Roanoke speaks up: Letters to the editor for the week of Mar. 17, 2023
- Updated
Our weekly round-up of letters published in the Roanoke Times.
OK, here is another example of Bob Good's hatred for the Democrat party getting in the way of his voting for good legislation.
HR 302, the Energy Cybersecurity University Leadership Act of 2023, passed in the House of Representatives on Feb. 6 by a vote of 357 to 56, with 20 congresspeople not voting.
One-hundred fifty-four Republicans, 69% of the majority party in the House, supported this bill. But congressman Good voted against it.
HR 302 will build a workforce of highly skilled computer geeks specializing in protecting our infrastructure and defenses against cyberattacks.
As Congressman Frank Lucas, a Republican from Oklahoma, reminded the House members, we have been so attacked multiple times over the last few years, and the targets have included "... our liquefied natural gas industry, our electric grid, and even our national laboratories."
Furthermore, Congressman Lucas indicated that the Chinese Communist Party had launched these attacks as tests to help them prepare for a bigger assault on our 21st-century infrastructure.
This is not some product of the congressman's imagination. It comes from reports by the FBI and is a more significant threat than the now infamous balloon.
The bill was sponsored by Deborah Ross, a Democrat from North Carolina, and co-sponsored by Mike Carey, a Republican from Ohio. Apparently, the fact that Congresswoman Ross has a "D" after her name was enough to put Bob Good off the bill. In this instance, Bob Good is more supportive of the Chinese Communist Party than his own country.
He and Ben Cline were the only two Republicans from Virginia to vote against HR 302. Morgan Griffith (VA-9), and Robert Wittman (VA-1), voted for it. Newcomer Jennifer Kiggans (VA-2), who, after a career in the U.S. Navy, no doubt understands the gravity of cybersecurity, did likewise.
The vote on this bill demonstrates that when matters of national security are at stake, the House can work in a bipartisan manner. It is a shame that Bob Good is so full of partisan vitriol that he cannot join in these brief moments of national unity.
Steve Bailey, Richmond
Suicide is a crisis of men and boys, but the CDC seems determined to obscure this fact. It is genuinely and deeply terrible that any child should harbor a thought of self-harm. But if we are to stop such tragedy, it is important to recognize that death by suicide is overwhelmingly likely to befall males.
The CDC released a report last month on its "Youth Risk Behavior Survey" in which it is revealed that in 2021, 60% of female high school students reported experiencing persistent sadness and 13% said they attempted suicide. The news media have uniformly treated these results as unveiling a crisis of trauma for teen girls.
This newspaper, for instance, ran the headline "CDC: Teen girls experiencing increasing levels of sadness" (Feb. 13). This is a fair representation of what the CDC says. But the CDC has gone out of their way to obfuscate the meaning of their numbers.
In the CDC survey, females reported sadness and said they attempted suicide twice as often as males. We surely need to be concerned that our children — girls and boys — are reporting such sadness.
Yet according to the CDC's own data (available through the CDC WONDER database), the rates of death by suicide in 2021 for boys ages 15, 16, 17 and 18 were 2.3, 2.6, 2.9 and 3.5 times higher than for girls, respectively. That is a huge difference.
It's also one the CDC seems determined to hide. In their "Notes from the field" issued a few days before the survey report, the CDC warns of rising rates of suicide.
They break down the rates by age and race, but not by sex. The aggregate effect of both public reports is to mask the disparity between boys and girls. Boys and men are the overwhelming victims of suicide.
What the discordance between self-reported suicide attempts and actual suicides tells us is that boys (and later on, men) are simply not reporting their desperation. We need to recognize these facts if we are to help those most at risk.
Benjamin Jantzen, Blacksburg
Gooood morning, Timesland readers!
Welcome to Virginia, where one day it's 84 degrees and the next there's a chance for snow.
I hope y'all are doing OK, whether you're toiling hard on the power grid or sweating in a warehouse, cooking in a kitchen or teaching someone's kids, and every job in between — your hard work doesn't go unnoticed.
Thank you for keeping us moving. Everyone stay motivated, eat your vitamins, drink water, and be a Real American.
Daniel McCulloch, Vinton
Good puts politics above judgment
OK, here is another example of Bob Good’s hatred for the Democrat party getting in the way of his voting for good legislation.
HR 302, the Energy Cybersecurity University Leadership Act of 2023, passed in the House of Representatives on Feb. 6 by a vote of 357 to 56, with 20 congresspeople not voting.
One-hundred fifty-four Republicans, 69% of the majority party in the House, supported this bill. But congressman Good voted against it.
HR 302 will build a workforce of highly skilled computer geeks specializing in protecting our infrastructure and defenses against cyberattacks.
As Congressman Frank Lucas, a Republican from Oklahoma, reminded the House members, we have been so attacked multiple times over the last few years, and the targets have included “... our liquefied natural gas industry, our electric grid, and even our national laboratories.”
Furthermore, Congressman Lucas indicated that the Chinese Communist Party had launched these attacks as tests to help them prepare for a bigger assault on our 21st-century infrastructure.
This is not some product of the congressman’s imagination. It comes from reports by the FBI and is a more significant threat than the now infamous balloon.
The bill was sponsored by Deborah Ross, a Democrat from North Carolina, and co-sponsored by Mike Carey, a Republican from Ohio. Apparently, the fact that Congresswoman Ross has a “D” after her name was enough to put Bob Good off the bill. In this instance, Bob Good is more supportive of the Chinese Communist Party than his own country.
He and Ben Cline were the only two Republicans from Virginia to vote against HR 302. Morgan Griffith (VA-9), and Robert Wittman (VA-1), voted for it. Newcomer Jennifer Kiggans (VA-2), who, after a career in the U.S. Navy, no doubt understands the gravity of cybersecurity, did likewise.
The vote on this bill demonstrates that when matters of national security are at stake, the House can work in a bipartisan manner. It is a shame that Bob Good is so full of partisan vitriol that he cannot join in these brief moments of national unity.
Steve Bailey, Richmond
Suicide rates higher with males
Suicide is a crisis of men and boys, but the CDC seems determined to obscure this fact. It is genuinely and deeply terrible that any child should harbor a thought of self-harm. But if we are to stop such tragedy, it is important to recognize that death by suicide is overwhelmingly likely to befall males.
The CDC released a report last month on its “Youth Risk Behavior Survey” in which it is revealed that in 2021, 60% of female high school students reported experiencing persistent sadness and 13% said they attempted suicide. The news media have uniformly treated these results as unveiling a crisis of trauma for teen girls.
This newspaper, for instance, ran the headline “CDC: Teen girls experiencing increasing levels of sadness” (Feb. 13). This is a fair representation of what the CDC says. But the CDC has gone out of their way to obfuscate the meaning of their numbers.
In the CDC survey, females reported sadness and said they attempted suicide twice as often as males. We surely need to be concerned that our children — girls and boys — are reporting such sadness.
Yet according to the CDC’s own data (available through the CDC WONDER database), the rates of death by suicide in 2021 for boys ages 15, 16, 17 and 18 were 2.3, 2.6, 2.9 and 3.5 times higher than for girls, respectively. That is a huge difference.
It’s also one the CDC seems determined to hide. In their “Notes from the field” issued a few days before the survey report, the CDC warns of rising rates of suicide.
They break down the rates by age and race, but not by sex. The aggregate effect of both public reports is to mask the disparity between boys and girls. Boys and men are the overwhelming victims of suicide.
What the discordance between self-reported suicide attempts and actual suicides tells us is that boys (and later on, men) are simply not reporting their desperation. We need to recognize these facts if we are to help those most at risk.
Benjamin Jantzen,
Blacksburg
Gratitude for every hard worker
Gooood morning, Timesland readers!
Welcome to Virginia, where one day it’s 84 degrees and the next there’s a chance for snow.
I hope y’all are doing OK, whether you’re toiling hard on the power grid or sweating in a warehouse, cooking in a kitchen or teaching someone’s kids, and every job in between — your hard work doesn’t go unnoticed.
Thank you for keeping us moving. Everyone stay motivated, eat your vitamins, drink water, and be a Real American.
Daniel McCulloch, Vinton
The Roanoke Times did its usual wholehearted cheer for the Left with the March 5 article “Standing room only for Sen. Sanders at UVa.” Here is a man who has never held a nongovernment job in his life. He is a total negativist. He’s proof of how you can make a livelihood out of cynical shtick and garner the cheers of the callow under-30 crowd who have had things easy all their life.
The Senator-for-Life gave the crowd statistics. Well, we might benefit from some counter-stats: Cruise the aisles at Kroger. View all the overpriced boutique foods that are there because some folks are buying them. Then reflect on the cable TV and Netflix you don’t need, the Bluetooth gimmicks and download music, the $30 virgin-vinyl music LPs, the overpriced catalogs that bombard your mailbox, the expensive prom dress and limo. Nordstrom luxury stores are doing OK in the U.S.; however, they’ve had to close all their Canadian stores, because the Canadians are responsible with their money. Perhaps YOU are among “the rich.”
For all those in Sanders’ audience who blame “the rich,” I ask: How many among the audience give to a charity that helps the shafted of the world? Don’t hear much about that. Stop buying $900 5G phones and step up!
Robert A. Young, Roanoke County
Mr. Cline:
Rupert Murdoch, executive chairman of News Corp., recently admitted that he, Fox News and the Fox News "personalities" knew that Trump had lost the 2020 presidential election.
Yet, Murdoch admitted that he and all Fox News personalities/reporters (Gretchen Carlson, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Maria Bartiromo, Jeanine Pirro, etc., including the fired Lou Dobbs), helped and continued to back and push Trump's Big Lie that the 2020 election was "stolen." Fox's fraudulent belief in and dissemination of the Big Lie, enraged scores of Fox viewers and others, which ultimately led to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.
And, you, Benjamin Lee Cline, the Republican U.S. representative for Virginia's 6th Congressional District and member of the far-right Freedom Caucus, supported this Trump/Fox News fraud and were complicit in pushing that same Big Lie to your 6th District's constituents and the country. Fox knowingly deceived their viewers with Big Lie propaganda and, you, sir, knowingly deceived your 6th District constituents with the same Big Lie propaganda.
Sadly, America's adversaries these days are Americans — like Murdoch, Fox News, authoritarian politicians, attorneys and judges, and you, who continue to incite the followers of the Fox fraud and the Big Lie. Oh, the damage you and your ilk have brought upon this nation. A nation that has given you so much.
So, sir, are you ready to admit now, like Murdoch, that you supported this fraud perpetrated on the country, that the 2020 election was free and fair and that Joe Biden is the president of the United States? Or do you choose to declare that you'll support your far-right Freedom Caucus agenda and a Trump 2024 presidential nomination? Finally, your constituents also want to know if you chose to support Trump's call to terminate the Constitution?
Time to give it up. Time to admit that Joe Biden is the president of the United States. Your country and your 6th Congressional District constituents are waiting.
Stephen M. Hatchett, Roanoke
As leaders of faith communities in the town of Blacksburg, we decry the recent defacing of a sign for the Blacksburg Jewish Community Center ["Sign defaced at Jewish Center," Roanoke Times, March 8]. We stand in solidarity with our neighbors in the BJCC, as well as any people for whom this act of vandalism stirred fear or caused harm. We pray for those whose malice or ignorance led them to desecrate the building where God’s people gather for worship, prayer and study. We grieve how we allow our differences to become reasons for acts of hatred and division. We call upon the people of our community to respect those of different faiths and no faith, so that honoring the inherent sacred worth of our shared humanity might bring healing in our fractured world.
Signed,
Blacksburg Friends Meeting
Rev. Kathy Carpenter, Presbyterian Campus Minister, UKirk Ministry at VA Tech
Rev. Dr. Linda Dickerson, Pastor, Northside Presbyterian Church, Blacksburg
Rev. Brad Dulaney, Lead Pastor, Blacksburg United Methodist Church
Pastor Andrew B. Fairfield, Pastor, Christiansburg Mennonite Fellowship
Rev. Bret Gresham, Campus Minister, Wesley Foundation
Rev. Mandy Newman, edges community pastor, Blacksburg United Methodist Church
Rev. Pam Philips, Minister, Unitarian Universalist Congregation, Blacksburg
Joe Racek, Elder, Mosaic Church
Rev. Michelle Stramiello, Pastor, St. Michael Lutheran Church
Rev Monica Weber, Pastor, Luther Memorial Lutheran Church
Rev. Scott A. West, Rector, Christ Episcopal Church
Rev. Sarah Wiles, Pastor, Blacksburg Presbyterian Church
In response to vandalism at Jewish Community Center
As leaders of faith communities in the town of Blacksburg, we decry the recent defacing of a sign for the Blacksburg Jewish Community Center [“Sign defaced at Jewish Center,” Roanoke Times, March 8]. We stand in solidarity with our neighbors in the BJCC, as well as any people for whom this act of vandalism stirred fear or caused harm. We pray for those whose malice or ignorance led them to desecrate the building where God’s people gather for worship, prayer and study. We grieve how we allow our differences to become reasons for acts of hatred and division. We call upon the people of our community to respect those of different faiths and no faith, so that honoring the inherent sacred worth of our shared humanity might bring healing in our fractured world.
Signed,
Blacksburg Friends Meeting
Rev. Kathy Carpenter, Presbyterian Campus Minister, UKirk Ministry at VA Tech
Rev. Dr. Linda Dickerson, Pastor, Northside Presbyterian Church, Blacksburg
Rev. Brad Dulaney, Lead Pastor, Blacksburg United Methodist Church
Pastor Andrew B. Fairfield, Pastor, Christiansburg Mennonite Fellowship
Rev. Bret Gresham, Campus Minister, Wesley Foundation
Rev. Mandy Newman, edges community pastor, Blacksburg United Methodist Church
Rev. Pam Philips, Minister, Unitarian Universalist Congregation, Blacksburg
Joe Racek, Elder, Mosaic Church
Rev. Michelle Stramiello, Pastor, St. Michael Lutheran Church
Rev Monica Weber, Pastor, Luther Memorial Lutheran Church
Rev. Scott A. West, Rector, Christ Episcopal Church
Rev. Sarah Wiles, Pastor, Blacksburg Presbyterian Church
An open letter to Mr. Ben Cline
Mr. Cline:
Rupert Murdoch, executive chairman of News Corp., recently admitted that he, Fox News and the Fox News “personalities” knew that Trump had lost the 2020 presidential election.
Yet, Murdoch admitted that he and all Fox News personalities/reporters (Gretchen Carlson, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Maria Bartiromo, Jeanine Pirro, etc., including the fired Lou Dobbs), helped and continued to back and push Trump’s Big Lie that the 2020 election was “stolen.” Fox’s fraudulent belief in and dissemination of the Big Lie, enraged scores of Fox viewers and others, which ultimately led to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.
And, you, Benjamin Lee Cline, the Republican U.S. representative for Virginia’s 6th Congressional District and member of the far-right Freedom Caucus, supported this Trump/Fox News fraud and were complicit in pushing that same Big Lie to your 6th District’s constituents and the country. Fox knowingly deceived their viewers with Big Lie propaganda and, you, sir, knowingly deceived your 6th District constituents with the same Big Lie propaganda.
Sadly, America’s adversaries these days are Americans — like Murdoch, Fox News, authoritarian politicians, attorneys and judges, and you, who continue to incite the followers of the Fox fraud and the Big Lie. Oh, the damage you and your ilk have brought upon this nation. A nation that has given you so much.
So, sir, are you ready to admit now, like Murdoch, that you supported this fraud perpetrated on the country, that the 2020 election was free and fair and that Joe Biden is the president of the United States? Or do you choose to declare that you’ll support your far-right Freedom Caucus agenda and a Trump 2024 presidential nomination? Finally, your constituents also want to know if you chose to support Trump’s call to terminate the Constitution?
Time to give it up. Time to admit that Joe Biden is the president of the United States. Your country and your 6th Congressional District constituents are waiting.
Stephen M. Hatchett,
Roanoke
Sanders fans could use some perspective
The Roanoke Times did its usual wholehearted cheer for the Left with the March 5 article “Standing room only for Sen. Sanders at UVa.” Here is a man who has never held a nongovernment job in his life. He is a total negativist. He’s proof of how you can make a livelihood out of cynical shtick and garner the cheers of the callow under-30 crowd who have had things easy all their life.
The Senator-for-Life gave the crowd statistics. Well, we might benefit from some counter-stats: Cruise the aisles at Kroger. View all the overpriced boutique foods that are there because some folks are buying them. Then reflect on the cable TV and Netflix you don’t need, the Bluetooth gimmicks and download music, the $30 virgin-vinyl music LPs, the overpriced catalogs that bombard your mailbox, the expensive prom dress and limo. Nordstrom luxury stores are doing OK in the U.S.; however, they’ve had to close all their Canadian stores, because the Canadians are responsible with their money. Perhaps YOU are among “the rich.”
For all those in Sanders’ audience who blame “the rich,” I ask: How many among the audience give to a charity that helps the shafted of the world? Don’t hear much about that. Stop buying $900 5G phones and step up!
Robert A. Young,
Roanoke County
More like this...
OK, here is another example of Bob Good's hatred for the Democrat party getting in the way of his voting for good legislation.
HR 302, the Energy Cybersecurity University Leadership Act of 2023, passed in the House of Representatives on Feb. 6 by a vote of 357 to 56, with 20 congresspeople not voting.
One-hundred fifty-four Republicans, 69% of the majority party in the House, supported this bill. But congressman Good voted against it.
HR 302 will build a workforce of highly skilled computer geeks specializing in protecting our infrastructure and defenses against cyberattacks.
As Congressman Frank Lucas, a Republican from Oklahoma, reminded the House members, we have been so attacked multiple times over the last few years, and the targets have included "... our liquefied natural gas industry, our electric grid, and even our national laboratories."
Furthermore, Congressman Lucas indicated that the Chinese Communist Party had launched these attacks as tests to help them prepare for a bigger assault on our 21st-century infrastructure.
This is not some product of the congressman's imagination. It comes from reports by the FBI and is a more significant threat than the now infamous balloon.
The bill was sponsored by Deborah Ross, a Democrat from North Carolina, and co-sponsored by Mike Carey, a Republican from Ohio. Apparently, the fact that Congresswoman Ross has a "D" after her name was enough to put Bob Good off the bill. In this instance, Bob Good is more supportive of the Chinese Communist Party than his own country.
He and Ben Cline were the only two Republicans from Virginia to vote against HR 302. Morgan Griffith (VA-9), and Robert Wittman (VA-1), voted for it. Newcomer Jennifer Kiggans (VA-2), who, after a career in the U.S. Navy, no doubt understands the gravity of cybersecurity, did likewise.
The vote on this bill demonstrates that when matters of national security are at stake, the House can work in a bipartisan manner. It is a shame that Bob Good is so full of partisan vitriol that he cannot join in these brief moments of national unity.
Steve Bailey, Richmond
Suicide is a crisis of men and boys, but the CDC seems determined to obscure this fact. It is genuinely and deeply terrible that any child should harbor a thought of self-harm. But if we are to stop such tragedy, it is important to recognize that death by suicide is overwhelmingly likely to befall males.
The CDC released a report last month on its "Youth Risk Behavior Survey" in which it is revealed that in 2021, 60% of female high school students reported experiencing persistent sadness and 13% said they attempted suicide. The news media have uniformly treated these results as unveiling a crisis of trauma for teen girls.
This newspaper, for instance, ran the headline "CDC: Teen girls experiencing increasing levels of sadness" (Feb. 13). This is a fair representation of what the CDC says. But the CDC has gone out of their way to obfuscate the meaning of their numbers.
In the CDC survey, females reported sadness and said they attempted suicide twice as often as males. We surely need to be concerned that our children — girls and boys — are reporting such sadness.
Yet according to the CDC's own data (available through the CDC WONDER database), the rates of death by suicide in 2021 for boys ages 15, 16, 17 and 18 were 2.3, 2.6, 2.9 and 3.5 times higher than for girls, respectively. That is a huge difference.
It's also one the CDC seems determined to hide. In their "Notes from the field" issued a few days before the survey report, the CDC warns of rising rates of suicide.
They break down the rates by age and race, but not by sex. The aggregate effect of both public reports is to mask the disparity between boys and girls. Boys and men are the overwhelming victims of suicide.
What the discordance between self-reported suicide attempts and actual suicides tells us is that boys (and later on, men) are simply not reporting their desperation. We need to recognize these facts if we are to help those most at risk.
Benjamin Jantzen, Blacksburg
Gooood morning, Timesland readers!
Welcome to Virginia, where one day it's 84 degrees and the next there's a chance for snow.
I hope y'all are doing OK, whether you're toiling hard on the power grid or sweating in a warehouse, cooking in a kitchen or teaching someone's kids, and every job in between — your hard work doesn't go unnoticed.
Thank you for keeping us moving. Everyone stay motivated, eat your vitamins, drink water, and be a Real American.
Daniel McCulloch, Vinton
Good puts politics above judgment
OK, here is another example of Bob Good’s hatred for the Democrat party getting in the way of his voting for good legislation.
HR 302, the Energy Cybersecurity University Leadership Act of 2023, passed in the House of Representatives on Feb. 6 by a vote of 357 to 56, with 20 congresspeople not voting.
One-hundred fifty-four Republicans, 69% of the majority party in the House, supported this bill. But congressman Good voted against it.
HR 302 will build a workforce of highly skilled computer geeks specializing in protecting our infrastructure and defenses against cyberattacks.
As Congressman Frank Lucas, a Republican from Oklahoma, reminded the House members, we have been so attacked multiple times over the last few years, and the targets have included “... our liquefied natural gas industry, our electric grid, and even our national laboratories.”
Furthermore, Congressman Lucas indicated that the Chinese Communist Party had launched these attacks as tests to help them prepare for a bigger assault on our 21st-century infrastructure.
This is not some product of the congressman’s imagination. It comes from reports by the FBI and is a more significant threat than the now infamous balloon.
The bill was sponsored by Deborah Ross, a Democrat from North Carolina, and co-sponsored by Mike Carey, a Republican from Ohio. Apparently, the fact that Congresswoman Ross has a “D” after her name was enough to put Bob Good off the bill. In this instance, Bob Good is more supportive of the Chinese Communist Party than his own country.
He and Ben Cline were the only two Republicans from Virginia to vote against HR 302. Morgan Griffith (VA-9), and Robert Wittman (VA-1), voted for it. Newcomer Jennifer Kiggans (VA-2), who, after a career in the U.S. Navy, no doubt understands the gravity of cybersecurity, did likewise.
The vote on this bill demonstrates that when matters of national security are at stake, the House can work in a bipartisan manner. It is a shame that Bob Good is so full of partisan vitriol that he cannot join in these brief moments of national unity.
Steve Bailey, Richmond
Suicide rates higher with males
Suicide is a crisis of men and boys, but the CDC seems determined to obscure this fact. It is genuinely and deeply terrible that any child should harbor a thought of self-harm. But if we are to stop such tragedy, it is important to recognize that death by suicide is overwhelmingly likely to befall males.
The CDC released a report last month on its “Youth Risk Behavior Survey” in which it is revealed that in 2021, 60% of female high school students reported experiencing persistent sadness and 13% said they attempted suicide. The news media have uniformly treated these results as unveiling a crisis of trauma for teen girls.
This newspaper, for instance, ran the headline “CDC: Teen girls experiencing increasing levels of sadness” (Feb. 13). This is a fair representation of what the CDC says. But the CDC has gone out of their way to obfuscate the meaning of their numbers.
In the CDC survey, females reported sadness and said they attempted suicide twice as often as males. We surely need to be concerned that our children — girls and boys — are reporting such sadness.
Yet according to the CDC’s own data (available through the CDC WONDER database), the rates of death by suicide in 2021 for boys ages 15, 16, 17 and 18 were 2.3, 2.6, 2.9 and 3.5 times higher than for girls, respectively. That is a huge difference.
It’s also one the CDC seems determined to hide. In their “Notes from the field” issued a few days before the survey report, the CDC warns of rising rates of suicide.
They break down the rates by age and race, but not by sex. The aggregate effect of both public reports is to mask the disparity between boys and girls. Boys and men are the overwhelming victims of suicide.
What the discordance between self-reported suicide attempts and actual suicides tells us is that boys (and later on, men) are simply not reporting their desperation. We need to recognize these facts if we are to help those most at risk.
Benjamin Jantzen,
Blacksburg
Gratitude for every hard worker
Gooood morning, Timesland readers!
Welcome to Virginia, where one day it’s 84 degrees and the next there’s a chance for snow.
I hope y’all are doing OK, whether you’re toiling hard on the power grid or sweating in a warehouse, cooking in a kitchen or teaching someone’s kids, and every job in between — your hard work doesn’t go unnoticed.
Thank you for keeping us moving. Everyone stay motivated, eat your vitamins, drink water, and be a Real American.
Daniel McCulloch, Vinton
The Roanoke Times did its usual wholehearted cheer for the Left with the March 5 article “Standing room only for Sen. Sanders at UVa.” Here is a man who has never held a nongovernment job in his life. He is a total negativist. He’s proof of how you can make a livelihood out of cynical shtick and garner the cheers of the callow under-30 crowd who have had things easy all their life.
The Senator-for-Life gave the crowd statistics. Well, we might benefit from some counter-stats: Cruise the aisles at Kroger. View all the overpriced boutique foods that are there because some folks are buying them. Then reflect on the cable TV and Netflix you don’t need, the Bluetooth gimmicks and download music, the $30 virgin-vinyl music LPs, the overpriced catalogs that bombard your mailbox, the expensive prom dress and limo. Nordstrom luxury stores are doing OK in the U.S.; however, they’ve had to close all their Canadian stores, because the Canadians are responsible with their money. Perhaps YOU are among “the rich.”
For all those in Sanders’ audience who blame “the rich,” I ask: How many among the audience give to a charity that helps the shafted of the world? Don’t hear much about that. Stop buying $900 5G phones and step up!
Robert A. Young, Roanoke County
Mr. Cline:
Rupert Murdoch, executive chairman of News Corp., recently admitted that he, Fox News and the Fox News "personalities" knew that Trump had lost the 2020 presidential election.
Yet, Murdoch admitted that he and all Fox News personalities/reporters (Gretchen Carlson, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Maria Bartiromo, Jeanine Pirro, etc., including the fired Lou Dobbs), helped and continued to back and push Trump's Big Lie that the 2020 election was "stolen." Fox's fraudulent belief in and dissemination of the Big Lie, enraged scores of Fox viewers and others, which ultimately led to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.
And, you, Benjamin Lee Cline, the Republican U.S. representative for Virginia's 6th Congressional District and member of the far-right Freedom Caucus, supported this Trump/Fox News fraud and were complicit in pushing that same Big Lie to your 6th District's constituents and the country. Fox knowingly deceived their viewers with Big Lie propaganda and, you, sir, knowingly deceived your 6th District constituents with the same Big Lie propaganda.
Sadly, America's adversaries these days are Americans — like Murdoch, Fox News, authoritarian politicians, attorneys and judges, and you, who continue to incite the followers of the Fox fraud and the Big Lie. Oh, the damage you and your ilk have brought upon this nation. A nation that has given you so much.
So, sir, are you ready to admit now, like Murdoch, that you supported this fraud perpetrated on the country, that the 2020 election was free and fair and that Joe Biden is the president of the United States? Or do you choose to declare that you'll support your far-right Freedom Caucus agenda and a Trump 2024 presidential nomination? Finally, your constituents also want to know if you chose to support Trump's call to terminate the Constitution?
Time to give it up. Time to admit that Joe Biden is the president of the United States. Your country and your 6th Congressional District constituents are waiting.
Stephen M. Hatchett, Roanoke
As leaders of faith communities in the town of Blacksburg, we decry the recent defacing of a sign for the Blacksburg Jewish Community Center ["Sign defaced at Jewish Center," Roanoke Times, March 8]. We stand in solidarity with our neighbors in the BJCC, as well as any people for whom this act of vandalism stirred fear or caused harm. We pray for those whose malice or ignorance led them to desecrate the building where God’s people gather for worship, prayer and study. We grieve how we allow our differences to become reasons for acts of hatred and division. We call upon the people of our community to respect those of different faiths and no faith, so that honoring the inherent sacred worth of our shared humanity might bring healing in our fractured world.
Signed,
Blacksburg Friends Meeting
Rev. Kathy Carpenter, Presbyterian Campus Minister, UKirk Ministry at VA Tech
Rev. Dr. Linda Dickerson, Pastor, Northside Presbyterian Church, Blacksburg
Rev. Brad Dulaney, Lead Pastor, Blacksburg United Methodist Church
Pastor Andrew B. Fairfield, Pastor, Christiansburg Mennonite Fellowship
Rev. Bret Gresham, Campus Minister, Wesley Foundation
Rev. Mandy Newman, edges community pastor, Blacksburg United Methodist Church
Rev. Pam Philips, Minister, Unitarian Universalist Congregation, Blacksburg
Joe Racek, Elder, Mosaic Church
Rev. Michelle Stramiello, Pastor, St. Michael Lutheran Church
Rev Monica Weber, Pastor, Luther Memorial Lutheran Church
Rev. Scott A. West, Rector, Christ Episcopal Church
Rev. Sarah Wiles, Pastor, Blacksburg Presbyterian Church
In response to vandalism at Jewish Community Center
As leaders of faith communities in the town of Blacksburg, we decry the recent defacing of a sign for the Blacksburg Jewish Community Center [“Sign defaced at Jewish Center,” Roanoke Times, March 8]. We stand in solidarity with our neighbors in the BJCC, as well as any people for whom this act of vandalism stirred fear or caused harm. We pray for those whose malice or ignorance led them to desecrate the building where God’s people gather for worship, prayer and study. We grieve how we allow our differences to become reasons for acts of hatred and division. We call upon the people of our community to respect those of different faiths and no faith, so that honoring the inherent sacred worth of our shared humanity might bring healing in our fractured world.
Signed,
Blacksburg Friends Meeting
Rev. Kathy Carpenter, Presbyterian Campus Minister, UKirk Ministry at VA Tech
Rev. Dr. Linda Dickerson, Pastor, Northside Presbyterian Church, Blacksburg
Rev. Brad Dulaney, Lead Pastor, Blacksburg United Methodist Church
Pastor Andrew B. Fairfield, Pastor, Christiansburg Mennonite Fellowship
Rev. Bret Gresham, Campus Minister, Wesley Foundation
Rev. Mandy Newman, edges community pastor, Blacksburg United Methodist Church
Rev. Pam Philips, Minister, Unitarian Universalist Congregation, Blacksburg
Joe Racek, Elder, Mosaic Church
Rev. Michelle Stramiello, Pastor, St. Michael Lutheran Church
Rev Monica Weber, Pastor, Luther Memorial Lutheran Church
Rev. Scott A. West, Rector, Christ Episcopal Church
Rev. Sarah Wiles, Pastor, Blacksburg Presbyterian Church
An open letter to Mr. Ben Cline
Mr. Cline:
Rupert Murdoch, executive chairman of News Corp., recently admitted that he, Fox News and the Fox News “personalities” knew that Trump had lost the 2020 presidential election.
Yet, Murdoch admitted that he and all Fox News personalities/reporters (Gretchen Carlson, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Maria Bartiromo, Jeanine Pirro, etc., including the fired Lou Dobbs), helped and continued to back and push Trump’s Big Lie that the 2020 election was “stolen.” Fox’s fraudulent belief in and dissemination of the Big Lie, enraged scores of Fox viewers and others, which ultimately led to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.
And, you, Benjamin Lee Cline, the Republican U.S. representative for Virginia’s 6th Congressional District and member of the far-right Freedom Caucus, supported this Trump/Fox News fraud and were complicit in pushing that same Big Lie to your 6th District’s constituents and the country. Fox knowingly deceived their viewers with Big Lie propaganda and, you, sir, knowingly deceived your 6th District constituents with the same Big Lie propaganda.
Sadly, America’s adversaries these days are Americans — like Murdoch, Fox News, authoritarian politicians, attorneys and judges, and you, who continue to incite the followers of the Fox fraud and the Big Lie. Oh, the damage you and your ilk have brought upon this nation. A nation that has given you so much.
So, sir, are you ready to admit now, like Murdoch, that you supported this fraud perpetrated on the country, that the 2020 election was free and fair and that Joe Biden is the president of the United States? Or do you choose to declare that you’ll support your far-right Freedom Caucus agenda and a Trump 2024 presidential nomination? Finally, your constituents also want to know if you chose to support Trump’s call to terminate the Constitution?
Time to give it up. Time to admit that Joe Biden is the president of the United States. Your country and your 6th Congressional District constituents are waiting.
Stephen M. Hatchett,
Roanoke
Sanders fans could use some perspective
The Roanoke Times did its usual wholehearted cheer for the Left with the March 5 article “Standing room only for Sen. Sanders at UVa.” Here is a man who has never held a nongovernment job in his life. He is a total negativist. He’s proof of how you can make a livelihood out of cynical shtick and garner the cheers of the callow under-30 crowd who have had things easy all their life.
The Senator-for-Life gave the crowd statistics. Well, we might benefit from some counter-stats: Cruise the aisles at Kroger. View all the overpriced boutique foods that are there because some folks are buying them. Then reflect on the cable TV and Netflix you don’t need, the Bluetooth gimmicks and download music, the $30 virgin-vinyl music LPs, the overpriced catalogs that bombard your mailbox, the expensive prom dress and limo. Nordstrom luxury stores are doing OK in the U.S.; however, they’ve had to close all their Canadian stores, because the Canadians are responsible with their money. Perhaps YOU are among “the rich.”
For all those in Sanders’ audience who blame “the rich,” I ask: How many among the audience give to a charity that helps the shafted of the world? Don’t hear much about that. Stop buying $900 5G phones and step up!
Robert A. Young,
Roanoke County
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