Pitchforks, gene pools and the Titanic

There are many critical issues facing voters during this presidential election. I am not a one-issue voter: I make every attempt to evaluate a candidate’s ability based on a broad range of positions and his or her demonstrated abilities to make good judgments. As an American with a disability, I am concerned about how our candidates will break down the barriers that exclude people with disabilities. A careful examination of Obama’s and McCain’s positions on disability issues reveals clear and consistent differences.  

Barack Obama has been a supporter of the Community Choice Act of 2007 and the Community Living Assistance Services and Support (CLASS) Act of 2007. John McCain has been a staunch opponent of the Community Choices Act. Obama has voted for full funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and has been a supporter of early intervention programs. McCain has repeatedly voted against the IDEA Act. Under Obama’s health care plan, people with pre-existing conditions cannot be excluded.  McCain’s health care plan would not end discrimination against individuals with disabilities. Obama supports fully funding the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) so that we can ensure all polling places are accessible. McCain has voted repeatedly against the Help America Vote Act.  

These are but a few areas where these men disagree. I cannot in good conscience vote for a president who is pro-life but will not protect the lives of Americans with disabilities.
I am voting for Obama in November.

Cindy E. Block Ph.D.
Raleigh

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Saying that the mainstream media lean to the left is like saying the Titanic took on a little water.

Tina Fey’s satirical send-ups of GOP VP candidate Sarah Palin have made front-page news or received extensive coverage in the “entertainment” sections of most newspapers. The “Saturday Night Live” act has been featured on just about every morning news show.

But while Fey’s portrayal of Palin is scathing and hysterical, where is the send-up of Joe Biden? 

Oh, that’s right. Joe Biden can make a mockery of himself without the help of SNL. But when he does make a buffoon of himself, that story is relegated to a sidebar on Page 9A in The N&O.
 
My concern is about the way this ship-of-state is listing and taking on water from the port side. At least there were lifeboats and some survivors of the Titanic. I fear the liberals will take us all down with the ship!

Chris Kling
Vanceboro

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I can understand the desire of many people to want to honor Sen. John McCain for his service to his country by electing him president. But of course more important than the honor of being president is all the work involved in being president. And with the ongoing financial crisis I wonder if McCain may not sometimes see his decline in the polls as having an upside for him, since being president is going to be even more of a headache than usual in the coming years.

Moreover, I find it hard to see how even McCain could believe that he’d do very well with the financial mess. The impetuousness that served him well as a bomber pilot does not seem what is needed to cure damage to our economy that was caused largely by the impetuousness of so many investment bankers and their ilk.

McCain may be more exciting and unpredictable in his actions than his opponent, but the financial crisis should provide us with all the excitement we need for a few years.

I don’t see how it would be good either for McCain or for the country for him to get this job, however much so many people may feel drawn to honoring him with it.

Ken Wahl
Durham

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I have a dream. The real answer to the bail out.

Let’s say we have a real grass-roots campaign, and we voters decide that no incumbent shall be re-elected in the national election. In the beginning real men and women ran for office to serve the people and then went back home to their real life. That was called serving your country. Now we have career politicians in office for more than 20 years who have lost any ability to understand basic issues. If every politician knew we the people were not going to allow this to happen again then we would be taking back our country. The people’s business would be accomplished and the opportunity to serve one’s country could become a reality again. This could be accomplished and the result would probably solve this crises and prevent similar crises in the future.  

Robert McCorkle
Fuquay-Varina

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And the beat goes on. As a therapist of more than 20 years, I have worked with many, many individuals and couples. Among the many topics I discuss with my clients are setting healthy boundaries and not rewarding inappropriate behavior. Well, the current fiasco we have come to know as a bailout being discussed in Washington by our “political leaders” is certainly proving me wrong with what I have believed all these years.

Once again the great minds of Congress are showing their true colors. They are positioning for personal power rather than working for what is best for this country is evident. What will it take for these out-of-touch-with-reality folks to see just what they have done and are continuing to do to our country and the American people?

I am reminded of the old black and white movies of the ’30s and ’40s when the masses charged the castle with sticks, pitchforks and stones, dragged out the leaders and hanged them.

Perhaps that may be going a little too far, but I would suggest that we borrow that old line from the movie classic, “Network,” and go to our windows, throw them open and shout to the world, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!”

Sadly, this is no longer a question of whether the Democrats win, or if the Republicans win. It is now a question of how much America loses?

Robert Jan Hedgepath
Apex

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I may well be the only Democrat ever produced by my gene pool. I come from a long line of Republicans, possibly reaching back to the gilded age of boss rule. My late father once asked me, “Don’t you have enough money yet to be a Republican?” He wasn’t kidding. Having ultimately inherited exactly one-third of the material wealth he and my mother amassed during their lifetimes, I am still a Democrat. Yes, capital gains tax is a concern for me, but here is why I will vote for Barack Obama:

The first time I heard him speak, Obama spoke in specifics about the grotesqueness inflicted upon our planet by our greed and lust for petroleum-based convenience. He spoke of what is right and wrong with our education, health care and foreign policy. I have read his books. He knows who he is and what he stands for. He is a thinking man, who is alert, awake and aware.  

Obama doesn’t just talk about the need for unity. He really believes to his core that we need to rise above partisan politics to fix everything humanity as a whole has spent our time on this planet screwing up.

That is not what I hear from the Republicans. What I hear them touting is that we are the very best in the world. John McCain rallies are rife with chanting that we are the greatest nation. I don’t imagine the McCain and his “drill, baby, drill” followers understand that the real issue is the disastrous damage done by humanity’s greed to our seas, our flora and fauna, and the very air we breathe. We need to join the rest of the world in reducing our dependence on petroleum products in general.

This, of course, takes discipline and teamwork with other nations — things the Republicans appear to avoid for some reason.

Judith Quay
Chapel Hill

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If North Carolina elects Beverly Perdue to be our next governor, then we will get what we deserve.  

Over the past eight years, there has been corruption in state government.  Most likely, we have discovered only the tip of the iceberg. From Meg Scott Phipps to Jim Black to Thomas Wright, Democrats in leadership positions have ended up in jail. Beverly Perdue has been lieutenant governor for these past eight years. Where has she shown any leadership in combating corruption?  

Now, according to The News & Observer, she said she “doesn’t know” if she would have reappointed Louis W. Sewell Jr. to the State Board of Transportation. Sewell voted on money for road projects near property owned by him or his son. She said she was too busy running for governor to answer such questions.  Earth to Beverly: We want to know how you’ll act as governor, and if you can’t answer a question like that, we must assume you will do nothing differently from what you have done, which is to turn a blind eye to corruption involving members of your party.

Perdue has served on the State Board of Education for the past eight years. What do we have to show for her expertise in education? A 30 percent dropout rate and a four-year graduation rate of 61 percent (even lower among minorities) — not the kind of record she can brag about.

Beverly Perdue must be judged on her record, and her list of actual accomplishments is thin. We’ve already had eight years of an invisible governor. We don’t need four more.

I am tired of the status quo in state government, and that is why I’m voting for Pat McCrory.

Ed Jenkins
Chapel Hill

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The News & Observer on Sept. 26 printed an editorial cartoon depicting Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin being coached and “drilled” on various topics. It was rather humorous — at first glance.

Upon further reflection, it is not so funny with the election in fewer than 40 days. She is, not surprisingly, being systematically shielded from the press. In the three or four interviews granted since her shocking choice, she has shown a consistent, frightening incompetence to lead this country should the 72-year-old (with reoccurring cancer) John McCain win. Voters should seriously think about McCain’s campaign theme of “Country First” and elect a top-to-bottom qualified Obama-Biden ticket for this country.

Gil Dunn
Raleigh

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Countless words have been written thus far this election campaign. Doubtless the coming weeks will bring countless more, floating down rivers of ink up onto our doorsteps and into our mailboxes.

Come Nov. 4, however, there will matter only one word: Enough.

Enough wastage of human lives. Enough wreckage of our economy. Enough withering away of our moral authority. Enough.

Enough fiddling and burning. Enough lying and hiding. Enough spying and spinning. Enough.

Enough tax cuts for those who profit off job cuts. Enough inequality in the paycheck, and in the chapel. Enough of 50 million uninsured. Enough.

When the time comes the curtain to be drawn, or the pen to meet the oval, we would favor ourselves to forget those countless words forests were felled to bring. At that moment, just one word need be remembered: Enough.

M. Annette Watlington
Chapel Hill