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Letters To The Editor

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 5, 2008

Stop Guilt By Association
Why all the hubbub about Sarah Palin's pregnant daughter? If a candidate is guilty by association, then Obama should immediately excuse himself from the race for his relationships with some shady characters. Hillary, because of Bill's meanderings should never have considered the chase.

To the credit of Obama and Biden, they have called for a silence to the bloodletting over the titillating news that Palin's daughter is in a family way, but it has done little to stop the media from lining up at the trough.

The way I see it, if Sarah Palin disowned her daughter, or forced her to have an abortion, then her stature would be elevated among many of those condemning her.

Thank you kindly, but I admire the woman just fine for the position she has taken.

HAROLD MOORE

Tampa

Failure To Influence

I don't really care that Sarah Palin's daughter has poor judgment. I do care, however, that Palin doesn't have the ability to influence those who absolutely should listen to and respect her.

I am personally tired of our having to deal with tragedy after tragedy these days. Can we please have some foresight to prevent tragedies before they occur? Yes, we can.

CASEY MILLER

Tampa

Privacy Questions
When Governor Palin revealed to the country that her daughter, who's 17, is pregnant, I wasn't bothered by that fact as much as I was bothered by the response of those who wear their Republican hats. "It's a private matter," they say, but I believe gay marriage to be a private matter and I believe abortion to be a private matter.

I mention those controversial topics because those are the only two things that exist at the Republican base. They'd have us believe its "small government," but facts say otherwise. They'd have us believe that it's a host of issues, but in each case the facts say otherwise.

I don't fancy myself a Democrat or a Republican. I'm an American that clearly sees the message of hypocrisy that our country sends out to the rest of the world. We say to others, "you can't have nuclear weapons," "you can't invade another country" and "you can't hold and torture prisoners without charge." But we do, and our hypocrisy is tolerable to most Americans when it stays in our TV sets, but now it's in our face.

RUSSELL SNEAD

Thonotosassa

Daughter Isn't Running

All you self-righteous Democrats listen up. Bristol Palin isn't running for office, her mother is. Second, how many of you reading this had premarital sex? Now shut up and start talking about things that matter.

BRUCE ALLEN

Plant City

Role Model For Women

The politics of personal destruction is alive and well in the liberal media and left-wing blogs. As a woman who is ardent in my desire to see women elevated to equal status with men, I am appalled at the extreme left's personal attacks on Sarah Palin and her family. Once again, the radical left has displayed its moral bankruptcy by mercilessly assaulting the Republican candidate for vice president. The shameless attacks on Mrs. Palin's daughter and husband are despicable. Even Barack Obama's unequivocal statement that family members are off limits in the campaign has not deterred the smear artists.

Mrs. Palin is a role model for American women. She is a strong, smart, poised, attractive, and accomplished executive who has combined a successful public career with a full family life. If she were a liberal, she would be toasted as the woman of the year; but as a conservative, she is only a target to be destroyed by any possible means.

BEATRICE L. SCHULTZ

Tampa

Charities Feeling Pinched

I am a volunteer at one of the charitable organizations in the area. The present economy has put additional stress on working poor and the unemployed and it has strained our resources to the point of nearly putting us "out of business."

The soaring cost of energy has caused the tripling of requests for funds to help pay electric bills. Those who ask for more time to pay have been hit with additional late fees - the amount of which depends on their past payment history and the amount of their bill. The least able are charged the higher amounts. Now, does that make sense? It's like trying to get blood out of a stone. If we can help a client with partial payment and the late charge is the equivalent, we are still not helping them to pay any part of their bill. So where is the progress?

It seems to me that we have reached a crisis and that a change of course is needed to bring things back to more realistic approach.

EVELYN DODD

Port Richey

Chicken Little Logic

Regarding "A Nuclear Bull's-Eye Is On Our Back" by Michael Totten (Other Views, Aug. 26):

Mike, you ignorant yutz. It should be no surprise at all that terrorist organizations target nuclear power plants, along with other industrial facilities. The Soviets did exactly the same thing back in the 1950s, and we knew about it. The Nazis would have done the same during World War II if we had nuclear plants at the time. Instead they settled for refineries and factories. It's what enemies do.

Playing the terrorist card to regurgitate stale, '70s-era "no-nukes" dogma is Chicken Little logic at its worst. With the abundance of potential targets out there, Totten's logic says we should shutter all chemical plants, oil refineries, tank farms, rail yards and similar industrial sites to eliminate terrorists' targets. We can all take up subsistence farming so there won't be anything left for terrorists to blow up.

This nation needs energy that doesn't come from burning fossil fuels, and nuclear power is one source available out of a whole portfolio. It works - and we can use it now.

TIM WRIGHT

Tampa

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