My Letter | Flaming ‘Liberal’ Letter (12/17/2003) |
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1 While 2 the 3 American 4 Civil 5 Liberties 6 Union 7 (ACLU) 8 is 9 suing 10 towns 11 for 12 Christmas 13 displays 14 on 15 public 16 property, 17 and 18 government 19 workers 20 for 21 saying 22 "God 23 bless 24 you" 25 when 26 people 27 sneeze, 28 an 29 American 30 citizen 31 is 32 being 33 legally 34 persecuted 35 for 36 his 37 political 38 beliefs. 39 When 40 Rush 41 Limbaugh's 42 medical 43 records 44 were 45 seized 46 in 47 a 48 fishing 49 expedition 50 to 51 charge 52 him 53 with 54 a 55 misdemeanor 56 drug 57 violation, 58 the 59 ACLU 60 was 61 silent, 62 they 63 were 64 busy 65 protecting 66 the 67 library 68 records 69 of 70 suspected 71 terrorists. 72 When 73 Linda 74 Tripp 75 tape-recorded 76 conversations 77 with 78 Monica 79 Lewinski 80 to 81 protect 82 herself 83 from 84 being 85 ensnared 86 in 87 an 88 obstruction 89 of 90 justice 91 scheme 92 involving 93 a 94 Democrat 95 president, 96 the 97 ACLU 98 launched 99 a 100 media 101 campaign 102 attacking 103 her. 104 When 105 a 106 drug-dealing 107 "housekeeper" 108 tape-recorded 109 allegedly 110 incriminating 111 conversations 112 with 113 Rush 114 Limbaugh, 115 the 116 ACLU 117 remained 118 silent. 119 But 120 this 121 silence 122 has 123 precedence. 124 They 125 also 126 did 127 nothing 128 when 129 Newt 130 Gingrich's 131 private 132 telephone 133 conversations 134 were 135 tape-recorded 136 and 137 given 138 to 139 a 140 partisan 141 Democrat 142 operative. 143 The 144 ACLU 145 claims 146 to 147 be 148 a 149 protector 150 of 151 free 152 speech, 153 but 154 they 155 never 156 have 157 anything 158 to 159 say 160 when 161 the 162 speech 163 is 164 opposed 165 to 166 abortion. 167 Recently, 168 a 169 well-known 170 anti-abortion 171 website 172 was 173 booted 174 from 175 the 176 internet 177 as 178 the 179 result 180 of 181 proabortion 182 pressure. 183 Again, 184 silence 185 from 186 the 187 ACLU. 188 The 189 real 190 kicker 191 is 192 that 193 this 194 blatantly 195 partisan, 196 political 197 organization 198 enjoys 199 tax-exempt 200 status. 201 The 202 ACLU 203 should 204 clean 205 up 206 its 207 act, 208 or 209 be 210 treated 211 like 212 the 213 partisan 214 organization 215 it 216 is, 217 and 218 lose 219 its 220 special 221 status. 222 By 223 the 224 way, 225 I 226 was 227 being 228 facetious 229 about 230 the 231 "sneeze" 232 thing, 233 but 234 don't 235 be 236 surprised 237 if 238 that's 239 next 240 on 241 their 242 agenda. 243 William 244 E. 245 Kriebel 246 Hopewell 247 Junction 248 phone: 249 226-6895 |
1 I 2 was 3 struck 4 by 5 a 6 headline 7 on 8 page 9 5A 10 recently 11 that 12 read 13 ''War 14 opponents, 15 Bush 16 critics 17 silenced 18 at 19 least 20 for 21 now.'' 22 I 23 was 24 relieved, 25 upon 26 reading 27 the 28 actual 29 article, 30 that 31 no 32 mention 33 was 34 made 35 of 36 the 37 Patriot 38 Act 39 being 40 extended 41 to 42 suspend 43 freedom 44 of 45 speech. 46 So 47 I'd 48 like 49 to 50 go 51 on 52 record 53 as 54 one 55 person 56 whose 57 opposition 58 to 59 the 60 war 61 and 62 President 63 Bush's 64 policies 65 in 66 general 67 has 68 not 69 been 70 silenced, 71 even 72 for 73 now. 74 I 75 find 76 it 77 odd 78 that 79 anyone 80 would 81 think 82 the 83 capture 84 of 85 Saddam 86 Hussein 87 would 88 cause 89 those 90 of 91 us 92 who 93 opposed 94 the 95 war 96 long 97 before 98 it 99 began 100 to 101 change 102 our 103 views 104 or 105 withhold 106 expression 107 of 108 them. 109 The 110 war 111 was 112 justified 113 on 114 the 115 basis 116 of 117 regime 118 change 119 (which 120 it 121 appears 122 to 123 have 124 brought 125 about 126 before 127 Saddam 128 was 129 captured) 130 and 131 removing 132 the 133 threat 134 of 135 weapons 136 of 137 mass 138 destruction 139 (which 140 have 141 not 142 been 143 shown 144 to 145 exist). 146 The 147 war 148 was 149 not 150 wrong 151 because 152 Saddam 153 had 154 not 155 been 156 captured, 157 and 158 his 159 capture 160 does 161 not 162 make 163 it 164 right. 165 Under 166 the 167 circumstances, 168 I 169 am, 170 of 171 course, 172 gratified 173 that 174 he 175 has 176 been 177 apprehended. 178 I 179 am 180 not 181 opposed 182 to 183 regime 184 change 185 in 186 Iraq, 187 but 188 to 189 the 190 nearly 191 unilateral 192 decision 193 on 194 the 195 part 196 of 197 the 198 U.S. 199 government 200 and 201 a 202 handful 203 of 204 allies 205 to 206 force 207 regime 208 change 209 by 210 pre-emptive 211 use 212 of 213 arms, 214 to 215 occupy 216 the 217 land 218 and 219 to 220 turn 221 the 222 occupation 223 into 224 an 225 opportunity 226 for 227 select 228 American 229 corporations 230 to 231 turn 232 a 233 nice 234 profit. 235 At 236 least 237 this 238 event 239 has 240 clarified 241 beyond 242 any 243 doubt 244 the 245 position 246 of 247 Sen. 248 Joe 249 Lieberman, 250 confirming 251 his 252 unsuitability 253 to 254 participate 255 as 256 the 257 Democratic 258 candidate 259 in 260 the 261 next 262 presidential 263 election. |