6 THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26,2016
Perspectives
Letters to the Editor
Trump is not fit to command the military
Dear Editor,
Watching the political ad show
ing a Minuteman Missile Launch
Center, brought back memories.
In 1973 as the Yom Kippur war
between Israel and the neighbor
ing Arab states intensified, as a
missile crew launch commander,
I was in an underground missile
launch center in Missouri with
my deputy when we received an
emergency message to increase
DECON to prepare for nuclear
war.
As junior officers at the bot
tom of the nuclear chain of com
mand, launch keys and codes in
our anxious hands, we could only
imagine how close we were to
the end. But we trusted the Presi
dent to defuse the crisis and avert
a nuclear war, and to call upon
us to fire only if necessary for
the nation’s survival. Since only
he could unleash our weapons of
mass destruction we felt a trust
ful, almost intimate connection to
the very top of the chain.
We assume that presidents will
grasp the power of the nuclear ar
senal at their disposal and show
the utmost restraint in using it.
Donald J. Trump is of a radically
different ilk and temperament
from past presidents. If I were
back in the launch chair today, I
would have little faith in his judg
ment and would feel alienated if
he were commander in chief. I
am not alone in this view. A vast
majority of former launch offi
cers in my circle of friends and
acquaintances tell me they feel
the same.
Missileers view their jobs as
deterring our enemies from at
tacking the U.S. and its allies.
They also know that deterrence
could fail by intent, accident or
miscalculation, and that prevent
ing such failure depends in no
small measure on qualities of
presidential leadership, respon
sibility, composure, competence,
empathy and diplomatic skill that
Mr. Trump evidently does not pos
sess. As a launch officer, I would
live in constant fear of his making
a bad call.
Mr. Trump is seemingly blind
to the importance of restraint
in nuclear decision making. He
shows no humility toward the
civilization-ending devastation of
nuclear weapons, and offhand
edly entertains their use.
Under the Constitution, no
one could veto a bad call by a
President Trump. The 90 launch
officers who are always on duty
in the Great Plains, along with
their counterparts in submarines
patrolling the oceans, would have
no choice but to execute the most
morally reprehensible order ever
issued in the history of warfare.
Lt. Col. Joseph W. Hoffler,
USAF (Retired)
Hertford
Republican-led Congress should shoulder the blame
Dear Editor,
The Doom and Gloom Broth
ers are at it again (Oct. 13 edition).
First, Mr. Calvin Lacy is playing
doctor and diagnosing Hillary
Clinton from his keyboard. He’s
never met Mrs. Clinton, but that
doesn’t stop him from declaring
that she has multiple diseases and
conditions that “puts her closer to
the grave” and will cause her to
“die in office.” He cites Ed Klein,
tabloid writer and gossip colum
nist, as a source. The British news
paper The Guardian identified a
number of verifiable factual errors
in one of Klein’s books about the
Obamas. In other words, Ed Klein
is not a reliable source. Take heed,
Mr. Klein and Mr. Lacy. Proverbs
19:9 “A false witness will not go
unpunished, And he who tells lies
will perish.”
Then there’s Mr. Claude Milot,
who doesn’t have enough nasty
things to say about our President.
Legacies are meant to extend far
forward in time, Mr. Milot. And I
don’t think you, are unbiased or
qualified enough to be able to
predict how the future will view
President Obama.
Mr. Milot conveniently ignores
the fact that the Republicans have
control of the House and Sen
ate, and they made it clear when
President Obama took office that
they would obstruct any mea
sures he tried to take. Of course,
Mr. Milot doesn’t fault Congress
at all. I thought we lived in a Con
stitutional Republic, with built-in
checks and balances by the three
branches of government, but Mr.
Milot seems to think otherwise.
He thinks the President has abso
lute power and our elected repre
sentatives in Congress have had
no role in governing our country
these last eight years.
Well, in a way, Mr. Milot is cor
rect. The Republican-led Congress
hasn’t accomplished much. They
repeatedly failed to pass the bud
get on time. They refuse to do then-
job and hold hearings to fill a va
cancy on the Supreme Court. They
failed the veterans; they failed the
Zika crisis; they failed the Flint
water crisis; they failed the opioid
crisis. Instead of addressing these
critical issues, they chose to waste
4 years and millions of tax dollars
on the Benghazi witch-hunt. An
other failure.
Luckily, most Americans are not
like Mr. Milot. In recent polls, Fox,
Rasmussen, and Gallup found a 52
percent-56 percent approval rat
ing for President Obama That’s in
line with President George H.W.
Bush’s final approval rating.
Nancy Theodore
Hertford
Voters have a monumental choice to make this election
Dear Editor,
When this election is over with
the media pundits having over
hyped and analyzed the truth
into an unrecognizable smear of
roadkill one undeniable fact will
emerge from the carnage-that
the truth was recognized and es
tablished by the most unlikeliest
source- a cartoon strip.
Amidst all the pettifogging and
demagoguery of this campaign the
long simmering standoff between
the forces of contemporary con
servatism and left wing ideology
has been decided but not over the
usual issues. They seem inconse
quential at this point. Seemingly,
no one felt or noticed the world
wide siesmic shift from a sensible
degree of parity between what is
considered good or evil. I’m saying
world wide because cosmically
morality has tanked everywhere.
The Democrats are very clear
of where they want to take us and
the people don’t care. It’s all about
the good times and the hell with
the consequences. Republicans on
the other hand seem constrained
to a lesser degree for satiable in
dulgences with a menu of options
they feel certain will lead them in
a direction of higher purpose.
Into this roiling maelstrom of
buffoonery and discontent comes
Doonesbury’s Mike and Kim, two
cartoon characters who seem to
be debating the issues when Mike
ask Kim if she knows what this
election is about. Says it’s about
mental health and if we want or
not want a sociopath as president.
Kim counters by saying Mike is
not a trained mental health profes
sional to which Mike replies... I’m'
also not a trained ornithologist ei
ther but I know a duck when I see
one. Continuing on he avers that
‘if it rants like a sociopath and lies
like a...’ At this juncture Kim con
cedes that it’s a ‘fair point.’
So there you have it sports fans.
A contest of monumental propor
tions for the soul of this nation be
tween two clowns that’s sure to be
argued well into the next century.
A liar who’ll take us down the road
to perdition or an unorthodox
businessman with a well crafted
plan to revitalize the American
economy? It’s your choice.
Calvin Lacy
Hertford
Donald Trump facing Hillary Clinton, the media and himself
Dear Editor.
In the third debate Donald
Trump had a chance to take down
Hillary Clinton in front of 60 mil
lion viewers. But he blew it. He
never brought up Hillary’s sordid,
scandal-filled past (Cattlegate,
White Water, Travelgate, missing
Rose Law Firm records, Vince
Foster suicide, etc.); he didn’t
make the case for her complicity
in the criminal racketeering of the
Clinton Foundation, especially the
treasonous uranium giveaway to
the Russians; he didn’t expose her
contempt for Catholics and evan
gelicals; and he didn’t rebut Hill
ary’s debate lies about the Heller
decision and the claim that her
advocacy for open borders was
about energy. He didn’t even point
to Hillary’s pathological mendac
ity by recalling her outrageous
lie about the Benghazi video, a lie
she repeated to the parents of the
murdered Americans as their cas
kets were rolling by.
Instead, Trump refocused the
debate on himself by saying he
might not support the winner of
the presidential election. For days
that’s all the media talked about,
while giving Hillary a free pass
on the corruption revealed by
the WikiLeaks release of Clinton-
camp emails.
For the sake of this country
Hillary Clinton must not become
the next President of the United
States. But I don’t see how Trump
can defeat her when he is facing
three powerful opponents simul
taneously: the corrupt Clinton ma
chine, the biased media, and his
worst enemy, an uninformed, inar
ticulate, thin-skinned egomaniac
by the name of Donald J. Trump.
Claude Milot
Hertford
After the passing of HB2 who is next to lose their rights?
Dear Editor,
We should think long and hard
about returning the supporters of
HB2 to office.
They have discriminated against
a minority of our fellow citizens in
denying basic human services and
equal protection. After the trans-
gendered, who might be targeted
next? In the last century, some
one very wise left these chilling
words.
“First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out because I
was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Com
munists and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade
unionists and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade union
ist.
Then they came for me and
there was no one left to speak out
for me.”
Guy Simmons
Hertford
Hertford lost a fine home
Dear Editor,
The Town of Hertford lost a
Grand Old Lady today (Oct. 17).
The William R. White House, built
in 1911, was described in “The
Historic Architecture of Perqui
mans County” as “an impressive
and handsome example of the
Colonial Revival.”
It was, of course, a contribut
ing structure in Hertford’s (un
regulated) National Register His
toric District. But it is no more
and its loss is a travesty for the
neighborhood, for the Historic
District, and for the community
as a whole.
The destruction of this historic
gem was done by Hertford Unit
ed Methodist Church. Apparently
it cares more about providing un
necessary parking (it has park
ing areas that are unused) than
it cares about its own neighbor
hood, its neighbors and the His
toric District. Neighbors begged
the church not to destroy it, to no
avail.
The church indisputably had
the right to tear it down. How
ever, having the right to do some
thing does not mean one should
do that thing.
The church showed utter dis
regard for the neighborhood and
the Historic District. That speaks
volumes.
Melanie Morris James
Hertford
THE Perquimans Weekly
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