Letters: Rogers showed lack of leadership at town hall meeting in Auburn

Rogers showed lack of leadership at town hall meeting in Auburn
Congratulations to the Opelika Chamber of Commerce for its informative and helpful presentation on health care. The two presenters were from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Council of Alabama, two organizations not noted for their liberalism or their advocacy of bigger government.

The presentations were exceptionally well done, giving new information (to me) about the current bill in the House and the difficulties in making it workable.

The questions and comments from the sizeable audience were thoughtful and added to the discussion. I came away from the meeting feeling good about our government and with new sympathy for those trying to make some sense out of our health care mess.

This is in sharp contrast to Congressman Mike Rogers’ recent “Congress on the Corner” meeting. The congressman’s presentation was a torrent of vituperation and negativism, which added practically nothing to our understanding.

It was, however, quite successful in whipping the crowd up to a mouth-foaming frenzy that eventually resulted in an assault.

When the crowd shouted abuse, Rogers did nothing to calm them, as both Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama did during the presidential campaign speeches when their audience got out of hand. Rogers either showed a sad lack of leadership, or he got exactly what he wanted from the crowd. Alabama and the Third Congressional District deserve better.

Bill Walsh
Auburn

Media bias at 9/12 march in D.C. turns to outright lies

I’ve heard claims of media bias. I can now contrast my own experience to what’s reported. I attended the 9/12 march on Washington. Before leaving the hotel I watched a certain news network. That news network reported “there’s a rally in Washington, 30,000 people are expected to attend.”

At this point I was concerned, did I just spend a lot of money and time to attend a small march? Seven hours later my doubts were alleviated. A D.C. police officer informed us that attendance was in excess of 2 million people. As I stood by the Capitol, all I could see was an ocean of people as far as the eye could see, it went all the way down Pennsylvania Avenue for miles.

The people around me were getting text messages from friends stating the freeway was jammed and that they couldn’t get in. D.C. had to limit the number of buses to 500.
Later that evening, I watched a certain news network, they focused on the guns brought to the protest. Guns? Are you serious? The D.C. police wouldn’t let you pass gas much less carry a gun. This is an insidious way to spin a story.

That news network placed the caption “racial undertones” under the reporter explaining the topic. My first observation, while on the subway several African-Americans stepped into the train, several people got up and offered their seat. Second, two of the speakers were African-American. Third, although there was a steep ratio, African-Americans who were there were warmly greeted and accepted.

I can understand a political slant. But these reports are outright lies and do more to exacerbate the very cause they want to alleviate.

Corey O’steen
Auburn