Hatefulness infects American politics

I want to comment on the Aug. 14 Daily Mail editorial about certain statements and comments by Sen. Robert C. Byrd.

In so much of the Third World, the center or middle is non-existent, or very nearly so. And that kind of thing is now beginning to affect, and infect, our politics.

On the one side, the arch-conservative columnists and radio talk show hosts refuse to admit that capitalism may not have all the answers regarding human living standards, and that the existence of any form of socialist or command economics is not the cause, but a symptom as to what is wrong in so much of the world.

But the editorial points out the wrong-headedness of so much of what Byrd said. Were Bush a dictator, Byrd and many other people would be in jail, we would have no free elections, and there would be no freedom of the press.

Nor is that all. In Republican ranks, a good many people are so irrational as to believe that Sen. John McCain is some kind of liberal.

On the Democratic side, when Sen. Hillary Clinton truthfully points out President Lyndon Johnson's role in passing the 1964 Civil Rights Act, she is accused of disrespect for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Also, Clinton supporters accuse the news media of sexism for favoring Sen. Barack Obama instead of her, and people backing Clinton are accused of being racists for supporting her instead of Obama.

Even Keith Olbermann of MSNBC's "Countdown," whom one would think would know better, has engaged in that kind of squalid politics.

Are we becoming so hateful as a people that we are on the path that will ultimately end in violence and extremism, followed by dictatorship?

It really seems that the evangelical-fundamentalist people in our population are right in saying that we as a nation have turned our back on God.

If so, we shall surely pay a dreadful penalty, and I fear that I may live long enough to see that happen.

William R. Brown

South Charleston

Is trapping otters the ultimate goal?

We were elated to learn that the beautiful otter has spread gradually throughout West Virginia's waterways. And that it is a "great place to live."

Wonderful news and success for the Division of Natural Resources.

However, we now read that DNR's "ultimate goal was to open a trapping season for otter."

Is this the "ultimate goal?"

Hatefulness infects American politics

I want to comment on the Aug. 14 Daily Mail editorial about certain statements and comments by Sen. Robert C. Byrd.

In so much of the Third World, the center or middle is non-existent, or very nearly so. And that kind of thing is now beginning to affect, and infect, our politics.

On the one side, the arch-conservative columnists and radio talk show hosts refuse to admit that capitalism may not have all the answers regarding human living standards, and that the existence of any form of socialist or command economics is not the cause, but a symptom as to what is wrong in so much of the world.

But the editorial points out the wrong-headedness of so much of what Byrd said. Were Bush a dictator, Byrd and many other people would be in jail, we would have no free elections, and there would be no freedom of the press.

Nor is that all. In Republican ranks, a good many people are so irrational as to believe that Sen. John McCain is some kind of liberal.

On the Democratic side, when Sen. Hillary Clinton truthfully points out President Lyndon Johnson's role in passing the 1964 Civil Rights Act, she is accused of disrespect for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Also, Clinton supporters accuse the news media of sexism for favoring Sen. Barack Obama instead of her, and people backing Clinton are accused of being racists for supporting her instead of Obama.

Even Keith Olbermann of MSNBC's "Countdown," whom one would think would know better, has engaged in that kind of squalid politics.

Are we becoming so hateful as a people that we are on the path that will ultimately end in violence and extremism, followed by dictatorship?

It really seems that the evangelical-fundamentalist people in our population are right in saying that we as a nation have turned our back on God.

If so, we shall surely pay a dreadful penalty, and I fear that I may live long enough to see that happen.

William R. Brown

South Charleston

Is trapping otters the ultimate goal?

We were elated to learn that the beautiful otter has spread gradually throughout West Virginia's waterways. And that it is a "great place to live."

Wonderful news and success for the Division of Natural Resources.

However, we now read that DNR's "ultimate goal was to open a trapping season for otter."

Is this the "ultimate goal?"

Why? Do the wonderful people of West Virginia truly want leghold, and other cruel traps, placed along its waterways?

I think not. I hope not.

George V. Clements

Vancouver, British Columbia

Clements is director of the Fur-Bearer Defenders in Vancouver, British Columbia.

W.Va. should nix energy naysayers

Coal and oil are so bad for us, so says Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. 

Will West Virginians ever wake up?

West Virginia votes Democratic with great regularity. When will the people realize that the candidates they are voting for are against West Virginia coal production?

No matter where you live, you have good reason to vote the energy naysayers out of office.

Democrat Anne Barth, who is running against incumbent Republican Shelley Moore Capito in the state's 2nd Congressional District, has joined the chorus against opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, and Congressman Nick Rahall, chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, is adamantly against opening up the Outer Continental Shelf.

Democrats have consistently blocked expanding the development of "unconventional" petroleum resources such as coal to liquids.

House Republicans have consistently voted to increase production of American-made gas while the Democrats have voted against increasing that production.

Democrats have blocked the development of new sources of petroleum.

Democrats have blocked drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, off the coast of Florida, off the East Coast, the West Coast and the Alaskan Coast.

Let's take the likes of Reid and Pelosi back up in one of these West Virginia hollows around October and leave them with an ax, a coat and a blanket. They will not be allowed to come back down until sometime in April - after the spring thaw.

They need a good dose of what they are wishing to deal out to others.

Billie R. Paxton

Clendenin