Letters
Letters to the editor, Aug. 8
Hernando Today
Published: August 8, 2012
Airway Lords, ham-bones and fire hydrantsPublished: August 8, 2012
Rush, the "Egotistically Inspired Bloviator (EIB)", Limbaugh, Ed "let's get to work" Schultz, Bill "no spin" O'Really, Chris "wet pant leg" Mathews, and your own favorite local wannabe all belong to the Fraternal Order Of Airway Lords, otherwise known as FOOALs.
With nose to ground, they tour the political barnyard daily sticking their noses into the latest hot political dung in search of a political gotcha kernel. These kernels are the mother's milk of their daily shows, used to feed their "I'm all ears" puppy dogs, who dial up to consume their favorite lord's diatribe.
The FOOALs ride in on their supercharged intro music, introduce their latest hot political kernel, and welcome you to their show. Once talking points are adequately spun to their liking, and their egos adequately massaged by puppy dog amens, the FOOALs have the much anticipated "out of body" moment and lose complete control.
It is the predictable call to arms charge the puppies have all been anticipating. The "you and me" who have it right crowd fall in line against the "them and theirs" who are left out in the dark crowd.
It is the "us versus them" moment; you versus your neighbor, the point a finger of blame solution is at hand. Rising to their hind legs, the puppies begin reciting amen's in unison; they know the drill well. With ham-bone firmly clinched, they depart with talking points indelibly etched.
The puppies scamper off to their respective neighborhoods, and begin parroting the just consumed "Tokyo Rose" bravado to their families, their neighbors, their friends, or anyone else who'll listen. They've put us all on notice by raising their leg, and marking the neighborhood fire hydrant.
God forbid, normal people do something ham-boneish, like raise a rational voice, or question one of their airway Gestapo's statements; why that would be un-patriotic, un-called for, and of course under the patriot act. un-American. You could find yourself in front of a military tribunal, and may even be sent off to a wonderful 5-star like Abu Ghraib; habeas corpus be damned!
So the next time you see a group of puppy dogs clinching ham-bones, bearing their teeth, holding up an "I love my FOOAL" sign, and surrounding a local fire hydrant in your neighborhood – Consider calling law enforcement; your fellow Americans have been taken hostage, and are being denied the pleasure of an independent thought process.
James Gries
Weeki Wachee
Election season
As election season rolls around, many people have hope that a political figure will change the direction of our nation. I've come to believe that as important as politics may be, it can't reach our heart issue. We need what historians would call a Great Awakening, a time when God's presence and power are felt in our homes, churches, and community.
Do any of us really believe that one more election will bring about the personal heart change that would free captive addicts, restore broken families, or mobilize sleepy churchgoers? Will one more election help children who are growing up with the pain of divorce, or offer hope to a spouse trapped in an abusive relationship?
Our core problems can't be solved with more funding or more education; they require the kind of spiritual change that happens when people turn to God in prayer, repentance, and humility. That's why, even though I do plan to vote in the election, I believe the more important work to be done is spiritual in nature. Would you join me in praying for spiritual awakening?
Debra Wright
Bushnell
Betty Dobson's letter regarding President Obama's snide comments about small business owners and that they didn't build their businesses, somebody else made that happen, was right on!
Print it again please!
Kathy Schmitz
Brooksville
Senior citizens wake up
If someone told you today your social security check is going to stop next month, what would you do? Would you be mad? If you could do something to keep it coming in each month would you take action to help yourself and maybe others? I think you would. That's why I am getting this message out to you before you vote.
As you are aware, our government has spent our tax money like a bunch of drunken sailors and are looking to get us for more so they can spend more making us believe they are going to reduce the $16 trillion debt about a year ago, our president told us he was going to cut payroll taxes.
He told employers to take a smaller percentage deduction from the workers' paychecks. Yes, the worker gets more take home pay, but the deduction was not taken from the federal tax fund but from the social security fund. This means the money normally deducted from the workers' paychecks and deposited into the social security fund for retirees like you and me go to the workers to spend.
Keep in mind this is your social security money they are spending. Needless to say, the social security fund will go broke a lot sooner then expected because billons of dollars are not being replenished to the account because of Obama's policy.
To put this in more simple terms, Barack Obama is using our Social Security fund, your retirement and mine, to give current workers a tax cut to make him look good. I don't mind workers getting a tax cut, but this deduction should be coming from the federal tax fund, not the social security fund.
This policy is set to expire at the end of the year unless Obama gets re-elected. If re-elected he could continue robbing our social security fund keeping billions upon billions of dollars from flowing into the fund which will cause the fund to become insolvent years before its time. Guess what senior citizens, this is when your social security check will stop coming to you each month.
Do your part and write your members of Congress telling them to stop robbing the social security fund immediately. This is our retirement fund. Let's vote Obama out in November.
Ray Dobson
Brooksville