Wow today's Tribune is FILLED with liberal views, Seesh, I'm excited.
#1:
Bush taunts Iraqis Books have been written about it, jokes and Web sites, but for all this Karl Rove just can't keep President Bush's mouth shut. Sometimes it's funny, other times not, but this time he has gone way over the line. For "W" to say: "We have sufficient forces" in place to handle any armed threat from Iraqi insurrectionists so "bring them on" shows no common sense, no empathy for our soldiers who must carry out the orders, and a mentality that is more suited to an 8-year-old video games junky than the leader of the free world.
Bush has never been in a war zone, so for him to taunt others to violence against our troops is callous, hypocritical and downright stupid.
I have confidence the brave men and women in our military will do their best in these trying times. I have no confidence or support for a commander-in-chief who behaves like he's playing with toy soldiers, and not real lives.
Gary Jensen
Holladay
#2:
True patriotism The July Fourth holiday is a time to stand up and show our patriotism. For those who are confused about what it means to be patriotic, here is what I've learned from our president, his administration and other True Patriots:
A true patriot never questions or criticizes their president; would gladly surrender their civil liberties for the purpose of security; would never be opposed to a just war; would never put plants or animals above economic prosperity; would never vote against increasing defense spending; would never support socialist ideas like guaranteeing health care for all; would never let their country be subject to the United Nations, international law or international efforts to do things like reduce greenhouse gases or ban land mines; knows that we are a Christian nation, subservient to the laws of God; does not believe in giving women, minorities and gays "special privileges;" understands that democracy is synonymous with capitalism; knows that it is wrong to regulate business or interfere with its ability to make money; knows that campaign contributions are free speech, burning a flag is not and, finally, a true patriot knows that their individual freedom is the most important thing -- with the following exceptions: when it interferes with "national security," what one does with their own body or anything that interferes with business.
God bless America.
Jon Glenn
Salt Lake City
#3:
Chain-saw massacre In a nice touch of irony, the folks gathered at the Federal Building on July 3 (Tribune, "Say it with saws," Page C5) defeated their own point, however unwittingly. They were there to protest overly restrictive forest protection by the government. Their weapons of choice? Nothing less than a phalanx of chain saws ready to march on the trees of our state. Well, I guess that makes it clear just what the problem is.
Proper management of our national forests needs clear and reasoned citizen input. Most of the time we get it. Threats with your chain saws just isn't the way to go, guys.
John R. Winter
Salt Lake City
#4:
Cal Thomas' columns I have no problem with The Tribune giving space to conservative voices, but I very much object to Cal Thomas' column -- or as I like think of it, the writings of a madman.
Of course, Cal Thomas has mastered the strategy of putting so many absurd and wrong-headed ideas into each of his columns as to make it virtually impossible for any letter-writing objectors to even begin to respond to his stream of unconsciousness, but I will try.
In his July 2 column, Thomas lauds "strict" constructionism, which I suspect is only particularly strict when it suits him. With regard to President Clinton's unconstitutional impeachment: "high crimes and misdemeanors" my foot. The drug war (which, unlike Prohibition, required no constitutional amendment) and his silence about John Ashcroft's internment of innocent Arab-Americans are more than ample reasons to judge this man's pious Constitution talk as hypocrisy, though I certainly wish he were consistent.
John McIntosh
Salt Lake City
#5:
Breathtaking rip-offs I just came up with an idea for Sen. Orrin Hatch's career after government service. After he starts receiving his hefty benefits package and Social Security, he can easily get hired as a paid lobbyist for any of the large pharmaceutical conglomerates who have paid him huge sums for getting re-elected. Or, he can easily get hired by the recording industry as a computer music download buster. Either way, he doesn't have to answer to all the people who are being ripped off by the high costs of drugs and medicine.
Incidentally, I just paid 85 bucks for a tiny inhaler for my daughter who has breathing problems.
Marvin Zimmer
Murray
#6:
Outrageous bravado The tragedy at the World Trade Towers on Sept. 11, 2001, was both an incomprehensible calamity and, at least momentarily, an unprecedented opportunity. There was, however briefly, a chance that the Bush administration might realize that a war against terrorism (whatever that turned out to be) should involve a global coalition against a worldwide threat.
But it was not to be. President Bush chose the politics of personality instead, pitting himself first against Osama bin Laden and then Saddam Hussein. In both cases his confrontation involved the trappings of Western Americana: Osama was portrayed on posters reading "Wanted Dead or Alive" and Saddam and his henchmen appeared on a deck of playing cards issued to GIs stationed in postwar Iraq.
In response to the recent escalation of attacks on American and British forces the president proclaimed, "There are some who feel that the conditions are such that they can attack us there. My answer is, bring them on." Such outrageous bravado is indecorous grandstanding, unbecoming a chief of state. Would that the president could think before he spoke. His boisterous rhetoric does him and the nation a disservice.
Louis Borgenicht
Salt Lake City
http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Jul/07072003/public_f/public_f.aspSIX out of EIGHT letters were against right-wingers. One letter was about single people paying too much for school tax. The other talking about Clinton's penis.
That's a first.
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