The Morning Blend
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On Your Mind is the Herald/Review’s telephone opinion line and is intended as a public forum for our readers. Comments represent the opinions of callers and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the newspaper or any specific knowledge that we have. Readers may share their opinions by calling 458-0332, or by e-mail to svhoym@transedge.com or regular mail at 102 Fab Ave., Sierra Vista AZ 85635. Due to the volume of submissions, comments will be limited to 150 words or fewer. Comments are edited. On Your Mind comments regarding the general election will be accepted until 5 p.m. on Oct. 22 and printed on Oct. 27.
Sept. 15
I just read the OYM comment by the man that’s mad that the father of the girl that was killed is suing. So if you’re illegal it’s OK to kill you? If you’re legalized then you can sue? Human life is based on legalities?
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I’m not worried about McCain’s health or age. I think he’s going to live to be as old as or longer than his mother who’s 96 and still sharp as a tack. On the other hand I think Palin is quite capable of selecting a vice president. The first person that comes to my mind is Colin Powell. I worry more about that youngster Obama who is out promising the moon adding new programs and projects to an old laundry list and calling it change to believe in. I don’t know how he is going to pay for all his promises but my gut feeling tells me it’s going to be you and I. I don’t think those on Wall Street and all the other “gots lots” who are funding his campaign are going to pay a dime.
Every single day the Herald wastes a significant amount of space at the top of the classified section by repeating the same photo of the four employees who work in the classified department. The seven columns that the pictures take up are enough for 14 additional ads that would lower the price of a classified ad for everyone. Better yet, you could donate that wasted space to publicize local charities that could benefit from media exposure.
I’m calling about the park festival this past weekend. It was wonderful and had a great turnout. When you sat under the tent to eat your food or just relax the music was so loud you couldn’t even talk to your partner. When I asked the guys to lower it they just smiled at me but did not lower it. It was not a good place to put the loud music. There were lots of old folks there. Maybe next time you can lower the music.
I was pleased to see in OYM that many people were calling in about these speeders. It seems that they can’t get the message that speed kills. I’m the one who suggested we get rid of all the speed signs and spending all the money to maintain them. I still vote for the enforcement officers to please enforce the speed laws. Please folks, slow up.
Sept. 16
Who am I? I love the outdoors, I hunt, I am a Republican reformer, I have taken on the Republican party establishment, I have many children, I have a spot on the national ticket as Vice President with less than two years in the governor’s office. Did you guess? I am Teddy Roosevelt in 1900.
When Castle and Cooke and other neighborhood developers are submitting plans to the city and county they need to take notice of the street names. The people of Sierra Vista would like regular English street names. Think of the added confusion the crazy street names cause our Fire Department and Ambulance. Why can’t Camino Segundo just simply be second street or Avenida Cochise be Cochise Avenue? We all know we live in the Southwest. We don’t need cute street names to prove it. The street names in some neighborhoods have the same name but one is circle, one is place, and one is drive. I thank God I don’t live on one of these and am waiting for an ambulance to sort out the cute street naming that a builder thought of. Please let your local officials know we want regular street names. It could be a life or death situation!
I was going to vote for John McCain and Sarah Palin until something big happened. Barbra Streisand, Matt Damon, Lindsey Lohan and P. Diddy in their vast political knowledge and their deep connection with the everyday life of ordinary citizens told me not to vote for McCain. Instead they said that I should vote for Obama. Now I’ve changed my mind because of what they said and now I know Obama is the best. Now I’m just waiting for Engelbert Humperdinck and Gary Coleman to endorse Gabby Giffords so I don’t accidentally vote for Tim Bee. All hail the Hollywood celebrities!
I noticed several editorial comments below OYMs in the Sept. 15 Herald, referring readers to the Washington Post’s Fact Checker on the Web. Anyone familiar with politics knows the Washington Post is a liberal news source. Why a partisan source? Why not refer readers rather to the non-partisan Google? All a person has to do is request Barack Obama and William Ayers; Barack Obama and Jeremiah Wright; Barack Obama and Michael Pflegher; Barack Obama and George Soros; Barack Obama and Tony Rezko; Barack Obama and Saul Alinsky; etc. Google will then provide a variety of sources for people to check information about Barack Obama. Since I wrote one of the OYMs, I was really asking why hasn’t the media, as a whole, investigated in depth specific questions about Barack Obama — which it has not done, in stark contrast to the present media frenzy to unearth every particle of background, true or false, about Sarah Palin.
An interesting comparison of Barack Obama with Sarah Palin could go like this. For well over a year now Barack Obama still remains the unknown, except for his impressive teleprompter eloquence and the devotion of a protective media. For less than a month, Sarah Palin has become The Known, a sudden phenomenon with down-to-Earth eloquence and a concrete example of a tested governor who can claim authentic executive experience, the spunk to take on a corrupt political establishment, energy reform and development, and the highest approval rating of any governor in the nation.
In the Sept. 15 On Your Mind, I noticed the beginnings of Editor’s Notes warning about unsubstantiated e-mail or Internet blogs and no reliable news agency or other media outlets. I hope these warnings continue for both misinformed sides. Perhaps OYM submitters could actually talk about their candidate’s position and not Swift Boat their opponent’s positions.
Sept. 17
I am so impressed with the staff at the Sierra Vista hospital. Yesterday I had a breast biopsy at the ambulatory surgery center. From the moment I entered the building, the staff was caring and professional. Their compassion made a very stressful situation much easier to get through. I highly encourage the citizens of Cochise County to utilize the services available locally. You won’t regret it.
Gabrielle Giffords and her fellow Democrats voted for a bill to drill offshore oil, but with a Catch-22, giving states the option to allow drilling only between 50 and 100 miles offshore and open oil exploration over 100 miles. But it turns out that the obtainable offshore oil lies just inside the 50 mile off-limit area. The Democrats’ bill lacked bipartisan support. House Republicans called it a “sham” and a “hoax.” It appears to be a subtle disregard, on the part of Giffords and fellow Democrats, of the true wishes of the American people to drill viable offshore oil right now! Giffords and fellow Democrats appear disingenuous on this critical issue. Giffords is also disingenuous in her TV ad that purports she is working hard to defend our borders against illegal immigration. Actually she consistently votes to delay the building of the border fence to placate environmentalists who oppose the construction of the fence.
Regarding community outreach, they are a “secular” activity between institutions and community. Jesus was not a community organizer. He never embraced government institutions as an answer to personal problems, in fact, he admonished us “not to become part of the world” (John 17:16) Jesus devoted his time to teaching spiritual awareness and giving us hope from a sinful world through salvation to a better life. The elite media invoking Jesus is not only laughable, but an oxymoron. Here is another factoid, Sen. Obama worked for a radical community outreach organization called ACORN, which was caught illegally registering people to vote.
Seems history does repeat itself. Sen. Obama and his wife mention that getting kids in school and forming a national civilian protection system would be good for our country. These students would be paid of course with taxpayers’ money. The statement “he who controls the children controls the future” isn’t new either. I am not old enough to remember when these statements were made, but do remember sitting in a darkened house while my father patrolled the neighborhood to ensure no one had any light showing through their windows. I lived on the east coast and we had to protect ourselves from possible bombers from the person who had put these plans into effect in the 1930s. Check your history books that are still around, look up Hitler and the Third Reich. Better check before these books mysteriously disappear. Seems they want to remove the Holocaust from history books because it is too offensive and “never happened”.
Our family went to the Oktoberfest in Veterans’ Memorial Park. We were so looking forward to this. While my husband was in the military we went to Oktoberfest in the many cities we were stationed in. Was this really Oktoberfest? Where was the German music? Where were the German dancers? Yes, there was beer — from Texas — but some people come to see the games and the dancing, and the singing. If you are going to have an “Oktoberfest” you would think it would have such things. So we walked around and looked at the vendors. Lo-and-behold, there was the German American Club of Sierra Vista. Oh, my goodness, the food and the people working at that trailer was what made the whole day worth it. If this is going to be a yearly event, please try to make it more to the way Oktoberfest is supposed to be. If not just call it a fall festival.
I keep reading negative comments by readers about the “do-nothing” Democratic Congress and thus deducing we need a Republican president. Yes, the Dems have had the majority since 2006, but it’s not a veto proof one, and Bush continually vetoes much of what the Senate proposes! There’s a simple majority of 51 Democratic senators, but it takes 60 to override a presidential veto. There may be 57 Senate Democrats after the election, still not veto proof. Thus, if you want four more years of nothing being accomplished in Washington, vote again for a Republican president. If you like the present state of the economy, Iraq, health care education, gas prices and would possibly like to add a war with Iran and/or Russia, privatization of Social Security, lose Roe v. Wade and elect a VP with no qualifications to hold such office, then vote McCain.
My daughter had in/out surgery and after coming home received a thank you card from the S.V. health center. I am concerned about the cost of printing, postage and time spent preparing the cards to be sent. Seems to me, even though it may be minor, that cost could be better spent elsewhere, i.e., patient care.
I have heard a lot of people parroting Obama talking points, saying McCain votes with Bush 90 percent of the time. Now, Bush’s poll numbers are pretty low — 30 percent the last I checked, but Congress is lower at 9 percent. With this in mind, I turn the question back to the Obama/Giffords supporters. What percentage of the time has Gabby Giffords and Barack Obama voted with leftist extremists Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi? With Barack Obama it is probably percent 100 of the time. This congress that Barack Obama’s and Gabreille Giffords’ party currently controls is the lowest rated congress of all time, getting the least done than any other in decades. If we want to talk facts and numbers, we can talk facts and numbers.
I find it rather odd the Herald has not printed the same article which ran in both the Tucson Citizen and the Daily Star. The subject of the article was the “endorsement” of Gabrielle Giffords by the Pima County sheriff (a fellow Democrat). The article destroyed all of Giffords’ alleged support for a strong secure border, i.e. the border between the USA and Mexico. Since the “truth” is so vital to a “free press” one would assume the Herald would also print such a factual, detailed article. Oh well, I guess “free press” means free to print what you like and to ignore any inconvenient truth. P.S.: The sheriff doing the endorsing hardly qualifies since he only believes in selectively enforcing immigration laws.
The federal loan to AIG and the financial troubles of other large corporations indicates to me the substandard business practices prevalent throughout our nation. People are being sold homes and other products they cannot afford. These companies could care less. The purpose is sell, sell, sell period. Homes, insurance plans, retirement plans etc. Just sell and to hell with the buyers. I certainly hope our government is smart enough to cover AIG with supervision to ascertain exactly what went wrong in each and every department and each desk.
Have liberals forgotten basic civics? There are three branches of government in this country: executive, legislative, and judicial. The president is the executive of the U.S. while a governor is the executive of his state. Therefore an executive of a state has more experience to be president than a legislator does, and senators are just legislators. Governors write budgets, veto legislation, and act as commander-in-chief for the National Guard for their state. Sarah Palin has more experience than a senator who has served two years and spent 18 months of that running for president.
I couldn’t help laughing when an OYM caller was “troubled” with Sarah Palin having little experience to take over from McCain as president if the need arose. In keeping with that analogy, why are you giving Obama the empty suit a pass? He lacks the experience of Palin. He has only a portfolio of blank paper and a tub full of platitudes. Talk about rationale. I’m still laughing.
I’m fed up with these large financial institutions and taxpayers bailing them out while incompetent or dishonest CEOs have to hire a truck to haul their bonuses away. It’s time for the federal government to quit bailing them out.
I just heard Barack Obama say on the radio that we need change that makes a real difference in your life. That sounds like a lot better slogan to me.
All of you Democrats who want to elect Obama, stop and think. The last two years Democrats controlled the Senate and Congress. This mess that’s going on isn’t all just Bush. It started all the way back with Clinton and before him. Everybody, get your heads out of the sand and check out the truth.
Remember the S & L bailout under Bush the First after 12 years of Republican misrule led by Ronald Reagan who has now been mysteriously turned into a saint? Two beneficiaries of the bailout funded by our tax money were Bush’s son Neal and John McCain of the Keating 5. Remember? Go ahead; vote Republican if you want our country to completely succumb to the final ruination perpetrated by the criminally negligent and incompetent George the Second. I’m an old southern woman and I am literally praying for the Obama/Biden ticket to win. It’s our only hope.
In OYM the other day someone wanted us to check the Constitution about the separation of church and state. Well, the Constitution does not mention anything about the separation of church and state. It does say, “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Now the “make no law … religion” says nothing about separation of church and state, but the “prohibiting the free exercise thereof” seems pretty clear what their intent was.
What in the world has happened to the thrift shop at Fort Huachuca? I went in there recently after a six-month hiatus and I was embarrassed. It has gotten so junky looking. There are clothes all over the place, dirty pieces of furniture, broken and chipped glass. It’s an utter mess. Clothes piled up behind the cash registers. As a military wife I’m embarrassed to go in there. It used to be a pretty classy place. It isn’t any more.
What an unexpected and pleasant surprise. Last week I had an outpatient surgical procedure done at Sierra Vista Regional Health Center’s Ambulatory Surgical Center. From the time I walked in I was treated with the utmost care and respect. The staff was professional yet friendly. Everyone had a positive attitude. I could not ask for better care than I received that day. It didn’t stop there. I received a card in the mail from them thanking me for choosing SVRHC for my surgery. That was followed this week by a phone call to make sure I was not in pain and was recovering well. My special thanks to Scott, DG, David, Kathy, Dixie, Dr. Knott, and Dr. Jenkins. You transformed what could have been an unpleasant ordeal to the very best surgical experience I could have had. Why go to Tucson when we have such excellent care available locally. Thank you all for outstanding care.
I’d like to comment on the person opening the new restaurant in Sierra Vista. Have you ever considered the price of gas and groceries, etc., when you’re opening a new restaurant and then you charge that much for a dinner or a lunch? I think it’s a little over the top. I think people in town would frequent other places that are more reasonable. These prices are outrageous. Your food sounds good; I give you credit for that. But you need to lower your prices if you want people to come in.
I had a two week stay at Sierra Vista hospital a while back and I never got to thank the medical surgery nurses who were very, very helpful and took very good care of me during that two weeks. I’d like to thank the CNAs and nurses for that help. All I ever asked for was ice, water and a shot for the pain. I’d like to thank Hanna, Tara, Lupe, Ruby, Joan, Joy, Teresa, Mary and Christine. I especially remember Lupe because she remembered me from the last time I was in there. You guys were great. Thank you very much.
The only Bisbee police officer I respect is Sgt. Ben Reyna. The rest treat you like second-rate citizens. They need a real attitude adjustment.
In one on his TV commercials Mr. Bee blames Congress for raising taxes and raising the marriage penalty tax. He’s got to be talking about Republicans because the Democrats haven’t done a thing in the two years they’ve had it. The Bush Administration has had it for the rest of the time and weren’t they all Republican? I don’t believe a thing Mr. Bee says. I’ll stick with Gabrielle Giffords, thank you very much.
In March of this year McCain was all for lifting all regulatory restrictions for Wall Street and let them basically do what ever they damn well wanted to do. Today, now all of a sudden we have to regulate everything about Wall St. Flip flop, flip flop. Make up your mind, John.
What is wrong with Channel 9? Either they need an operating engineer or they should shut down altogether. Does the FCC know Channel 9 is off the air half the time instead of operating properly?
Sept. 18
“We’re going to put an end to the abuses on Wall Street! Enough is enough! We’re going to put an end to the greed!” says John McCain. Has he forgotten who has been in power for the last eight years? He obviously thinks nobody is paying attention. This is the Keating guy. This is the lobbyist guy. He will say or do anything to get elected. Lies included. It’s strange that the press glosses over his blatant lies as “fibs”. Richard Fuld, CEO of Lehman Bros., took home nearly half-a-billion dollars in total compensation between 1993 and 2007. Three decades ago, CEOs typically earned 30 to 40 times the income of ordinary workers. Last year, CEOs of large public companies averaged 344 times the average pay of workers. McCain seems to think that the problem is that CEOs are greedy.
I want to respond to the caller’s opinion of Gov. Palin’s ability to be president if Sen. McCain should become incapacitated. The caller should think of all the boneheads we put in that office. I think she could do a lot better than some of them.
Let’s ignore the petty distractions. Who actually cares about the lipstick? The real issues revolve around the economy, and the war in Iraq where we are still spending $10 billion every month. The recent financial disasters and the stunning drop in the stock market are not just a string of bad luck. They are the result of years of bad decisions made in favor of big corporate special interests. We have to end that brand of governance.
More cheese please... wrote on Oct 2, 2008 2:51 PM: