When voting, keep your eye on what matters

Tina Dupuy's article, "Always the Opposite of Obama" (Banner, July 30) is one of the best commentaries I've ever read. It is not a pro-Obama piece, but an insightful and thorough indictment of the one-sided, illogical, hysterical nonsense, loaded with emotional hot-button words and completely lacking in perspective or relevance, that now passes for serious discourse in our embarrassingly juvenile political system.

Then, as if to prove Ms. Dupuy right, along comes Lawrence Harrington's letter, "The communist under our President's bed" (Aug. 6). Indirectly calling Obama a communist through a newspaper editor who was born 107 years ago -- really? And I thought he was a terrorist because of Bill Ayres. No, no, he's a racist because of Reverend Wright. No wait, he's a foreigner, isn't he? Hold on, don't the Tea Leaves say he's a socialist and/or a fascist? Plus, his name is Hussein Barack Hussein Obama Hussein, so he's a Muslim Islamist extremist too, right ?

As long as people even pay attention to these sideshow non-issues, the quality of both our elected officials and our lives will continue to decline.

How much farther do you want to sink? We already pay far more per capita than any other country in the world for health care, and about three dozen countries get better outcomes than we do (pretty sad considering there are only about 20 "developed" nations). We're already expected to believe that same-sex marriage is more damaging to "The Family" than the 30-year trickle-down-induced decline in the average workers' wages, union-busting, or unaffordable higher education.

We, comprising only 4 percent of the world's population, already let our government spend more on the military than every other country on the planet combined, and then listen silently when they lie to us and say we have no money for Social Security. We're watching as jobs and/or benefits for police, firefighters, teachers, and other civil servants are chopped so tax money can provide bailouts for too-big-to-prosecute banks, tax cuts for the rich, and corporate welfare for wildly profitable industries such as oil.

And we're seeing the first generation of Americans who can't expect to do better than their parents.

If we don't start focusing on what actually matters there's no telling how much worse things can get. Vote for whomever you think will do the best job for you and for the country, but shut out the adolescent noise. Keep your eye on the ball and vote based on reality.

VICTOR CALLIRGOS

Bennington Sorrell is a man of his word

I am writing this letter in support of the candidacy of Bill Sorrell for Vermont Attorney General.

I have known Bill Sorrell for many years and know him to be an honorable and dedicated man. He has served as Secretary of the Administration under Gov. Dean (a very tough job) and as Vermont's Attorney General.

As is true with any good lawyer, he has won many more cases than he has lost. His efforts are responsible for tens of millions of dollars coming into the state's coffers annually. The tobacco case he won alone brings in $25 million each year.

His opponent began reaching out to me during the last legislative session. He wanted to have a coffee and discuss the issues around the Entergy nuclear power plant. I agreed to meet with him. We didn't meet. He reached out to me no fewer than nine times requesting a meeting and each time I agreed to meet. To this day he has yet to schedule a meeting, and we have never met to discuss issues that I was under the impression were important to him.

Just today we've learned that Sorrell's Consumer Protection Division has won an additional $7.1 million for Vermont. Bill Sorrell is a good man doing a good job. He deserves your support in the Democratic Primary on Aug. 28, or early voting if you prefer.

I'll be voting for Bill Sorrell. He is a serious man and a man of his word.

BOB STANNARD

Manchester Center