[Below is a letter in response to an article by Peter Wehner, Senior Fellow at the Ethics & Public Policy Center, that appeared in the March 21st issue of Time magazine. Wehner bemoans the state of the Republican Party but states he will not vote for Donald J. Trump under any circumstances. I find that an absurd position and one that if followed by large numbers would guarantee a Clinton presidency. And disaster for the future of the United States of America.]
Peter…. At age 77, I, as well as you, have been around the block a few times. I am a life-long Republican and was the publisher of a Midwest daily newspaper for several years. The paper was owned by members of my family for nearly 100 years. Our editorial stance was that of moderate Republican.
I agree with much of what you wrote but not all. As far as I am concerned, the Republican Party and those elected under that umbrella not only became tone deaf to ordinary Americans, but have lined their own pockets in the process. The Republican dominated Congress has done worse than nothing. They have betrayed the people who put them there. In all, the Republican Party over many years has, in my humble opinion, morphed into a self-serving, egotistical, ideologue dragon to the detriment of common folks and the country. The dragon slayer is on site in the form of Donald J. Trump. It is time for the existing establishment Republican Party to be killed. Nothing less will work… and it is in full panic mode.
What disturbed me most about your article was the statement you will not vote for Trump under any circumstances. You would prefer a President Hillary Clinton. That, with certainty, would mean the demise of the United States of America in short order. We cannot and must not continue the present course if we want to survive. In my opinion, none of the other Republican candidates (Rubio, Cruz, and Kasich) are capable of turning the course. Rubio is a light weight, Cruz is a ideologue and the Pinocchio of the Party, and Kasich was a darling of Lehman Brothers and not trustworthy either. Then we have Uncle Bernie… enough said. And Hillary who is so entangled in emails and the Clinton Foundation and much worse self-serving activity and outright lies she is blatantly disqualified.
Donald Trump is a threat to those in power. Obviously, he threatens you, too. I, for one, am willing to cast my vote for Trump. I see him as the one hope for a better future for the USA. He may not succeed, but I am convinced he will do his damnedest in trying. It is going to take a Trump to offer the Republican Party a chance to remake itself into something again relevant.
Dear RNC by Anonymous
[I could not help passing this along to you……]
This letter was sent to 100% FED Up! by an anonymous author:
It doesn’t matter who you support for President in 2016. This letter will make you want to stand up and cheer for the 80 year old American who expresses what most of us are feeling right now. Enjoy…
Dear Representative,
From the time I was able to vote I voted Republican. I am 80 years old, and have a great deal of respect and influence with hundreds of senior ball players who also network with thousands of others around the country.
I received your questionnaire and request for money and strongly agree with every question, as I have since Obama was elected. Unfortunately the one question that was missing is “What have the Republicans done for the American people?” We gave you a majority in the House and Senate, yet you never listened to us. Now you want our money.
You should be more concerned about our votes, not our money. You are the establishment, which means all you want is to save your jobs and line your pockets… Well guess what? “It’s not going to happen” You shake in your boots when I tell you we’re giving our support to TRUMP and he hasn’t asked for a dime.
You might think we are fools because you feel Trump is on a self destruction course, but you need to look beyond Washington and listen to the masses. Nobody has achieved what he has, especially in the liberal state of New York.
You clearly don’t understand why the Trump movement is so strong, so I’d like to share with you an analogy to help explain the Trump phenomenon. By the way, it’s not just the Republicans who feel ignored and disrespected; there are plenty of Democrats and Independents who also feel let down by the Washington elite. You seem to have forgotten about “We The People” and who hired you to represent us.
So here it is, the best analogy I could come up with. Here is the reason so many Americans have boarded the Trump Train, and why your pleas to come back to the party who deserted us, is falling on deaf ears:
You’ve been on vacation for two weeks, you come home, and your basement is infested with raccoons. Hundreds of rabid, messy, mean raccoons have overtaken your basement. You want them gone immediately…You call the city and four different exterminators, but nobody could handle the job. There is this one guy however, who guarantees you he will get rid of them, so you hire him. You don’t care if the guy smells, you don’t care if the guy swears, you don’t care how many times he’s been married, you don’t care if he was friends with liberals, you don’t care if he has plumber’s crack…you simply want those raccoons gone! You want your problem fixed! He’s the guy. He’s the best. Period.
Here’s why we want Trump: Yes he’s a bit of an ass, yes he’s an egomaniac, but we don’t care. The country is a mess because politicians have become too self-serving. The Republican Party is two-faced & gutless. Illegal aliens have been allowed to invade our nation. We want it all fixed! We don’t care that Trump is crude, we don’t care that he insults people, we don’t care that he had been friendly with Hillary, we don’t care that he has changed positions, we don’t care that he’s been married three times, we don’t care that he fights with Megan Kelly and Rosie O’Donnell, we don’t care that he doesn’t know the name of some Muslim terrorist.
This country is weak, bankrupt, our enemies are making fun of us, we are being invaded by illegal aliens and bringing tens of thousands of Muslim refugees to America, while leaving Christians behind to be persecuted. We are becoming a nation of victims where every Tom, Ricardo and Hasid is part of a special group with special rights to the point where we don’t even recognize the country we were born and raised in; “AND WE JUST WANT IT FIXED” and Trump is the only guy who seems to understand what the people want.
We’re sick of politicians. We’re sick of the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. We just want this thing fixed. Trump may not be a saint, but he isn’t beholden to lobbyist money and he doesn’t have political correctness restraining him. All we know is that he has been very successful, he’s an excellent negotiator, he has built a lot of things, and he’s also not a politician. He’s definitely not a cowardly politician. When he says he’ll fix it, we believe him because he is too much of an egotist to be proven wrong or looked at and called a liar.
Oh yeah…I forgot…we don’t care if the guy has bad hair either.
We just want those raccoons gone.
Out of your house.
NOW!
Nevadans: Choose Wisely
Nevadans have the opportunity to choose.
Deceit, manipulation, and lies have proved Ted Cruz to be nothing more than a commensurate Washington politician. He was educated in East Coast schools, practiced law in Washington DC, hid personal loans from Goldman Sachs and Citibank from Texas voters, and is not respected or liked by Senate peers. In short, he cannot be trusted.
Then there is Marco Rubio who claims more than any to have extensive foreign policy experience when that largely consists of sitting in a chair in a Senate committee room for briefings. He rarely showed up for votes in the Senate and has the worst voting record of any Senator. His prior experience consists of time in the Florida General Assembly. A lot of mouth and no action.
Both are less-than-one term Senators ala Barrack Obama. Neither has managed anything including a hot dog stand, so know little about business or economics.
Nevadans, please choose wisely.
The Ringmaster
The South Carolina debate was a real circus that had one “Ringmaste
r“: Donald J. Trump!
Trump has the establishment GOP going nuts. In New Hampshire, he drew support from every demographic one can imagine. People are both angry and afraid. And the establishment GOP candidates are just not convincing they would or could shake up the system that has put the United States at real risk.
The latest that really upset people is the announcement by Carrier Air Conditioning (United Technologies) that it is moving a manufacturing plant to Mexico. Just the kind of corporate thing Trump has spoken about for months. Some 1,400 people in an Indianapolis plant will be losing their jobs.
The United States has been shipping manufacturing and other well paying jobs out of the country by the millions. The Obama administration via the Department of Labor statistics touts a 5.6% unemployment rate, but here are things you need to know.
If you are so hopelessly out of work that you have stopped looking over the past four weeks — the Department of Labor does not count you as unemployed. If, for example, you are an out-of-work engineer or healthcare worker or retail manager: If you perform a minimum of one hour of work in a week and are paid at least $20 — maybe someone pays you to mow their lawn — you are not officially counted as unemployed in the much-reported 5.6%. If you have a degree in chemistry or math and are working 10 hours part time because that is all you can find, the government does not count you in the 5.6%. Right now there are as many as 30 million Americans either out of work or severely underemployed. So, we have been fed the BIG LIE.
Trump may not be an angel, but he may be our only hope. We must stop the horrible trade agreements, stop the incentives that send jobs to other countries, stop the inflow of immigrants [legal and illegal] that in part take what jobs there are, and stop the ability of corporations to escape their financial responsibilities by locating “headquarters” in other countries while raping the people of the USA. Trump has talked about all of this.
It is going to be interesting to see what the people of South Carolina think.
NOT Cruz
The Kokomo Tribune’s editorial about the dirty tricks perpetrated by Senator Ted Cruz during the Iowa caucus was on target. Cruz needed to be called to task for the mailer misrepresenting Iowa election law according to the Iowa Secretary of State and for exploiting the erroneous but quickly corrected tweet by CNN that Dr. Ben Carson was suspending his campaign; so vote for Cruz. These actions by Cruz were typical of dirty politicians. There is more.
Cruz bills himself as the true evangelical Christian and Tea Party darling in the race for President. The intended message to this constituency: vote for me. There is an elephant in the room. According to the Associated Press, between 2006 and 2010, Cruz and wife donated less than 1% of income to charity; and NONE to churches. Let me repeat… NONE to churches! Is this the way of a true Christian? I think not. It is politics as usual. All talk; no action. There is more.
Cruz has less than one term in the US Senate. To win his Senate bid, he obtained, but did not report, a several hundred thousand dollar loan from Goldman Sachs, the financial giant on Wall Street at the center of controversy about East Coast and Wall Street power. How was this loan possible? Cruz’s wife, Heidi, is a long time investment banker with Goldman Sachs. He also secured a line of credit from Citibank, another of the Wall Street financial giants. Cruz claimed he and his wife had liquidated their personal
savings to fund his campaign. This wasn’t exactly true. They used their assets as loan collateral. However, he didn’t want the voters in Texas to know the truth. He was running his campaign as a critic of bank bailouts and corporate cronyism. A New York Times article exposed his loans and reporting failures. When confronted with this during a debate, he dismissed his dishonesty as a “paper error” and attacked the New York Times. He next attempted to fog over his failings by attacking New York values. The buzz saw called Donald Trump made quick work of that tactic. There is more.
Cruz bills himself as a Washington outsider but in truth he is a consummate East Coast Washingtonian. He graduated from Princeton and Harvard. He clerked for Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist, and then practiced corporate law. He served George W. Bush as a domestic policy advisor. He was an associate deputy attorney general in the Department of Justice and has argued cases before the Supreme Court. He never managed anything—not even a hot dog stand. Cruz knows little about business or economics.
Cruz is a politician with a golden tongue and scant business experience. Similar to our current President, he has served less than one term as a United States Senator. Yet, he boldly declares he is the ideal Republican Presidential candidate. I strongly disagree. Seek elsewhere.
Ken Ferries Column
In his Kokomo Tribune column on December 31st, Ken Ferries attempts to ridicule and insult the field of Republican candidates for the Presidency of the United States. It was not funny. It is not time for “funny”. The country is in trouble with an incompetent Democrat President in office for another year and yes, a do-nothing Republican Congress.
In his last paragraph, Ferries states he is hopeful someone will emerge as an adult in this presidential race. He further states…. “maybe from the other side of the political fence”. That got me. Ferries does not take on the Democratic Party candidates for the Presidency of which there is really only one viable one, Ms. Hillary Clinton. He does not point out Ms. Clinton was an incompetent Secretary of State that did little except to fly all over the planet. Certainly her efforts, in concert with President Obama, in the Middle East produced nothing but continuing disaster including the murdering of our Ambassador at Benghazi. Then there are all sorts of questions emerging about the Clinton Foundation: how it is financed, who are the contributors, what might be expected by contributors, and on and on. And Ms. Clinton is still being investigated by the FBI for her actions with a private email server in her home over which she had complete control in violation of law regarding certain federal government communications. I hope Ferries does not believe Ms. Clinton qualifies as the “adult” from the other side of the political spectrum. Ms. Clinton has tons of dark baggage including who would become the “First Gentleman” if she became President.
"The Week" Commentary
Letter to the Editor, The Week Magazine…
Your Editor-in-Chief, William Falk, has his bias really showing. He really dislikes Donald Trump… and the sky, may, indeed really be falling. The world is a total mess thanks to Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld and others. Then came Obama. The Democrats have landed on a liar, incompetent, and murderer (think Benghazi) for a candidate for President. The field of GOP is terrible with two less-than-one term Senators who (like Obama) have managed nothing, another Bush, a doctor who is a nice guy, a New Jersey governor who cozies up to Islam, a minister who is “fundamental”, and more. Then there is Trump. Yes, he is brash, boisterous, and uncouth. What you cannot deny is that he is successful. He knows the players and the skeletons and the dirty tricks. He employs thousands from all sorts of backgrounds. And he knows the direction of this country must change. We are, indeed, well on our way down the tube. The people in the heart of the country know this. Yes, they are afraid. Justifiably so. Trump is a risk, but one many of us believe must be taken if the USA is to survive.
Any doubt?
I just read two articles in “The Week” magazine I want to share, then you be the judge.
The first: dateline Abha, Saudi Arabia…
“Poet sentenced to death: Writers around the world are asking Saudi Arabia to release a poet and artist sentenced to death for his poetry. Ashraf Fayadh, 32, a Palestinian born and raised in Saudi Arabia, was condemned on charges of apostasy (an abandonment or breach of faith) for poems that prosecutors said insult the Prophet Mohammad and encouraged atheism, an apparent reference to the lines “Prophets have retired/ So do not wait for your to come to you.” The arrest stemmed from an argument that broke out with another man while they were watching a soccer match at a cafe; the man complained to Saudi Arabia’s religious police, accusing Fayadh of renouncing his Islamic faith.”
How would you like to be a Christian or Buddhist or of another religious tradition and live in Saudi Arabia???????
The second: Arab nations that ignore the refugees….
“As the US and Europe debate how many Syrian refugees they can absorb, little attention is being paid “to the region where the refugees could best start life anew,” said Douglas Feith (in the Wall Street Journal). That’s “the Arabian Peninsula and its Arabic-speaking, oil-rich countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.” About 4.3 million Syrians now await resettlement in the vast, squalid camps in Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Turkey, and Egypt. But right next door, the oil-rich nations of the Arabian Peninsula are simply ignoring this desperate mass of humanity, even though they are mostly fellow Sunnis. Now, there’s no doubt that some of the opposition in the US and Europe to accepting the refugees has been racist. “But it isn’t bigoted to question the wisdom of trying to incorporate hundreds of thousands — and perhaps several million — refugees in the West.” Adapting to new culture and language is very hard, and refugees often can’t practice professions they had at home because their degrees and licenses don’t transfer. They’d have a far easier adjustment if accepted by Arab nations with abundant wealth. It’s time for the West to “shame” these nations into sharing this responsibility.”
My conclusion is we are suckers. You be the judge.
Van wreck and poverty
There was a column in the September 30th Kokomo Tribune written by Jon Webb of the Evansville Courier & Press. It was the story of 22 immigrants in a 1994 Dodge 16-passenger van who were traveling from Washington, IN, to a temporary employment center some miles away. The van was in very poor state of repair including bald tires. A tire blew. The van crashed killing two and injuring all others aboard. Jon’s column is the story of poverty and what it does to people who are desperate. I wrote to Jon……..
“Jon… thank you for your column about the 22 people in the van. Personally, I believe there to be no excuse for any in the United States to go hungry or not have a proper place to lay their head at night….. or for that matter not to be able to find a job that pays a living wage. That might sound strange from a life long Republican given the crop of do-nothing “Republicans” in Congress now; particularly the extreme religious right wing variety.
We send billions to other countries when not taking care of our own. We send millions of jobs overseas that once were the economic engine for our country. We poke our nose militarily into places or conflicts that pose no threat to the USA. And we are on the way to economic catastrophe with spending out of control.
Then there is immigration. You mention that the 22 in the van mostly were Haitian immigrants. The thought that immediately flashed into mind was whether they were in the USA legally or illegally…. not that that would make any difference as to the tragedy that befell them. Then thoughts wandered to what is happening in Europe with the mass migration of people from the Middle East and Africa and what, clearly, is the case with our own southern border. It all ties together.
I think unless we have the will to take bold action, this country will be in deep trouble…. already is. Our political class has sold us down the river for their own personal gain. I find that I have become a fan of one who once was a politician, Pat Buchanan. He was a proponent of “fortress America”…. America first. First with a healthy America; then reaching out into the world. We are not healthy. Again, I find it appalling that any in the USA are hungry or without shelter. Shame on us. “
The DARK Act coming
[What is written below is a response to a column in the Kokomo Tribune written by Isabella Chism, second vice president of the Indiana Farm Bureau. Her column was also published as a reader letter in the Kokomo Perspective.]
Isabella Chism’s column in the August 14th Kokomo Tribune about GMOs and advocating passage by the United States Senate (Act already passed the House of Representatives) of HR 1599 concerning GMOs was certainly interesting. The only problem is that it was chocked full of false or misleading information.
The Act she references is titled, “Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act”. It is anything but that. The only parties benefiting from this legislation are the giant food processing corporations and the giant chemical/seed corporations; the very ones I do not trust to have the public’s interest and health at heart. Bottom line profit dollars drive them.
Let me explain. This Act silences any legislation passed by states regarding the labeling of foods containing ingredients from genetically engineered crops, largely corn and soy beans at present. It puts all authority for labeling into the hands of the federal agency that has already failed the public, the FDA. It was not the scientists in the FDA who failed us; it was the political appointees who overrode the scientists concerns. Under this Act, no food currently on the market would be required to be labeled.
Some 64 countries worldwide require foods containing genetically engineered ingredients to be labeled as containing such. This includes China and Russia and all of the European Union countries and more. The citizens in those countries wanted to know what was in the foods they purchase and feed their families so they can make personal choices. In the United States, the move is to secrecy. Sixty-four other countries cannot be wrong. The USA is one country that is…. at the behest of food, big agriculture, and chemical/seed companies. As a past newspaper publisher, I vehemently object. I hold the strong belief people have the right to know what is in food and how it is produced; no secrets.
Ms. Chism states “we can grow more crops on less land using fewer pesticides and less water and fuel”. This is blatantly false. For example, use of the primary pesticide, glyphosate (typically Roundup) has skyrocketed in recent years. The reason for genetically engineered corn and soy beans in the first place was to enable those crops to withstand massive doses of glyphosate and live while the weeds around them die. That is it. There is no benefit to the consumer who shops at the local grocery store.
The World Health Organization (WHO) International Agency for Research on Cancer has recently declared glyphosate to be a “probable human carcinogen”. In short, it causes cancer. Residues of this pesticide follow the crops from field to the dinner table. Glyphosate is sprayed everywhere. Wouldn’t you like to know what poison is on your plate?
Glyphosate is becoming less and less effective with the emergence of resistant weeds. What we have to look forward to next are genetically engineered crops able to withstand massive doses of 2,4,D (an Agent Orange component) and dicamba, two even more toxic poisons that will follow food to the dinner table.
Ms. Chism states the FDA, USDA, AMA, National Academy of Sciences, World Health Organization, and dozens of other scientific organizations have confirmed that GMOs are as safe for human consumption as non-GMO products. They have done no such thing. There have been no long term human safety studies conducted by independent scientists. Animal studies, mostly in other countries, have shown cause for significant concern. I already stated the WHO Cancer Agency just recently determined the primary pesticide used on GMOs (genetically engineered crops) causes cancer. The AMA sits the fence. The FDA has been politically manipulated. I could go on.
Ms. Chism writes about grapes, tangelos, broccoli and many other “modified foods” and how she has fed her family with these. She also states farmers have changed the genetic makeup of all crops grown since domestic agriculture began including organic and heirloom seeds. She wants us to believe that today’s genetic engineering of plants and animals is the same as has been going on in agriculture for centuries. Again, blatantly wrong. The technology required to transfer a gene from one organism to another is nothing like that used to select plants with desirable traits, then grow them. It is nothing like what is required to develop plant hybrids. What genetic engineering of plants does is violate biological barriers that have existed for eons in ways that are unpredictable, risky, and reckless. Her grapes, tangelos, and broccoli are not genetically engineered as the term is defined in science or molecular biology today. As one with advanced university degrees from Purdue in both toxicology and genetics, I tell you straight out that this technology is far from precise or outcomes predictable. What is predictable is that there is risk of new allergens, toxins, and disease causing rogue proteins. I think you have a right to know that.
Another reason I find Ms. Chism’s article interesting is that she is the second vice president of the Indiana Farm Bureau. This already is cause for rising of eyebrows. Her article could have been written by the public relations department of any of the giant chemical/seed companies. It is the party line. The problem is that much of that line is false. I recommend to any interested a book written a few years ago called, “Uncertain Peril”, by Claire Hope Cummings. She details the coming of genetic engineering in agriculture, how it happened and what risks are presented in much more detail than I can write here.
Finally, contrary to Ms. Chism’s urgings, I urge Senators Coats and Donnelly vote “NO” on the Senate version of HR 1599. I urge them to support labeling of genetically engineered foods. I urge them to support the public right to know what is in food and how it is produced. No secrets. No lies. If this bill passes Congress, I urge President Obama to veto it.