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January 21

Writer offers thoughts on underwear bomber
Again, the question needs to be asked as to why a young man would strap a bomb to his underwear to kill himself and the rest of the people on an airplane. If you ask a media representative or talk radio host they will tell you it is because he is evil, like all the Taliban, Al Qaeda and Muslims in general. This simplistic answer needs to be questioned. Did it ever occur to the media and talk show hosts that the reasons given by the Muslims might actually be valid? The reasons they gave for the terrorist attacks are: 1) The U.S. supports Israel militarily (recently given $3 billion in military aid), in denying human rights to the Palestinians. The Israelis tear down their homes with U.S. made Caterpillar bulldozers, root up their crops, harass school children, invite more settlers on to land belonging to the Palestinians and have built a wall making it more difficult for the Palestinians to tend to their crops and go to work. A large number of Palestinians are also being detained indefinitely by the Israelis. 2) The U.S. is held responsible for killing 1.5 million Iraqis, injuring millions more, causing 4.5 million to flee their country, impoverishing millions, indefinitely holding hundreds of their citizens and now bidding for their oil. Now it is doing the same in Afghanistan. In effect, the Muslims feel they are being mistreated and are being denied their basic human rights by the U.S. After all, people in the Middle East already know how Palestinians have been mistreated for decades; how Washington for the sake of getting oil has propped up Arab dictatorships; how Muslims have been locked away at Guantanamo without charges; how the U.S. military has killed civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere and how U.S. mercenaries have escaped punishment for slaughtering innocents. If we are serious about stopping the terrorism we have to stop being terrorists If we want to be safe then we need to make other people feel safe. Instead of disrespecting and mistreating them we must do good to them and treat them with respect and justice. Americans seem to think this does not work. However, it has yet to be tried. I believe, like Christ, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and others, that nonviolence, not violence, is our only hope for peace.
“Before it is too late, we must narrow the gaping chasm between our proclamations of peace and our lowly deeds which precipitate and perpetuate war…..We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means.” -----Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
— Rev. Don Timmerman, Park Falls

American voters are one to blame for problems
You guys must grow some real good 'weed' there in Taylor County?
I read Vox Pops and wondered what Richard Peterson was smoking? I've read most of Linda Osolkowski's letters and some of Richard's and don't see aliens, English Prime Ministers, God, goddesses or anyone else; except the American voter, to blame for the plight of the U.S.A.
Bush, Regan and a couple of others were allowed to run the greatest country in the world, by you, the voter! Bush got most of the rest of the world off-side, and the previous Republican big business policies got the U.S. bankrupt!
Now that you're morally and financially bankrupt, let’s blame it all on Linda O., Moslems and/or anything else we can't explain (like religion).
Unless your name is Shirley MacLaine, or you live next door to her in New Mexico, your chance of 'divine or intergalactic' intervention is pretty slim. I do know you'll definitely get 'intervention' in your life from all the incompetent politicians you voted into office long before any 2012 'star people' intervene to save you or the country.
By the way, what has changed to the system that caused the Global Financial Crisis? Does the adage "Doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome" sound familiar?
Somebody should tell Richard this.
Over to you Linda, go get him!
— Bob Becker, Upsan Downs Via Nairne, South Australia, Australia

Addresses comments made by other Vox Pop writers
What's the weather like on your planet Mr. Peterson? I found your web site with it's mission statement:
“A space dedicated to reporting on the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations Initiative. It is my belief that this initiative is to be a vehicle used by the New World Order to make war against the saints and those who keep the commandments of God as forefold in Daniel 7:23-26.”
Complete with typo. Either you have serious mental problems or you are preparing for an insanity defense when you decide to go postal. War against the saints? You have got to be kidding me. Do you see Christ in your toast? The other morning I saw the Madonna and Child in the bathroom but it flipped over when I flushed and turned into The Thinker. By that time it was too late to retrieve it and sell it on E-bay. Shame though. I'm sure someone could have polished that turd.
Here's some scary stuff. Some insight into Mr. McLeroy of the Texas Board of Education who decides what goes into the textbooks that children all over the U.S. use:
With childlike glee, McLeroy flipped through the pages and explained what he saw as the gaping holes in Darwin’s theory. “I don’t care what the educational political lobby and their allies on the left say,” he declared at one point. “Evolution is hooey.” This bled into a rant about American history. “The secular humanists may argue that we are a secular nation,” McLeroy said, jabbing his finger in the air for emphasis. “But we are a Christian nation founded on Christian principles. The way I evaluate history textbooks is first I see how they cover Christianity and Israel. Then I see how they treat Ronald Reagan—he needs to get credit for saving the world from communism and for the good economy over the last twenty years because he lowered taxes.” (Mariah Blake, Washington Monthly) “The National Government will regard it as its first and foremost duty to . . “
Reminds me of : “The National Government will regard it as its first and foremost duty to revive in the nation the spirit of unity and cooperation. It will preserve and defend those basic principles on which our nation has been built. It regards Christianity as the foundation of our national morality, and the family as the basis of national life.” — Adolph Hitler, Proclamation to the German Nation at Berlin, February 1, 1933
No wonder our educational system sucks.
On top of being anti-evolution and pushing the lie of being a Christian nation it seems McLeroy and the fairy tale guy in a previous Vox Pops is still polishing the Reagan image despite the facts.
1982 - Reagan signs the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act, raising taxes by $37.5 billion per year.
1982 - Reagan signs the Highway Revenue Act of 1982, increasing the gasoline tax by $3.3 billion.
1984 - Reagan signs the Deficit Reduction Act of 1984, increasing taxes by $18 billion per year.
1990 - Bush signs the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990, raising taxes.
Although in typical Republican fashion he cut rich people's taxes by 60 percent. Most Republicans would flunk history if it weren't for those revisionist Texas textbooks.
Mr. Gums, on the other hand flunked Civics. The President doesn't make the laws. The members of Congress are known as “Lawmakers” for a reason. His letters sound like a personal vendetta against President Obama. Racist much Mr. Gums?
A record number of people lost their jobs because of Republican policies, the uncontrolled corporate pollution making people sick, our costs going up and our wages going down the right wing has no plan except to oppose anything the Democrats propose. That is actually their stated position. Oppose everything.
We The People, at least the working class people supply 87 percent of the federal revenue. Social Security collects $1 trillion and income taxes are an additional $1.25 trillion. Corporate income tax excise tax and other taxes are negligible. Eye opening charts at http://www.marktaw.com/culture_and_media/TheNationalDebt.html
Back in 2001 Rumsfeld admitted that the Pentagon, that hasn't been able to pass an audit for decades, “cannot account for 2-3 trillion dollars.” US military is 54 percent of the U.S. budget. It is estimated that it will cost U.S. taxpayers one million dollars per troop in Afghanistan. Texas Defense contractors alone raked in $255 billion in profit from 2000-2008.
In 2009, 58 percent of our national budget went for war. Halliburton, KBR, Carlyle Group, etc. and only 5 percent went to healthcare for the people paying for those wars.
Socialism? When you are out of a job and your kids are sick, when industrial pollution causes your family to accrue medical costs that put you into bankruptcy even if you have insurance, when you hear Dick-Deficits don't Matter Cheney smear the Obama administration just remember Cheney/Halliburton and Bush/Carlyle raked in the lion's share of war profits.
Denying everyone but the rich decent healthcare that all other civilized nations enjoy while spending $10 million an hour, $8 billion every month (Reuters) on a war we can't win. That's obscene. That's downright criminal.
— Linda Osolkowski, Rib Lake

The most important thing we can do is pray for our America
What is the best policy?
As we watch what is going on in our political arena, I am more and more sure of the corruption that is taking place right before our very eyes. We thought that we would get change. But not an onslaught of change for the bad.
There is an old proverb that goes like this, 'If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.' It would seem that our politicians should just stop doing anything, because they sure have not done anything right. What little they have done right has been far outweighed by the bad.
Whatever happened to transparency. We were promised the debates over our laws would be open to the people. We are being treated like mushrooms. We are kept in the dark and fed horse manure.
What is this with bribes that are going on? You know I looked up the word bribe in the dictionary. This is the meaning of the word bribe: Money or favor given, or promised to a person in a position of trust, to influence dishonesty, his judgment or conduct; also to induce or influence by or as if by giving bribes; and bribery is the act or practice of bribing. Now we know that this act or practice of bribery as been taking place for awhile. You talk about transparent. The bribery in our government, now that's transparent. We see it taking place openly and without shame.
Labor unions $60 million if you go along with this bad health care plan. Not to mention, Louisiana, Massachusetts, they asked to be bribed and they were. For what? They sold their vote for money. How can the people of these states support such crooked politicians?
Now we have Nebraska. I do not know the ins and outs of what this crooked politician got. But as one who does not support the health care bill, I know my tax money is going to bribe crooked people, as I see it, so they vote for something that's bad for America.
Do we realize that if we don't buy the government health plan, we could go to jail? Talking to my fellow inmates, what are you in here for? Oh, I robbed a bank. And you, oh I killed a guy. And you, oh I didn't buy health insurance from the government.
The biggest argument for abortion is that a woman should have the final say as to what goes on in her body. But with this bill, we lose the same right that those who murder the unborn use to say that we can murder then. If I say "This is my body, I don't want your health care." Too bad, off to jail with you.
What can we do? I know that most are not listening. But they will in November. We must remove these people from office. Otherwise they will just keep on digging. In the long term we must ask for term limits. Eight years in any one office is long enough.
The most important thing we can do is pray for America, for our leaders and for the people to let their voice be heard.
I know most of our leaders don't care about God. But if you do, then pray. Be encouraged in God for he said in 1 Cor. 1:19, "For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent."
— Charley Heath, Medford.