This page was last updated on March 19, 2010.
On whose side are America’s clergy?; Edward J. Hum; Beaver County Times; March 19, 2010.
Mr. Hum has written at least 49 letters since early 2005, including a 10-month hiatus from September 2007 to July 2008. It will be no surprise most of Mr. Hum’s letters have been no more than exercises in bashing President Bush and/or other Republicans. Mr. Hum’s letters are also flame-throwing exercises. I don’t know if Mr. Hum actually believes what he writes, or if he simply likes to stir things up to call attention to himself.
Mr. Hum frequently includes “fellow Republicans” or something similar in his letters and is one of a group of local Republican impersonators (The group also includes Messrs. William A. Alexander, Arthur Brown, William G. Horter, and George Reese.) who write claiming to be disgruntled Republicans. You have to give Mr. Hum “credit,” however, for going the extra mile to further his impersonation. As of September 2006, Mr. Hum was actually registered as a Republican despite the fact he’s no more a Republican than is Dennis Kucinich.
Given his body of work, for a while I wondered what Mr. Hum would use for subject matter now that Barack Obama is President. Mr. Hum wrote three letters in support of a government-run, taxpayer-funded healthcare monopoly (here, here, and here), then he reverted to his Bush-bashing habit, as in “Bush earns status as ‘most liberal.’” I guess some addictions are too tough to overcome.
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“Church leaders worldwide agree with the nations’ decision to include all citizens in a system of universal health care. They have better medical outcomes at lower cost.”
[RWC] My experience with researching Mr. Hum’s claims and “facts” is you need to be very skeptical.
“In the United States, church leaders worry about government and abortions, even though countries with universal health care have fewer abortions.
“I asked my bishop to issue a statement saying that if someone had to get a divorce in order to get on Medicaid to avoid medical bankruptcy that the church would still honor their marriage, that the church would understand that the divorce was simply part of the U.S. health-care system.
“That’s not being political, but it will be a long time before that happens, even though it might get people interested in church.
“What’s with the American clergy? Whose side are they on?”
[RWC] I honestly don’t know how to respond to such gibberish.
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