LETTER: 'Obama lied' is a smoke screen

By Express-Times Letters to the Editor
on November 20, 2013 at 12:35 AM

The claim is “Obama lied.” He said Americans can keep their insurance plan. He allegedly lied multiple times to pass the loathsome Affordable Care Act. That is the claim: over and over, on and on we hear this shrill claim, ad nauseum. Why now?

In June 2010, Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said “health plans ... will lose their grandfather status; Health and Human Services announced “substantial changes in coverage are common;” and The New York Times reported “about half of employer-based health plans will see such changes by the end of 2013 (June 14, 2010).” Way back in November 2009, the Congressional Budget Office explained “relatively few non-group policies would remain grandfathered by 2016.”

Why all this shock and outrage now? Why has the right not played gotcha like this before? Why: to distract from the spectacular bad press of the government shutdown. Did they think we would forget that the House failed to repeal the bill 46 times? The desperation is palpable.

ERIK B. ANDERSON 

Independence Township 

Source

LTTE: Violence Against Women Act steps on due process

By Express-Times Letters to the Editor
on March 07, 2013 at 12:50 AM

The problem is not that the Violence Against Women Act discriminates against men by not “protecting” alleged victims who are men. It’s that it purports to be protecting “victims” against so-called “abusers” without allowing the due process of law to determine exactly who is a victim and who is an abuser.

Since complaints of this nature are now heard in family court instead of criminal court, the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard is replaced by the much less stringent “preponderance of evidence.” Restraining orders and protection-from-abuse orders can be granted without the accused even knowing about the complaint, much less able to defend against it

And what a scandal if anyone objects! After all, if you’re against VAWA, your political opponents can say you are for violence against women!

This is not a free country.

ERIK B. ANDERSON
Independence Township

Source

Published Again - September 16, 2010

Express-Times Newspaper - Letters to the Editor- September 16, 2010

Cut through the pretext to uncover real message

A tyrant will always find a pretext for his (or her) tyranny.

A recent letter writer’s is that people find fault with the Taxed Enough Already party’s activities. The TEA critics’ very presence here “indicates that there are now Americans who prefer to become subjects rather than citizens” — so watch your back, people! She believes that people, such as me, audacious enough to criticize her party, are voluntarily making ourselves slaves to the federal government and this is all very “tragic.”

But Nancy Baumgartner is wrong. She does not think Tea Party critics are tragic. She thinks we are stupid: “It is not surprising that a significant number of vocal Tea Party critics know what the acronym even stands for,” she writes. That sentence is the real object of her letter.

What is unsurprising to me is that a militant Tea Party supporter does not know the definition of the word “tragic.” A real tragedy is a contradiction of principles.

ERIK B. ANDERSON
Independence Township

I know this is not my best letter. It has got a lot of abstract concepts in it, like "pretext" and "tragedy" and "contradiction" and "principles". But I am grateful for the opportunity to be heard. I made my point about Nancy Baumgarten's tragically twisted letter of September 6. I just wish the editor who chose the title of the Letters page online could understand that the one who is offbase is Nancy Baumgarten, the one who criticized the Tea Party critics, but I guess I fell into the same conundrum that the movie Inception (or the play Marat/Sade) did.

That's what living with Asperger's is like. you say something, and it makes sense. It objectively makes perfect sense. But expecting other people to understand what I have just said is a whole other thing.

It's like a game of telephone. Just look at my words, not the editors words. Think about it. You are free to think what you want. They will be the same words today, tomorrow and they will still be there, at the Warren County library 50 years from now, assuming another fire doesn't destroy those records too.

If I had to write it over again, I would say: Nancy Baumgartner wants to be Desdemona or Ophelia, but she doesn't understand that tragedy does not mean loss. The fact that tea parties are a bunch of losers who will never get anywhere is not tragic. The fact that Tea Party cricis like me will never go away. Tragedy means a contradiction of principles. She does not belong in one of Shakespeare's tragedies. She belongs in his comedies. Nancy Baumbartner is Katherine.

Warm Regards,

Erik B. Anderson
Independence Township, New Jersey


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"A tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny." is from:

The Wolf and the Lamb
by Aesop

Read the Express-Times Tomorrow! 9/16/10

I wrote a letter to the editor. A response to Nancy Baumgartner's September 9th letter below. I got confirmation that they are going to print it. Check the news stand or http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/.

Tea Party: Limit feds to constitutional powers
Its not surprising that a significant number of vocal TEA Party critics do not even know what the acronym, “TEA” stands for and what the purpose of the movement is. TEA stands for “Taxed Enough Already.” With the average small business already paying more than 40 percent in earnings to state and federal taxes and fees, this is obviously true.

Moreover, TEA participants are here to remind our now-hostile federal government that expanding its power past those enumerated in the U.S. Constitution will not go unchallenged. Our government is to govern, and it has veered into ruling.

Finding a problem with TEA activities indicates that there are now Americans who prefer to become subjects rather than citizens. Tragic.

NANCY BAUMGARTNER
Oxford

UPDATE: Here's my letter:

Fight, don't join, the terrorists

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

The tea partiers are consciously trying to induce a public nervous breakdown.

Whether they are sending death threats to a congressman's 5-year-old son in Florida, violently throwing money at a man with Parkinson's disease on an Ohio sidewalk or maliciously shouting the "N" word at African-American representatives at an event in Washington, D.C., the effect is utterly terrifying.

The mass hysteria that is today's Tea Party shows that the majority of us have forgotten we are supposed to be fighting terrorists, not becoming them. Do they really think the end justify the means?

When are we the people going to realize that we are not crazy after all? When will we stand up to all of this bullying? We are not safe in public. We are not safe in our homes. What will the future of our country be like if no one risks stepping out and fighting back?

Erik B. Anderson

Independence Township

A Letter From My State Senator

Click to Read Letter

"Libraries are essential" is a nice talking point, but what am I going to do when they take away inter-library loan on May 1st? The Warren County Librarian said she didn't even know if they were going to take away the internet that soon, or not.

Save My Libraries

Someone Questioned What Planet I Live On in the Newspaper!

I’d feel safe walking with folks in a Tea Party rally

Express-Times Newspaper - April 03, 2010

In response to the letter from Erik B. Anderson, I would like to ask “What planet is Independence Township on?” I think I know. It’s the planet that only receives the alphabet networks on TV.

Anderson sounds like all the other sound-bite political gurus. I ask him to do some research on the Tea Party movement to find out what the protests are all about. They’re about big government, high taxes and out-of-control spending. How are these people terrorists?

He might also do a bit of research about how the “left” handles themselves during their protests. Go back and look at the hatred that was spewed from the “left” about the previous administration. I think you’ll see a marked difference in behavior between them and the Tea Party protests.

And if you really want to see what’s going on, research how the mainstream media covers both kinds of events. You may be surprised.

I guess The Express-Times hasn’t been covering the massive unrest and crime wave in Independence Township, but here in Nazareth, I am safe both on the streets and in my home. Although I haven’t attended a Tea Party rally yet, I would feel perfectly safe there also.

CRAIG RIFENDIFER
Bushkill Township

This is exactly the tactic that I described in my March 31, 2010 letter to the same newspaper. Craig Rifendife slandered my name. People like him depend on Ad Hominem attacks to win their arguments.

They also depend on Straw Man Fallacies. Who is "The Left" he is referring to? I'm right handed.

I am writing a response now.

Sincerely,

Erik B. Anderson
Independence Township, New Jersey
Established 1782

Published Again!

Fight, don't join, the terrorists
The Easton Express Times
Wednesday, March 31, 2010

The tea partiers are consciously trying to induce a public nervous breakdown.
Whether they are sending death threats to a congressman's 5-year-old son in Florida, violently throwing money at a man with Parkinson's disease on an Ohio sidewalk or maliciously shouting the "N" word at African-American representatives at an event in Washington, D.C., the effect is utterly terrifying.

The mass hysteria that is today's Tea Party shows that the majority of us have forgotten we are supposed to be fighting terrorists, not becoming them. Do they really think the end justify the means?

When are we the people going to realize that we are not crazy after all? When will we stand up to all of this bullying? We are not safe in public. We are not safe in our homes. What will the future of our country be like if no one risks stepping out and fighting back?

Erik B. Anderson
Independence Township

The King of All NJ Monthly Letters To The Editor

New Jersey Monthly Magazine - February 2010 - On The Stands Now!



Click Here to Read All of Page 12

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Rooooots Bloody Rooooots!

Write to the King of Funny Faces

There are two addresses here:



Hate mail goes to the address on the left. No bullets, please.

Fan mail goes to the one in the middle.

Warm Regards,

Erik B. Anderson
The King of Funny Faces
Independence Township, New Jersey
Established 1782

Traffic is a Serious Problem in Hackettstown

Hackettstown sits at the bottom of Schooley's Mountain.  The Musconetcong river turns west towards Philipsburg where the Golden Skillet, which is one of the last privately owned Fast Food restaurants in New Jersey. It's a classic. In fact, it was my father's favorite restaurant, but it also would be nice if we could knock it down and build a road over where it is, so that we could reduce traffic on Mountain Avenue making it not the most dangerous road in New Jersey anymore. Here's a letter I am proud of that I wrote to the Warren Reporter about this issue.


Click on picture to read Erik's letter.


I didn't choose the title "Shame on state". I wasn't trying to blast them. It is just a difficult situation.

Most of the bypass would affect Washington Township (Morris County) but most of the benefit would go to the Town of Hackettstown, so, if the Highlands Council were to permit, it's very much Washington Township's decision to do it or not. But, as you know, in Northwest New Jersey, everybody watches Fox News and listens to Rush Limbaugh (at least all the elected officials do), so there is a slim chance in hell that.

Also, this fight is not even a problem because the Highlands Council has designated all of Washington Township (Morris County) a protected territory, so they aren't developing anything on the other side of the Musconetcong. The Highlands Act and the Highlands Council is very controversial in Northwest New Jersey. Most of the rest of the state gets it's water from up here, and the residents up here don't like it.

Just google "Highlands Act NJ" or "Highlands Council NJ" and you'll see what I mean.

Here are just a few resources you can look at to find out more, if you want:

-New Jersey Highlands Council (Official Website)
-New Jersey Highlands Council - Master Plan
-Environmental Controversy, New Jersey Style: The Highlands Council and the NJ DEP - NJ.com Blog
-Lower affordable-housing quotas by Highlands Council might entice towns to follow its plan - Hunterdon County Democrat
-Landowners looking to take Highlands lawsuit to New Jersey Supreme Court - Express-Times
and the most recent news from my Township:

-Independence Township rejects state Highlands law mandate- Express-Times, Nov. 14, 2009

So I hope that makes you aware of what is perhaps the most pressing issue in Northwest New Jersey. It's all inter-related. If you think of something you can do to help, like go to a meeting and speak out, or write a letter, please do it. We need all the help we can get.

Warm Regards,

Erik B. Anderson
Independence Township, New Jersey
Established 1782

Show compassion for troubled person - LTTE

Letter to the Editor - Express-Times Newspaper  - Tuesday, October 13, 2009

I've been thinking a lot about the man who was arrested for taking a bath in public in Belvidere. He had been living in his car outside the Warren County Courthouse for several months after he lost his house. Finally, The Express-Times reported he had had enough and tried to get the filth off of himself in public because he thought he had nowhere else to go.

I met this man over the summer, just a few weeks before the incident. So I read the article with interest. He had a sign on his car window that said he was running for Warren County surrogate because he didn't like the way Susan Dickey had handled his case after the last of his parents died. He had a genuine tin-foil helmet in his backseat.

I am not writing to continue the ridicule that this man has surely received since his face appeared on the front page of the paper under the headline, "Naked man arrested." I am sorry if this letter has that effect on him. The real intent of this letter is to encourage readers to be more compassionate to him. I certainly hope his accusations are false, but if some of them are true, I hope the officials who made the mistakes will read this and do their jobs in an exemplary manner in the future. With the economy going the way it is going, one thing is certain: We are going to encounter more cases such as this.

ERIK B. ANDERSON
Independence Township