Letters to the Editor - Letters

America's Arctic Ocean is home to abundant life -- polar bears, walruses, ice seals, whales, the Inupiat people and much more.

[Hawaii50]

"Life is a gift from God"....tell that to rape victims and incest survivors.
While you're at it, tell the US government who's conducting two wars, of choice, simultaneously.

[Bullshot Crummond]

It is just as easy to say that "death is a gift from God" and just as meaningful.

Stuart is a blowhard.

[willie]

"I was pleased to read that President Barack Obama is reconsidering our country's strategy in Afghanistan."

So it is go slow on this but fast track national health care and the stimulus package and totally ignore the illegal alien question?

Guess there is no money or votes to be made by deciding what to do in Afganistan. All his top generals and admirals say more troops but with all his military background he needs to think it over....when one of his financial gurus says jump he says how high. No he is not a flip flopper...

[Yeah]

willie wrote:

"I was pleased to read that President Barack Obama is reconsidering our country's strategy in Afghanistan."
So it is go slow on this but fast track national health care and the stimulus package and totally ignore the illegal alien question?
Guess there is no money or votes to be made by deciding what to do in Afganistan. All his top generals and admirals say more troops but with all his military background he needs to think it over....when one of his financial gurus says jump he says how high. No he is not a flip flopper...

lol! Sounds like the familiar tune from the Bush era.

Can you say "Gen. Shinseki was right"?

Anyway, he's got the priorities right.

[Hawaii50]

willie wrote:

"I was pleased to read that President Barack Obama is reconsidering our country's strategy in Afghanistan."
So it is go slow on this but fast track national health care and the stimulus package and totally ignore the illegal alien question?
Guess there is no money or votes to be made by deciding what to do in Afganistan. All his top generals and admirals say more troops but with all his military background he needs to think it over....when one of his financial gurus says jump he says how high. No he is not a flip flopper...

Obama has more brains, intellect, sense, and vision in his little toe than a warmonger like yourself will ever know.
Afghanistan has ruined two prior country's attempt to invade and "control" it.
You want another 40,000 troops sent there? Are you completely insane?
Why not shack up with that Tom1s poster-fool and polish your guns and talk of how the world should work, militarily. Diplomacy not needed in today's world. Just bomb 'em, and ask questions and count the bodies later.
Either of you know nothing except that which can be seen from the end of a gun barrel. That's all you know. That's all you'll ever know.

[stanislous]

1. Seems the only place the government is willing to drill... is into my wallet.

2. If health care insurance is going to be required, like auto insurence.
Will 20% or 30% of the drivers not have any.... Like in Hawaii?

3. What happened to all the War Protesters after the election?

4. What's with the WMDs? Everyone said
"Bush Lied, there are no WMD". Did Obama find them?

LOL LOL LOL

[Fisherman]

So Thom, would you advocate for a society based on pure capitalism?
Survival of the fittest, every man for himself.
If you can earn a lot of money and pay for your own health care, good- if not die.
That's how God would want it. Are you speaking for God now?
And with regard to your use of "precisely". Your choice of words often have a dramatic or persuasive (bullying) effect, but are inaccurate, to say the least.
I do feel sorry for Vietnam veterans though, and hope you didn't get sprayed with too much agent orange. Watch out for those commies hidin' in the bushes!

[Keith Haugen]

Aloha:

It is better to have an intelligent President who can understand the facts and make changes in policy, than one who could not even read well enough to read daily papers and who could never change his mindset, even when the world told him it was all wrong to kill innocent people and destroy their country.

"Flip-flop" is a Fox/CNN way of saying that someone changed his mind. They and the GOP believe that no one should be that smart. No one should be able to apply common sense and have a mind change for the better. That's apparently a GOP/cable television position.

That's why we still have huge health care problems and 48 million Americans without health insurance. For 70 years, the GOP has steadfastly refused to accept the facts and change something that needs changing. And they are doing it again, just to try to "break" President Obama and keep the poor and middle class from having adequate coverage.

Me ka pono,

Keith Haugen
Nu`uanu

[Liberal Hatred]

Fisherman wrote:

So Thom, would you advocate for a society based on pure capitalism?
Survival of the fittest, every man for himself.
If you can earn a lot of money and pay for your own health care, good- if not die.
That's how God would want it. Are you speaking for God now?
And with regard to your use of "precisely". Your choice of words often have a dramatic or persuasive (bullying) effect, but are inaccurate, to say the least.
I do feel sorry for Vietnam veterans though, and hope you didn't get sprayed with too much agent orange. Watch out for those commies hidin' in the bushes!

Sad to see you make fun of Vietnam veterans. Agent Orange was and is a real health problem for thousands of veterans, and they continue to suffer immensely because of it. "Commies hidin' in the bushes" may be funny so someone like you who's probably never been in a "kill or be killed" situation. You're used to hunting deer and fishing, where you're always the predator, and your prey can't fight back.

That you would mock our Vietnam veterans to try and make an unrelated point is extremely callous and self-serving, and shows an extreme ingratitude towards our service men and women.

But that's typical of Liberals like you. Portray yourselves as the compassionate ones - but every now and then, you slip, and let show the real heartlessness and hatred that lies beneath your feigned "compassionate" exterior.

[Bullshot Crummond]

Liberal Hatred wrote:

<quoted text>Sad to see you make fun of Vietnam veterans. Agent Orange was and is a real health problem for thousands of veterans, and they continue to suffer immensely because of it. "Commies hidin' in the bushes" may be funny so someone like you who's probably never been in a "kill or be killed" situation. You're used to hunting deer and fishing, where you're always the predator, and your prey can't fight back.
That you would mock our Vietnam veterans to try and make an unrelated point is extremely callous and self-serving, and shows an extreme ingratitude towards our service men and women.
But that's typical of Liberals like you. Portray yourselves as the compassionate ones - but every now and then, you slip, and let show the real heartlessness and hatred that lies beneath your feigned "compassionate" exterior.

Fisherman is responding directly to Thom1s who trumpets his superiority because of his alleged military service. You are a newbie here, so you don't know that.

Your own sanctimony is quite apparent.

[Liberal Hatred]

Bullshot Crummond wrote:

It is just as easy to say that "death is a gift from God" and just as meaningful.
Stuart is a blowhard.

You presume that saying "death is a gift from God" is somehow "meaningful." I don't know anyone who considers that a "meaningful" statement, unless perhaps the person is in extreme pain or suffering.

Its converse, though - that "life is a gift from God" - DOES have meaning, if you choose to accept it as being true. It suggests that we should show appreciation for life - our own, as well as others'- and to live in a manner that reflects that.

Well, actually there is another specific case I can think of where saying that "death is a gift from God" might be "meaningful." Fanatical Islamic terrorists, for example, seem to believe that dying in the process of killing "infidel" (i.e., innocent citizens) is a "gift" - literally, "something to die for."

So it doesn't surprise me that you think along those lines. Well, please keep all of your "gifts" to yourself then. I think most of us like living... and I'm sorry that you don't.

[Liberal Disrespect]

Bullshot Crummond wrote:

<quoted text>
Fisherman is responding directly to Thom1s who trumpets his superiority because of his alleged military service. You are a newbie here, so you don't know that.
Your own sanctimony is quite apparent.

It doesn't matter. Do you think "Thom1s'" experiences in the war were unique to him only? If "Fisherman" chooses to make broad statements like that which dishonor all Vietnam veterans, then he should take responsibility for that.

What you incorrectly view as my "sanctimony" is actually "respect" and "gratitude," two words with which you're apparently unfamiliar. I don't put our veterans up on a pedestal simply by virtue of their having served in the military. But I do have tremendous respect for their service to our country, and gratitude for the sacrifices that they made - and continue to make.

You may choose to take our veterans for granted, as if they're somehow just faceless statistics. Many like me do not.

[Bullshot Crummond]

Liberal Hatred wrote:

<quoted text>You presume that saying "death is a gift from God" is somehow "meaningful." I don't know anyone who considers that a "meaningful" statement, unless perhaps the person is in extreme pain or suffering.
Its converse, though - that "life is a gift from God" - DOES have meaning, if you choose to accept it as being true. It suggests that we should show appreciation for life - our own, as well as others'- and to live in a manner that reflects that.
Well, actually there is another specific case I can think of where saying that "death is a gift from God" might be "meaningful." Fanatical Islamic terrorists, for example, seem to believe that dying in the process of killing "infidel" (i.e., innocent citizens) is a "gift" - literally, "something to die for."
So it doesn't surprise me that you think along those lines. Well, please keep all of your "gifts" to yourself then. I think most of us like living... and I'm sorry that you don't.

You can be sorry as much as you like and think whatever you choose, but you have to learn to read first. To say, "Life is a gift from God" is just as meaningful as "Death is a gift from God" -- especially when one believes in a "god" and even more so when one doesn't.

I don't believe in a "god" -- but if you do, you are in the same mind-set with the terrorists that you mention.

Did "god" give life to you, by the way? Then "god" has also given you death, for the two are inseparable.

You can't have one without the other, at least for us humans.

[Bullshot Crummond]

Liberal Disrespect wrote:

<quoted text>It doesn't matter. Do you think "Thom1s'" experiences in the war were unique to him only? If "Fisherman" chooses to make broad statements like that which dishonor all Vietnam veterans, then he should take responsibility for that.
What you incorrectly view as my "sanctimony" is actually "respect" and "gratitude," two words with which you're apparently unfamiliar. I don't put our veterans up on a pedestal simply by virtue of their having served in the military. But I do have tremendous respect for their service to our country, and gratitude for the sacrifices that they made - and continue to make.
You may choose to take our veterans for granted, as if they're somehow just faceless statistics. Many like me do not.

Of course it matters what has happened on these boards. If not, why do you post? You need to have been here some time before you jump into things. Maybe if you listen you will learn something.

You are judgmental yourself.

Seems you are now generalizing to me what you feel my position is: "You may choose to take our veterans for granted, as if they're just faceless statistics. Many like me do not."

Again, sanctimonious posturing. If you feel that way, why trumpet it? What's your gain other than saying you are more worthy of honor than others?

[Yeah]

Liberal Hatred wrote:

<quoted text>Sad to see you make fun of Vietnam veterans. Agent Orange was and is a real health problem for thousands of veterans, and they continue to suffer immensely because of it. "Commies hidin' in the bushes" may be funny so someone like you who's probably never been in a "kill or be killed" situation. You're used to hunting deer and fishing, where you're always the predator, and your prey can't fight back.
That you would mock our Vietnam veterans to try and make an unrelated point is extremely callous and self-serving, and shows an extreme ingratitude towards our service men and women.
But that's typical of Liberals like you. Portray yourselves as the compassionate ones - but every now and then, you slip, and let show the real heartlessness and hatred that lies beneath your feigned "compassionate" exterior.

lol! Speaking of "...the real heartlessness and hatred that lies beneath your feigned "compassionate" exterior...." at least you practice what you preach.

[HJohnson]

Hawaii50 wrote:

"Life is a gift from God"....tell that to rape victims and incest survivors.
While you're at it, tell the US government who's conducting two wars, of choice, simultaneously.

The topic was health care insurance and government intervention. What price life? In that context.

[HJohnson]

Bullshot Crummond wrote:

It is just as easy to say that "death is a gift from God" and just as meaningful.
Stuart is a blowhard.

You don't have to believe that "life is a gift from God" but it certainly isn't a gift from government.

Sorry for being ignorant, but what is a Blowhard?

[Fisherman]

Liberal Hatred wrote:

<quoted text>Sad to see you make fun of Vietnam veterans. Agent Orange was and is a real health problem for thousands of veterans, and they continue to suffer immensely because of it. "Commies hidin' in the bushes" may be funny so someone like you who's probably never been in a "kill or be killed" situation. You're used to hunting deer and fishing, where you're always the predator, and your prey can't fight back.
That you would mock our Vietnam veterans to try and make an unrelated point is extremely callous and self-serving, and shows an extreme ingratitude towards our service men and women.
But that's typical of Liberals like you. Portray yourselves as the compassionate ones - but every now and then, you slip, and let show the real heartlessness and hatred that lies beneath your feigned "compassionate" exterior.

I did not mean to say anything bad about veterans. I respect their sacrifices so I can live a life with minimal fear, and freedom to say what I want.
I had a good friend on Guam that was a Vietnam veteran and have known quite a few others. There is a neighbor here that (when he had a tin roof) when the seeds off the trees would hit his roof, he could have terrible physical and mental reactions. He has very strange health problems- it is not funny.
One of my points was, for people making opinions about teachers, take Thom's crazy sounding comments with a grain of salt- and understand where he is coming from. I don't think he is a good spokesperson for teachers in general.
To all veterans, please accept my apology if I offended you.

[Bullshot Crummond]

HJohnson wrote:

<quoted text>
You don't have to believe that "life is a gift from God" but it certainly isn't a gift from government.
Sorry for being ignorant, but what is a Blowhard?

No one said life was a gift from the government. Thanks for pointing that out. But I do believe that governments are instituted among men to secure that particular "gift."

For the word "blowhard", it's hard for me to believe that you own a computer, can afford your internet connection, but do not, as yet, own a dictionary. There are several online ones you can use. Shall I give you a URL or can you get to one on your own?

[Yeah]

Fisherman wrote:

<quoted text>
I did not mean to say anything bad about veterans. I respect their sacrifices so I can live a life with minimal fear, and freedom to say what I want.
I had a good friend on Guam that was a Vietnam veteran and have known quite a few others. There is a neighbor here that (when he had a tin roof) when the seeds off the trees would hit his roof, he could have terrible physical and mental reactions. He has very strange health problems- it is not funny.
One of my points was, for people making opinions about teachers, take Thom's crazy sounding comments with a grain of salt- and understand where he is coming from. I don't think he is a good spokesperson for teachers in general.
To all veterans, please accept my apology if I offended you.

Actually Gilligan (as I like to call him) is for reform of the BOE/DOE and better tools for the kids. Rather surprising but he is (was?) rather vocal about it.

His problem is he hates non-conservatives with a passion. He still thought the economy was going strong a year ago just by listening to McCain. And he still can't answer why he thinks Columbia is an elitist school but the USNA is not (amongst other questions.)