Published: February 23, 2009 10:26 am      

2/22 Letters to the Editor

Change we can believe in



Dear Editor:



A couple of weeks ago I sent you the second of two satirical letters designed to expose, illuminate, and show the logical long-term outcome of the new administration’s morally bankrupt policies.

A third letter was pre-empted by the debacle of last week’s utterly irrational decisions.

Under George W. and previous administrations Americans “didn’t save enough” and were in a “spending spree” demonstrating the “greed and corruption of capitalism.”

But now “we can’t give money back to the people directly” because they would “either save it or use it to pay off debts.”

We want people to “spend and spend to get money into circulation.”

Change! Change we can believe in?

Seems like I remember President Obama on the campaign trail telling folks that the national debt was a national disgrace and, “if you elect me, we’ll change all that.”

He was and he is.

His new spending bill, a collection of all the projects liberal politicians have been itching for plus our previous debt now exceeds the Gross Domestic Product of all other world economies combined! (According to the 2008 Financial Report of the United States Government the GAAP, or Generally Accepted Accounting Practices, negative net worth of the federal government has increased to $59.3 trillion while the total federal obligations under GAAP accounting now total $65.5 trillion.)

Liberal mantra for at least 3 decades has been, “What we’ve been doing is not working so we need to do more of it. By the way it, will take more money.”

Well, now we know. There’s not enough money in the world to satisfy their ideologically driven desires.

More change we can believe in?

This past week I watched horrified as the pimps in Washington prostituted my family, friends, and neighbors to Chinese and Arab moguls for decades to come. It was done quickly, with only Obama, Pelosi, and Reid having any knowledge of what was going on.

“Trust us,” they told the pimps. It’s only a trillion dollars.

As they lined up to vote for what they didn’t even know, I watched supposedly elite, educated men gang rape the American people.

Speed was of the essence. There was no time to read the bill or post it on the Web for citizens to read. It all had to be voted on by Friday so it could sit and wait for Obama’s signature on Tuesday.

“Our administration is the most ethical and transparent in modern history.”

This is change, all right. Change I don’t believe in.

The United States of America is quickly becoming the Obama Nation of Desolation. And our currency is being transformed into Monopoly money.

A word to Mr. Obama — Do not pass Go, do not collect $200. Go straight to Jail!



Steve Jones

Cleburne





Answering Dan Hunt



Dear Editor:



Our economy is in serious trouble, and Dan Hunt’s recent name-calling and wildly inaccurate criticism of the stimulus plan isn’t going to bring prospertity back to America

Over the past year, 2.6 million Americans have lost their jogs, a statistic not seen since the Great Depression.

In November and December, the economy shed 17,000 jobs per day, a number equal to half the population of Cleburne.

Across Texas, the unemployment rate increased by 43 percent in one year.

Although the stimulus plan isn’t perfect, it will create jobs.

Doing nothing isn’t an option.

We know from history and President Hoover that real danger lies in inaction and small ideas.

I can respect reasoned arguments about how best to stimulate the economy but not attacks of imaginary provisions or personal assaults.

The bill doesn’t give any funds to ACORN or any pet projects for a particular congressman.

Those trumped-up charges fall apart if you actually look at the bill.

Some things the stimulus does include are $3.8 billion for military hospitals and construction, $1.2 billion for military housing, $400 million to support our stretched National Guard and reserve, and nearly $1 billion for VA medical facilities.

These investments will create good jobs and show respect for our men and women in uniform.

I appreciate Congressman Edwards’ decision to take action and help bring prosperity back to America.



Ted Reynolds

Cleburne





A little Cleburne history



Dear Editor:



I appreciated the article: “Pictures a treasure trove of Cleburne history” by Pete Kendall in [the Monday] Web edition of the Times-Review.

I was drawn in partticular to the description of a photograph of an airship flown over Cleburne by Commander Charles E. Rosendahl sometime in the 1930s.

During the 1930s, my father, David S. Sowell, Jr. operated the Cleburne Oil Company along with his father and two brothers. The Cleburne Oil Company was, for many years, the authorized dealer for Goodyear Tires in Cleburne. My father and mother, Esther Smith Sowell, are now dead but told me many times of having been asked by the Goodyear Company to drive Commander Rosendahl’s mother to Fort Worth so she could ride in an airship.

When the three of them arrived at the designated location in Fort Worth, my parents were invited to take an aerial tour of the Fort Worth area along with Mrs. Rosendahl. They accepted this ride and talked of it for many years thereafter.

I assume that Goodyear was a contractor for the Navy in the construction of these airships.

Your article refers to “Admiral” Rosendahl. My parents remembered him as “Commander” Rosendahl. According to an article in Wickipedia, the promotion to admiral apparently occurred after the outbreak of World War II.

Cmdr. Rosendahl was in command of the Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey on May 6, 1937, when the Hindenburg Disaster occurred.

There is a display at the Frontiers of Flight Museum at Dallas Love Field that is dedicated to Adm. Rosendahl. It contains a uniform and other memorabilia related to his career.

Thanks again for your fine article and for your interest in Cleburne history.



David S. Sowell, MD

Dallas









Another side to book controversy



Dear Editor:



Reading all the controversy about the book, “The Pillars of the Earth,” reminded me of another book published back in 1957.

This book was also controversial. It was labeled scandalous, absolute gutter trash, completely unredeeming. Some groups even tried to ban the sale of the book.

All this “negative” publicity pushed the book to the No. 1 spot on the best-seller list. It seemed to be the teenagers buying a lot of the books.

Just a few years later the book was made into a prime-time TV series, probably the first prime time “soap” TV series, well ahead of “Dallas.”

Now, all those who had tried to get the sale of the book banned were tuning in each week to see what the next episode would bring.

Do you remember “Peyton Place”?

The show “Peyton Place” was rather tame compared with some of the shows on TV today, from the daytime soaps to the prime-time sit-com.

You get to see couples rolling around together under the sheets and then turning over on their backs, letting out a deep breath and saying, “Wasn’t that sex wonderful?”

These type shows are on daily for our young people, pre-K through high school students, to watch.

Sex seems to be a great entertainment venue for all ages, but please, whatever you do, do not put anything about sex in a book form for our young adult senior students to read and have an intelligent discussion about in an adult setting.



John Watson

Cleburne



Government officials should obey the laws, too





Dear Editor:



Do city and county workers have to observe the city limits and school zone limits like the rest of us citizens of Cleburne and Johnson County?

I drive East Kilpatrick at least four times per day, coming and going.

Today, I followed a Precinct 1 pickup with trailer from County Road 801-C to CR 700 to Hix Road to East Kilpatrick on the way to take my children to school this morning.

When the school zone speed limit went down to 15 mph, he continued on at 30 mph. I was driving back home from taking them to school and a city garbage truck was gaining on me while I was again driving the 15 mph required.

Because East Kilpatrick is the road the sheriff’s office uses most, I have had to be concerned that one of the sheriff’s cars wasn’t going to slow down behind me when I was reducing my speed to accommodate the 15 mph speed limit.

Often, I am reminded about that boy, riding his bicycle on a darkened street in Dallas, who was run over by a city police officer who was exceeding the speed limit.

He wasn’t on a call, so he didn’t have his lights on. He was just driving too fast and exceeding the speed limit.

Speed limits are for everybody, not just the citizens. If the city and county workers are not upholding the laws, why should we?

Because they were put into place to protect us all.



Theresa Williamson

Cleburne