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Opinion Letters of Editor for Nov. 8, 2010
Letters of Editor for Nov. 8, 2010
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Hate Groups To the Editor: The number of hate groups in the U.S. has increased exponentially in recent years, especially since the 2008 election. There are over 932 hate groups listed in the U.S. by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the leading hate-crime watchdog. Texas leads with 66 of them and California is number two with 60. With the delivery of hate pamphlets to Tuolumne County residences reported last Friday, Oct. 29 in The Union Democrat, the nose of the proverbial camel has entered our lovely tent. Actually, hate-crimes are not new to this area, but they are sometimes unreported or unpublicized. I know of two cases locally – in one, a man was beaten because of his sexual orientation and the other because he wasn’t white. In addition, bullying in our schools does exist. These incidents reveal a lack of civility and/or imagination of a small post-literate portion of our population. Liz Bass said it right—it’s cowardly. In these emotionally charged times do we have to wait until we have a Matthew Shepard incident in our own town? How about a charter for our county expressing our intolerance to hate speech and crimes by declaring ourselves a hate-free zone? We would not be the first county to do so and we could serve as an example to others. Peggy Kingman Sonora Methadone in Tuolumne County To The Editor: In response to Frank Rodriguez's letter about Methadone that ran Nov. 1. I have and will continue to say that this Methadone drug is a corrupt way to raise our children. We have an internal source in this county supplying our children with a drug that is eventually killing off a new generation of children. We should be worrying about our children owning their first car and having their first date not drugs being distributed through the counters of our local doctors. I feel like we need to tackle this demon before we have more obituaries that include a habit gone wrong. I know that there are people in this community who have to be willing to address this while people like us aren't there to do so. Randelle L. Jelneck Tuolumne Debt-free America Act HR-4646 To the Editor: In response Frank Diggle's letter that ran on Nov. 3 about the Debt-free America Act HR-4646. He writes that "Debt-free America Act HR-4646 is being held by the Obama administration until after the November election." He goes on as if this bill is being enacted by Obama himself. Most facts about HR-4646 are conveniently left out by Mr. Diggle. He fails to mention that a 1 percent transaction tax would eliminate personal income taxes or that similar bills have been introduced by one Congressman without any outside support, including Pelosi or Obama, since 2004. He also fails to mention that it is unlikely such a bill would ever pass. It is easy to try to drive a wedge between political parties if you twist the facts or leave them out to try to paint the other guys as bad, but if you really look at this bill a little closer you might even think it is a good idea. You could eliminate personal income taxes and just stop doing business with the banks. Of course, the banks might not like that much. Janelle Magruder Sonora |
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