Sherry Allen – 3/30/11

This page was last updated on March 30, 2011.

Forgive and live in the present; Sherry Allen; Beaver County Times; March 30, 2011.

Since January 2008, the Times has published at least 29 letters from Ms. Allen. Letters I critiqued are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. Of letters I didn’t critique, one (“Conserving water for future,” 1/13/08) asked us to conserve water (primarily by not eating meat), another (“Say ‘no’ to push polling,” 2/10/08) complained about alleged telephone “push polls” by Republicans, and the third was (“Plant a garden to offset oil usage,” 8/1/08). In one letter I did critique, Ms. Allen gushed about a book she found “that has hundreds of ideas on how to save our planet.” In a partisan letter, Ms. Allen concluded with “Let’s endeavor to walk together peacefully.” In one letter, Ms. Allen related a story of disaffected Republicans voting for Mr. Obama. In another letter, Ms. Allen tried to compare abortion and war in an effort to promote Barack Obama over John McCain. Other letters from Ms. Allen were entitled “Just appreciate the here and now,” “Let’s be proactive on the environment,” “Arena a valuable community asset,” “Time to get behind health-care reform,” “A state budget we can all live with,” “Keep pushing for a public option,” “Election ruling terrible for nation,” “Practicing small acts of kindness,” “It’s how we act after events that matters,” “Use freedom of speech wisely,” “Let’s reduce our carbon footprints,” “Natural gas drilling impacts our water,” and “Don’t take shortcuts on drilling for gas.”

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“I’ve felt paralyzed watching right-wing Republican governors in Wisconsin, Michigan, Florida, Ohio, New Jersey and, soon, Pennsylvania waging war on middle-class workers, our environment and communities.”

[RWC] “War?” After the Tucson shootings in January, I thought we weren’t supposed to use words of violence in our political discourse. Then again, maybe war does describe the harassment of and death threats made against Republican lawmakers and the governor of Wisconsin.

By the time you get to the end of the letter, you’ll find it doesn’t tell us what the “right-wing Republican governors” are doing that constitutes “waging war on middle-class workers, our environment and communities.”

“While campaigning, Barack Obama promised to put on shoes and protest with us if the middle class was ever threatened, but, disappointingly, he hasn’t. With rich corporations getting tax breaks, increasing our budget deficit, and outrageous government pensions, America’s in trouble.”

[RWC] “Barack Obama promised to put on shoes and protest with us if the middle class was ever threatened?” No. Mr. Obama said, “If American workers are being denied their right to organize and collectively bargain when I’m in the White House, I’ll put on a comfortable pair of shoes myself. I’ll walk on that picket line with you as president of the United States of America because workers deserve to know that somebody is standing in their corner.” Mr. Obama didn’t mention the “middle class.” When he spoke of “their right to organize and collectively bargain,” it’s clear Mr. Obama pledged his support of labor union management, not the “middle class.” Union membership is not synonymous with “middle class.” Only 6.9% of all private-sector employees belong to a labor union, and that includes employees forced to join a labor union by closed-shop laws.

When Ms. Allen complains of “rich corporations getting tax breaks,” does this mean she doesn’t take advantage of deductions, exemptions, et cetera when she files her tax returns? For the record, I oppose all so-called “tax breaks” not available to everyone, but then I oppose taxes on all businesses because they are simply a government scam to hide our true individual tax rate. Businesses never have and never will pay taxes because they are only legal constructs; they exist only on paper. Ultimately, only people (owners/shareholders and customers) pay “business” taxes.

Here Ms. Allen writes of “outrageous government pensions,” yet above she attacked the very governors trying to address the issue – among other government spending problems – as “waging war on middle-class workers.” Contradictions like this are common when lefties try to appear even-handed. Then again, perhaps Ms. Allen meant elected and appointed government officials and forgot the vast majority of government employees are neither.

Finally, it takes a lot to make Ms. Allen disappointed in Mr. Obama. As the result of one letter, I opined, “As I read this letter I pictured an Obama shrine in Ms. Allen’s house.”

“When former President George Bush declared war on Iraq, Jesus’ last words while dying on the cross comforted me, ‘Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.’”

[RWC] Condescending much? Ms. Allen didn’t tell us what comforted her when Mr. Obama ordered the murder (I’m intentionally using lefty lingo.) of three Somali pirates who held a U.S. ship captain hostage, escalated the war in Afghanistan, and got us involved in Libya’s civil war. What will comfort Ms. Allen should Mr. Obama commit “boots on the ground” (if they are not already there covertly) to the Libya “kinetic military action” and/or provide the Libyan rebels (some of whom may be al-Qaida, but none of whom like the U.S. or ever will) with weapons?

“Corrie ten Boon [sic] was a role model for me. Her family hid Jews from Hitler’s death camps. She was the only surviving member of her family. She could have been bitter and lived in her past memories, but years later in person forgave the soldier who shot her sister.”

[RWC] In addition to misspelling Miss Ten Boom’s name, this paragraph has two factual errors. First, Miss Ten Boom (almost 52 years old when arrested) was not “the only surviving member of her family” after WWII which is what I inferred Ms. Allen meant. Her sister Nollie and brother Willem, arrested at the same time as Corrie, were released within a week or two. Willem (60) died shortly after WWII in late 1945 from tuberculosis he contracted during his short prison stay. Nollie died in 1953. At that time, Miss Ten Boom (having never married) became “the only surviving member of her [immediate] family” but had nephews and nieces. Second, a soldier did not shoot Miss Ten Boom’s other sister Betsie; while in prison, she grew weaker, eventually took ill, and died in the prison hospital. The man Miss Ten Boom forgave was an SS guard at her prison, but he did not kill/shoot her sister.

You may be thinking, “so what does it matter if Ms. Allen got these seemingly harmless facts wrong? You’re nitpicking.” First, if someone were really your “role model,” wouldn’t you expect to do a better job with the name (could be a simple typo by Ms. Allen or the Times) and double-check your facts? If there are easily-checked errors with facts about something very important to you, what could we expect when it comes to something not as important to you? Second, it shows you can’t take the validity of any presented facts for granted, no matter how harmless they seem, if they have any impact on your assessment of someone’s position.

“She chose to forgive and live in the present.

“She said, ‘Every experience God gives us, every person He puts in our lives, is the perfect preparation for the future only He can see.’”

[RWC] The preceding three paragraphs are simply more “holier than thou” rhetoric.

“Don’t be paralyzed by political boondoggles. Join many by protesting for fairness peacefully, and have a Happy Easter.”

[RWC] Is balancing a budget with a multi-billion-dollar deficit a “political boondoggle?” That’s what most or all of the governors of the states Ms. Allen mentioned have to do. In the case of PA, the pre-budget deficit was $4.1 billion.

Given Ms. Allen is a lefty and I’m a conservative, I’ll go out on a limb and guess her definition of “fairness” differs from mine.

For someone concerned about “protesting for fairness peacefully,” Ms. Allen didn’t say anything about the harassment of and death threats made against Republican lawmakers and the governor of Wisconsin.