Fact-checking Don Burnard
To the editor,
Emotional tirades work well with the uninformed but are poor excuses for literate journalism. I would like to “fact check” many of your statements (“Economic chicken,”
March 10) because sadly, your political views completely cloud objective journalism, which makes you laughable.
Unless you were hidden in a cave the two weeks prior to sequestration going into effect, the blame game was in full force. However, contrary to your opinion, sequestration was beloved by the White House along with the GOP and the Dems. As quoted from The Wall Street Journal: “A 2012 book written by legendary newspaperman Bob Woodward of The Washington Post claimed the idea of sequestration originated with the Obama White House,
but that congressional Republicans signed on to the idea eventually. Woodward, writing in the newspaper in 2013, said: ‘… the automatic spending cuts were initiated by the White House and were the brainchild of Jack Lew and White House congressional relations chief Rob Nabors — probably the foremost experts on budget issues in the senior ranks of the federal government.’
“Obama personally approved of the plan for Lew and Nabors to propose the sequester to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). They did so at 2:30 p.m. July 27, 2011, according to interviews with two senior White House aides who were directly involved.
“No matter. The week before the sequestration cuts were set to begin in 2013, public opinion polls showed nearly half of Americans were blaming congressional Republicans for failing to reach a deal on deficit reduction. Fewer than a third, 31 percent, were blaming Obama.”
Check your sources, Mr. Burnard — there weren’t just a few “Blue Dog Dems” who wanted sequestration; the majority of them did. And contrary to your entire article,
the biggest Blue Dog Dem of all wanted it.
In all fairness, both sides did nothing but blame each other but the fact remains, sequestration originated from your messiah.
You wrote, “The GOP has obstructed Obama since “Day One.” Hmmm. In the last two years of the Bush administration and the first two years of Obama, the Dems controlled both houses. That is in fact why $2 trillion of added debt went on the books. The midterm elections corrected the open checkbook policy, with even your beloved Nancy Pelosi being taken aback on the number of seats lost. Poor lady, she lost her seat at the head of the table. To say that the GOP were blocking Obama since Day One is laughable. All they could do for the first two years was thumb their noses at him.
Fact checking your fuzzy math, I love this one. If the “deficit has gone down ….” and “Spending under Obama is the lowest ….” statements were absolute, then please explain why our national debt in 2008 was $10 trillion.
In 2012, our debt was $16 trillion and according to the Congressional Budget Office (bipartisan, by the way) in 2016 our national debt will be $20 trillion. That’s quite a trick for a president who isn’t spending. And the coupnd’etat is that Obamacare was quoted as adding “zero” to the national debt. That too has now been re-evaluated by
the Congressional Budget Office. Obamacare will add a minimum of $6 trillion in the next 60 years. Not bad for a president who isn’t spending. And that is just an estimate!
You can blame John Boehner all you want with emotional tirades, but the “fact” remains that Obama already got his tax increase on the rich on Jan. 1, as part of concessions from the GOP. Sadly, Obama has come back to the table for more tax increases on the rich, to solve the sequester. Want to guess what his next original idea will be for the next fiscal cliff? Hmmm, I know — “higher taxes” on the rich.
I am an independent, as much as our country allows. The only “facts” that are in truth are that both houses are crooks and regardless of how you feel, “the buck” stops on Obama’s desk. His job is to get both houses to agree and to negotiate to get this
country going. Being the “Great Blamer” hasn’t helped anyone yet.
—Tony Iannucci, Toledo
Homosexuality is a moral issue
To the editor,
I recently read Michael S. Miller’s Feb. 24 column “Same Love,” on the hotly debated issue of homosexuality, which he strongly supports. The intent of this letter is to
highlight an opposing view.
Homosexuality is a moral issue. Ephesians 6:12 says, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against spiritual forces of wickedness … ” (New American Standard Bible, NASB)
Some opposers do not fight against the homosexuals themselves, rather their immoral lifestyle. We have records that homosexuality is mentioned in the Old Testament. Please note the story of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19. God destroyed these cities with fire and brimstone because of their practice of homosexuality.
So why does God hate the sin of homosexuality?
It is because this lifestyle was not set up by God. In Genesis 2:18-24, God makes Adam a “helper suitable for him,” out of his flesh. Adam called her “Woman,”
and says, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh” (verse 24 NASB). In addition to the above, God will not “draw his arms shut” to homosexuals if they are willing to repent. Although 1st Corinthians 6 verses 8-10 states that those who continually and habitually commit certain sins, including homosexuality, will not inherit the kingdom of God, verse 11 says
that those who repent (turn away from) and “are washed,
sanctified, and justified through the Lord Jesus Christ” (NASB) can inherit God’s kingdom.
According to Romans 6 verses 1 and 2, there must be a discontinuation of these sins.
As you can see, gay marriage is not “inevitable.” It came about in the Old Testament times when man began to fall away from God. God did not establish the gay social standard for mankind. If it were not relevant to condemn them, then God would not have condemned this lifestyle in His Word. So to those who practice and support homosexual marriage, I pray that you will see and know that the goodness of God leads to repentance (Romans 2:4, KJV).
—Kaylynn Joyce Smitt, Toledo
