Who is the real role model?
In response to Brenda Stone’s Oct. 20 letter regarding Governor Palin’s priorities, I must question Ms. Stone’s priorities in writing her letter.
She referred to Gov. Palin as “turning her back on those closest to her” because she, being a mother, accepted the Republican vice presidential nomination. Most modern women understand the unfortunate hypocrisy that still exists in our society when a woman chooses to work outside the home.
When a man entrusts his children’s care to others while he pursues a career, he is commended for his hard work and his contribution to his family. When a woman does the same, there are obviously an uneducated few who feel she has “abdicated responsibility for her children and family to seek personal fame and glory,” as does Ms. Stone. I am left to wonder why the care of two young children of a certain Illinois senator was never mentioned in Ms. Stone’s list of concerns.
I hope, Ms. Stone, that as you go about your daily life with your new child, you will reserve your condemnation for all the working mothers who will check you in at the pediatrician’s office, ring up your diaper purchase, or deliver your mail order Obama crib sheets. They make choices that are best for their families and they don’t pretend to know what is best for yours.
Maybe the “Change We Need” is one where the gender and parental status of a public figure does not lead one to pass judgment that should be reserved for the Almighty.
ó Ashley Deaton
Salisbury
See voting records
There are many factors influencing voters in this year’s presidential campaign, including money, media, age, race, gender, faith, experience, message, policy, war and economics. I’ll vote early and ignore 11th-hour advertising by posturing candidates promising big while slinging mud to the tune of many millions of dollars. What a waste.
I suspect many citizens won’t select our next president based on analysis of his voting record. Perhaps it would have helped if the debate moderators had asked the candidates‚ to justify their Senate votes right down a list of critical issues. I can’t think of a more realistic way to predict what we can expect from our next president than to look at his actual voting record.
From telegraphing domestic and foreign policy initiatives to the kinds of judges he’ll empower to influence legal precedent when my young children are eventually raising children of their own, a candidate’s voting record is the next best thing to a crystal ball.
Of course, there would be other benefits if voters looked at the candidates’ voting records. If we were to select our next president based on his voting history, we could ignore what the candidates promise they’ll do, if elected, and simply focus on the character displayed by what they’ve actually done. Also, imagine the good that could be accomplished with the many millions of dollars wasted on advertising by posturing candidates promising big while slinging mud.
“Vote your conscience” is a worthwhile admonition, but I hope many voters will inform their democratic decisions with more than just the best advertising money can buy. I hope many Americans will invest some time researching the candidates’ actual voting records. It’s a pretty safe bet to assume that our next president will lead according to the same values he embraced with his votes.
ó Michael Hollingsworth
Salisbury
The Obama story?
Around 1979, 17-year-old Barry Obama entered college at Occidental College in California. He experimented with drugs and did not apply himself to his studies. He had two roommates from Pakistan (Muhammad Hassan Chandoo and Wahid Hamid). During the Summer of ’81 he made a round-the-world trip, visiting his mother in Indonesia, then to India, and for a month in Karachi, Pakistan, where he stayed with one roommate’s Muslim family, then to Africa to visit his Muslim father.
Where did Barry Obama get the money for this trip? Most folks in college could not have afforded such a world tour.
When he returned, he entered Columbia University and was now known as Barack Hussein Obama, the Muslim name that his father had given him at birth. Columbia is not cheap! Where did the money come from to attend that prestigious and very liberal college?
When he graduated from Columbia, he went to work as a community organizer at a salary of $12,000 per year. How did he live on that income?
Next, Barack Obama entered Harvard Law School after meeting Ton Rezko, a Chicago real estate developer, born in Syria. Did Mr. Rezko pay for his tuition to Harvard Law School? No one knows and the liberal mainstream media has never tried to learn.
When he graduated from law school, he went with a law firm that represented Mr. Rezko. Rezko threw early fundraisers for Obama throughout his term as a state senator in Illinois, and then in 2003 provided seed money for Mr. Obama’s run for the U.S. Senate in 2004. After his election to the Senate, Barack and Michele Obama purchased a house from Rezko in the exclusive Kenwood District of Chicago for $1.65 million (less than half of its appraised value). Mr. Rezko had paid over $3 million for the property.
ó Donald Pruitt
Salisbury