Ultimate Price: $10K

Dear Editor,

Every service member past and present, active duty, retired and any and every one who ever served and was honorably discharged has just been spit on, slapped in the face and told that you wasted your time serving by Col. Jeffery Nance of the Army Judge Advocate General Corps.

Nance (I refuse to add the title colonel to this stain on JAGs everywhere) just tagged the price of service members that were killed, wounded and disabled while searching for this creature at a mere $10,000. That is the amount of the total fine levied against it. It will continue to steal air, enjoy life and walk about freely while good men lie in their graves or struggle through life with their injuries. And all this right before Veterans Day.

Bowe Bergdahl is a disgrace to the uniform of the US Army. His actions deserved nothing less than life in a military prison at a minimum. And it’s made even worse by the actions of Nance, who, in my opinion, should immediately resign his commission and disappear. It is my hope that no state would grant him status as a lawyer and allow him to practice anywhere.

No doubt, many people are outraged by this decision. And I am not demeaning anyone when I say you don’t know the level outrage, disgust and sense of betrayal being felt right now by those who have worn the uniform. It’s a 1,000 times worse. I can assure you there no words strong enough to express how we feel. Members of our brotherhood were killed and maimed, and for what?

There are those that will defend this by saying it suffered at the hands of the Taliban for five years. That should be sufficient punishment. Let me tell you now, it was not. It placed itself in that position of its own free will. Not to be flippant, but the old adage “play stupid games, win stupid prizes” definitely applies here.

It and Nance have no honor, no integrity. Nance ignored his obligation to those who paid the price trying to find it. And if it had been found would the price to recover it been worth it?

Yes, throughout this rant I’ve referred to Bergdahl as “it” because he doesn’t deserve to be identified as anything more than that. And I will make no apologies for it.

To fallen comrades.

Alan Marshall

God in Charge of All

Dear Editor,

Several weeks ago a Rhino reader claimed that President Trump’s election was arranged by God who, this person pointed out, often uses imperfect people to do his will.

Although I do acknowledge Trump’s imperfection, I was astonished at this type of reasoning, since the same claim can then be made about each and every previous president: God must also have chosen Obama, Bush, Clinton and all the others.

Maureen Parker

 

 

Where’s the Benefit?

Dear Editor,

One only needs to watch News 14 or read the N&R online once to get an understanding of their bias. Most if not all of the political news comes from the AP or other large media outlets, and the anti-conservative, anti-Trump messages are endless. News 14 and the N&R are propagandists, not news people, in that they are promoting their own agenda, whether it’s the truth, lies, rumors, innuendo, etc. Typical lame stream news.

There are rarely stories bringing to attention all the shady dealings of Obama, Clinton and Co. because those stories do not fit into their narrative that Trump and fellow conservatives can do little right and have no use for people different from them.

What I have never understood is where is the profit in being so one sided?  It’s impossible to believe these propagandists have the country’s best interest in mind because they promote hate and divisiveness by condemning those with whom they disagree, and give the other side (their side) a total pass.

Another disturbing way the lame stream “news” agencies like News 14 and N&R promote hate is their choices of stories about law enforcement. If a white person was shot by a police officer in East Bodunk or wherever, would the lame stream media run the story every day for a month, conjuring up more hate and conspiracy theories? No. But if it was a black person we would be bombarded with it by the media.

Trayvon Martin, RIP, was on News 14 every hour for two months when that terrible ordeal was current. Ferguson was very similar. Both were horrible and hurt race relations, but running one sided “news” theories endlessly didn’t help anyone. When the truth came out about both, News 14 was silenced, all of a sudden it became disinterested in telling the real story.

People have great disdain for the lame stream news. I doubt anything will change in my lifetime.

Douglas Loomis

 

 

Afraid for USA

Dear Editor,

I fear for you, America.  I fear for you and your people and the democratic way of life where one used to be able to speak the truth to power without concern for denigrating reprisal.

I fear for you, America, because dictatorships are born and nurtured when a segment of the population is convinced that “others” and “those people” are taking what is rightly theirs and “the others” should be dealt with inhumanely and harshly.

I fear for you, America, when far too many believe what their leaders say and do is true and acceptable even when it is not in their best interest or that of the country’s.

I fear for you, America, for we’re in a time when some, thinking it will improve their plight, are willing to cede their rights and freedoms to self-serving leaders.

I fear for you, America, when self-interest and personal agendas rule the day, and the forces of evil are gaining strength and turning citizen against citizen.

I fear for you, America, unless our better angels of hope, love and caring move us to positive action that will overcome hatred and negativity.  If unsuccessful, the longest tenured democracy the world has ever known will collapse on itself and all will be lost.

I fear for you, America.

Bob Kollar

 

 

Solutions Need Fixing

Dear Editor,

Ever since President Clinton made the statement, “That depends on what the meaning of ‘is’ is,” politicians have had a field day making cases for nothing of more importance than distorting reality.  Now they seem to have reached the height of hypocrisy by being knowledgeable about something they themselves are in the middle of and are still pointing the blame to the other party.   But, then, what about these greedy and “unelectable” conservatives who would have remained the sinking party except for a populist vote that wanted change, above all, and had to accept Trump with it.

Both parties are self-serving and word-shipping with their ‘’talking points’’ and can find plenty wrong with a thing like ending a sentence with a ‘for’ as a higher priority.  But their shallow political solutions have left us with even more solutions to solve when implemented.

The best advice for politicians is, leave well enough alone.  Throwing us a piece of cheese and eating the rest for themselves does not serve even their constituents, much less our nation.  Trump was right; the swamp must be drained.

Ray Hylton

 

 

Citizens First

Dear Editor,

If you want to sue Equifax because they allowed hackers to take your personal information, that’s just too bad. You can try arbitration. If Wells Fargo opened up a secret bank account in you name you can’t participate in a class action lawsuit against them, but you can try arbitration.

I think that governments should put the rights, wants and needs of citizens before the rights, wants and needs of corporations. Unfortunately the politicians that rule “our” government want big business to come before the little guy. What a shame.

A bill recently passed by Congress killed a regulation from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that would have banned banks and credit card companies from using forced arbitration. This would have allowed consumers to participate in class action lawsuits against corporations that had wronged them.

I am sure that President Trump will sign this bill into law. Some politicians believe that corporations are people and should have the same rights as citizens. They think that regulations and taxes, against “corporate citizens” should be decreased. For some reason these politicians don’t believe that people are corporations. They want regulations, and laws, against citizens to be increased.

I think that citizens should come before corporations. Unfortunately, it looks like the federal government is moving closer to corporatism.

Chuck Mann

 

 

No Changes for Summerfield

Dear Editor,

On Oct. 11, 2016, the Summerfield Town Council voted unanimously for a resolution of intent to amend the Summerfield development ordinance to include planned development (PD) zoning.   Gail Dunham made a public comment that night, “the proposed PUD only benefits developers and does not preserve Summerfield’s rural character.”  Those are the facts.

At unified development ordinance committee meetings, the town planner has begun to change the unpopular PD to a “development plan” or a PAD “planned area development.”   Change the name to whatever you want, the people don’t want it.  Mixed-use plans that combine commercial, residential including apartments, and industrial are not rural.  Our current ordinance allows for town homes, which are currently being built.  OSRD allows for homes on smaller lots with open space surrounding.   Over 2,000 citizens signed a petition to keep low density as stated in the U.S.G.S. report on ground water prepared in 1997 in all zoning districts.

My family moved here because it was rural, peaceful and quiet.  We loved hearing the crickets singing their symphony in summer and seeing the stars clearly at night.  Our neighbors are truly the kind of people that would give you the shirt off their back.  After a long day, seeing livestock grazing calms the mind and relaxes the body.  I think when God created this world, he intended for us to see grass and trees, listen to streams frolic over the rocks and kids to play in backyards with dirt.  So much of what our culture needs today can currently be found in Summerfield.  Let’s make sure that never changes.

Elizabeth McClellan

 

 

Depressed Killers

Dear Editor,

After doing some in-depth research on a series of mass murderers, serial killers and various other psychopaths, I am seeing a common denominator – anti-depressants.

Some of the most heinous crimes in history have been committed by people on these prescription drugs. Case in point, Laurie Dann, the Connecticut woman who walked into an elementary school and opened fire on students was under the influence of Prozac at the time of this shooting.

Then there was Eric Harris, one of the Columbine killers, who was on Luvox (an anti-depressant) the week he slaughtered 13 of his classmates.

And who can forget Phil Hartman, the talented comedian on Saturday Night Life? His wife, Brynn, was on Zoloft and drinking heavily, the night she shot Phil, then turned the gun on herself. (Incidentally, her brother sued the manufacturer of Zoloft for an undisclosed amount of money.)

Does anyone else see a pattern here?

Here is my suggestion: Instead of wasting the taxpayers time and money on ludicrous programs like gun control, why don’t we focus our attention on getting these mind-altering zombie-making drugs off the market? I am sure the world will be a much safer place.

Jon Muffley

 

 

Just a Few Issues

Dear Editor,

I think Republicans are wonderful people except for a few very small, unfortunate issues. The following statements of undeniable fact are based completely on the very actions, behaviors and words of some of the most prominent Republicans, both nationally and within the formerly great state of North Carolina:

1) They are completely incapable of understanding even the most basic, fundamental facts of any issue including, but not limited to abortion, defense, economic issues, environmental concerns and foreign policy matters. It is unclear whether this total inability is due primarily to the obviously inferior gene pool from which they were spawned or their equally obvious lack of any education beyond the third grade. My guess is that it is a lot of both.

2) On the rare occasion when they are able to grasp even a small amount of the facts concerning an issue, they then bring to the conversation a set of ethics, morals and values that can only be described as obscene, perverted and warped. The framework and perspective from which they view the world are un-American, anti-Christian, anti-common sense, anti-democracy, anti-fact, anti-North Carolina, anti-reality and anti-truth. Other than these matters of fact, Republicans are brilliant.

3) It could not be clearer than every Republican (alleged) lawyer either A) did not actually attend law school, B) did not take constitutional law while in law school or C) took constitutional law but failed it miserably (probably many times). If any Republican (alleged) lawyer actually did take and pass constitutional law, well, I would strongly suggest the accreditation of the involved law school be given appropriate scrutiny. The consistently unconstitutional nature of the legislation passed by the North Carolina General Assembly defies the imagination, not to mention the good sense and judgment of the citizens of the formerly great state of North Carolina.

Anonymous

 

 

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