Sorry I¹m belatedly catching up on my emails after a vacation at our home in
the Catskills with a blessedly slow internet connection that became an
excuse for ignoring it altogether. Until today. BTW, yours and everyone
else¹s photographs and poetry have made my my email catching up chores a
real joy.
--
Carolyn Summers
63 Ferndale Drive
Hastings-on-Hudson, NY 10706
914-478-5712
From: <[email protected]>
Reply-To: <[email protected]>
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 2009 22:51:39 +0000 (UTC)
To: <[email protected]>
Subject: [ENTS] The final chapter - I hope
Marc,
Thanks very much for the compliment. I salute you for the diversity you have
achieved in your workforce. It is a remarkable accomplishment and one that
deserves study and emulation. It is heartening to see real entrepreneurs
making the American dream work for people of different social and economic
backgrounds in everyday ways. The description of your diverse workforce and
its effectiveness is really heartening. I love stories of successful
Americans acting out of their own value systems.
ENTS,
Since I am partly responsible for the current rash of emails on left versus
right politics, I'm feeling a bit sheepish right now. I should be
forthcoming on where I stand and what prompted me to take the swipe at the
Fox News Network - inappropriate to the ENTS list, for which I apologize.
The reason for the swipe is not apparent.
Like Marc, I grew up as a conservative, albeit one with a southern accent.
My roots are very much associated with motherhood, apple pie, and strong
patriotic feelings. They led me to a military career. However, in that
career I also learned the danger of being blindly patriotic. Vietnam was,
and still is, a bitter pill, although I had it far better than most. I'm not
complaining.
Today I define myself as fiscally conservative and socially liberal. I was
once more traditionally conservative. I began adopting a more liberal stance
on social issues in my mid-40s. I eventually turned independent, when I was
finally forced to accept that the two main political parties slop at the
same monied, special interest troughs. However, there remains a streak of
conservatism in me that wants to see its voice honestly and competently
exerted on the national stage as a counterbalance to big government. Herein
lies the source of my frustration.
I react viscerally to the Fox News cast of characters because I see Fox as
having hijacked legitimate conservatism by pandering to and even seeding
right-wing extremists. Witness the way Fox News talking heads covered the
Obama birth certificate hoopla, the troublesome issue of torture, Gitmo,
their recent promotion of so-called climate-gate, the teabaggers, and a host
of other issues. In Glen Beck's case, I see him as a just plain nuts.
Elsewhere talk radio's Rush Limbaugh is a showman - an obnoxious and
transparent one, but a showman nonetheless. He talks to that part of the
public that doesn't agree with liberal positions: folks who believe that
conservatives are routinely bypassed by the liberal-leaning media. Limbaugh
has successfully cultivated this group. He has turned many into parroting
ditto-heads. I realize that others listen to Limbaugh for daily
entertainment.
I firmly believe that we need a strong, healthy, competent, honest
conservative voice with a high level of public visibility. We need to hear
from legitimate conservatives with top flight minds to help us sort through
the morass of complex financial details surrounding Wall Street dealings,
the Banks, and health care, to name three. Instead, we get the Fox News
buffoons and radio talk show crackpots. Does anyone really think Glen Beck
knows what he is talking about? We need real analysis, not showmanship and
hyperbole. For instance, does anyone know what the impending senate version
of the health bill actually means either in terms of levels of care or cost
- individually and collectively? In the near term? In the future? I sure
don't. We need good honest conservative evaluations of what could become a
runaway social program. Instead, we get evaluations that are covers for the
insurance and pharmaceutical companies. And through it all, how does Fox
News handle the health care debate? It covers the phony voices who declare
the health bill as a death sentence on the elderly because of a counseling
provision.
So, if on occasion, I poke at Fox, it isn't because I reject conservative
arguments or values or disagree with the need to counterbalance a leftward
leaning media - far from it. It is just that Fox News Network and talk
radio, with their parade of obnoxious characters, fakes, and buffoons like
Beck, have failed miserably to provide the needed leadership. By giving
voice to the nuts, Fox actually helps squelch competent conservative voices
trying to be heard from out there in the wilderness. Maybe Americans don't
want to hear real voices. Maybe our society is hopelessly hooked on Jerry
Springer formats: the antics of Beck, Hannity, O'Reilly, and Limbaugh. It
would appear that the William F. Buckley intellectual type conservatives are
as extinct as pterodactyls. Pity.
I'll now get off my soapbox and return to more fruitful endeavors. I felt I
needed to explain my swipe at Fox News, following Lee's assessment of the
objectivity of that infamous network.
Bob
----- Original Message -----
From: "Marcboston" <[email protected]>
To: "ENTSTrees" <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, December 22, 2009 11:22:44 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: [ENTS] Re: A little story
Bob, not only do you have a command on the English language but you¹re
a class act. I whole heartedly agree with your stance. As for myself
I tend to lean conservative, probably because I grew up in a household
that leaned in that direction. As a owner in a business (my more
conservative side) too I find myself questioning many of the taxes we
pay out etc. That said I am socially liberal, I tend to hire a very
diverse groups of people. At my shop I have had a Baptist minister
work alongside a prominent gay leader of Rhode Island. I often
consider my shop a small version of the United Nations. We all get
along, work hard and really appreciate each other and the members of
ENTS should do the same. If Barry, likes Fox news, so what? I trust
Barry can decipher what is bull and what is relevant, he is a big
boy. He obviously is a nature lover and posts many subjects here on
ENTs. As for myself, when I get a chance to watch the news I float
between CNN, Fox and the BBC. I am not devoted to any one news
organization.
On Dec 22, 9:59 am, [email protected] wrote:
> Ed,
>
> I second your comments. You have taken the high road in reminding us that
thinking green is not equivalent to being socially liberal. All political
schools of thought should be able to rally around a green agenda. I think that
among Ents there is a fairly broad range of political positions on the issues.
So, I would hate to think anyone who wants to be a part of ENTS would hesitate
on political grounds, fearing that he/she would be in alien company. A shared
interest and love of forests and trees is all that matters.
>
> Bob
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Edward Frank" <[email protected]>
> To: [email protected]
> Sent: Monday, December 21, 2009 10:47:51 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
> Subject: Re: [ENTS] A little story
>
> Barry,
>
> I am sure there are other conservative people who belong to the group. However
I believe the majority of people involved with ENTS are leaning toward the green
end of the spectrum with regard to many environmental issue. Given the generally
poor environmental record of Republicans since Nixon, conservatives are a
minority in the group. I have always felt and argued that trying to promote
conservation goals and protecting our natural world should be one that could be
and should be embraced by people at different ends of the political spectrum. I
am disheartened by the linking of many liberal social issues to the green
movement. The NRA is effective because they are focused on their main goal of
protecting gun rights without dabbling in other issues. I think this should be
the goal of the environmental community - to reach out to all groups regardless
of their opinion on other issues. You are welcome to your opinion about the
network, even if I disagree. I would encourage you to actually think about what
several of the commentators are saying and try to verify their "facts" from
other sources, rather than take what they say as the truth. I will not get into
a debate about specific examples. I could say the same about the other news
sources. I want to encourage you to continue your participation in the group.
There is a place for people with differing political views.
>
> Ed
>
> "Beauty is a summation of the parts working together in such a way that
nothing is needed to be added, taken away or altered." Elio Caretti
>
> --
> Eastern Native Tree Societyhttp://www.nativetreesociety.org
> Send email to [email protected]
> Visit this group athttp://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en
> To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] Hide
quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
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--
Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org
Send email to [email protected]
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en
To unsubscribe send email to [email protected]
--
Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org
Send email to [email protected]
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en
To unsubscribe send email to [email protected]
