Ex-congressman gets soapbox for violent remarks Re: “Paul Krugman’s totalitarian temptation,” editorial, Jan. 11
Liberal columnists like Paul Krugman have sought to scapegoat conservatives for the recent shootings in Tucson. But the shooter was once described as a “liberal pothead,” and the “Communist Manifesto” was one of his favorite books. There is no evidence he was influenced by any contemporary political rhetoric.
Moreover, harsh rhetoric comes mostly from liberals like former Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., who said of Florida Gov. Rick Scott: “They ought to put him against a wall and shoot him.” Yet the New York Times recently published an editorial by Kanjorski whining about “incivility,” contradicting claims by its own columnist that “it’s hard to imagine a Democratic member of Congress urging constituents to be ‘armed and dangerous’ without being ostracized.”
Kanjorski wasn’t criticized, much less ostracized, by the Times for promoting violence. Instead, it gave him a soapbox.
Hans Bader
Senior attorney, Competitive Enterprise Institute
Obama’s ‘knife fight’ comment taken out of context
Re:”Shooter pulled trigger, not political culture,” editorial, Jan. 10
In your efforts to use Mr. Obama’s 2008 quote to make your point, you actually used it out of context by not mentioning the sentences prior to and after his comment. The June 14, 2008, Wall Street Journal said: “‘Barack Obama’s call for ‘new politics’ is officially over. In just 24 hours, Barack Obama attacked one of America’s pioneering women CEOs, rejected a series of joint bipartisan town halls, and said that if there’s a political knife fight, he’d bring a gun,” McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds said in a statement.’ Obama made the comment in the context of warning donors that the general election campaign against McCain could get ugly.”
That is not even remotely in the realm of what has festered in the political right for the last two years as Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and others fanned the flames of hate and separatism and must now own up to it, along with the Republican Party.
When the economy was good, those comments could be dismissed because the political right was in a comfort zone. But now average middle-class Americans are struggling, making them gullible to fear and hate-mongering because they need someone or something to blame for their misfortune.
Jesse Jackson
Bowie
Who doesn’t like a free lunch?
Re: “Malloy lobbies business for sick leave mandate,” Jan. 7
Some Connecticut legislators have joined a chorus of other local and federal policymakers in endorsing mandated paid sick days for employees — as long as someone else is footing the bill.
Here’s the hard truth: Employers aren’t cash cows that can be milked for every conceivable benefit that the working public would like to enjoy. That means employers have to find a way to offset any increased labor cost.
For staffers earning $10 or $11 per hour (or more), paychecks will adjust downward accordingly. But what about the less-experienced staff who are already working at the minimum and can’t legally be paid less? In this case, employers figure out how to do more with less, cutting back on customer service and trimming the number of entry-level workers they hire in the first place.
As the saying goes, a free lunch is never really free. And a mandated benefit that puts your income at risk is no benefit at all.
Michael Saltsman
Research fellow, Employment Policies Institute
