Wednesday, May 4, 2005

Letters to the editor

An open letter Editor:

A letter to George W. Bush:

Dear Mr. Bush,

I watched your press conference the other night and I have a few questions for you.

How stupid do you think we are? How stupid do you think we are? How stupid do you think we are? How stupid do you think we are? How stupid do you think we are? How stupid do you think we are? How stupid do you think we are? How stupid do you think we are?

Sincerely, Jim Kolbenschlag

Socorro

Service dilemma

Editor:

Every year when we pay our property taxes, we consider it a bribe. Here's a little money Socorro County, now just don't do anything to us! Like most rural county residents, we don't expect any services from the County and hope, year by year, that they do not attempt to provide any for us. I guess we must have given the County a little too much money this year, because when traveling home the other night, I found that the cattle guard, in use since 1993, had been ripped out and a new one installed 60 feet south of the original. Why?

This expense to the County's coffers (two days, times three men, plus gas and equipment) was at the behest of one dairyman and at the inconvenience of the 50 families who actually use this road to get to work, school and market. The new cattle guard is in an area that ponds with water when it rains. Our "go round" has been fenced and we will not be able to get out come the rainy season.

I always thought that it was the responsibility of the owner to fence cows off of his property. If I had known the County gives away cattle guards to private individuals, I would've had them put a few on our gates.

By the way, the locals are now calling the cattle guard the Edeal Crossing.

Beverly McFarland

Veguita

Ethical behavior

Editor:

I wanted to congratulate you on a well-done editorial regarding plagiarism by Congressman Pearce's staff that you will doubtless receive a lot of flack for. I tend to look for patterns of behavior, and I believe this incident exposes the tip of the iceberg in Congressman Pearce's mode of operation. Perhaps this is not surprising, as Pearce has been heavily funded by one of Tom Delay's political action committees.

I believe that most Americans have strong ethical values, which is why it was a good election strategy in 2004 to talk about "morality." Unfortunately, the walk doesn't match the talk.

In my opinion, Tom Delay, President Bush and Congressman Pearce use words like "ethics" and "traditional values" merely as code words for imposing fundamentalist religious values on mainstream America and rolling back the clock on social and environmental protections.

To these extremists, rational debate is "hatred of America" or "giving succor to the enemy."

Tom Delay has recently defended himself by saying he hasn't broken the law and I suppose Congressman Pearce will say the same thing in the case of his plagiarized column. For the party of "traditional values," absence of convictable criminal acts is hardly a sufficient behavioral criterion.

Those of us who have tried to engage in ethical discussions of political issues said the Iraq invasion would be a disaster not worth the cost in blood and treasure, that our budget deficits would explode from tax cuts for the rich, and that our energy policy was irresponsible and would lead to tears. I believe time is showing the voices of reason to be correct.

The next outrage from the "might makes Right" is John Bolton, who the voices of reason are exposing as an abusive personality hardly qualified to improve America's global reputation for civility and rationality.

I do hope that true conservatives come to agree that their values have been sold out as well by those who claim to represent them.

If rationality, ethics, and minority opinions still mattered to the Republican leadership, then the Democrats would not need to resort to filibustering the unqualified judges proposed by the Bush administration. As it is, they are doing what is right for America.

I give Congressman Pearce kudos in one area only. His staff has always answered my letters, though we have agreed on not a single issue.

Richard Sonnenfeld

Socorro

Grace under fire

Editor:

Recently Dr. Ravi Bhasker, our kindly mayor, was accused of childish behavior during the last televised city council meeting (April 18). To the contrary, Bhasker, undaunted, defended the council and tried to keep the proceedings running in a professional and civilized manner. Bhasker exercised great tolerance and patience during what was an asinine and ineffective display of anger. Bhasker did no yelling or slandering. Bhasker did nothing out of line or discourteous. He did the right thing by trying to keep order.

Councilman Ernest Pargas was debased for the various ideas and projects he has envisioned and worked on in the past. Pargas should be applauded for his verve and interest to do some beneficial things for our city.

Councilman Gordy Hicks was screamed at as if he were a child. This was very uncalled for! Simply asking Hicks to end the phone call would have been sufficient.

In the past, the mayor and city councilmen have been called "spineless" and a myriad of other nasty things. Each and every one of the city council, with one exception, has been reviled. What's the reason? To draw attention to a huge, rabid, ravenous, maniacal ego? This ego loves the notoriety, be it good or bad.

As for Police Chief Haley and the Socorro P.D., I've had many dealings with them. The police and fire departments are knights in shining armor, in my opinion. Thank God for them.

I have nothing but positive comments regarding the city government and departments overall. The mayor runs a smooth ship.

Whatever problems may exist within the police department is something that should be dealt with internally and not brought up in an ever-imploding temper tantrum.

Vivian McAlexander

Socorro

Fair voting

Editor:

The proposal Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist sent to his Democrat colleagues this week could not have been a more fair compromise to end Democrat obstruction of President Bush's highly qualified judicial nominees.

Leader Frist's proposal would guarantee President Bush's nominees a fair up or down vote on the Senate floor while allowing all Senators an opportunity to have their say through a guaranteed 100 hours of debate. This is a reasonable resolution to the Democrats' unprecedented use of the filibuster against President Bush's nominees, and will ensure that the filibuster remains intact for use against legislation.

Democrats are obstructing President Bush's nominees because they know that these nominees will strictly interpret the law — not legislate from the bench. Democrats have even gone so far as to say they will "shut down" the Senate if they do not get their way on judicial nominations.

One of President Bush's nominees, Janice Rogers Brown, grew up as the daughter of Alabama sharecroppers and became the first African-American woman to serve on the California Supreme Court. In 1998, Californians re-elected her with 76 percent of the vote and the majority of Senators support her nomination for a federal judgeship, but Democrats are standing in the way of her receiving an up or down vote on the Senate floor.

A fair up or down vote for highly qualified judicial nominees is too important for Republicans to stand by as Democrats sacrifice decades of Senate tradition for partisan gain.

Lester Brennan

Socorro

Another faux pas

Editor:

This is a footnote to my April 27 Letter to the Editor regarding Rep. Steve Pearce's plagiarism of much of the text in his Defensor Chieftain article on the Republican energy bill.

It appears that his March (19) El Defensor Chieftain article on Social Security was also lifted en masse from other sources — in this case, either the Republican National Committee Points or the National Federation of Republican Women Political Briefing. (I imagine the latter stole it from the former.) Much of the text of the article is identical to text at those sources.

Jan Deininger

Socorro

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