To the editor:
I just counted the pages -- 12, including the front page of Bush-slamming.
I am surprised. Obviously, the voters have a 50-50 split decision over the election. Exactly half of the American public supports George Bush.
For myself, I support George Bush. We are at war with terrorists. It is a world-wide war. We fight it in Iraq and Afghanistan , or we fight it in New York , Los Angeles , and Washington . He has shown the conviction to take them on in their country rather than on our soil.
As for Kerry, 20 years on the Senate has not provided him the opportunity to define himself. He has voted on every side of all issues. I am surprised that he served for four months in Vietnam and has ample video of his service. I know of many South Texans who served as much as three tours of duty and do not have on second of video of their service. He is pandering to voters. His dress up day in brand new camouflaged dress in his geese hunting expedition belies his “F” rating by the NRA, not that the NRA represents my feelings. He threw his medals away, but then it was just a simulated throw, he still has them. Other veterans with his view did, in fact, throw their medals away. He was against the war but he voted for it. He is against the war but will build a coalition to win it. He wants to engage in a sensitive war.
In Mr. Kerry's words, September 11, 2001 did not change him in any significant way. I am sorry to say, he is in the minority. Three years ago, Americans would have anguished with the choice of killing someone or having to order someone killed. Today, we have a keen awareness that we have to lower our standards to the standards of the folks we are fighting. There are many militants who need to die and most Americans, including this American, will gladly execute them or die trying. Housewives who traditionally voted pocket book issues are now voting the security of their children. They are painfully aware of the massacre in Russia in which close to 300 innocent children lost their lives and hundreds of other children were humiliated, tortured, forced to drink urine, and publicly undressed. I cannot forget the images I saw on television.
On taxes, Mr. Kerry builds a case for taxing the rich. Yet, in a recently released study by the IRS shows that the top five percent of our taxpayers pickup 53.6 percent of the total tax bill while the bottom 50 percent contribute only 3.5 percent of the tax bill. The remaining 43 percent of the tax bill is picked up by the taxpayers in the 50 percent to 95 percent income level. The average tax rate for the top one percent of the taxpayers is 27.35 percent. The top 10 percent is 20.5 percent. The bottom fifty percent is 3.21 percent. These figures do not address the fact that the wealthy are also the most generous. Witness the number of foundations which have been created to enhance the cultural and educational opportunities for our young. Clearly, the garbage coming out of Mr. Kerry's mouth is not factual.
Then, there is the classless, insensitive remarks Mr. Kerry made to Mr. Cheney when he asked about “your daughter, the lesbian.” Mrs. Kerry cannot compare with Mrs. Bush. Her classless, condescending remarks about “she never had a real job.” Oh, she forgot that she was a teacher and a librarian, for which she apologized later. She also forgot that Mrs. Bush made a conscious decision to sacrifice her professional life to raise a family, the most noble of endeavors. Only a billionaire, who only gives birth to offspring and then pays someone to raise her children could say something like that.
I understand that the press is liberal and has for the past 30 years leaned towards the Democratic Party. But there should be balance in the coverage. Surely, you could have included an article by Peggy Noonan, a brilliant journalist who is a conservative. Surely, there are some conservatives in Laredo who would have gladly expressed their support for Mr. Bush.
I am appalled by your one-sided coverage of the candidates.
Renato Ramirez
10/29/04
To the editor:
Recently I had the opportunity to read your LareDOS publication, and more biased liberal garbage I have never read in one sitting. I'm happy that George W. Bush won. What a great country we have, that in spite of all the Bush-bashing and liberal media, The people of the United States didn't buy any of it. You can only go so far with the negativity and flip-flopping. Fortunately Kerry never understood that. I voted for our president and I am thrilled that he won. God blessed us with a good morale man. God bless America , and God bless our great president.
An Informed American,
Maria Gutierrez
To the editor:
Using the pictures of dead American Warriors is truly disgraceful. I am sure that some other image could have been used to further your point of view.
Rey Cruz
To the editor:
My father visited the week before the elections and because he is a Republican, and I, a Democrat, we had a particularly vivid time hashing out our differences over the environment, the economy, the war in Iraq , and the role of government in society. Because of his visit, I better understand the Republican party's position and its rationale, and my father perhaps understands the Democratic.
On Tuesday morning, November 3 rd , braced for a Bush victory, I was unprepared for its reason. According to the exit polls, a significant number of Americans voted for Bush because of “moral values.” This was explained to be related to the Bush campaign's religious appeal to voters (especially evangelists) via gay marriage, abortion, and government funding of faith-based alternatives to traditional public organizations (schools, social welfare organizations). I have yet to recover from this blow.
As a country, I feel we can disagree about all nature and type of policy, as I do vigorously with my father. Our policy disagreements, though, as profound as they are, pale in light of this very real threat to our democracy. The founding fathers disagreed about many things, but were united in creating a country free of religious constraint. We, united as citizens and inheritors of this gift, must not allow ourselves to disregard its basic foundation.
One might argue that I am dismissing the beliefs of a significant number of Americans, acting as “a blue state elitist.”
Believe what you will, that abortion is murder, or that homosexuality is a sin, or that prayer is good. Our country, though, was not created a theocracy. This is not a belief, it is not a question of moral conscious, it is a fact.
I urge all Americans, Democrats and Republicans alike, to come together to acknowledge, protect, fight for, and defend this fact.
God bless us, Allah bless us, Buddha bless us, Great Spirit bless us, the Existential Void bless us, or not bless us, as the case may be.
Sincerely,
Lynne Sadlek Charles
Madison , CT
(formerly of Laredo , TX )
