Oklahoma Gazette provides an open forum for the discussion of all points of view in its Letters to the Editor section. The Gazette reserves the right to edit letters for length and clarity. Letters can be mailed, faxed, emailed to pbacharach@okgazette. com or sent online at okgazette.com, but include a city of residence and contact number for verification.
Viva Obama!
Dick J. Brooks (Letters to the editor, “He deserves no respect,” April 18, Oklahoma Gazette), derides President Obama, asserting a litany of alleged criminal conduct and concludes that he cannot “respect a fraud, a puppet, an empty suit.” The president was handed the wheel of a Titanic, which has been “iceberged” by Bush’s eight years of deficits, deceit and privilege, including two wars fought on credit, massive tax reductions for those who needed no help and debt-funded bailouts of GOP-leaning investment banking firms and insurance giants whose business practices had caused a meltdown of the financial and housing markets.
President Obama kept the USS Titanic from sinking by courageous and politically dangerous stimulus programs opposed at every turn by the GOP. The president saved the automobile industry, including the firms which supply and support it with workers whose jobs are still there, and has slowly moved the economy forward. He ended the incursion in Iraq, where we expended the blood of our youth and our treasure for what was probably a family vendetta with no really identifiable gains for this nation.
The president has reduced unemployment and the unemployment taxes of the working class, which mildly stimulates the economy. He has put forth programs, opposed by the GOP, which has helped retain and re-employ teachers, police officers, firefighters and nurses.
Opinions expressed on the commentary page, in letters to the
editor and elsewhere in this newspaper are those of the author and do
not necessarily reflect the opinions of ownership or management.
The Texas governor, who, along with the GOP regulars, disdains federal stimulus programs, quietly took over $16 billion in such funds one fiscal year and over $29 billion in such funds the next fiscal year to meet his state budget requirements and produce the Texas miracle. These efforts and accomplishments deserve appreciation from the nation benefited by them, even if they do not command respect for the president from people like Mr. Brooks.
Viva Obama!
—Robert D. Allen Oklahoma City
Ignorance and hate
In regard to “He
deserves no respect” by Dick J. Brooks: In his letter, Mr. Brooks writes
about President Obama and his recent visit to Oklahoma. He fabricates a
narrative which portrays the president as incompetent. The substance
and syntax clearly indicate that the writer is either profoundly
ignorant, or consumed by hate, or both.
With ignorance and hate
being the sum and substance of the letter, it would be useless to
address it point by point. In fact, to do so would only give it the
dignity that it completely lacks. Nevertheless, we believe firmly in
freedom of the press, which is its only possible justification.
—Dennis A. Weigand Edmond
Respect is due
Setting
aside the personal smears, factual errors and oxygen-starved reasoning
of Dick J. Brooks’ April 18 missive, “He deserves no respect,” his
hypothetical scenario about the company’s new leader has left out a few
minor details.
That
incompetent boss leading the company to ruins joined a company that is
on fire; has bombs going off in various parts of the building; has a
board of directors working to withhold the water and sabotage any
progress; has some board members appearing to have a stronger allegiance
to outside interests than to the betterment of the company; has
demoralizing worldwide commitments draining personnel and capital; has a
company publicly damaged by years of previous mismanagement.
At
the end of the day, I don’t like everything this new leader does, but I
didn’t like or attack everything the previous leader did, either. I
have never believed for one second that either leader is disloyal.
—Jon Womastek Oklahoma City
Let’s get something straight
In answer to Dick J.
Brooks, I think he has forgotten the facts just a little. Which CEO came
into office, took a surplus, turned it into a deficit and rewarded all
his cronies who contributed to his campaign with numerous tax breaks and
war contracts, which put our country into a recession akin to the
1930s? And those who rejected that war or called him out on any issue
were labeled “unpatriotic.”
Just wanted to clarify that happening.
—Elda Davis Bethany
Good going, Joe!
Good job for Joseph Coleman (Jenn Scott, “Weighty achievement,” March 21, Gazette)! What an inspiration and what a handsome man.
I pray he inspires many more people to take the challenge he did.
—Dolores Littleton Oklahoma City
Republicans to blame
Rep. Jason Nelson:
I read your self-aggrandizing commentary in Oklahoma Gazette (“A
plan to fix DHS,” April 4), and I have to reply that most of the
problems your party is trying to solve is one of their own making.
Had
the Republican/ religious/ extreme right not opposed every dime of
family planning, free contraceptives and sex education in their high
extremist zeal, this problem would be manageable, rather than the
long-suffering taxpayer being saddled with more costs. If the Keating,
Istook and Fallin loons representing the Heritage Foundation/ Catholic
Church/John Birchers used some common sense and prevention, and adopted a
few more of these poor, abused, mostly minority children into their
high-class, private-schooled lives, the long-suffering taxpayers would
not now be paying you and yours to solve a problem you can no longer
ignore.
Of course,
Keating/Istook let the cat out of the bag. They (and the Heritage
Foundation) want more private prisons, and expensive private rehab, and
they need bodies to fill them, and taxpayers to pay for them, so this is
another winwin situation for the Republican toadies.
When
all these minority poor become a majority, the Republicans will be a
lonesome voice, howling in the wilderness, again — and I can’t wait.
This hypocritical “family values/ Christian/tea party” mania has gone on
for too long.
—Larry Stem Oklahoma City
