opinion Sound Off
don’t want us to know how much the price goes up, almost every year. We, the public, can’t help it that technology has sunk the popularity of the firstclass letter. I am thinking that the postmaster general will try to sell us a zillion Forever stamps and then “run” to Congress and tell them they need a “bailout” because now they really need help from Washington. Then if the postal service goes “belly up,” then we will have a bunch of worthless Forever stamps, and they will be as worthless as our folding American money may become! I am Ken Unwin...a former (27 years) postal employee. Have a beautiful day!
Drew (Alexander) bemoans the lack of leadership of the U.S. political class, however, our president has been able to lead this country out of the worst financial crisis since the Depression with little cooperation from House Republicans. He achieved the near impossible by making affordable health care available to millions of uninsured Americans, again without Republican cooperation. He also brought swift justice to Bin Laden, something G.W. Bush gave up on. Not a bad leadership record, considering he’s forced to work with a do-nothing Republican majority in the House. No, Drew, lack of leadership is a Republican characteristic.—J. Wilson, Tucson
We sure will be glad when they take that screaming man off the Cox commercials. He’s such a pain in the neck. Who wants to hear that dummy every station you turn on? Cox, get a new commercial please!
I just bought 20 Star-Spangled Banner Forever stamps at my local gas station (postal contract office) and they cost me $9.80. When the Forever stamp first came out, we could buy 20 for $8.20! The reason the post office doesn’t put a per-price amount on each stamp is because they
Remember when all the census and work applicants had to mark “M” or “F” and listed white or other? Then began the division of the “other,” to account for Native Americans, Pacific Islanders, Aleutian Native Islanders, etc., and born different humans. At least they
The Curmudgeon The Phantom President
B
: : by Drew Alexander
eginning with Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Barack Hussein Obama is the 13th president of the United States so far in my lifetime. Of these chief executives, I have never seen one more detached from the nation and its people than Obama. He loves the perks, prestige and power of the presidency but has no taste for the daily challenges of governance and tough decision-making. Obama is missing in dutiful action on so many fronts, it’s hard to determine where to begin looking for him. In his promised government transparency, for one, he has remained appallingly nontransparent regarding the facts behind the Fast and Furious gun running debacle, and the Benghazi and Internal Revenue Service coverups. His response to these and other
mounting scandals is to assume the stance of the outraged bystander, mouthing such twaddle as “this is unacceptable,” instead of actually exhibiting some forthright and consequential leadership. Despite all the sophisticated communications tools and intelligence gathering entities at the president’s disposal, not to mention an ostensibly informed White House staff, Obama is always caught by surprise when something problematic happens, actually telling us with a straight face that he learned about it through the news media. For instance, Obama was surprised that the IRS was furtively targeting conservative groups and dismissively told Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly there was “not even a smidgen of corruption” at
page 6 : : Lovin’ Life After 50 : : July 2014
all walked upright and acted human. How do you like this new cyberworld politically correct created world? How are you doing dad? How are you doing mom? Lots of luck from now on. In Saturday’s Arizona Daily Star under “world issues” was a short article about a woman in Saudi Arabia who received 150 lashes for driving a car and resisting arrest. Those of you who saw the movie “12 Years a Slave” witnessed the brutal whipping of a young black girl for a minor offense. If you did, you were horrified and appalled that such
inhumanity existed back then. This news article reaffirms that atrocities are still occurring in the Muslim world today. Our leaders choose to ignore these happenings as our thirst for their oil resources continues unabated. We spend billions annually maintaining our fleets in the area to assure the free flow of oil without compensation. Only an aroused citizenry can bring this to the table to be ended. There are many options that can be used to get their attention. I particularly ask American women to speak out and demand these ancient barbaric practices be stopped. ...continues on page 8
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the IRS. The president was clueless how his badly conceived Affordable Care Act—which the majority of Americans dislike—was further compromised by the inept rollout by the Health and Human Services Department. Then there was that bloody night in Benghazi and a phantom president who, to this day, has not revealed his whereabouts at the time and why no military action was initiated in response to Ambassador Chris Stevens’ pleas for aid. As a presidential candidate, Obama promised that the care of our veterans would be among his highest priorities. As commander in chief, Obama has failed to keep that pledge. Evidence exists that the Obama administration knew in 2010, and possibly sooner, that the Department of Veterans Affairs was keeping secret lists of veterans waiting for medical treatment; some have died waiting. Yet, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said the president learned about it from news reports. If we had this so ill-informed president back in the 1930s and ‘40s
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instead of FDR, he would be saying, “The Great what?” and “Adolf who?” The American economy was declining before Obama took office in 2009, and has continued to seriously tank since. Under his watch, the president’s destructive policies, such as not approving the Keystone pipeline, his war on oil and coal, and a weak response to one world crisis after another are all indicative of a man long on political ideology and short on the right stuff to be president. I’ve heard some people use the Titanic as a metaphor for present-day America and Barack Obama as its captain. I disagree. Obama is not the captain of the Titanic. He’s the iceberg. Drew Alexander, also known as “The Curmudgeon,” is a monthly columnist writing about political issues. Send comments to drewalexander@cox.net or to Drew Alexander, in care of Lovin’ Life After 50, 3200 N. Hayden Road, Suite 210, Scottsdale, AZ 85251.
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