Published: February 18, 2008 02:44 pm            

2/17/2007 Letters to the editor

Dear Editor:



I don’t feel guilty



Since we are considering history this month: Gregor Johann Mendel, an Austrian monk, founded the study of genetics in the mid-1800s, and countless other dedicated researchers have worked to clarify and enlarge our understanding of these laws since then. So Oprah and Chris and Mr. Gates can thank them for this and for many other advances (the telephone, automobile, airplanes, ‘cybernetics/automation) which they enjoy.

Many Europeans came to this country as indentured slaves to pay off debts. My grandfather was orphaned at 14 and chopped wood for 25 cents a day to support a brother and sister.

After 150 years and 50 years of entitlements, I do not feel guilty. Most people do not mind helping someone realize a “dream” as long as they don’t have to keep paying for it and lose their own dream.

If African Americans do not support racism, it behooves them not to elect Barack Obama merely on the basis of race or color instead of qualifications and experience to deliver his “pie in the sky” ideas. (According to latest reports 80 percent of blacks back Obama).

Obama’s “Cousin Pookie” and “Uncle Jethro” need to not only “get off the couch,” they need to be informed. And Oprah has skillfully bought her influence with gifts and only now after years of presidential elections feels inclined to support a candidate pushing for her cause in every way across the media. Well, duh!

Considering other countries of the world, including Africa past and present, we should all be glad to be in America. (According to the same reports, 50 percent of whites back Obama).



Lynn Jones

Cleburne



Dear Editor:



Thanks for support after motorcycle wreck



I would like to thank all the people of Johnson County and all over the world for praying for me two years ago. Thanks to your prayers and God, I did survive the motorcycle wreck I had two years ago on Valentine’s Day. It was a bad Valentine’s Day for all my family and friends. I stayed in a coma for six weeks in the hospital. It was not fun. All I’ve done every day is thank God I am still alive. The long days and nights for all my loved ones were a living hell. Thanks, thanks, thanks and thanks again for all your prayers.



Barry Don Callaway

Cleburne



Dear Editor:



The president does always have a choice

The president of the United States does not simply decide on policies. He responds to a world that sets America’s agenda. During the 2000 campaign the most important issue that would dominate the American presidency was never discussed — 9/11. Whatever the presidential candidates thought would or wouldn’t be important, someone else was going to set the agenda.

Foreign policy is frequently determined by the world and not by the president. In many cases it is impossible to know what the issue is going to be, therefore the candidate’s position on various topics are irrelevant. The decisions that are going to matter are going to force the president’s hand. The dominant foreign policy issue is going to hit the candidates out of the blue some day after they become president. Their options will be few, and how quickly they recognize what must be done rather than what they would rather do is one thing that they will be judged on by history.

It is not that presidents don’t matter; it is that they don’t matter nearly as much as we would like to think and they would have us believe. Mostly they are trapped in realities not of their own making. History deals up the agenda, and the options for response are severely constricted.

Therefore, even though I don’t really care for him, I will be forced to vote for John McCain. For I fear in an new emergency instituted by the Muslims (they can and do wait for years planning their assaults on the Great Satan), Obama would try to reason with them even after it had already occurred, and Hillary would retreat to Camp David and cry or lose the notification.

Any promise any candidate makes about domestic programs would at least be tempered by Congress and the Supreme Court, which would hopefully put the brakes on some of the Democratic candidates’ wild-eyed wishes and promises. I lack both space and time to attempt to refute the idiotic statements they are uttering. Remember the old truism about politicians, “they promise anything to get elected, but seldom deliver.”

The brightest event I can foresee this year is the possibility that the Supreme Court will decide on March 19 that the Second Amendment does indeed state that law-abiding citizens of America can legally and constitutionally posses firearms without nitpicking city, county and state governments interference and regulations.



W.V. Bonds

Cleburne

        

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