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opinion
Thursday, July 22, 2021 • Page 4A
Send your letters to: Editor, Upson Beacon, 108 E Gordon Street, Thomaston, Ga 30286 or email to: dlord@upsonbeacon.com The opinions expressed on this page are
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Letters to The Editor:
CRC Member Not the
Voice for District 3
To the Editor:
To share my opinion of this Confed
erate statue discussion here in Thomas
ton, it is my feeling that one board
member is attempting to divide our
community.
Does this female have the right to
speak for me? Does this female have a
right to be biased and speak for the Dis
trict 3 community? Is the war over? Are
we still fighting the Civil War? I know
we are still fighting for our civil rights!
Is this female continuing to fight for The
Lost Cause? A cause that was immoral to
begin with. Does this female community
relations leader in District 3 realize
what the definition of community de
fines? Is it not time to remove this prej
udiced voice of the District 3 people?
Since this District 3 subjective, opin
ionated, female person is speaking for
my district, I do not want this to be a
part of my voice or my opinion! I shout
REMOVAL! Do not speak for me! Have
you petitioned the District 3 residents?
Is this District 3 female representing
ALL the people or assuming she may
take ownership for the voice of ALL the
people. This District 3 female reminds
me of Rip Van Winkle falling asleep, and
waking up thinking all is still the same.
Rip Van Winkle: He trusted the
dwarfs (as we as citizens of the U.S. gov
ernment trusted our leaders) only to
discover, once we finally wake up, that
after the surface is scratched, the big
otry, racism, and Jim Crow exists in the
shadows. Twenty years is the same as
200 years. A proclamation of emancipa
tion with 40-foot statues that embellish,
sustain, and support decades of slavery
is no way to move forward with peace in
the world! Rip Van Winkle was an ami
cable man, and he was betrayed by the
dwarfs. Once he woke up, they were no
where to be found, but the remnants of
their betrayal were rampant!
To say that R.E. Lee is just a name,
how absurd! The leaders of most of the
Jim Crow people and some of the gov
ernment have glorified R.E. Lee and
other slave supporters. To believe it’s
just a name is just ridiculous. The fe
male person that sits on the Community
Relations Board should never be the
voice for ALL the people. One voice does
not a community make. And to see that
this one female person’s voice is leading
our community, it frightens me of the
future of possible accelerated riots, pro
tests, and the fall of Thomaston as a
community.
The State of Georgia with its laws to
protect these images of slavery is the
proof that government is biased. To be
equal, erect a 40-foot statue directly
alongside every confederate commem
oration and etch in stone the rest of the
story!
It’s the state law! Then change the
state laws. We have amendments to the
constitution. Think about it!
Wake up, District 3 Community Re
lations Committee person!
Joseph “JB” Burke
‘Get Over a Name
on a Building’
To the Editor:
Mrs. [Priscilla] McCoy’s remarks that
she felt the same way about our govern
ment offices in the R.E. Lee building as a
Jew would feel about a building where
the Jewish Holocaust occurred (six mil
lion lost their lives)... That’s ridiculous.
The R.E. Lee building is where thou
sands of people of Upson County were
educated, and it did not teach the glorifi
cation of slavery.
We do not have the money to move
our government offices because of the
mere name of this building.
I know our elected officials would like
a new office building (maybe a new jus
tice building). They don’t care how they
spend our tax money. Any new building
is going to result in more taxes.
No more stupid spending of taxpayers’
money. Get over a name on a building.
Ken Whaley
Duh... if you read it on the
internet, it must be true...
Remember those commer
cials that made fun of people
who believed everything they
read on the internet, espe
cially social media platforms?
Well apparently, the White
House thinks people are com
pletely ignorant and have no
idea how to filter false from
factual information. So, they
have decided to help us out
and get involved.
They think it is in the best
interest of the American
people for big government to
censor what we read. Major
news outlets sold out a long
time ago, so no one should be
Debbie McClain
Publisher
Lordy, Lordy...
‘C’mon Man, it’s
Misinformation’
surprised. The White House
calls it collaborating, I call it
control.
Last week during a press
conference, White House
Press Secretary Jen Psaki con
firmed that the White House
was collaborating with Face-
book and other social media
companies to censor misinfor
mation, referring to Covid and
the vaccine. But I believe if
they are doing it on the pan
demic and the vaccine, they
are doing it across the board.
It’s massive government
surveillance and control.
Psaki said in response to a re
porter’s question, that the
government has ramped up its
disinformation research and
tracking. What she’s really
saying is, “We are watching
you... if you cross our line, we
will muzzle you and have you
banned from all social media
outlets.”
I am thinking a better word
for this type of collaboration is
blackmail. Social media mo
guls have never been held ac
countable for disseminating
misinformation on their plat
forms. Our new administra
tion is basically blackmailing
big tech companies saying that
they will hold them account
able if they do not do what
they tell them to do.
I guess they didn’t take
President Trump seriously
when he was trying to black
mail them with the old ac
countability threat. I mean
they banned him on all social
media outlets. One could only
come to one possible conclu
sion: big tech must be scared
of the new administration.
There has been a lot of
chatter about big brother
watching you over years, but
now it’s been confirmed... by
the White House. Pushing for
absolute control, Psaki said,
they wanted social media
companies to work together
too. If a person or group is
blocked on one, they should
be blocked on them all (ring
any bells?).
Last week President Biden
said Facebook was killing
people because of misinfor
mation... Their hypocrisy is
never ending. Democrats did
nothing to help with public
trust concerning the vaccine
or Covid 19 with their lies and
misleading information, it was
all over social media: “Covid
19 was Trump’s fault,” said
every democrat in office. Har
ris said, “if Donald Trump
said to take it, I won’t.” An
drew Cuomo, the governor of
New York, serial sexual ha-
rasser and killer of old folks,
said he “didn’t trust the vac
cine (because of Trump’s in
volvement) and that New York
would conduct their own in
vestigation into in.”
I am not a fan of folks get
ting on social media and
spreading bad information
that lacks facts, but I have a
brain. I am also not a fan of
politicians sending out mass
mailers through the USPS that
have nothing but lies and mis
information on them, they all
do it. But again, I have a brain.
Should the United States
Post Office be held account
able for the BS that flows
through it? Or should the folks
who mail fake news, misinfor
mation, and lies be held ac
countable?
Wonder how this admin
istration would hold private
companies accountable for
dissemination of misinfor
mation, when they are the big
gest violators of them all?
Especially the current admin
istration.
I mean, “c’mon man,” they
already control them, and by
censoring what we read, they
are trying hard to control us
too.
Bridge Turner
Managing Editor
I’m Just Say in’:
Lies, Damned Lies, &
( Miscommunication ’
How can anyone take Joe
Biden seriously? Chinese
leaders don’t. Russian leaders
don’t. Even the short, pudgy
guy that runs North Korea
doesn’t. It’s concerning, to say
the least.
“Experts” on both sides of
the aisle have begun question
ing his cognitive ability, which
is a nice way of saying he is a
barely walking, barely talking,
joke. If it weren’t for the cheat
sheet he keeps in his inside
jacket pocket, he would strug
gle to construct a coherent sen
tence. That’s not true, he
struggles anyway.
Strength promotes peace at
every level from schoolyard
bully to world leader, and the
United States seems weaker
now than she has in four dec
ades. Sadly, as frail and con
fused as Biden has been, there
would be worse options in the
order of succession. Career
journalist Brit Hume, who
served as ABC News chief
White House correspondent,
called Kamala Harris a “politi
cal lightweight.”
He’s too kind.
Next up, Nancy Pelosi. She
certainly would steer this bus
into oncoming traffic.
But back to Joe... Despite
soaring crime rates, record ille
gal immigration, rising infla
tion and a falling stock market,
and a workforce that would
rather stay home, he said in a
recent address that everything
is moving along nicely.
In his previous “whisper
ing” speech, he told businesses
to raise wages if they wanted
workers. In truth, his excessive
entitlements have enabled
those unemployed to hold busi
nesses hostage. Now we’re
moving toward guaranteed
minimum income - that’ll fix
it.
Of late, he attacked Face-
book, one of the social media
which helped him get elected
by censoring discussion of his
son Hunter’s laptop. In Biden
fashion, he flip-flopped in less
than 48 hours, walking back
his comments about Facebook
(someone must have reminded
him that social media has been
his friend).
His “misinformation” com
ments were “miscommunica-
tions,” according to White
House Press Secretary and
word salad specialist Jen Psaki.
Poor Jen, I know she’s just
doing her job.
Runaway Texas Democrat
legislators posted a photo on
social media showing the 60
lawmakers piled into a plane,
sans masks, headed to Wash
ington, D.C., which clearly has
no extradition agreement with
B. Waine
Kong, Ph.D., JD
Waine’s World:
Water, Water Everywhere
in Thomaston; Out
West, Not so Much
One of the reasons you
should be thankful for making
Thomaston your home is water.
We have an abundance of it (but
not too much to cause trouble).
Count us lucky AND blessed.
I was listening to CBS “Sun
day Morning” (7/18) and
learned about the severe
drought and forest fires out
west. Have you seen pictures of
Mead Lake (Hoover Dam)
American, San Joaquin, Sacra
mento, Santa Monica, Krauth,
Russian, Salmon, and Mad
Rivers? All of them, as well as
their connecting lakes, reser
voirs and dams, are at an all-
time low. North California is
more than one full year behind
in precipitation, with a deficit
since July 2019 of 25 inches.
They have a right to be in a
panic as they prepare for
another volatile fire season.
Fresh water we cannot live with
out.
As a country, we get a lot of
our vegetables, nuts, fruits, and
citrus from the west but the
drought forced California
farmers to fallow 500,000 acres
of farm land. According to the
latest analysis, California is in a
drought condition with 26 per
cent of the state classified as
"exceptional drought" (the high
est category). There is a great
risk that salt water will find its
way into fresh water supplies. In
any case, be prepared for higher
food costs.
How are the limited water
resources being prioritized? No
washing of cars, watering the
lawn, swimming pools, and tak
ing showers together (once per
week) may even be mandated.
When was the last time these
mandates went into effect in
Thomaston? Did someone say
NEVER?
Water (H2O) has no calories,
odorless, transparent, and taste
less, and vital for every lifeform.
It is also the most destructive
the Lone Star state. As I write
this column, six of them have
tested positive for COVID... If
the plane had been filled with
Republicans, it would have
been a super-spreader event.
This group abandoned its
responsibility, while still draw
ing a salary, to avoid voting on
a bill which otherwise would
pass. In addition to getting
paid for not doing their jobs,
they’re burning taxpayer dol
lars to pay for the trip and
wasting taxpayer dollars at the
Texas Legislature.
VP Harris called them he
roes.
If I’m not mistaken, I think
Republican members of the
U.S. Senate could do exactly
the same thing to block a vote
desired by Democrats. Were
that to happen, despite its sim
ilarity, I predict that Harris will
not refer to Republican Sena
tors as heroes.
While I’m making predic
tions, I believe (somewhere
down the road) experts will tell
us that exponentially more
people were infected with
COVID-19 than reported now,
and will tell us that fewer
people died from it than re
ported. But that’s for another
column.
I read a recent study claim
ing that Biden has been sub
jected to less negative media
coverage than any President in
30 years. The softball treat
ment comes on the heels of a
Trump Presidency that re
ceived 90 percent negative cov
erage, according to similar
studies.
The same study showed that
only 16 percent of Americans
trust news media “quite a lot”
and 78 percent trust news
media “very little.” The only in
stitution with a lower trust rat
ing is Congress. The study
showed that police recently
have gained the most favorabil-
ity, and that public schools
have lost the most favorability.
But we’ve all heard the
phrase about the persuasive
power of numbers: Lies,
damned lies, and statistics. Or
as Jen Psaki says... Lies,
damned lies, and miscommuni-
cations.
force on earth mostly because it
expands and contracts. At room
temperature it is a liquid, below
freezing it is a solid, and above
boiling it is as thin as air (vapor)
that ascends to the heavens as
part of an unending cycle that
become clouds and returns to us
as rain in the summer as well as
ice and snow in winter but even
tually returning to the oceans.
Three quarters of all the
fresh water on earth is used for
agriculture. The first time I met
a refrigerator, I wanted some
cold water, so I filled a bottle of
water and placed it into the
freezer compartment and it was
n’t long before there was an ex
plosion as the frozen water
expanded and shattered the bot
tle. Imagine my surprise and
embarrassment! Now you know
where potholes come from in
our roads. Have you seen the
Grand Canyon? It was entirely
made by the Colorado River in a
few million years.
Over 70 percent of the earth
is covered by water. This in
cludes our mighty oceans, ice
caps, glaciers, lakes, rivers,
streams, and about two percent
is groundwater accessible by
wells.
Most of our bodies (as well as
all living things) are made up of
water that needs to be replen
ished about a gallon per day.
Swimming, boating, surfing,
fishing, ice skating, and skiing
would not be possible without
this key ingredient.
While I wish them well in re
covering from this drought, I am
in Thomaston enjoying the
green, green grass of home as
well as the verdant trees topped
off with flowers and eating suc
culent and delicious fruits and
vegetables from local growers.
Aren’t we lucky!