Sweetwater Reporter (Sweetwater, Tex.), Vol. 112, No. 263, Ed. 1 Wednesday, September 22, 2010 Page: 4 of 10
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Viewpoints
Page 4 ■ Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Sweetwater Reporter
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2010
TEXAS PRESS
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EDITORIAL POLICY
The editorial section of the newspaper is a forum for
expression of a variety of viewpoints. All articles except
those labeled "Editorials" reflect the opinions of the writ-
ers and not those of the Sweetwater Reporter
GUEST COLUMN
Scotland ard
God bless America, and how s everybody?
Scotland Yard arrested five Islamist terrorists in
London Friday. They planned to kill Pope Benedict in his
motorcade. He has to remember that anytime he doodles
a picture of Jesus and tosses it into the trash, it could be
mistaken for a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed.
Al-Qaeda put out an assassination order for Seattle car-
toonist Molly North for conducting a Draw the Prophet
Mohammed contest online. Some things they don't ldd
about. Mecca boasts the only comedy club in the world
which has a cemetery on the premises.
Pope Benedict demanded higher standards of Roman
Catholics Friday while the pontiff was preaching in
London. The pope is not afraid to clean
house. Mel Gibson went to the Notre
Dame game Saturday in South Bend
and the bishop refused him hot dogs
and coffee.
Reggie Bush said Thursday his forfeit-
ing the Heisman Trophy isn't an admis-
sion of guilt that he took cash at USC.
He plans to return to school and get a
degree in political science. He thinks he
can get a semester's credit for cheating
and denying guilt.
irniie Florida coach Urban Mever suspend-
*" ed receiver Chris Rainey Thursday after
Sfelttf ll i'llH 'ie was arrested for stalking. The kid was
llClllllllllll the thirtieth Gator arrested in die last
five years. The Dallas Cowboys might
be America's Team but the Florida Gators are America's
Most Wanted Team.
Time Warner Cable added eight pom channels Friday,
which will provide a lot of new jobs in the adult film
industry. It makes up for last year's massive layoffs inside
the giant media company. First they screwed people out
of jobs, now they're screwing people into jobs.
President Obama called the National Security Council
to the White House Friday where he received a security
update from his highest-ranking generals in the field.
They had to give the president some really bad news.
They can't stop the surge in Delaware.
Tea Party star Christine O'Donnell was flooded with
campaign donations Thursday after she won the GOP
Senate primary in Delaware. She advocates teen absti-
nence from sex and masturbation. Joe Biden can't believe
his Senate seat is about to be taken by a woman so con-
servative that the Taliban just named a girls' school after
her.
The FBI arrested a scientist at Los Alamos nuclear facil-
ity in New Mexico Friday for trying to help Venezuela's
dictator Hugo Chavez build a nuclear bomb. This is
becoming the latest reality show. Dictators are compet-
ing to see who can get the furthest along in a nuclear
program before they are toppled and hanged by the
Anglo-Saxons.
Argas Hamilton is the host comedian at The Comedy
Store in Hollywood and speaks to groups and orga-
nizations around the country. E-mail him at Argus@
ArgusHamilton.com.
Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor,
I just want to say a few words about the greatest MDs
in the Big Country, especially Dr. Larry McEachern, MD
and his personal nurse Belinda. They really had a lot of
patience with me in the last month between the phone
calls and notes we finally made connections. They were
determined that I received the treatment I needed and
make an appointment with Dr. Moses, He and his staff
were very polite and also in explaining my situation
and sent me to the hospital for the minor surgery and
the nurses were so courteous and friendly there. I saw
nothing but smiles from the administrator to the pre-op
nurses. The administrator even took time to lead me to
the pre-op nurse. I only spent just over two hours there
with the professionals in the surgery room. It didn't take
long to get me taken care of. The Big Country is blessed
to have such a great bunch of health professionals such
as these.
Morris C. Jones
Sweetwater, Texas
Dear Editor,
Thank you J. Usener, an officer with Texas Department
of Public Safety. On Sept. 4,2010, we were on our way to
Sweetwater and somehow we got lost on the interstate,
when we were stopped on a minor traffic violation, by
patrolman J. Usener. He was kind enough to give us a
warning.
We asked him for directions to get to the motel where
we were staying. He was very kind and asked us to fol-
low him and took us directly to the motel where we were
staying.
We thank God for sending us a Guardian Angel in J.
Usener. Our blessings to you and your whole family.
Isidoro and Irene Salgado
The elderly couple from New Mexico
CAPITOL COMMENT
Congress must stop digging
America deeper into debt
Kay Bailey
Hutchison
Will Rogers, known
worldwide for his cow-
boy brand of wisdom,
once offered this sensible
advice: "If you find your-
self in a hole, stop dig-
ging."
Today,
America is in a
historically deep
hole of debt,
and though
common sense
would dictate
a cut in spend-
ing, the Obama
administration
and Democratic
leaders in
Congress con-
tinue to drive
our deficits up
and our nation
further into the red.
Over the last two years,
discretionary spending
- that is, funding that
Congress can direct to
non-mandatory programs
- has risen by 17 percent.
When you factor in the
$800 billion "stimulus"
bill, the increase in discre-
tionary spending is actual
ly 84 percent. The national
public debt hit an histori-
cal $13 trillion dollars in
May. If the spending con-
tinues at its present rate,
at the end of Obama's first
term, he will have added
an additional $6 trillion to
the public debt.
A bipartisan group of
Senators are calling on
leaders in Congress to
stop digging - or in this
case, spending. A propos-
al offered by Republican
Senator Jeff Sessions and
Democratic Senator Claire
McCaskill would impose
badly needed budget dis-
cipline by setting caps now
for discretionary spending
through 2014, except for
defense spending. At this
time of war, we need flex-
ibility to fund our efforts
in Afghanistan and Iraq,
ensuring total support for
our armed forces.
Discretionary appropri-
ations represent 43 per-
cent of the federal budget,
so if we set caps now, it
would substantially rein in
federal spending over the
next few years. The pro-
posal has come before the
Senate several times over
the past year, and a major -
ity of Senators have voted
GUEST COLUMN
to impose the spending
caps. Every Republican
and 17 Democrats have
voted for the Sessions-
McCaskill proposal. This
is a clear indication of
the broad con-
cern over federal
spending levels.
Unfortunately, we
have not been able
to meet the three-
fifths majority (60
votes) necessary to
move this impor-
tant legislation for-
ward.
As a mem-
ber of the Senate
Appropriations
Committee, which
sets funding levels
for the federal gov-
ernment, my committee
colleagues and I are well-
positioned to lead efforts
to reduce overall spend-
ing. In July, all of the
Republican members of
the committee sent a letter
to the Chairman, Senator
Daniel Inouye, asking that
we work together to pro-
duce appropriations bills
that reasonably address
fundamental govern-
ment needs in a fiscally
responsible manner. The
Republican committee
members also pledged
that we would not sup-
port any of the commit-
tee's spending bills that
exceed the levels proposed
in the Sessions-McCaskill
spending freeze. True to
our word, we have voted
against every appropria-
tions bill that would raise
discretionary spending.
Our earnest commit-
ment to fiscal discipline
is important for several
reasons. First, the enor-
mity of the federal debt
poses a direct threat to our
national security. Foreign
entities own over half of
our nation's privately-
held debt. Owning $843.7
billion in U.S. Treasury
securities, China is the
greatest foreign share-
holder, This makes our
nation beholden to for-
eign interests, and gives
them powerful economic
leverage over the United
States. We need only to
look across the Atlantic
to see what happens
when a government can't
keep up with its debts.
European countries like
Greece, Spain, Ireland,
and Portugal, which have
long lived beyond their
means, are in such states
of debt that the value of
the euro is plunging and
compromising the stabil-
ity of global markets.
Second, this culture of
unrestrained spending
is breeding uncertainty
here at home, specifically
among American families
and small businesses. This
hinders our broader eco-
nomic recovery. To pay
for the federal spending
spree, the administration
and some in Congress
propose allowing the
Bush tax cuts to expire at
the end of this year. This
would amount to the larg-
est tax hike in our nation's
history. Faced with the
prospect of a heavier tax
burden, many commercial
operations are hesitant to
plan or invest and con-
sumer spending may slow.
Business owners large and
small have told me they
are postponing hiring
decisions until they have
greater confidence in the
strength of the economy.
The time has come for
Congress to stop dig-
ging America deeper into
debt. An immediate step
we can take is to cap dis-
cretionary spending. The
modest proposal we have
offered would reduce defi-
cits by $300 billion over
10 years and begin to put
our financial house in
order. We must also make
sure that the tax burden
of American families and
businesses is kept low so
they can facilitate eco-
nomic recovery through
investment, job creation,
and careful spending of
their own money.
Kay Bailey Hutchison
is the senior U.S. Senator
from Texas and is the
Ranking Member of the
Senate Committee on
Commerce, Science, and
Transportation.
Beyond party
Schadenfreude means
taking pleasure in the fail-
ure of others, which is the
Hollywood vocation and,
lately, that of Democrats,
as well.
When you're part of the
party in power and unem-
ployment is hovering near
10 percent, there aren't
that many occa-
sions for pleasure.
So you can hardly
begrudge us the
mirth that comes
with watching
Karl Rove, Rush
Limbaugh, Sarah
Palin, Christine
O'Donnell and the
rest slug it out.
Could it really be
that O'Donnell, the
GOP nominee for
the U.S. Senate in
Delaware, equates
looking at porn with adul-
ter}' and masturbation with
sin? Could it be that Alvin
Greene is not the most
embarrassing major party
nominee of the year?
It could. Arid here's
the difference: The GOP
eould've won in Delaware.
Or in Nevada. Or in
Colorado.
This is not about the tea
party movement, at least
not necessarily so. It's
about taking politics seri-
ously.
At the core of the tea
party movement is the
very popular and hardly
irresponsible idea that
federal spending is out of
control, that government
has gotten too big, that
everything from bailouts
to entitlements needs a
second look and, poten-
tially, some major cuts.
Susan
Estrich
I don't know whether
there's a majority that
sees it that way. The devil
is in the details, and the
details tend to focus on the
sacred cows of American
politics — Social Security,
Medicare and the mortgage
deduction. But cert air
there's nothing "nutty"
(Rove's descrip-
tion of O'Donnell)
about the core
platform of the
tea party move-
ment. Indeed, by
returning to the
fiscal conserva-
tivism that was
the heart of the
Reagan message,
and by reaching
out to those who
might disagree
with "establish-
ment" Republican
positions on such issues as
gun control and abortion
(which are indeed nutty to
a lot of people), the move-
ment not only generates
enthusiasm, but also has
the potential for greater
inclusiveness.
The problem, in short,
is not the platform but the
people, not ideology but
competence and qualifica-
tions.
O'Donnell beat for-
mer Delaware Gov. Mike
Castle because Republican
primary voters wanted to
send a message to their
party — and to Democrats,
the media and the estab-
lishment - that business
as usual just won't do.
You can talk all you want
about the narrow base
of primary voters (true
enough). But to deny that
something real is going on
"out there," which is to say
outside of Washington, is
silly.
Nominating people who
are not qualified to do the
jobs they're seeldng makes
no sense, whether it's tea
partiers, the GOP or my
own party members doing
it. Cutting government is
a heck of a lot harder than
expanding it. Carrying
out the tea partv platform
would require tfie acumen
of a Newt Gingrich and
the sawy of a Rove, not to
mention the charisma of
a Palin.
Palin's problem as
John McCain's running
mate was not that she is
a woman or a conserva-
tive, but that she doesn't
know a single Supreme
Court opinion other than
Roe, doesn't read newspa-
pers and still gets stuck on
a Founding Father other
than George Washington.
An overwhelming major-
ity of Americans think
she's not qualified to be
president. If she's smarter
than they think she is, she
won't put that to a test.
In the long run, a
healthy democracy needs
qualified and able people
of every party to function
effectively. The tea party
movement's failure to sup-
port candidates who meet
that standard may help
Democrats avert disaster,
but it's hardly a recipe for
a strong political system.
"Buck up," Palin told
Rove. What does that
mean? This isn't a game.
It's not a sport. The stakes
are too high. I'm not sup-
porting Alvin Greene.
Some things go beyond
party.
To find out more about
Susan Estrich and read
features by other Creators
Syndicate writers and car-
toonists., visit the Creators
Syndicate website at
www.creators.com.
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Sweetwater Reporter (Sweetwater, Tex.), Vol. 112, No. 263, Ed. 1 Wednesday, September 22, 2010, newspaper, September 22, 2010; Sweetwater, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth229274/m1/4/: accessed July 12, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Sweetwater/Nolan County City-County Library.