Learning from our Readers

Dear Congressman Benjamin Cline, Quote from you “Voting is one of the most important things you can do in life…..” I agree. WHAT IS NOT WORKING FOR ME VOTING RIGHTS and DEMOCRACY are not protected when voter intimidation is active and permitted in the current election. Republicans did not support the latest Voter Protection Act and  “Instead 19 stated enacted 34 laws restricting access to voting”.  Quote from brennancenter.org STANDARDS OF CARE for women are not being met after overturned of Roe vs Wade and the  passage of “trigger laws” in Republican led states. There is real confusion about what care is legal and when that care is legal. When women are respected and equal, they have control of their own body instead of local politicians. A precedent right has been taken away from me. Do you support even more restrictions on women such as a National ban on abortions ? Mr Cline, the answer is simple…Yes or No! VIOLENCE INCREASES because of the “BIG LIE”, while you an...

One thing that has struck me during the ongoing 6th District Congressional campaign is how genuinely Jennifer Lewis cares for other people. She grew up on a dairy farm so she has experienced and knows the problems farmers and rural areas face. Throughout her career, she has worked closely with many people and has helped them both as a mental health care worker and as a volunteer in numerous capacities. She is running for Congress because it will enable her to help people even more – universal health coverage, assistance to small businesses and students, broadband in rural areas, among many other proposals. Unlike her opponent Ben Cline, Jennifer does not make her case with a list of statistics, party position papers, and expensive commercials. She walks door-to-door, talks with people, finds out what’s on their minds, hears what they need and want. She is not afraid to say that she in favor of increasing taxes on the huge profits of big corporations and the wealthy so as to help ...

It is with a mixture of emotions that I submit the following comments, given a lifelong reticence to write or speak on public policy, and particularly politics. As a career U.S. Army officer starting my training first at VMI, then at West Point, I was taught both consciously and by the example of my seniors through 32 years in uniform, to keep one’s political views to oneself. This made eminent sense given my career in Military Intelligence, and specifically in collecting, analyzing, producing, and disseminating highly sensitive Human Intelligence, HUMINT. Having lived over 25 years in Virginia, including most of the last 18 years within the 6th US Congressional District, it has become increasingly distressful to witness the behavior of Rep. Ben Cline. His defense of the indefensible in regards to former President Donald Trump’s, at best, disregard for the proper handling of classified and extremely sensitive HUMINT documents, and, at worst, criminal negligence in his treatment of the ...

At a forum on Tuesday Sept. 13 th , Staunton City School Board candidates weighed in on two timely issues.  All five of the candidates called for strategies that would increase our students’ safety and security.  In addition, three candidates - Fontella Brown-Bundy, Lisa Hatter and John T. Wilson – called for the reintroduction of Weekly Religious Education (WRE).  (Stephanie Mason did not support WRE; Kristin Seigel did not support releasing students for WRE during the school day.) I find it difficult to understand how a candidate could support WRE and also increased security.  It seems that WRE would introduce a significant security challenge, a challenge which the school system would be constitutionally unable to meet.  This is because of the way that WRE must be organized. Staunton’s most recent version of WRE, discontinued in 2015 , “released” public school students through third grade for religious instruction for an hour each week during the middle of the...

At a forum on Tuesday Sept. 13 th , Staunton City School Board candidates weighed in on the possibility of reintroducing Weekly Religious Education (WRE) for public school children. Three candidates clearly supported reintroducing WRE in Staunton public schools: Lisa Hatter, John T. Wilson, and Fontella Brown-Bundy.   Of the three, Mrs. Hatter cited Thomas Jefferson in order to support her position.  As she put it, Jefferson saw the “wall between church and state” as a one-way process.  Citizens bring their religious views into civil life through their participation in public institutions; however, the government cannot promote religion to its citizens.   Isn’t Mrs. Hatter’s take on Jefferson a very strong argument against WRE, rather than for it?  Why?   Her description of this one-way process assumes that no public school system resources are used to promote religious practice.  This is not the case with WRE.  While our courts ...

A critical element for the proper functioning of a democracy is the free and open exchange of ideas and opinions. Indeed, this is a time in our history when access to the facts and discourse about them are vitally necessary for the very survival of our country. From the earliest editions of newspapers in colonial America, letters to the editor (LTEs) have given the general public a neutral forum in which to convey different points of view to the newspapers’ readerships at large. While historically LTEs have played an important role in enabling political discourse between those of different political persuasions, today they are frequently the only way for citizens to come together in an unbiased setting to exchange their views. Indeed, while other media—television, radio, internet—generally offer forums oriented to distinct, compartmentalized audiences, newspapers by contrast enable the raw, direct and honest expressions of the opinions of their readers to be juxtaposed alongside the vi...

There has been a lot of misinformation recently in the press about the Inflation Reduction Act as well as the current state of the economy. It is important that voters know the truth. Following are some facts about this act and how it will benefit Americans: Americans pay much more for their medicines than people in most other countries. The Act  includes several measures to control and even reduce these prices, such as authorizing Medicare to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies and requiring drug companies to pay rebates if price increases exceed the rate of inflation. Unfortunately, Republicans blocked a proposed measure to limit the cost of insulin copays to $35 per month. The IRS is significantly understaffed due to Covid, retirements, and funding cuts over the past  few years. As a result, it has taken the IRS almost a year to process many 2020 tax returns and refunds. Taxpayers have had to spend hours on help lines to reach an agent. The Act will provide funding to c...