“Hot” Congressman

Dear Box:

Many issues of The Zephyr ago, in his column Springpatch Parade, Rich Miller declared the editorial board of the Peoria Journal-Star was smitten with Aaron Schock. In their eyes, he could do no wrong.

Judging from his profile of Schock in the most recent issue of The Zephyr, Mike Kroll has joined the legion of Schock's admirers. That is not surprising; as AJ. Liebling said in another context, Schock "exudes sincerity as far as a llama can spit." Its effect on Kroll was to cause him not to challenge Schock on his claims of searching for bipartisan solutions to the nation's problems.

For example, he claimed he had co-sponsored an amendment with Barney Frank, a liberal Democrat from Massachusetts. Apparently Kroll failed to ask three important questions about that amendment. What was the subject of the bill and of the amendment? Were Frank and Schock the only sponsors? And finally, did Schock vote for the amended bill when it came before the full House, or did he vote against it, saying that while the amendment had improved the bill, it was still too unpalatable for Schock's taste? That is the trick the Republicans in the House and the Senate have played over and over again, seeking to weaken administration proposals.

And why did not Kroll challenge Schock's hypocrisy over voting against President Barack Obama's Recovery Act, and then showing up, front and center, for the announcements of projects made possible by the Act?

Aaron Schock is neither a right wing robot, nor a responsible representative. He is a main-chance politician, seizing any issue that might enhance his image and re-electibility.

During his first congressional campaign, he expressed strong support for Taiwan against Red China. When the Caterpillar Tractor Corporation, which engages extensively in trade with Red China, expressed dismay over Schock's views, Schock hastily backpedaled, thereby demonstrating he knew from whence his campaign contributions came.

Schock has been described as "hot," particularly when he is photographed without a shirt. While that distinguishes him from the overwhelming majority of his Republican colleagues, his voting record is identical to theirs.

Schock is in marked contrast to Phil Hare, the representative of our district. To say the least, Hare is not just another pretty face. He is not "hot," with or without a shirt. He supported the recovery act, the health care bill and Wall Street reform. He is a staunch defender of Social Security. Most important, his words and deeds are motivated by a deep and abiding concern for the people whom he represents. It goes without saying that is a concept foreign to Aaron Schock.

Christian Schock

Galesburg

Animal helpers feud

Editor:

In the August 19 edition of The Zephyr, Erin Buckmaster, spokesperson for the Knox County Humane Society, was quoted as saying that the Humane Society takes “…donations from anybody, except them [Guardian Angels].” A photo on the front page showed a pile of pet food which the Humane Society refused to accept and actually returned!

I had to read the article twice, because it made no sense that a nonprofit organization which exists to help animals actually refused food donations because it did not like the donor!

It makes sense that the Guardian Angels, an organization which is a licensed humane society, but has no shelter, would seek to assist the animals in the shelter itself. A donation of food makes wonderful sense. The Knox County Humane Society’s combative action of refusing assistance makes no sense and is destructive to the very animals the society was created to help.

If anyone went hungry that night, it was not any of the board members nor was it the Humane Society’s spokesperson, but it would have been some of the animals housed at the shelter.

Sometimes in volunteer organization, the people involved become so enmeshed in their own concerns over turf or whatever that they lose sight of the purpose of the organization itself. It appears that this is what has happened at the Knox County Humane Society. It’s time for that board to reexamine its operations, and perhaps shuffle some of the volunteer responsibilities.

Phyllis Riess

Galesburg

Editor:

I just finished reading a story in The Zephyr about the long standing feud the Knox County Humane Society has with Guardian Angels Humane Society. This is truly a sad situation where Erin Buckmaster and the KCHS board will not accept help [a donation of pet food] from the Guardian Angels. What are they thinking? They will accept donations from people associated with Guardian Angels but not from the organization itself. Again, What are they thinking?

Erin Buckmaster, the spokesperson for KCHS was quoted, "We take donations from anybody, except them (Guardian Angels), because they are competitors with us." Is she out of her mind? This is not and should not be a competition! This is for the animals. Maybe Erin and some others at the KCHS have forgotten this.

Personally, I have a problem with this attitude. I also have a problem with a non-profit organization that wants donations and refuses to allow that person to come to board meetings or have access to financial records. This is a non-profit organization, for Pete's sake. I'm not asking for personal tax returns! If I donate money to something of this sort, I want to know what they do with that money. I think that is only fair.

Erin and the board better adjust their attitudes before the poor animals suffer more from these insane ideas.

This is not a competition! Get that through your thick heads!

Pam Winkler

Galesburg

Winners and losers

Editor:

Everyone has a different view of what they think a winner and loser are. My idea is that a person that doesn’t make fun of people and doesn’t say bad things to anyone in their city or town out in public is a winner. I believe a loser is a person that likes to make fun of people in their town or city and say bad things to different people. Being mean to people is their sick entertainment!

I don’t have to make fun of anyone in Galesburg and I don’t have to say anything bad to anyone in Galesburg because I’m too decent to do that, plus I have better forms of entertainment than that! The only people in Galesburg that I say anything bad about are people that are mean for no reason that I have never been mean to. Anyone is Galesburg that is good to me I found something good to say about them. I say people in Galesburg that say mean things to anyone or about anyone in Galesburg, if those people never did anything bad to them, they are losers for saying that!

I’m from Dahinda and I have lived in Abingdon, Kewanee and Galesburg, and in every town I have lived in my motto was: You don’t have to like everyone in your town or city, just respect everyone. I say like and respect don’t have to go together, you don’t have to like someone in your town to respect them.

There are some people I like in Galesburg and there are some I don’t like. I choose not to hang around with too many people because I have had problems with friends in the past in Galesburg. I say good friends are hard to find that always treat you right and don’t use you in any way. I say you have more bad friends than good friends over a lifetime, at least that is how it is for some people.

The people I don’t like in Galesburg, if I see them out in public I never make fun of them, and I never say anything bad to them. I respect them. I believe your enemies deserve some respect as long as they are not doing anything bad to you. My idea is if you think you can’t be civil to an enemy, then just ignore him or her.

I don’t care how long or short the guys wear their hair in Galesburg or anywhere else. I don’t tell anyone how to wear their hair and I don’t bash anyone because of how they wear their hair because I figure how they wear their hair is their business and how I wear my hair is my business.

I say you can find rudeness in more than one place. Some people that work in public places of business in Galesburg are rude. Sometimes you can find people that go to church that are verbally rude in church, and I say if you can’t be nice to everyone in church, don’t go to church. I went to church last Sunday with my girlfriend and the minister was talking about some pro baseball player a long time ago that everyone made fun of but yet he didn’t give up and became a good player and finally got respected by the fans.

I judge a minister on how he talks to all people that come to church and on his sermon. Is it love or hate toward other people? I believe a good minister should say we shouldn’t make fun of anyone and treat everyone with kindness and respect. I say a good minister shouldn’t bash anyone for their looks because I believe church should be for people with all kinds of looks.

I never bash anyone for their looks. That’s why the world is messed up today, because their isn’t respect for all people! Everyone needs respect from other people to have a good life!

John Collopy

Galesburg

Talking down to everyone

Editor:

The big question once again; can anyone tell me where we are headed? This President still has a lot of people maintaining a good bit of faith in him. Without accusing anyone of anything let's pose a hypothetical situation. If someone had the idea of bringing America to her knees, and they knew an outright war would be a loser, what would be a good second plan? Now if you could manage to get a ringer in the Oval Office that would continue to spend money long after there was none to spend, this country would eventually collapse from its own debt. It is pretty obvious what I am getting at because the hypothetical is already at work.

How do we defend ourselves after China and Saudi Arabia own us? We cannot borrow any money to fight a war, we owe so much now I doubt if anyone would loan us any more. So after another year or two of this spending and blaming Bush, where do we turn? The poorly applied stimulus money isn't going to do us any good, and I don't think it was really intended to. What it was intended for was putting us in debt, and it worked for that. I can only laugh, although a little angrily, at this administration when I hear them brag about all the jobs they have created and saved. What a pant load of loose gooey, is all I can say.

This is not intended to make anyone mad, although it probably will, but I have been considering what it takes to be a liberal, and I think I have it. There is no one thing that can taint a person's mind to such a degree, and I won't be able to name them all, but I have a start. The very first thing you need to be a liberal is a desire to be better than. So the first thing I think they believe is they were somehow conceived by some sort of Immaculate Conception. Let me set you straight on this one first; it is a dumb idea. The only thing close for most of you would be if your Dad was one that kept his car very clean, you could have said the area in which you were conceived was very immaculate. Or more pointedly, the back seat was very clean. Okay, I reckon you understand that, that clears up the first idea.

Secondly, it seems that you would like to portray the idea that you are the only ones on this earth that cares about our environment. Those lousy Conservatives do nothing but try and make money and foul everything they touch. In reality you liberals serve a good purpose here as a reminder, but that is about all. While you are crying and gnashing your teeth about those degenerate Conservatives, they are working and making money and using it to do what you can only talk about. The Conservatives carry the ball while you sit on the sidelines and attempt to take all the credit. Often this works, but only because of a warped news media that is playing your game. The reality is, in many ways you stand in the way of progress, retard many projects that could have been completed years ago. The saddest being our forced dependence on foreign oil, which also could someday transfer into a national safety hazard in time of any sort of conflict where foreign oil may be used as a weapon against us.

Also I have noticed another liberal trait is wire rimmed glasses and to have longer than normal hair, and either straight hair, or if curly it must be worn in a bit of an afro cut. This along with faded blue jeans, deck shoes, and either a tee shirt or a button shirt with only the two bottom buttons used. Now this is the casual dress and if it becomes necessary to spruce up a bit, just go to the v neck t-shirt and blazer. This is good for most affairs and if it is necessary to dress formally simply slip a white dress shirt on over the t-shirt and a blazer and there you go, ready for any ballroom.

There are many more ways to detect a liberal, but generally if you hear someone blaming someone else for the wet spot in their blue jeans, yep they are a liberal. The easiest way to tell a liberal is to just listen; you will hear the pie in the sky talk that always sounds so good. That is as long as it is just talk followed by no action. When the work begins just look around, all that will be left are hard working Conservatives, and it will be their entire fault if all does not go well. Even in the event that all is finished in a timely manner and with success, there is a good chance the liberals will be back to point out how they would have done it better.

The surest way to tell a liberal is to watch them in any kind of political debate, they fold their arms in front of their chest, cock their head back in a condescending manner and talk down to anyone and everyone. At the outset they seem to have some pretty good ideas, but they are thin as water. When you apply some common logic their straw house begins to collapse, the only thing they have left is anger. It begins slowly by them talking over you; next they accuse you of being the one that interrupted. This is usually followed by a semi-mild temper tantrum and of course an abrupt end to the discussion.

Now that I have the liberals figured out, I need to start working on us Conservatives, but it just could be someone will do that for me. The real truth is I have no hard feelings toward liberals as the truth is we need them. We need people of all persuasions and all the input we can get, but it needs to be from friends and people that are concerned about America. Look at our President, I honestly think that under his veneer of arrogance is probably a very good man; unfortunately he is so worried about trying to be a great man, when all he is, is just another man with a gift of gab. Twenty years ago he would have worked for Electrolux selling vacuum cleaners. He just happened along when people were more concerned about showing how far we had come in our quest for racial equality than they were worried about qualifications of a president.

Tim May

Cherryville, N.C.

Murdoch’s millions

Editor:

I don't know which of Tim May's two assertions in last week's Zephyr is more absurd – that President Obama is a Muslim, or that Fox News is in any way, shape or form "fair and balanced." Of course there are other delusional right-wingers who harbor the belief that our President is a Muslim, and when you have Rush Limbaugh spouting that lie, as well as Billy Graham's vitriolic truth–challenged son Franklin implying the same, you have a gullible populace who will swallow the whopper. Rupert Murdoch has been pouring millions into Republican races and so it is clearly incredible to claim his television phony news operation is the least bit fair and balanced. It never fails to amaze me to see what gutter-snipe tactics right-wingers will resort to – but since they are totally inept at governing or fixing any of the country's very real problems, they have to practice the spread of disinformation just to keep their weak-minded supporters interested.

Judith Squires

New York, N.Y.

Hostile takeover

Editor:

Dr. Nelson Nagi, my college economics professor, insisted his students know the basics of how the economy works in a capitalistic system. The two most important multipliers fueling a robust economy are business and consumer spending in the private sector.

A government can only spend money it takes from the private sector and it cannot create jobs without that money. When the government takes money out of the private sector, you and I have less disposable income, reducing our purchasing power. This is the main argument for a smaller, leaner government.

Mr. Hare, as a socialist, your fanatical support for new federal government programs makes it obvious that you don't understand – or just don't care – how capitalism works.

The overwhelming number of new government regulations being placed on businesses makes it difficult, even impossible in some cases, for business owners to hire anyone – thereby prolonging the recession and unemployment in the 17th District.

Additionally, by openly embracing Obama's anti-capitalist, anti-free market, radical agenda, and your irresponsible voting for big-spending government programs, Mr. Hare, you are directly responsible for the massive deficit with which the US now finds itself burdened.

Your deplorable failure, Mr. Hare, to fight against Obama's financially-hostile takeover of America's economy proves you have tossed aside the trust of your constituents to curry favor with the elitists in Washington D.C.

Ken Moffett

Moline

Editor’s note:

In the last few weeks we have received several letters containing ad hominum, insulting attacks on other letter writers, with little or no reference to actual social or political issues. We usually print all letters from local area writers but in this case we edited out some personal references in one letter which had some relevance to national political issues; another letter we simply refused to print because it was completely a personal attack. Please, in letters to the editor, deal with issues and not personalities of other letter writers.