Albemarle Talk

By Carolyn R

August 20, 2008 10:51 PM | Link to this

I have no problem with early voting other than it provides a larger window of opportunity for tampering with the vote. I do not believe early voting will stop though. The Sunday issue is extreme. There are those who would love to find out a church was allowing preaching on voting. If the message were to vote only, that wouldn’t be a problem. Each one of you church goers are going to have to ask yourself if a tax agent were to hear your sermon would he find political bias in it?

Churches do too much good for those in need to risk losing a tax exempt status. Paying taxes out of the church collection plate will only reduce the amount of money available to do the good work with.

If someone deems voting important, they will do so. As my pastor says, “Adults do what adults want to do.”

By cece

August 21, 2008 7:47 AM | Link to this

While Sunday voting may be an extreme, there is some historical significance attached to Black churches expressing interest in it. For decades, black churches have utilized the pulpit as a platform for community discussions because it was the safest forum available to them. I do not, however, see any real difference between blacks using their churches as a means to ensure their “entire” message is received and a white minister actually hosting public debates between the candidates. Both are using their positions, relative to their religions to ensure the candidates hear them. Seems fair to me in light of the special interest groups who have perpetual access to candidates through huge contributions.

By Butch

August 21, 2008 9:39 PM | Link to this

Let us “Thank Our News Networks” or perhaps we sure Thank The Brits for their coverage. Investor’s Business Daily editorial board ask, ‘What would happen if the U.S. won a war but the media didn’t tell the American public? Apparently, we have to rely on a British newspaper for the news that we’ve defeated the last remnants of al-Qaida in Iraq .’

London 's Sunday Times called it 'the

culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror.’ A terrorist force that once numbered more than 12,000, with strongholds in the west and central regions of Iraq, has over two years been reduced to a mere 1,200 fighters, backed against the wall in the northern city of Mosul.

The destruction of al-Qaida in Iraq (AQI) is one

of the most unlikely and unforeseen events in the long history of American warfare. We can thank President Bush’s surge strategy, in which he bucked both Republican and Democratic leaders in Washington by increasing our forces there instead of surrendering.

We can also thank the leadership of the new

general he placed in charge there, David Petraeus, who may be the foremost exp ert in the world on counter-insurgency warfare. And we can thank those serving in our military in Iraq who engaged local Iraqi tribal leaders and convinced them America was their friend and AQI their enemy.

Al-Qaida's loss of the hearts and minds of

ordinary Iraqis began in Anbar Province , which had been written off as a basket case, and spread out from there.

Now, in Operation Lion's Roar the Iraqi army and

the U.S. 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment is destroying the fraction of terrorists who are left. More than 1,000 AQI operatives have already been apprehended.

Sunday Times reporter Marie Colvin, traveling

with Iraqi forces in Mosul, found little AQI presence even in bullet-ridden residential areas that were once insurgency strongholds, and reported that the terrorists have lost control of its Mosul urban base, with what is left of the organization having fled south into the countrysid e.

Meanwhile, the State Department reports that

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government has achieved ‘satisfactory’ progress on 15 of the 18 political benchmarks — a big change for the better from a year ago.

Things are going so well that Maliki has even for

the first time floated the idea of a timetable for withdrawal of American forces. He did so while visiting the United A rab Emirates, which over the weekend announced that it was forgiving almost $7 billion of debt owed by Baghdad — an impressive vote of confidence from a fellow Arab state in the future of a free Iraq.

But where are the headlines and the front-page

stories about all this good news? As the Media Research Center pointed out last week, ‘the CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News and CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 were silent Tuesday night about the benchmarks’ that signaled political progress.

The war in Iraq has been turned around

180 degrees both militarily and politically because the president stuck to his guns. Yet apart from IBD, Fox News Channel and parts of the foreign press, the media don’t seem to consider this historic event a big story.

By Gregg

August 26, 2008 8:36 PM | Link to this

The Bridge broke again Sat. Almost trapping half the fleet for the Hospice Regatta up stream. It has trapped cars alot lately. Why is the state replacing the bridge with another one? We need a highrise over the river, they have already id’ed the spot by JW Jones down ward st and the old railroad. The base is growing, Camden is growing, More people are coming through to the beach. Guess what, the other span reaches it’s design life 10 years after the first one is replaced. It won’t be as cheap to replace. It has problems in it’s structure also. If the traffic goes straight to 17 N or South it won’t go thru town on our narrow streets. Elizabeth street won’t need to be 5 laned making it cheaper to replace. The bridge tenders are contactors,save money there too. Why no public commit period? It’s OUR money lets save a little by spending a little more now. BY the way Route 34 doesn’t go down water st anymore I think it is Road st. And the no truck sigh needs to be reinstalled for water st. they block traffic when they turn into town and someone is loading at the Mattress outlet.