Newspaper Page Text
Wednesday, November 22,2023
FAYETTE VIEWS
A4 Fayette County News
Letter to the Editor:
Fayetteville Turn
Lanes are Confusing
To the Editor:
As an older senior citizen, I am cautious about traffic.
However, the turn lanes in Fayetteville confuse me.
Why is there no left turn lane from Georgia Highway 85
onto Goza Road? And why is there no four-way stop At
Goza Road and Greenville Road?
Just questioning and trying to stay safe.
Annette Butler
Fayetteville
Mitt Romney:
A Possible Hat in the Ring
The rank and file of the Republicans are (covertly)
searching for a late entry candidate who could oust Trump,
fearing that the Trump baggage is just too much, thus a re
peat of 2020, with yet another celebratory orgy in Joe’s base
ment.
In the midst of all this angst, one
name kept popping up - Mitt Romney,
remember him? The R.I.N.O.s (Re
publicans in Name Only) salivated at
the idea. Visions of Trump scurrying,
tail tucked, off the political map, sent
rapturous giggles among the closet
Never Trumpers.
Just as Mitt was about to be di
aled up, one of the cabals excitedly
said, “A minute please, let me refresh
your memory. Here is a piece from
Rolling Stones that might interest you. Mitt Romney is a no
tissue-paper man. He’s closer to being a revolutionary, a
backward-world version of Che or Trotsky, with tweezed nos
trils instead of a beard, a half-Windsor instead of a leather
jerkin. He is a cardboard opportunist who’ll say anything to
get elected and has shown a particular aptitude for telling
multiple versions of the same story.”
And think about this: Good luck explaining to the elec
torate that Romney belongs to a religion that believes the
Garden of Eden is in Missouri, and even showed them a
proof text from a Mormon Bible Mitt accidentally left in the
Oval Office while fantasizing about becoming President.
He urged his colleagues to recall how easily Mitt could be
influenced by the pro-abortion crowd, seeing as how Rom
ney, a Mormon, could present as apolitical with no skin in
the game, but, if elected, just go along with the Zeitgeist ex
tant, pro or con.
If he has any beliefs at all, they would be shaped by Jo
seph Smith, the master of mumbo-jumbo myths, self-
anointed Honcho of the Church of Jesus Christ of the
Latter-Day Saints, and the First Saint of multiple debauch
eries.
Smith convinced Romney that Jesus will return in Mis
souri, rather than Armageddon. He further explained that
people will remember that Mitt was a closet racist and xen-
ophobe, in step with Mormon dogma, (until 1978) when the
church finally decided that black people were not, after all,
an inferior race.
Furthermore, let’s talk about liars. Mitt lied about his
dealings with Bain Capital investments. After Mitt’s scandal-
See Studdard, A6
Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath
Classic rock aficionados will recognize Sabbath, Bloody
Sabbath as the name of the fifth studio album by the heavy
metal band from England, Black Sabbath. As a classic rock afi
cionado myself, you would expect this column to be about that.
Except that it’s not. In fact, it’s not even close.
JAMES
STUDDARD
***
Sunday is widely known as the
Sabbath - the day of the week we should
not only rest from work, but also direct
our thoughts and actions toward God.
History tells us, however, that Sundays
can be anything but that.
Here are a few examples to illus
trate my point:
•Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941. The Japa
nese launched a surprise military attack
on Pearl Harbor by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service just
before 8 a.m. Afterward, the United States declared war on
Japan, effectively bringing the country into World War II. Pres
ident Franklin Delano Roosevelt called it “a day that will live
in infamy.” During the attack, 19 U.S. ships were damaged or
sunk - and 2,403 lives were lost.
•Sunday, March 7,1965. Hundreds of people gathered in
Selma, Ala., to march to Montgomery, the state capital, to en
sure that African Americans could exercise their constitutional
right to vote - in the face of a segregationist system that wanted
to make it impossible. While crossing the Edmund Pettus
Bridge, 600 unarmed marchers were attacked by law enforce
ment officers with night sticks and tear gas. It will forever be
known as Bloody Sunday.
•Sunday, Jan. 30,1972. A demonstration in Derry, North
ern Ireland, by Roman Catholic civil rights supporters, turned
violent when British paratroopers opened fire, killing 13 and
injuring 14 others (one whom would later die). Many of the vic
tims were shot while fleeing from the soldiers, and some were
shot while simply trying to help the wounded. Also known as
Bloody Sunday, it is one of the most significant events of the
troubles because of the number of civilians killed by forces of
the state - in plain view of the public and the press. It is consid
ered to be the worst mass shooting in Northern Irish history.
•Sunday, April 15,1989. Tiananmen Square, in the center
of Beijing, China, was the site of the Tiananmen Square
protests and massacre. The People’s Liberation Army,
cracking down on a student protest calling for political liberal-
SCOTT LUDWIG
Let's Cancel This Year's War
on the War on Christmas
Let’s cancel this year’s war on the
war on Christmas. Seriously.
The social media posts have long
become trite, and have always been
misguided and largely unnecessary.
They range from the rather benign
“In my house we observe Christmas”
to calls to boycott retailers for using
the word “holiday” instead of Christ
mas.
When I’ve written about this sea
sonal phenomenon in the past, I’ve
generally taken a mostly light
hearted approach to the topic. More
than once I’ve chided that, “Nothing
spreads the Christmas message and
the love of Jesus Christ like yelling at
a teenaged store clerk for wishing
you a happy holiday.”
No retailer is trying to stop you
nor anyone else from celebrating
Christmas. They are, instead, cover
ing an entire holiday season that
spans from Thanksgiving until New
Year.
In between lie both Hanukkah
and Christmas. It should go without
saying that these are separate and
distinct holidays.
Expecting a retailer or their em
ployees to recognize which
holiday(s) you and your family cele
brate is farcical at best and arrogant
at worst. This year, however, these
calls require special attention and in
trospection. The events on Oct. 7 de
mand it.
And by “events” - such a sanitized
word - let’s be clear what we’re talk
ing about. On Oct. 7, Hamas terror
ists launched one of the most evil
and barbaric attacks against Israel in
the country’s history. Jews were the
preferred target, but Christians and
Muslims were killed too. Most were
Israelis, but Americans and citizens
of other nations were also murdered,
raped, or taken hostage.
The brutality didn’t stop there.
Well organized protests immediately
occurred in major cities and college
campuses throughout the world, os
tensibly to pro
test Israel, but
the language -
both written
and chanted -
as well as phys
ical acts of in-
timidation,
have made it
clear: Oct. 7
and the events
afterward have
been about getting rid of Jews, by
any means necessary.
Jews have spent the last couple of
months watching institutions we all
rely upon to put guardrails around
our society fail them. College cam
puses went from a “no tolerance”
policy on hate speech to asking Jew
ish students to hide in an attic be
cause they couldn’t otherwise
protect them from a protest.
The largest western news organi
zations spent weeks parroting
Hamas propaganda under the guise
of quoting the “Gaza Health Mini
stry.” The first question to President
Biden’s press secretary about rising
acts of anti-semitism in the wake of
Oct. 7 was answered with concerns
of Islamophobia.
Our Jewish friends are some
where between uncomfortable and
scared as they watch group after
group either aggressively turn their
backs on them or remain silent. They
have legitimate grounds to question
whether there is an active movement
afoot to disappear them, at least pas
sively if not as barbarically as Hamas
has demonstrated as possible.
Which brings us back to the holi
days, and the disconcerted mood
that many will be in as we move
headlong into the season. Christmas,
per usual, will be observed on Dec.
25. Hanukkah will begin earlier, with
the first of eight nights commencing
on Thursday, Dec. 7, and continue
through Friday evening, Dec. 15.
Jews this year don’t need to hear
a defiant “I celebrate Christmas” re
sponse to the pleasantry of “Happy
Holidays.” They need to hear
“Happy Hanukkah to you and
yours.” More importantly and well
beyond the season, they need to hear
“How are you doing?” and “What
can I do to help?”
If you celebrate Christmas like I
do, then I truly wish you the merriest
of Christmas seasons. If you cele
brate Christmas because you are a
follower of Jesus, then I encourage
you to reflect on his greatest com
mandment: Love your neighbor as
you love yourself.
This message must be tied to that
of the parable of the Good Samari
tan, and the question asked as the
story was told: “Who is your neigh
bor?”
Our neighbors are Christians,
Jews, Muslims, Hindu. Others prac
tice many other religions, and some
practice none.
We all get busy during the holi
day season. We need not be so busy
to be the priest of Levite, who could
n’t be bothered with the person in
trouble they encountered on their
journey.
Right now, most clearly, our Jew
ish friends need to know they are our
neighbors. Please join me in wishing
them a Happy Hanukkah, both in
word and deed, throughout this holi
day season and beyond.
Donald Trump - Remember to Thank
Cornell West for Your Election in 2024
“Ralph Nader is not going to be
welcome anywhere near the corridors
[of Congress]. Nader cost us the elec
tion.” -Joe Biden, 2000.
I like to watch Dr. Cornell West
when he is on TV. He’s a lot of fun
and sharp as a tack. And he is ded
icated. He has also taught at our most
prestigious universities. But... How
can someone so brilliant be so darn
naive as to run for President (an
nouncing first as a Green Party can
didate and later on as an
independent)?
Hasn’t he ever heard of fellow left
winger Ralph Nader, who tried that
malarkey once before and thereby
ruined a national Presidential elec
tion for progressive Democrats?
Ralph Nader was also someone
who I admired at one time. He was
once a selfless consumer advocate, a
hero to me and many others. He was
the voice of the little guy, the power
less, in a nation over influenced by
the wealthy and big self-interested
corporations.
But then, in a weird confluence of
out-of-bounds ego and ignorance of
reality, he ran for the Presidency in
2000. You guessed it - also as the
Green Party candidate. He could have
easily entered the Democratic pri
mary and taken his chances running
to the left against A1 Gore. But know
ing he had no chance of being the
Democratic no
minee, he did
not.
So, due to a
bruised ego, he
ran as a third-
party candidate
and caused the
Republican
(Bush junior) to
be elected. And
by doing so,
changed history - and not in a posi
tive way if you are a Progressive. If A1
Gore had won in Florida - and he
would have but for Nader siphoning
off Progressive votes - the world
would be a different place, a better
place.
We would be much further along
regarding climate change mitigation.
The USA would never have invaded
Iraq, killing hundreds of thousands
(including many innocents) in a mis
guided, expensive, and totally unnec
essary war - brought on because W.
had Daddy issues.
What is even stranger is that
Nader has never admitted that he was
wrong (and incredibly naive) in
thinking that he would help Progres
sives by running. Instead, he still
whines about virtually the entire Pro
gressive community blackballing
him, saying “It’s just unbelievable
scapegoating.”
Those who do not learn from his
tory are bound to repeat it. Dr. Cor
nell West has been a renowned
college professor, but he clearly does
not understand U.S. history or how
the Electoral College (which chooses
our President) works.
Because of a third-party candi
date on the left in 2024, the Demo
crats will lose the Presidency to a
man who does not believe in tradi
tional democracy. When that
happens, and it probably will, we can
all thank Dr. Cornell West’s ego and
stubbornness for the loss.
See Ludwig, A6
