Letters to the Editor for Saturday, September 6, 2008
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Published: September 5, 2008
Letter straight from MoveOn.org’s mouth
Bev Jordan has once again done the job he does so well: acting as the spigot through which pours the latest list of distorted MoveOn.org talking points.
Click to sendGo to this Web site, http://pol.moveon.org/mccain10/email.html, and you can see Jordan’s Sept. 5 “letter” to the editor there, verbatim.
And by the way, just because MoveOn supplies footnotes to their assertions does not render them any less distorted.
GREGORY WAHL
Lynchburg
A community asset
On Aug. 28, Darrell Laurant again demonstrated his talent of revealing the emotion and caring that makes up everyday life in Central Virginia. His column on Danielle Copeland’s efforts to plug the hole in the substance abuse treatment continuum in Lynchburg captured both the commitment Ms. Copeland has to helping the less fortunate among us and also highlighted the need the addicts amongst us have for all forms of treatment.
Ms. Copeland understands addiction strikes at all levels of society, from the homeless to the richest and most powerful amongst us. It assumes many forms, from the use of street drugs such as cocaine and herion to the abuse of alcohol and prescription medicine among the more affluent.
Ms. Copeland has accomplished much by bringing a true cross section of community leaders and organizations together. She has secured their agreement Lynchburg, and the surrounding communities currently have a need for an inpatient treatment facility. And, she has put her money where her heart is by establishing the Porter, Rolfe, and Welborne Fund with the Greater Lynchburg Community Trust to support substance abuse treatment.
It is now time to develop the plans to implement that treatment facility and determine what model it will follow. Many in the community are willing to help by giving their time and ideas to develop the appropriate model for Lynchburg. Those plans will emerge over the course of the next several months.
But it will take everyone stepping forward to fulfill Jesus’ commandment to help the least amongst us. You can do your part by giving to the Porter, Rolfe, and Welborne Fund. Please mail your contributions to the Porter, Rolfe, and Welborne Fund in care of The Greater Lynchburg Community Trust, 101 Paulette Circle, Suite B, Lynchburg, VA 24502.
B. LEIGH DREWRY JR.
Lynchburg
Gateway thanks
On Aug. 17, Grace Memorial Episcopal Church hosted a concert to benefit The Gateway, a transitional housing program to homeless men in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction. This standing room only concert featured Harp Song of the Blue Ridge, directed by Virginia Schweninger. Many thanks to harpists Chelsea Barnwell, Clare Mason, Rebecca Edmondson, Kathleen Corcoran, Emily Mason, Canaan Taylor, Quinn Egner and Virginia Schweninger for donating their time and musical talent to support The Gateway. Special thanks to both Howard Bryan, who builds and restores harps, and Bill Spruill, of Grace Memorial, for organizing this very special benefit concert.
Those interested in obtaining more information about The Gateway are invited to call 846-3311.
JANE HENDERSON MASSIE
2008 president, board of directors
The Gateway
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Reader Reactions
Posted by ( Cosmo Wafflefoot ) on September 08, 2008 at 8:25 am
There you go again Randolph! ..“pushers who lure the susceptible”.. If I robbed a bank or raped a woman would you hold the bank to blame for having so much money around… or the woman for having a nice figure? Would you think it was a good idea to form support groups for me? Would you like to treat my problem as a medical problem? Perhaps we should let rapists have their way with prostitutes or women with “bad” figures because it keeps them off “the hard stuff”? Why on earth would you support people who attempt to make VERY bad decision making MORE comfortable? [You post]... “I think it is wonderful that they care enough to try!“ The first law of problem solving Randy is DON’T MAKE IT WORSE. Nature punishes bad decisions. It does not “treat” bad behavior as some kind of mythical medical problem that nobody has any control over. And damn it Randy, take that stupid lampshade off your head when I am posting to you!
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Posted by ( Randolph Knipp ) on September 06, 2008 at 11:58 am
I understand and agree with much of Cosmo’s thoughts about drug abuse, particularly that the abusers are not victims of anything other than personal choices. There is a problem there, no doubt, and so far the solution seems to have eluded us. Personally, I feel the problem will be beaten only by legal access to drugs at rates less than that which makes it profitable to the pushers who lure the susceptible into use and abuse. But I also feel believe that The Greater Lynchburg Community Trust is an eleemosynary institution, not tax based. If people of good will want to spend their money this way, then I think it is wonderful that they care enough to try!
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Posted by ( luv2bliberal ) on September 06, 2008 at 10:46 am
Looks like the democRATS have really picked a leader this time around. I can see why MoveOn.org and George Soros would want him in the white house. He can be their puppet!
“In 1999, Barack Obama was faced with a difficult vote in the Illinois legislature — to support a bill that would let some juveniles be tried as adults, a position that risked drawing fire from African-Americans, or to oppose it, possibly undermining his image as a tough-on-crime moderate.
In the end, Mr. Obama chose neither to vote for nor against the bill. He voted “present,” effectively sidestepping the issue, an option he invoked nearly 130 times as a state senator.
Sometimes the “present’ votes were in line with instructions from Democratic leaders or because he objected to provisions in bills that he might otherwise support. At other times, Mr. Obama voted present on questions that had overwhelming bipartisan support. In at least a few cases, the issue was politically sensitive.
The record has become an issue on the presidential campaign trail, as Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, his chief rival for the Democratic nomination, has seized on the present votes he cast on a series of anti-abortion bills to portray Mr. Obama as a “talker” rather than a “doer.”“
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/20/us/politics/20obama.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin
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Posted by ( luv2bliberal ) on September 06, 2008 at 10:33 am
Gregory Wahl,
Great Letter! MoveOn.org is simply a quasi wing of the democrat party that does not have to live under the scrutiny of a political party. Funded heavily by George Soros, an admitted anti-semite, they are the greatest 527 in the world for slinging mud at conservative figures!
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Posted by ( Ken ) on September 06, 2008 at 9:51 am
Letter straight from MoveOn.org’s mouth by GREGORY WAHL. What is “distorted” about the fact that McCain opposed the new G.I. Bill until it became obvious that Congress intended to pass the bill over Bush’s veto? How is that “fact” distorted? Also Wahl, if McCain wins, you send your children and grandchildren to fight his wars, not mine! McCain acts and talks like he can’t wait to start his own wars, be it with Iran or even worse, with Russia!
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Posted by ( Cosmo Wafflefoot ) on September 06, 2008 at 9:27 am
Just listen to this hogwash. ..[“Ms. Copeland understands addiction strikes at all levels of society, from the homeless to the richest and most powerful amongst us.“].. Most powerful at what? Certainly NOT behaving themselves. It’s not as if “the drugs” are running after them. EVERYBODY that does this takes action and spends money (theirs or yours) and energy and time to run after the drugs. They are the active players and agents of this pathology. They might as well be nailing their own heads to the floor. That’s not a “disease”! It’s a decision! You don’t “treat” the decisions people make, you try to talk them out of it. If you can’t you take away their freedom because they obviously can not be trusted to manage it on their own. Or, you turn your back on it, look the other way, and operate on the idea that they have the right to live or die as they please weather you like it or not. What you don’t do is create a farcical bureauacracy that pretends this is a “medical problem” and then feeds on it in perpetuity. NO tax dollars should ever be spent to make people who “decide” to run after drugs more comfortable about their decision. That’s ridiculous. If anything they should be made to feel more UNcomfortable. At least, in my opinion, that should be the Conservative view. The Liberal view, I suppose, would be to mind your own damn business and keep your nose (and the Governments nose) out of other peoples business. It’s funny how all that gets turned around. The Conservatives want more government and government power and control and money pit “Treatment Facilities”. The Liberals, I think, understand that they are wasting their time and everybody’s money. ...Or is it the other way around?
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Posted by ( commonsenseplz ) on September 06, 2008 at 5:46 am
Well Gregory, I guess that is just how things go. For all their talk about Fox News and Rush, the liberals use the talking points from Move On, Mike Malloy and Keith Olbermann. I guess every person has to decide which side is crazier. Personally, I would stay as far away from Olbermann as possible.
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Posted by ( Cosmo Wafflefoot ) on September 06, 2008 at 4:37 am
I, as a Conservative, have a BIG problem with Danielle Copeland and her efforts to throw more money down the rat hole of [substance abuse treatment]. B.LEIGH DREWRY JR’s letter highlights my objections quite nicely. Just examine “B. Leigh’s” unfortunate and misleading choice of words. He calls drug abusers “the less fortunate among us” as if drug abuse has nothing to do with making an active choice to first seek out then consume drugs that are both illegal and damaging. He writes that “Ms. Copeland understands addiction strikes at all levels of society” as if addiction involves no will or action on the part of the so called addict, but instead strikes like lightning or a tornado. As if the abuser doesn’t seek out the drugs in the first place, but is a victim of the drugs seeking him or her out to be “struck”. Here is my favorite bit of nonsense…“But it will take everyone stepping forward to fulfill Jesus’ commandment to help the least amongst us.“ Oh Boy! Since this IS Lynchburg I understand that no discussion of ANYTHING can take place without dragging Jesus into the act, but, can we get serious for just once? Since when did making the moral decision to seek out drugs, break the law and spend ones life in an illegal drugged out stupor make one an “unfortunate” person who has been “struck” by something they had no control over? What utter nonsense! ACTIONS on the part of people who made the MORAL decision to BREAK THE LAW are the ONLY cause of this problem…. Not Jesus, not some imaginary and insurmountable force, and certainly not “fortune” cause this problem. What we are talking about, in fact, are free people who make the free choice to pursue a morally reprehensible path in life that is anti-social and against the law. Pretending that drug abuse is something that “just happens” without a conscious effort on the part of the abuser is worse than incorrect, it’s a lie! The fact is that some people just do not know what to do with their freedom. The fact is that some people make highly immoral decisions and carry them out to the detriment of themselves and society. Bank robbery doesn’t “strike” bank robbers! Child abuse isn’t perpetrated by the “least fortunate among us”. These words and phrases used to describe drug abusers are not only incorrect and counter productive…. BUT DANGEROUS. Drug treatment is a waste of time and money. It ALWAYS has been. It has created a costly and useless bureauacracy that seeks to perpetuate itself as all bureaucracies do. End it! If people can not find something constructive and rewarding to do with their freedom… END THAT TO. But above all STOP pretending that drug abusers do not make the conscious decision to become drug abusers and then act upon that immoral decision to break the law. We “treat” diseases NOT immoral and illegal decisions and activities! We “treat” pneumonia not bank robbery and arson. NO ONE makes the active decision to pursue pneumonia, again and again. Pretending that drug abuse is a medical problem instead of a moral one is wrong, stupid and a waste of public money and resources. PERIOD!
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Posted by ( bigjimm ) on September 06, 2008 at 3:42 am
Thanks for the link Mr. Wahl but that’s a pretty lazy way to refute a letter. Tell us what Moveon.org is all about and why it’s assertions are distorted.
If you were looking for distortions all you had to do was listen to Mrs. Palin’s speech the other night.
That was a great example of the fact that a good speech does not have to be truthful.
Her assertions about Mr. Obama’s legislative record and the bipartisan work he has done in the Senate is just one example of the lies she spewed.
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Posted by ( Cosmo Wafflefoot ) on September 06, 2008 at 3:30 am
GREGORY WAHL tells us that Bev Jordan has views that are “distorted”. It’s a shame he couldn’t tell us how, why or provide some proof. Distorted is not synonymous with “different than mine” Greg. You should know that. You should also know that cranking up the animosity between people of differing views is not what our nation needs at this point in time. It clouds rather than clarifies any discussion of facts.
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