Letters to the Editor for Feb. 3

Talk about it

Plenty of ‘Kodak’ moments in Obama’s speech to nation

There were several good “Kodak” moments during President Barack Obama’s Jan. 27 State of the Union speech, my favorite being Sen. John McCain leaning over to Sen. Lindsey Graham saying “blame it on Bush” after Obama did just that, blaming Bush for all our economic problems.

Another one was Justice Samuel Alito shaking his head after Obama whined about the death of campaign finance form, apparently unhappy with the idea of everyone else having the same first amendment rights his 527 group and labor union toadies do.

Obama is clearly aware of his political mistakes, as he himself said…for nobody, not even a Democrat, could fail to understand the meaning of all those lost or endangered Democrat seats, not the least of which was former Sen. Ted Kennedy’s.

As to whether or not we continue to see Congress bitterly divided along party lines and Obama’s and his party’s approval ratings ending up sleeping on the Titanic, I have a few suggestions:

• Stop blaming everything on Bush, his last deficit wasn’t even half as big as Obama’s first deficit.

• Stop ignoring the will of the American people who have soundly rejected national healthcare.

• Stop thinking of terrorists as mere criminals to be tried in civilian courts and start thinking of them as terrorists who should be tried in military courts.

• Stop waging class war arbitrarily deciding who deserves tax cuts and who doesn’t.

• Stop thinking clean energy ideas alone can meet our needs and don’t count on your party embracing nuclear power even though their uber-liberal French pals get 75 percent of their electricity from nuclear power.

• Stop insulting our intelligence calling for immigration reform…without all those immigrants, legal or otherwise, your party has absolutely no future whatsoever.

Just some helpful advice from a Republican whose resurgent party isn’t having anywhere near the kind of headaches Democrats now have.

Mark Overholser

Woodbury

Bulletin beat out by dailies in important news

Why does it seem as though we always have to read the latest Woodbury news in the St. Paul or the Minneapolis paper, instead of in the Woodbury paper?

It has happened again. Today, the same day your paper comes out, and the same day as the Woodbury City Council meeting, we learn from the St. Paul paper that the Woodbury City Council will consider giving $150,000 to Habitat for Humanity to build "affordable housing" in Woodbury.

Another example of the Woodbury paper not publishing Woodbury news was learning of the financial condition of Woodbury Lakes from the St. Paul and Minneapolis papers.

There are countless other examples.

Why does it seem as though your reporters are never on top of, let alone even aware of, important Woodbury news?

Patricia C. Schwope

Woodbury

Editor’s note: The Woodbury Bulletin utilizes its print and online products to cover news as it happens in the community. See page 4A for a story on the Woodbury City Council’s Jan. 27 decision to approve a $150,000 in funding for a Habitat for Humanity development, which was also posted online Jan. 28 at www.woodburybulletin.com

Conservative or liberal? How can you tell the difference?

When I was a young lad in the 1950s, life was very simple. Everything had its assigned place, every one knew how to act, either in public or in private, and life seemed ordered and logical. Democrats were the party of the people and Republicans were the party of big business. Oh, how life has changed.

If we use Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth, to illustrate how things have changed, all one has to read is the chant of the three witches “Fair is foul and foul is fair.” Today the meaning of the chant would be, anything that was liberal is now conservative and everything that was conservative is now liberal. Just listen to the two liberal representatives and the one liberal senator from Senate District 56 and you’ll see this chant rings true. One was heard quoting Ronald Reagan (the father of modern conservatism) and another was heard telling people how helping businesses is a high priority. On and on and on the speeches go; the problem with those statements is their voting record is the exact opposite.

Sen. Kathy Saltzman, DFL-Woodbury, Rep. Marsha Swails, DFL-Woodbury, and Rep. Julie Bunn, DFL-Lake Elmo, have continually voted to increase taxes in Minnesota on both individuals and businesses. They have voted to increase regulations on businesses, expand both government spending and the size of government and they wanted healthcare to be controlled by the government. If you look closely, you’ll see that most of their votes have been to the detriment, not the benefit, of Minnesota’s citizens’ liberty.

Beware of the three stirring the pot of words to make you think they are different than they really are…as they chant “fair is foul and foul is fair please make the people unaware…”

Steve Ellenwood

Woodbury

Free speech not honored in some local circles

Susan Richardson’s Jan. 27 letter (“Volunteer was unfairly asked to leave organization”) brings to our attention an incident that should be of concern to any fair-minded Woodbury resident.

Although troubling, this incident should not surprise anyone who is aware of the extent to which today’s militant ideologues can inhibit, even stifle, the open and rational exchange of ideas. In this regard, we are repeatedly told, particularly by elements of the political and social left, that we must be tolerant, that we must give everyone a fair hearing, that we must build “big tents” and that, above all, we should be non-judgmental.

Yet, to use an overworked cliché, when “push comes to shove,” those who preach tolerance are often the first to intimidate or otherwise marginalize those with whom they disagree.

The incident to which Richardson refers can be seen, then, as but another example of the contradictory behavior of those who claim to be tolerant, who claim to be champions of free speech but, who, when they are confronted by an idea that they consider to be “offensive,” quickly forget their own self-proclaimed principles.

The message, then: Beware. Even if your arguments are well reasoned and politely stated, you – like Woodbury’s conservative activist -- may be made to regret your “offense”.

Yes, I fear that Richardson is right: free speech is not honored in some Woodbury circles. And, I fear, is often not honored in other, wider circles as well.

Thomas St. Martin

Woodbury

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