Topic: Letters to the Editor

My favorite part about The Morning Call is the "Lehigh Valley Town Square," or the letters to the editor at the end of the newly combined world / local news (even though they combined the two, and really do now have more articles on world news--written by either Tribune correspondents or the Associated Press, never from a Morning Call journalist--local news always comes first. Seriously, they've reported on the death of some American Idol contestant from around here for the past four days. WHY?). Often when I read a letter I like, or that I find hilarious, I clip it out and save it. I recently found a letter to the editor I wrote for my twelfth grade Government class for extra credit, but it's stupidly long and I never sent it in because it was very sarcastic and assholish--it was about health care, education, and the quality of The Morning Call's stories (all of which, funnily enough, I've written about on here). Anyway, these are some of my favorite letters, complete with commentary:

1. "Mule plot foiled" (The Morning Call had written a front page story about the people who guide the mules that lead the canal boats in Easton):

"Somewhere deep in a cave in Tora Bora, Bin Laden, on hearing the news that the Easton canal boat operators are required to be fingerprinted, muttered, 'Curses, foiled again!'"

- Roy Christman

I like humor with my cereal, which is what I'm eating when I normally read these editorials. I think Roy Christman and I would be friends.



2. "Hoping Obama agenda leads to Dems' demise":

"As easy as it is to bash President Obama's socialist agenda, we as Americans must embrace our new president and hope that all of his bills and proposals are passed and turned into law in this country.

I am fully convinced that once this dictator is finished wrecking the foundations of this great country through hypertaxation, national health care and ridiculous energy policies, the Democratic Party will be finished--forever.

Sometimes you have to go through hell to reach paradise."

-Dan Kautzmann

I would like to point out the obvious here: Kautzmann is railing against socialism, once succintly described to me by a friend as "communism lite," so it's probably safe to say Kautzmann hates communism more than he hates socialism (elements of which existed in our capitalist system long before Obama's presidency). Yet he's praying for the death of the Democratic party in a primarily two-party, Republican/Democrat system (let's face it, Independents are the third-party that get the most face time, and they've got what, two congressional seats? No chance), which, obviously, would leave the Republican party as the only party left to dominate the American political agenda. The irony here is that that's the basic definition of Communism, Kautzmann's "paradise," with a capital C to denote a state that operates under a one-party system. I would assume that someone who speaks so unfavorably about socialism would prefer socialism to Communism.



3. "President should send citizens a card, too":

"A Dec. 19 letter suggested that citizens of the United States send President Bush a Christmas card. I think it should be the other way around.

I believe President Bush should be sending all U.S. citizens a card. However, it should be an 'I Am Sorry' card."

-Steve Vengrove

I think Steve Vengrove and I would be good friends with Roy Christman.



4. "Intimidation won't work with the U.S.":

"I am incredibly proud to be an American after hearing the news on April 12 that the U.S. military foiled the pirates demanding ransom from the first U.S. ship targeted near Somalia. The ship's crew probably was the first to actually fight back. Kudos to President Obama for having the backbone to give the go-ahead to the operation that saved that captain and for using common sense reasoning instead of political correctness. If these criminals/pirates think they can intimidate the USA, they should listen to Toby Keith's song, "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue/The Angry American," and about where we will put our boot if they mess with the USA. God Bless America."

-Alan J. Wiesner Sr.

I agree with Alan J. Wiesner--the U.S. can't allow themselves to be pushed around by criminals, and if it's necessary to use force against them, then we need to use that force. However, this is why I don't listen to country music--it perpetuates this post-WWII America-is-the-world's-greatest-superpower idealistic facade (that I've commented on before) which has been slowly dissolving since the early '70s. America, the country with the most kickass army in the world (not sarcasm), lost to primarily guerilla warfare in Vietnam. And now we're losing Afghanistan to the same type of enemy. We can't find Bin Laden. People need to realize that the U.S. isn't as powerful as it used to be, and together with the facts that we're trillions of dollars in debt (from pointless wars and two stimulus packages) and that countries like China and India are starting to emerge as economic powerhouses, we will never have that kind of power again. Instead of fighting that with feigned ignorance, we need to remember: sharing is caring!



5. "Legendary newsman deserved page one":

"Lately, I find myself wondering when 'news' was replaced with entertainment blurbs and gossip in these pages once known as a newspaper. On July 17, Walter Cronkite passed away at the ripe old age of 92 with no controversy. The Morning Call deemed it fit to include a small article on page 10 the next day, a far contrast to the space devoted to Michael Jackson a few weeks before. I'm too young to remember Cronkite's broadcasts, but I'm old enough to appreciate that he was the informative voice of trust to a generation. This man reported on more major historical events in his career than most journalists could ever hope to. He visualized grief when reporting the death of President Kennedy and showed boyish awe when left speechless by the Eagle landing on the moon. Our local paper felt it proper to literally bury his passing, along with the 40th anniversary of the moon landing, rather than giving them their proper places on the front page. The editors should be ashamed!"

-Sara Miller

Sara Miller, I love you.

I realize it would probably be more beneficial--and more proactive--to send my own letter to the editor explaining what I think about The Morning Call and why (even though Sara summed it up for me very nicely). But it makes me question the fruitlessness of it all--why would they care what some 18 year old smartass thinks about their newspaper? And even if they did publish it, does it matter? The Lehigh Valley Town Square is basically a blog in print. And I can bitch way more on here than I can in a letter.

Edit: I just sent a letter to the editor basically saying what I said about Kautzmann's article, but with a bit more brevity. We'll see what happens. Also, my sociology / psychology teacher in high school got married and her last name was changed to "Kautzmann," and there can't be that many Kautzmanns out there, so I'm wondering if it's her husband or not.