Letters to the Editor

July 08, 2010

Why don't presidential candidates get grilled?

To the editor:

I have been watching the Senate confirmation hearings to approve Elena Kagan for the Supreme Court. After watching the many questions and tough grilling a person must endure for this post, I agree it is a necessary step to take for such a high post in our judicial system.

Sadly, we do not have the same type of grilling for those who wish to be our president other then a person or people asking questions about current events and past events not really related to their qualifications to be elected to one of the highest positions, if not the highest, on our planet.

It is my belief that any American desiring to become president should be required to read the Constitution and Bill of Rights and be tested on their knowledge of same, with a test score of 100 percent before his or her name is placed on the ballot. It would not be necessary for the test to require the memory of each and every item verbatim, but rather general questions relating to the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

In the business profession, our society requires professionals to be qualified and specialized for a position of trustworthiness. It has been proven in the past, that all it really requires to become president is to have a velvet tongue and many uninformed voters. The president of the United States of America determines the future of our country and sadly, we are heading in the wrong direction.

I hope that come November of this year and November 2012, we have come to our senses and clean house of those career politicians who have served too long and are too connected.

Tom Wilhelm
Williamsport

Many people get hurt if you boycott BP

To the editor:

In the June 28 edition of The Herald-Mail, there was a picture of people in California holding up signs to boycott gas stations that sell BP gas. That really shows me the mentality of the people.

Now think about this for a minute. Who are you really hurting here? Allow me to explain something to you.

Common sense will tell you that you are hurting the gas station owner, who just might be your neighbor. Now, he has to close and lay off more people. This means all of the other stations you want to shut down do the same thing, and the next thing you know, you have truck drivers laid off, and the list goes on.

Now suppose you do hurt BP. Is that what you really want to do? What if they go bankrupt? Now how are the people along the East Coast going to get paid and who is going to have to pay for the cleanup? BP? No, they don't have any money. You just broke them.

What comes to mind here is when the men were going to stone the woman for adultery and Jesus said let him who has no guilt cast the first stone. Then, he looked up after writing in the sand and asked where are your accusers? They all had left.

I think you should do likewise.

Don Muffley
Hagerstown

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