This page was last updated on August 6, 2012.
Out of touch; Alfonso Saahir; Beaver County Times; August 5, 2012.
In two previous letters [“Look to the Constitution,” 2/27/05; “Muslims are obligated to pray,” 12/1/06 (I didn’t critique them.)] from Mr. Saahir, he appeared to believe American Muslims weren’t being treated fairly. I would have included links to the letters, but the Times changed its website and material published before late-August 2009 is no longer available.
In the first letter, Mr. Saahir asked, “Is there any case history where American Muslims have committed any ‘terrorist’ attacks against the U.S. government?” Bad question, Mr. Saahir. In the days before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Army Sgt. Hasan Akbar murdered two officers at Camp Pennsylvania in Kuwait and wounded 14 other soldiers, the result of his gunfire and throwing hand grenades into a tent where the soldiers were sleeping. In his diary before the murders, Mr. Akbar wrote, “I may not have killed any Muslims, but being in the Army is the same thing. I may have to make a choice very soon on who to kill.” Mr. Akbar was found guilty and sentenced to death. It happened again on November 5, 2009, at Fort Hood, TX. We also need to remember Islamist attacks thwarted over the last several years, like the planned attack on Fort Dix, NJ, in 2007 by the “Fort Dix Six.”
The most recent previous Saahir letter I critiqued was “Welfare and subsidies should be treated the same.” Other letters from Mr. Saahir are here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“The Republicans for the last three years have been a ‘Just Say No’ party to any bill that President Barack Obama presents.”
[RWC] The “bill[s] that President Barack Obama presents” are simply more of what got passed in 2009-2010. If those policies/programs had worked, we wouldn’t be having this discussion because the economy would be expanding nicely. Instead, GDP growth (annual rate) for the second quarter of 2012 was 1.5%, down from 2.0% (previous estimates were 2.2% then 1.9%) for the first quarter, and July unemployment was 8.3% (higher when you count people who gave up looking for a job), up from 8.2% in May & June and 8.1% in April.
Why would Republicans support policies/programs they don’t believe in and history shows don’t work? Consider the following quote: “We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work. And I have just one interest, and if I am wrong … somebody else can have my job. I want to see this country prosperous. I want to see people get a job. I want to see people get enough to eat. We have never made good on our promises … I say after eight years of this Administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started … And an enormous debt to boot.” - Henry Morgenthau, FDR’s Treasury Secretary during the Great Depression, testifying before the House Ways and Means Committee in May 1939. As I noted above, we wouldn’t be having this discussion if Mr. Obama’s policies/programs had worked.
Did Democrats get behind then-President George W. Bush? In any case, Republicans have been the majority in the House for only 19 months, not “three years.” President Obama had significant Democrat majorities in both houses of Congress for two years (2009-2010), including a period with a filibuster-proof Senate. As we saw with Obamacare, Republicans couldn’t stop anything Mr. Obama wanted even when not a single Republican voted for it. If something Mr. Saahir wanted didn’t get passed during those two years, he can’t blame Republicans. Democrats remain the majority in the Senate. Here’s an interesting factoid: The last two years the Democrat-majority Senate voted down Mr. Obama’s budget proposals 99-0 and 97-0.
“They do everything humanly possible to prevent the economy from recovering. They focus on making President Barack Obama a one-term president. They say wait for November 2012 and let the economy go to hell. They run a campaign on the fact that the economy is not growing fast enough.”
[RWC] When Mr. Saahir claims Republicans “do everything humanly possible to prevent the economy from recovering,” he makes the flawed assumption failed leftist policies/programs are in America’s best interest. Overall, voters voted as they did in 2010 to slow/stop Mr. Obama’s agenda, not to elect a rubberstamp.
Does Mr. Saahir believe “the economy is … growing fast enough?” Perhaps Mr. Saahir believed Mr. Obama when he said, “The private sector is doing fine.” GDP growth (annual rate) for the second quarter of 2012 was 1.5%, down from 2.0% (previous estimates were 2.2% then 1.9%) for the first quarter, and July unemployment was 8.3% (higher when you count people who gave up looking for a job), up from 8.2% in May & June and 8.1% in April
“Is this intelligent strategy? I say shame on you! Oh, excuse me, you can’t shame them. Let’s not let their blind strategy move us in a direction that will strategically place our country in worse circumstances.”
[RWC] Blah, blah, blah.
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