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Hernando Today

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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Hernando Today

Published: August 7, 2008

Enough With Obama's

Middle Name Already

I know I shouldn't, and it won't do any good anyway, but I get upset whenever some writer hacks away at the fact that U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Barack Obama's middle name is "Hussein" and that his father was a Muslim, so Sen. Obama is therefore a Muslim in disguise. Or as some writers have slyly tagged him, a "closet Muslim."

Come on, people! This has been debunked again and again. Sen. Obama is not now, nor has he ever been a Muslim! He went to school in Indonesia for a couple years because his parents lived there, but the school was not a madrassa, the school of the fundamentalist Wahhabi sect of Islam. Yes, it was a Muslim-run school in a predominantly Muslim country, but is someone automatically a Catholic because their parents sent them to the Catholic school offering the best education?

Let's get something else straight. Well, a couple things, but this one first. Like Christianity, Buddhism, or Wicca, Islam is a religion, not a nationality or a race. My son, born into a Christian family and raised in the Christian tradition, converted to Judaism and is very happy with it. If he lives the rest life in the Jewish religious tradition, however, he will not ever be a Jew. You have to be born of a Jewish mother to be a Jew, period. Judaism is a religion, and there are Jews who are Christians, followers of other religions, agnostics and probably even atheists. You can be born into a family that practices a certain religion, but that doesn't make you one unless you choose to be one.

How about that middle name? Parents usually give their children names that reflect their heritage and lineage or maybe a name picked out of a book, a movie, the sports pages or conjured out of their own imagination. Do you suppose Mr. Obama would have named his son "Wilberforce Norman Obama?" No! He gave him the name "Hussein" because it was part of the family tradition and as common as "Smith" or "Jones" here. Just because a now deceased dictator had that name in no way reflects on any one of the probable hundreds of thousands of Middle Eastern boys and men with the same name any more than a Hispanic male named "Jesus" can perform miracles.

Some seem to have the notion that a person must be a Caucasian male Christian (yes, Charlotte, Protestants, Catholics and Mormons are all followers of the Christian religion) with a northern European heritage. Funny, though, I don't think there's anything in the U.S. Constitution that requires that kind of exclusivity.

Let's get on with dissecting, analyzing, discussing and arguing about what Sens. Obama and John McCain are promising to do for this great country and leave their age, race and religious beliefs out of it. Some say "This is a republic, not a democracy." It's also not a theocracy for Caucasians only and I, for one, don't want it to be.

Gail B. Leatherwood

Spring Hill

County Onslaught Continues

Well, it is now less than 100 days until we elect our new county commissioners, and it appears that nothing has changed the mindset of the "Gang of Three" - Commissioners Jeff Stabins, Diane Rowden and Chris Kingsley.

As our county continues in the throes of a deepening recession, unemployment the second highest percentage in Florida, foreclosure of homes in the hundreds and numerous families becoming destitute and homeless, they continue their efforts of inefficiency and reckless proposals in the hopes of being re-elected this coming November. Now, I want you all to take serious note of their most recent proposals: $50 million for a new courthouse; $600,000 to maintain THE Bus; in excess of $700,000 to maintain a legal staff of five attorneys and office assistants, who usually hire outside specialist attorneys for counseling services; and now they have their illustrious county administrator working on a proposal to grant another salary increase for county employees.

Ask yourself, when is this ludicrous nonsense going to stop?

Now, let us examine the character and behaviors of the "Gang of Three" more closely. Remember, it was Stabins who was exposed by the press revealing that he was allegedly tutoring students in his county office on county time for an hourly fee. Upon being exposed he feigned ignorance.

Then we have Kingsley, "Hernando County Legend (In-His-Own-Mind)," who was also exposed for alleged improper and/or illegal reimbursements for personal expenses and eventually re-paid the funds, also pleading ignorance to state laws concerning reimbursements. He can also be described as "The Carpetbagging Candidate," as when he was soundly defeated in his home district after serving one term as commissioner he rapidly moved to another district and unbelievable somehow convinced his new-found constituency to again re-elect him to another term.

Then we have Rowden, an outspoken candidate who will pander to any group or cause regardless of their ridiculous requests and/or proposals to the detriment of logical reasoning and reckless regard for the taxpayers' coffers. In my opinion as a taxpayer, she is the least qualified of the board. Other than being employed as a service worker in the airline industry, I don't believe she possesses the necessary academic prerequisites to accurately comprehend and administer a multi-million dollar county budget. This opinion being based upon many of her previous comments, proposals and voting record.

Now remember this same "Gang of Three" are the same commissioners who practically thumbed their noses at the taxpayers at the budget proposal in the fall of last year by voting for a miniscule tax decrease and reckless spending by granting an across-the-board salary increase for county employees at the same percentage regardless of their salary level. Now, as taxpayers and serious-minded voters, if you desire to end this serious onslaught of inefficiency and ludicrous spending of your tax dollars, the answer is quite obvious: Do not re-elect the incumbents Stabins, Kingsley and Rowden. Consider their rather obvious past behaviors, which will certainly predict their future performance, I might add at the taxpayers' expense.

Ron Dixon

Weeki Wachee

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