Tuesday, June 11, 2002

By Staff
Party switch revisited
To the editor:
I am flattered that Jim Herring, the top Republican mogul, and Scott Carmichael wrote referring to the letter I wrote. Each of their letters was about twice as long as mine.
However, their letters were on a different subject and did not address the contents of my letter. My letter had nothing to do with Republican or Democratic Party principles. It criticized neither party. I have voted Republican at times in the past. The Republican Party has some legitimate principles, and I am not going to vilify the Republican Party as they did the Democratic Party.
My letter was nothing about that. My letter was about Videt Carmichael, and it was critical of him for accepting money and help from people, while he told them he was a Democrat and had Democratic philosophies. As soon as they elected him, he not only changed his political philosophy, but made a big show of it in changing to the Republican Party. In order to look as though he had some sort of integrity, he could have at least waited until he finished his term and simply ran on the Republican ticket.
The Republicans may not see any problem with this. However, personal integrity, honor and trustworthiness are traits that we look for, and when they are not there, you can't count on a person to serve you for four years based on what he says to you when he is getting elected. He contends he had some sort of change. However, it is interesting that his district was changed from heavily "Democratic" to largely Republican right before his dramatic conversion.
Mr. Herring's letter was interesting and even inferred that God led Carmichael to switch. I might say that Mr. Herring is the one with the plan to change our state Legislature to pattern after the federal Congress where the controlling party has total control. This is the most disastrous suggestion for Mississippians I have ever heard in my entire career.
When I was in the Senate, I worked well with Republicans on many issues. We knew where we disagreed, but we agreed on most issues for the good of the state. Mr. Herring's suggestion that one party rule would insure deadlock as in the federal Congress.
Joe Clay Hamilton
Meridian
Blame game
To the editor:
I have been watching the news following the developments in the September 11 attacks. It appears sadly that even these terrible attacks are going to be turned into a political leverage tool in a political blame game.
There is a witch hunt taking place in Washington, one party wanting to lay the blame in the Bush administration's lap and the other wanting it laid elsewhere. Accusations have been made that at least a couple of our security organizations had prior knowledge of these attacks, and did nothing to prevent it. I understand that such may be true to a degree, but I do not think that they had reliable knowledge enough to have prevented the attacks.
To prevent those attacks, one would have had to have known the identities of those involved boarding the planes. And they would have had to have known the date of the attacks, and which airlines and which flights would be used as missiles.
But needless to say, the hearings will proceed, and I do not see the relevance in it at all. I do not believe the proper and reliable information was there, and I do not believe that the CIA or FBI stood idly by and allowed this to happen. Therefore, I do not think these attacks could have been foiled.
I do, however, think that the airline security was lax that day, for the hijackers were allowed to board these planes with box cutting knives.
This is no time for Americans to be divided, nor is it a time for our political leaders to divided in a blame game. This is a time for us to be united solidly in one common goal, for we are at war.
It will be a disgrace for this to be turned into a political party tool. The Democrats wanting the blame for these attacks laid upon the Bush administration, and the Republicans wanting it diverted or laid elsewhere. We were attacked within our own borders, an act of war has been carried out against us. And as we have in the past whenever attacked, we responded with military might.
There is only one place to lay the blame for the cowardly attacks that took so many innocent American lives on September 11, and that is right where the Bush administration has laid it  on Osama bin Ladin and the Taliban, and any nation that supports them.
J. Lewis Dean
Little Rock