend Warsaw and know the school song. I also know all the words to our national anthem, my high school song and the words to most musicals - I love music. My hope is that this is something that happens somewhere besides Warsaw. I've attended many basketball games,etc., and it seems the majority sing along. Granted we only sing the first verse and unless you are a real lover of Francis Scott Key the other verses are not memorized. We should also know the words to our state song - do you even know what it is?
Now granted, music is very important to me, but I am just amazed that people would not actually know the national anthem. Makes me wonder if you know the Pledge of Allegiance. We live in the greatest country in the world, folks - you should get goosebumps every time the anthem is played - and take pleasure in singing it on key or off key, whatever. So if you are of the many who do not know the words, learn them, cherish them and when you sing them, thank the Lord you live here.
Phyllis L. Barger
Warsaw
via e-mail
Personal Attacks
Editor, Times-Union:I ask you the readers, what has happened to society? What's happened when one person's OPINION is met with personal attacks upon their character? First Amendment rights gave us the ability to freely express ourselves without fear of reprisal, personal or threatening attacks against one another. I don't agree with everything everyone says, but I do take into consideration that the opionion was expressed using the processes of the mind that make up each one of us, and make us all individually unique. What happens,when due to a select few, others lose their ability to express theirselves through a forum such as this? I'll answer that for you ... We end up in a communistic society where NO ONE will ever have an opinion. If you do not agree with an opinion someone has, at least be sensible enough to debate the facts in an open forum. Personal attacks are the works of cowards who otherwise cannot express themselves in a public forum. If you need to resort to fear tactics to scare a person into believing what you do or making them think that their opinion is invalid, these are the people that should move to a communist society. America was founded upon the motto that all men have a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. What happens when society forgets that? I guess the better question is ... Who reminds them?
Mark G. Rogers
Warsaw
via e-mail
Support Soldiers
Editor, Times-Union:I recently received an e-mail from a soldier in Camp Ramadi, Iraq asking for my assistance. The problem is, because of the lack of a refrigeration unit at his camp, no stored blood is available for transfusing wounded soldiers. They must receive direct donor-to-patient transfusions if that is available or be transported 25 miles to the nearest cooler. They must be transported 25 miles at a time when their need is the greatest simply because the camp lacks a cooler. I understand that "you go to war with the army you have," but this glaring deficiency can be corrected and in doing so, young American lives will be saved.
I feel this is a vital issue that cannot be ignored and I will be asking family, friends and community members to send letters asking their elected officials to help make sure we are supporting our soldiers to the extent they deserve.
Please do all you can.
Mark Vandewalle
Pierceton
via e-mail
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