Off The Editor’s Desk – 2-27-2013

THE STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS

Over the next few weeks I would like to discuss our recently-completed vacation to the Southwestern United States.

But first, I must make a comment on President Obama’s State of the Union Address of February 11th.

 We had just made it to our home for the week at Sedona, AZ and had settled in and watched the speech. How many of you remember what he said? More focus by the liberal news media has been on the rebuttal by Florida Senator Marco Rubio’s taking a drink of water.

As I was watching, I thought about Franklin D. Roosevelt’s statement “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” and John F. Kennedy’s “My fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” Those are the only two quotes I can remember about any of the Presidents’ speeches, and both of those were made during their first Inauguration. How the Democratic party has changed since Kennedy’s time.

Now having said that, I was surprised at one thing that Obama stated early in his speech and that was, “It is our unfinished task to restore the basic bargain that built this country, the idea that if you work hard and meet your responsibilities, you can get ahead.” That statement does not fit the image I have of him as a tax and spend president.

The president also pressed for more control on guns in his speech. Banning assault rifles and magazines of ten or more rounds is not going to stop a nut job from shooting up the neighborhood. Local schools have a zero tolerance policy toward guns. You cannot have anything that looks like a gun on school property. The only thing this does is install fear of guns into students and does not teach students how to respect guns. My father taught me how to respect a gun and how to use it.

Recently we published a letter to the editor suggesting that armed guards be present at schools. At first I dismissed that idea, but maybe it should be looked at. After all, the president’s kids who attend school have armed guards.

“We must all be looking for ways to prevent senseless acts of violence and the taking of innocent life,” said Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-VA, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

The president did not talk about the number of deaths due to drugs or traffic crashes. In 2012, 14,000 people in the United States died from drug overdose. Many of those were abusing prescription drugs.

32,885 people lost their lives in traffic accidents in the United States in 2010 and another 2,239,000 were injured. In 2011, the number was 32,367, the lowest count in the last 62 years.

This statistic brings tears to my eyes, between 1973 and 2008, nearly fifty million babies, unborn babies, were aborted in the United States. Only one percent of aborting women reported that they were survivors of rape.

AND, God still loves and forgive us.

— Carlton