Fair and balance

Dear Editor:Francisco Pelayo's response to Elsa Van Leuven's letter was concise and structurally sound in response to her "false rhetoric." I, too, have often, over the years, stuttered with anger when reading her criticisms. Her missives are a regurgitation of manipulated and/or false representations made by The Heritage Foundation, Karl Rove, Fox News (noise), Paul Ryan, and a presidential candidate trying to take credit for the success of GM Motors and Chrysler and the killing of Bin Laden. She has always reminded me of Phyllis Schiafly, Ayn Rand, The John Birch Society, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson groupies (or infatuated viewers of Sean Hannity or Bill O'Reilly and off the track right-wingers that will prevaricate, walk in mendacity, or just flat out lie, figuring the listeners will never take the time to check their inane remarks). Jacki Michaels Downey

Dear Editor: I have taken Mr. Pelayo's challenge and come up with my own conclusions on President Obama's performance based on the facts. While I agree with Mr. Pelayo that our president is not purposely trying to take down the country (he is, by his own admission, just trying to "transform it"), I must point out the irony of his accusations against Ms. Van Leuven that she spouts nothing more than "canned right-wing talking points" ala Sean Hannity while at the same time spouting left-wing talking points ala Mr. Obama's cheerleading squad - the mainstream media. Let's address those facts, shall we? We have experienced 24 consecutive months of job growth? According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, consecutive job growth did not begin until Oct. of 2010, 18 months ago. The biggest boost in job growth has been in US companies overseas due to the ever growing burdensome tax and regulation policies of this administration. Didn't you hear that the United States now has the highest corporate taxes in the world? Many believe this is holding growth back. We also lost our AAA credit rating. I guess that $16 trillion debt Mr. Obama has racked up scares investors away. Now, the trillion dollar stimulus he mentioned that was supposed to keep unemployment under 8% but didn't. Of course the administration will be touting its effectiveness, however, a casual Google search turns up plenty of articles and studies that do not agree. Economics is not a hard science, and every study has a different methodology. It is difficult to prove "saved jobs" but it sure sounds nice, and so we hear it ad nauseum in the press, but they can keep touting, and I'll keep doubting. So will all those people who remain unemployed with little hope for a good job anytime soon or who have simply given up looking. To claim that without the stimulus, there would be a lot more people on welfare is ridiculous because, well, there are a lot more people on welfare! Welfare spending has increased 41% under President Obama. Only liberals can take this astounding number and paint it as low compared to what it would have been if we hadn't redistributed - I'm sorry, "invested" - a trillion dollars with the stimulus act. It's the same dizzying logic used to explain record blizzards as a result of "global warming." The administration bailed out GM (to the chagrin of the Occupy movement) to payback the unions who helped Obama raise a BILLION dollars in campaign funds while stiff-arming the investors. It is still Government Motors, by the way, since they haven't paid back all the money we - you and I - leant them. Ask any owner of the Chevy Volt if they believe GM is the best car company in the world. And don't even get me started on the bribery machine that is all these home mortgage refinancing schemes designed to keep people in homes they should never have bought, all at my expense. I was a responsible home buyer and because of that, I don't even qualify for all these really great refinancing low percentage mortgage rates. Under this administration, it pays to be irresponsible. But then again, he did get Osama. Congratulations. I'll try to remember that as my bills keep going up and my investments, salary, and benefits keep going down. Alaina Niemann Downey

********** Published: May 03, 2012 - Volume 11 - Issue 03