The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 86, No. 308, Ed. 1 Wednesday, October 3, 2007 Page: 4 of 12
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OPINION
4
Wednesday, October 3,2007
THE BAYTOWN SUN
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Texas Views
Kurds &
Hunt Oil
LI
‘Nos- picaron los ojos’
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I
just started. However, it, is unbelievable on the
whether the Hunt contract has complicated
the problem.
sa
J
WRITE TO US
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3
David Bloom
Managing Editor
Jane Howard Lee
retired Reporter
M.A. Bengtson
Community member
HILDA
MARTINEZ
Mary Bell-Foster
Baytown
too for voting for him.. Let us pray.
Baytown resident Hilda C. Martinez is a free-
lance writer-consultant and can be contacted
at hcmart@aol.com.
FRED HARTMAN
Publisher Emeritus
1950-1974
Baptoton >un
1301 Memorial Drive, P.0. Box 90
Baytown, Texas 77522
Main: (281)422-8302
Newsroom: (281) 425.-8016
Retail: (281) 425-8036
Classified: (281) 425-8008
Circulation: (281) 425-8066
Fax: (28J)427-1880
E-mail: sunnews@baytownsun.com
Web site: www.baytownsun.com
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fan
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out in droves whether Hispanic or not. I also
hope that churches do not mandate, excuse
me, make gentle suggestions to their congre-
gations on who to vote for. After all that is
how we ended up with a leader that made
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We publish only original
material addressed to The
Baytown Sun bearing the
writer’s signature. An address
and phone number not for
publication should be includ-
The Sun welcomes letters of ed. All letters and guest
up to 300 words and guest
columns of up to 500 words.
EDITORIAL BOARD
Clifton E. “Cliff” Clements
Editor/Publisher
Jim Finley
retired Managing Editor
JayEshbach
Community member
HONEY, HESAYSHt'S \ '
winging owes. I
ilDYOUSeUD J «
for anything? J
202-224-2934
713-572-3337
Fax: 202-228-2856
Fax: 713-572-3777
cornyn.senate.gov/
■
the needy persons get?
How would one who gives
directly te a person in need
benefit? There are no incen-
tives. That is the question
that 1 would ask most
■ churches and non-profit
organizations. Why does the
donation have to be to an
organization? Why can’t we
get a deduction for tax pur-
poses if we give directly to
persons in need? Oh that’s right, they are not
a'non-profit; they are only the poor or needy.
The next question is to establish whether they
are really poor or do they really need help
because yes, there are con artists out there,
but are all the poor con artists?
It defies interpretation of the Word, when
one wants to make a donation. Where in the
a Bible does it say to give to a non-profit orga-
* ■ . v . - v -■ - - -- - 7—y .— ■ —
words, but it, is undoubtedly happening based . our Lord’s name to solicit donations with his
This marketing of Jesus has been around for
Global warming
.Hearing the weather man talk
about global warming brought about
a discussion with my oldest son. The
weather man said that they have only
been taking pictures of the arctic ice
since 1979. My son told me that they
started taking pictures because scien-
tists were worried about global cool-
ing. We’re sure they don’t have evi-
dence this isn’t something that hap-
pens every few decades.
What I read from a Newsweek arti-
. cle is that-ilgs. cooling and warming
trend has happened four times in the
past 60 years. You can read it for
yourself by Googling “global cool-
ing.” Click on “Newsweek on global
cooling.” It is an interesting article.
When you are finished there, you can
get even more information by click-
ing on “A fine short history of warm?
ing and cooling.”
So, with all this information avail-
able, why does the media continue to
put out this vague information that
we might be in danger? Who is reap- .
ing rewards from this? Who ultimate-
ly is paying the tab? Think about it; if.
the EPA doesn’t prove global warm-
ing, they will be proved unnecessary
and lose their jobs. Who pays their
bills? We do.
No free lunches
I respectfully wish to take issue
with the statement(s) of Adam Rieck
in his letter from the October 2 issue:
“SCHIP Debate”: “If you ask any
Canadian, French, English, British,
Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Pakistani
or even Cuban, they will tell you that
their government pays for their health
care, but they do not run it. This is
how it should be here.”
Mr. Rieck, perhaps you might
■ engage in a bit of research: (IjLast
time I checked, referencing the
British by default jncludes the
English. (2)Two objectionable reali-
ties within England regarding health
care are the fact that if one is saddled
with a catastrophic ailment the sys-
tem simply sends the patient home to
die, and as was recently announced
by the British, expectant mothers are
now advised to simply stay home and
take care of their own childbirth
needs as best they can because the
system simply doesn’t have the "
money to carry out pre-natal care and
delivery. So much for the lauded
British health care miracle. (3) I’ve
met numerous Canadians who left
Canada to come live in the United
States, and to a man they’ve all stated
the reason they came to the United
States was because the Canadian
health care system is a shambles
unable to meet their needs.
(4)CUBA? Are you serious? Mr.
Castro’s great health care miracle is
such a shining gem of efficiency that
he imported a Scandanavian special-
ist lock-stock-and-barrel, including
equipment and staff, when he needed
medical attention because the Cuban
medical system had botched his care
so badly.
Yep, sign me up for this stuff (not!)
Bottom line, Mr. Reick, in medical
care as in all aspects of life, there is .
..no free lunch.
Of course, this is just my opinion
being voiced in a free speech arena.
Bob Hicks
Baytown
Government officials how to reach us
I Clifton E. “Cliff” dements,
, .Publisher : „
cliff.clements@baytowhsun.com
■ Sandy Denson, Business Mgr.
contact/index.html . | £ ---- --- - .......
Ted Poe,
Dist. 2 Rep.
866-425-6565
866-447-0242
www.house.gov/
poe
Ron Paul,
Dist. 14 Rep.
202-225-2831
979-230-0000
www.house.gov/
paul
Gene Green,
- Dist. 29 Rep.
202-225-1688
713-330-0761
www.house.gov/'
green
Federal
George W. Bush,
President
202-456-1111
Fax: 202-456-2326
president® -
whitehouse.gov
Dick Cheney ,
Vice President
202-456-2324
Fax: 202-456-2461
vice-president©
whitehouse.gov
Kay Bailey
Hutchison,
Senator
202-224-5922
713-653-3456
Fax: 202-224-0776
Fax: 713-209-3459
hutchison.senate.
gov/e-mail.htm.
John Cornyn,
Senator
Send signed letters to:
David Bloom, The Baytown
Sun, P.O. Box 90, Baytown,
77522; fax them to (281) 427- ,
1880 or send an e-mail to
sunnews@baytownsun.com.
' Items featured on this page
are the views of the persons
identified with each submission
and do not necessarily reflect
the views of The Baytown Sun
or its advertisers.
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Joshua Hart, Circulation Manager
joshua.hart@baytownsiin.com
NEWSROOM
David Bloom, Managing Editor
david.bloom@baytownsun.com
columns are subject to edit-
. ...... ............ ing, and the Sun reserves the
Guest columns should include right to refuse to publish any
| a photo of the writer. submission..
Prop 4: Extending
Baker Road
It seems strange that our elected ;
officials want the citizens of the city*
to pay $7.1 M to extend Baker Road
to Sjolander Road, a road looking for
somewhere to go. I just wonder who;
owns the land on both sides of this
new proposed Baker Road extension,’
and how much profit they will make
when the citizens put up the money •
to make the land even more valuable?
' I would think that’ the owners of the
land should foot the bill for this road
if it’s so needed.
John A. Anderson
Baytown
I
at our church have been about giving and
sharing, the poor and the rich, and about
, being good stewards with our wealth; and
about the nameless rich man and Lazarus.
Now I understand why Mother Teresa had
doubts. She was a thinker. She was working
for her divine God that she had dedicated her etc., etc., etc., and all in the name of Jesus and
life to by practicing her faith and living to F’Yn J
among the poorest, and helping them to alle- be paying for health insurance for the pool
viate the masses of hunger and disease. But Jesus is what makes the world go round, I
the number of poor keeps growing and grow- believe; but the mighty dollar is what gives us
'n any other part of the world, this deal
wouldn’t have drawn headlines: The
.semi-autonomous Kurdish regional gov-
ernment in northern Iraq may be sitting oh
oil, and by signing an exploration agree-
ment, Dallas-based Hunt Oil gets in the
door early. • * -
. Iraq, however, is riot just any other part of
the world. .It’s a country divided along, eth-
nic and sectarian lines with a central gov-.
, eminent in Baghdad-trying unsuccessfully
’ , so far to hammer out an oil-revenue-sharing
agreement among ethnic-Kurds and Arab
Sunnis and Shiites.
Moreover, as a matter of policy, the
United States considers the equitable divi-
sion of oiTreveriue essential to holding Iraq
together and tamping down sectarian vio-
lence.
What makes for good timing in business
doesn’t necessarily make for good timing in
geopolitics. The Baghdad government
quickly denounced the deal as illegal, and
President Bush, responding to a reporter’s
question, said he would be concerned if the
deal disrupted oil-revenue-sharing talks. A
senior State Department official in Baghdad
told The New York Times on Thursday that
the agreement had “needlessly elevated ten-
sions.”
Both Hunt Oil and the Kurdish govern-
ment say that, in the absence of a national
revenue,-sharing law or any other restriction
on regional autonomy, they can legally
negotiate their own arrangement. Last
month, the region’s leaders passed their own
. oil exploration law, which is the basis for
the Hunt deal.
Put aside for a moment the question of
v ’ ....... ....... ’
the revenue-sharing talks, which frankly
only time will determine. Even before the
Kurdish province signed this deal, the
Baghdad government had failed miserably
to find consensus that satisfied all.
Nonetheless, the actions of the Kurdistan
government, which sought out Hunt Oil,
prompt a potentially destabilizing percep-
tion that the Kurds are brazenly defying
Baghdad’s central government.
American policymakers would be wise to
look at this agreement as further evidence of
the central government’s failure to lead and
to unite. Baghdad has a steep climb without
the potential of this unilateral deal adding to
the problem.
— The Dallas Morning News
O’
That expression, I believe, means they have
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really dislike the marketing and selling of
I
ones that can show the way to salvation. Thaf cal candidates is where I draw the line-espe-
- •.
Some will debate that it is the only way to
organizations: —
There must be money in starting a church
or non-profit organizations. The number of
non-profit organizations, it appears, is the
continues. I ask, how does that affect the
ing. There is no relief. Why?
Yet all I see and hear on the television is
how televangelists live on the “high hog.”
iiiav cApicoMuii, i uuiicvc, mca uicy nave niaiuiciiaiiuc cApciisca, cuiu ucipiug uui uic
million dollar homes, castles, land and cars. I poor is good for our souls, and if we are non-
really dislike the marketing and selling of believers, giving is still a great feeling. But
Jesus, and how these messengers are the only for churches to guide us, or direct us to politi-
ones that can show the way to salvation. Thaf cal candidates is where I draw the Ime-espe-
notion is actually left to everyone individually, cially if they are giving donations to candi-
Some will debate that it is the only way to dates. Political candidates are not what I
help the poor through yhurches and non-profit would, define as poor. I am not sure if that is
happening, but for candidates to court the
churches as they do at every election make
one wonder why all the posturing?
_____r..... -o---------,.. _rr—,____- I’m looking forward to the next presidential
way of life for the next generation, if the trend election and to watch my fellow-voters turn
continues. I ask, how does that affect the ““ “ J-~— ——------* 1
poorest of the poor? Most of what we read-
about the needs in our communities leads
directly to a non-profit organization. There
are some good organizations out there, but
how many more do we need? These non-prof- some church members look like his caricature
its ask for donations and a donor can get a e-----1“ —'—
Credit for that donation for a deduction for
their income taxes. Both parties benefit, one
gets the money to help the needy, the other
gets receipts for tax filing. So how much do
-1 had not heard that expression before, but
it fit perfectly. That is the response I got from
a young woman describing what happened to
the Latino voters when they all swarmed to
the polls to vote for George W Bush the first
time when he was elected at the gentle urging
of our church leaders. After all, we are a com-
munity with strong united family values and
we followed like blind sheep. And then, when
we did not learn to think for ourselves and
our poked eyes didn't hurt enough, we asked
for more poking and we (excluding me) voted
once again to re-elect a man that is depicted
as a monkey in political cartoons.
Thb Hispanic voters, whether we acknowl-
edge them or not are to be wooed, pursued,
enticed, and even fracked down for the
upcoming presidential election. I only hope
as a Latina that this time, our community
does not go blindly to the polls and go
because our church leaders said to vote for <
particular candidate. It is not easy to say those nization? It does not. Is it not shameful to use
words, but it, is undoubtedly happening based . our Lord’s name to solicit donations with his
on the last presidential election results. image? I realize that it is not something new.
But this fact is not just for Hispanics,: it is ~ ’
for all voters. The past few Sunday messages centuries, so I am not trying to pretend that it
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ease with which conglomerates have been
formed, as a church, or as a non-profit, to sell
Jesus memorabilia and products; e.g.,
Christian books, music, diet books, exercise,
clothing, neighborhoods, vacation resorts,
VLv., ailvi ull 111 Lllv HailIv VI J vo Liu Ol IL
to help the poor too? Maybe churches should
X-— 1—Ui. ■.*--------
Jesus is what makes the world go round, I
a run for our money.
Understandably, churches and non-profit
organizations need money for operations and
maintenance expenses, and helping out the
believers, giving is still a great feeling. But
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Clements, Clifford E. The Baytown Sun (Baytown, Tex.), Vol. 86, No. 308, Ed. 1 Wednesday, October 3, 2007, newspaper, October 3, 2007; Baytown, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1191563/m1/4/: accessed July 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Sterling Municipal Library.