Interesting Read--Open Letter to Haslam from Knoxville News Sentinel on Nov 5, 2010

[leroy]

All:____________

I am posting without comment an "Open Letter to Governor Elect Bill Haslam" from that noted socialist rag the Knoxville News sentinel.

Pam Strickland: An open letter to Gov.-elect Bill Haslam

By Pam Strickland

Friday, November 5, 2010

Gov.-elect Haslam,

We've never met, although I've lived in Knoxville since the summer of 2005. I voted for you when you ran for re-election in 2006. You were doing a very good job with the city, and your opponent didn't have any experience that I could see. I didn't vote for you in your historic win in the governor's race on Tuesday because, well, you went over the cliff in an unnecessary bid to get the vote of the gun fringe and, to quote a Charlie Daniel cartoon, shot yourself in the foot.

That bid for the gun vote didn't make sense because multiple polls clearly showed that your Democratic opponent was going to get only about 30 percent of the vote. It appeared greedy and distasteful for you to kick a man while he was down. And the stand left many of us questioning the safety of ourselves and our loved ones once you became governor.

It also made me question the veracity of my friends and acquaintances who have dealt with you directly during your time as Knoxville mayor and cited your advantages to me and other liberals, progressives, Independents and Democrats. They had been telling us that they supported you in this big job promotion because you had always been more practical than political, more interested in policy and building bridges than in taking a partisan stand.

So, Bill, if you haven't figured it out already, it's time to put away this reaching out to the ultra-conservative, far-right of the Republican Party and return to the moderate Republican that the folks in Knoxville knew and mostly loved the last few years. Maybe it is RINO. After all, the guy who is leaving the office is a DINO. Although the Tennessee map is awash in political red following Tuesday's vote, history has shown that Tennesseans are more a mixture. And I, personally, don't believe that one election, where folks are mad about national issues, is going to change who we are as a state - proud working people who believe in helping one another.

A few quick thoughts. To keep us working, we can't keep teaching to the test. All that means is a kid can pass a test on a given day. An education means a student learns to think critically and creatively. It means civics and foreign languages, history and art, as well as more math and science. If we're going to bring in high-quality jobs, the education system has to be ranked higher than 41st.

Your interpretation of the federal health care reform sounds like boilerplate from the national Republican Party. You've indicated that you will work with the congressional delegation to repeal portions, if not all, of it. That could be harder than it looks. The Republicans have the House, not the Senate. And President Barack Obama is still in office, after all. I would encourage you to talk one-on-one with the 1-in-3 Tennesseans under age 65, like myself, who do not have health insurance.

Finally, the day before the election, the University of Tennessee College of Pharmacy released preliminary findings from a study of prescription drug use in conjunction with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. It found that in the past three years, 1,600 Tennesseans have died from abuse of prescription drugs. In Knoxville alone, I can name at least two teenagers who have died in the past six months. Conservative or liberal, no one wants this to happen.

You have a hard job the next four years. Remember you are governor for all of Tennessee, conservative and liberal. Good luck.

Pam Strickland's column appears every Friday. She can be reached by e-mail at stricklandkns@me.com.

Link here: Pam Strickland: An open letter to Gov.-elect Bill Haslam » Knoxville News Sentinel

Note the language that Ms Strickland uses.

Know your enemy.

Leroy

[Punisher84]

Should have just said:

Dear Mr. Haslam,

Please don't let the scary rednecks have guns and vote to give my liberal unemployed ass health insurance. Much Socialist love,

Bitch.

[leroy]

Should have just said:

Dear Mr. Haslam,

Please don't let the scary rednecks have guns and vote to give my liberal unemployed ass health insurance. Much Socialist love,

Bitch.

Amen brother!! I believe you've nailed it!! Great translation!!

Keep up the good work!

Leroy

[Guest FroggyOne2]

I think that you have summed up pretty nicely!

[Guest m&pc9]

Should have just said:

Dear Mr. Haslam,

Please don't let the scary rednecks have guns and vote to give my liberal unemployed ass health insurance. Much Socialist love,

Bitch.

On spot.

[Punisher84]

Thank ya thank ya!

[daddyo]

Should have just said:

Dear Mr. Haslam,

Please don't let the scary rednecks have guns and vote to give my liberal unemployed ass health insurance. Much Socialist love,

Bitch.

[mikegideon]

"Gun fringe"??? Where does she think she lives?

[Raoul]

Should have just said:

Dear Mr. Haslam,

Please don't let the scary rednecks have guns and vote to give my liberal unemployed ass health insurance. Much Socialist love,

Bitch.

BadaBing!

[mikegideon]

BadaBing!

Yep... except she's obviously employed, and probably had health insurance way before Obama showed up. Bitch... definately

[Punisher84]

Yep... except she's obviously employed, and probably had health insurance way before Obama showed up. Bitch... definately

She claims not to in the letter.

I would encourage you to talk one-on-one with the 1-in-3 Tennesseans under age 65, like myself, who do not have health insurance.

[mikegideon]

She claims not to in the letter.

Missed that. She must be a free lance idiot, instead of an on staff idiot.

[Punisher84]

Missed that. She must be a free lance idiot, instead of an on staff idiot.

Ah! The worst kind, my friend, the worst kind!

[mikegideon]

Ah! The worst kind, my friend, the worst kind!

She's obviously a crappy journalist if she can take all the information that's available about current gun laws, and then write the dumbass things in that letter.

[Raoul]

She's obviously a crappy journalist if she can take all the information that's available about current gun laws, and then write the dumbass things in that letter.

Folks like her have that mindset of a european style government whereby they are taken care of and watched over. Nevermind the rights that are sacrificed for that to happen. Anyone that disagrees with them is not merely wrong but damn wrong and misguided.

They live in a dream world expecting someone else to take care of them. I prefer to take care of myself.

[Mark@Sea]

Three men are out in a boat. The man on the left leans far out over the side. The man in the front, who by the way is the editor of a large national newspaper, senses that the boat is about to capsize, and advises the man on the right to move to the center.

found here.

[mikegideon]

Folks like her have that mindset of a european style government whereby they are taken care of and watched over. Nevermind the rights that are sacrificed for that to happen. Anyone that disagrees with them is not merely wrong but damn wrong and misguided.

They live in a dream world expecting someone else to take care of them. I prefer to take care of myself.

She needs to move to California. EDIT: Or, if she's on a budget, Illinois

[DaveTN]

This woman has a weekly column in a large newspaper and she doesn’t have and cannot afford healthcare insurance?

She’s either not being honest or she isn’t a very good journalist.

[Murgatroy]

Should have just said:

Dear Mr. Haslam,

Please don't let the scary rednecks have guns and vote to give my liberal unemployed ass health insurance. Much Socialist love,

Bitch.

Can we resubmit that open letter please?

[mikegideon]

This woman has a weekly column in a large newspaper and she doesn’t have and cannot afford healthcare insurance?

She’s either not being honest or she isn’t a very good journalist.

Ding! We have a winner

[Northface]

"It means civics and foreign languages, history and art, as well as more math and science."

Sounds like a Liberal Arts major who cannot find a paying job in the real world.

[mikegideon]

"It means civics and foreign languages, history and art, as well as more math and science."

Sounds like a Liberal Arts major who cannot find a paying job in the real world.

WTF?

[Guest TNReb]

My response just posted on their website (awaiting review of the page editor):

Thank you so much for this wonderful service. Now I know the Governor-Elect is fully prepared to run the state since you have written this column. I'm sure he will have it laminated and carry it with him for when he loses his way. Now please excuse me while I try to find a piece of heavy equipment that will remove my tongue from my cheek. Yeah, he will really do great by the state if he takes advice from the losers. Do us a favor and have the good grace to go quietly into that good night of insignificance in which you deservedly reside.

Onward and upward!

[Guest TNReb]

She’s either not being honest or she isn’t a very good journalist.

Dave: Isn't his what my old English teacher used to call a redundancy?

[shortround]

The sign of a terrible writer is that he uses this word ('fringe') to describe his opponents. - Thomas Woods