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April 21, 2011 Opinions |
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—LETTERS—
Pursue Good Government, But Listen Before You Shout
To the Record-Courier:
Dear fellow citizens, A wonderful thing about living in the United States of America, is you are free to complain about your government and all elected officials and no one throws you in jail. You have the right to protest on every street corner and rattle posters about the terrible abuses your hard earned tax dollars are put toward.
I’m particularly fond of references to the Big Depression. Thousands of people starved or became homeless during the 1920’s U.S. Depression. Many people were saved by the Government of the United States, through elected officials, when they began programs to feed people, and gave them dignity and survival through works programs. The U.S. Government began programs to help people who were unable to work from infirmity or old age, and it became Medicare and Medicaid and Disability. Today, we are mad at our legislators who are trying to find workable solutions to similar issues.
Today, the Government and elected officials spend our tax dollars housing and feeding almost everyone who is retirement age or infirm. That would be you, or your parents, or your autistic nephew, or your local Veteran who was disabled fighting for your right to rant rhetoric.
Tax money supplements our education and infrastructure and medical systems. Taxes provide for textbooks, for school buildings, for lunch programs, and for police and fire protection for every citizen. Taxes help pay for making sure electricity is safely delivered to homes and businesses. Taxes pay for groups of educated professionals to study diseases that affect many families at the FDA and the NIH. Taxes help make sure when you call for help, an agency is available. And by golly, when you have a complaint, the Government of the United States better have someone to complain to 24-7.
As to elected officials, those rats…..oh, that’s right, that’s the person from over a few blocks who used to be your CPA, or the lawyer who helped you get a divorce, or your former Insurance agent. I’m fairly certain they all ran for office to cheat their fellow citizens out of every last dollar and laugh their way to secret accounts in the Bahamas.
I do understand that greed and power corrupt. We must be vigilant to make sure citizens rights are maintained and not undermined. We should look over elected official’s shoulders and critique every word and phrase of law that is enacted in our behalf.
But please fellow Americans, do your diligence with good sense. Go to the legislature and observe. Get a sense of the difficulty and compromise required to construct a law that 3 million people or 300 million people will all agree upon. Have you ever been to a City Council meeting and heard just 7 people try to agree?
Follow specific House and Senate Bills and Committee reports from your State and Federal legislatures. Send letters to your elected representative sighting the specific bill you want them to act upon. Follow voting records (see govtracker). Ask your elected official to explain their vote when you disagree.
Write letters to your elected officials after you educate yourself on a topic. Newspaper and internet articles do not constitute education. Statistics can be wobbled in many ways. Recognize your own preconceived notions and try to LISTEN before you shout. Check your facts . Hundreds of factors and sides of an issue are debated before policies are derived. Most decisions are not arbitrary. And yes, we want our elected representatives to get the most bang for a buck in OUR district.
So, for the sake of debate let’s slash government costs. Let’s give up Medicare. Are you ready to take mom in for her last 25 years? Are you ready to NOT complain or file a lawsuit if the bridge you are crossing crumbles from lack of inspectors? The banking business will profit when we cut all those government auditors. Perhaps it would be just fine if there is only one prison guard for all the prisoners. They can just stay in the cell. Of course if it is your son, you will argue that’s inhumane and he needs drug and alcohol treatment and other rehabilitation. But the government can’t afford that either.
Yes, we can save money. And yes we should keep telling our elected officials what we want and don’t want. Let us pursue good government by starting at home with good sense. Please become educated, involved, responsible citizen participants instead of finger wagging , scapegoat blaming , rhetoric quoting, unproductive rabble.
M. Sandy Lewis
Baker City
Thanks From Baker County AFP
To The Record-Courier:
I’d like to thank those who came to the peaceful Baker County AFP tea party in the park on Saturday. About 30 stalwarts braved the capricious weather to voice their opposition to “taxation without representation”. Also all of the volunteers who helped man the tables and baked all the delicious cookies, thanks.
Thank you Baker Parks department for your help and Marilyn’s Music for the use of their sound system. And even though your services weren’t necessary, thank you Baker City Police for your presence in case you were needed.
I’d also like to address the boorish behavior exhibited by some paid protestors in Madison, WI and Portland, OR. Between screaming during the playing of the national anthem and yelling obscene epithets at a 14 year-old girl speaking at a rally, this type of rhetoric and behavior was totally outrageous. Those videos are posted online at: theblaze.com.
Those who support our country have as much right to say so, as those who hate it! Foul language about America, the flag and calling the speaker nasty names is NOT my America. This shows a descent into a chasm of hatred fueled by those whose aim is the destruction of our way of life. SHAME on them ALL!
Peggie Longwell
Baker County AFP Asst Chair
Green Your Driving Machine
To The Record-Courier:
When serious engine trouble hits, repowering your vehicle rather than buying a new one is an environmentally sound decision that lets you keep more “green” in your wallet.
For the cost of an average down payment on a new car or truck, repowering adds years of reliable vehicle life, improves fuel efficiency, and reduces operating costs and harmful emissions, all without monthly new car payments and higher insurance rates.
With repowering, a vehicle’s engine or an identical one from another like-vehicle is completely disassembled, cleaned, machined and remanufactured/rebuilt. Unlike used or junk yard engines with an unknown performance and maintenance history, repowered engines are dependable, reliable and backed by excellent warranty programs.
Remanufactured/rebuilt engines save the tremendous amount of energy used in processing discarded engines and vehicles. Repowering also saves an incredible amount of raw materials that would have been used in building a new engine.
To learn more about the “green” benefits of engine repowering, visit www.enginerepower.org.
Ken Carter, Chairman
Engine Repower Council
Letter To Senator Merkley
To The Record-Courier:
I am writing to say how appalled I am to listen to Senator Reid stand before the American Public and lie about the impasse to a budget agreement. I have read the policy riders attached to the budget bill and can find nothing that will jeopardize a women's health. What I do see is my elected officials willing to fund abortion clinics and not pay our military.
I am a business owner and have not agreed with the way my Congress has been ramming legislation through the last couple of years contrary to the will of the people. The way Congress is spending boggles my mind.
The Democratic Party has shown its true colors over the last couple of years and I must say, I am very much ashamed I ever helped vote some of you into office.
Donald D. Fink
Baker City
‘Old Gun Grabbing Scheme By The Left’
To The Record-Courier:
In reading the recent article in The Record-Courier about a man (Mr. Huff) having a stand off with the police and SWAT team, and that the defendant was cited for discharging a fire arm within the city limits of Baker City, on the surface to probable cause and supported by affirmation of a bench warrant by the court, I don’t think the court considered the ramifications of a conflict of law. The charge as a felony and excessive fines is like a double edged sword in conflict with the 2nd Amendment Rights of Bill of Rights. This puts a person between a rock and a hard place to defend one’s self in his house or home that gives the right to blow the rights to self defense, just like what’s happening in the U.K. counties now under English rule. This is an old gun grabbing scheme by the left.
This violates the 4th Amendment, U.S. Constitution law, the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, etc. and the 8th Amendment, excessive bail shall not be required, not excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. To litigate and to fine guns out of existence by judiciary.
Without a lot of detail here and case laws under a 1992 ruling to anti gun activities, i.e. Baker Co. Justice Dept., that the U.S. Supreme Court has fueled that state officials who deprive citizens of their constitutional rights may be forced to pay compensation out of their own pocket. The 8-0 decision assures that injured citizens may seek compensation from state officials, even thought the citizens are legally barred from suing the governments that employ them.
The ruling was a set back for states, which had sought to exempt their officials from personal liability for their governmental actions.
The decision is based on a federal civil rights law that imposes liability on every person whose actions on behalf of the state or local government deprive citizens of their rights. Its implications for future cases involving gun control laws remain to be seen, i.e. class action suits in federal courts, tort claims against state’s public officials do not have statutes of limitations protections under the 1980’s Civil Rights Act, as to liability.
As President Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives under the tort claims/civil rights, the same may apply to Obama as President unless his birth certificate pre-empts it, as citizenship status, voids his prior law making abilities.
Bruce Parke
Sumpter, Ore.
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