Abysmal Ignorance From the
Establishment
[Below, is my letter to Helen Thomas,
regarding one of her recent columns. Above my letter is her reply. Capitalization,
spelling, and punctuation are exactly as she sent them to me. This is an e-mail
from one of our most famous journalists! I'm amazed at the total lack of logic
and proofreading.
Rob Lyman ]
[Almost seems as though an entirely
different person wrote this response doesn't it? Maybe her 12 year old niece.
-ed]
Date: Fri, 16 Nov 2001 15:46:11
-0600
From: Helen Thomas <helent@hearstdc.com
To: robert n lyman <rlyman@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: Rights vs. Security
How many children are killed every
day from guns; this is not the wild west. trust the law enforcement officers
and put away your means of doing violence; my conscience is fine . If guns in
the hands of everyone is the only thing you care about I feel sorry for you-helen
thomasworry about
---- Original Message -----
From: robert n lyman <rlyman@u.washington.edu
To: <helent@hearstdc.com
Sent: Friday, November 16, 2001 1:55 PM
Subject: Rights vs. Security
Ms. Thomas,
Your recent column, claiming that
Ashcroft and Bush are trampling civil rights in a headlong rush to seize power
for law-enforcement was right on the money. Once taken away, basic rights are
indeed difficult (though certainly not impossible) to restore. I agree fully
with your comments. I find your concern to be terribly hypocritical, however.
You have, at different times, advocated that gun owners surrender their basic
right to defend their lives and families in the name of "security."
You have called for expanding the power of law enforcement to track, snoop,
harass, and imprison lawful gun owners who have committed no crime more severe
than possession of a politically incorrect firearm.
In other words, though you are fearful
of giving up the rights enjoyed by accused mass-murderers, rapists, and tax-evaders,
you are not at all bothered by the effort to steal the rights of non-criminal
citizens who own and carry guns. Though you defend the Constitution as an essential
guarantee of liberty, you conveniently ignore the parts of it which you do not
find agreeable. You abhor restrictions on liberty in the name of false security,
unless the liberty in question is the right to self-defense. How can you possibly
justify this? How can you criticize Bush for his attacks on the Fourth and Fifth
Amendments, and praise Clinton for his attacks on the Second? None of these
power grabs have made us safer, but all of them have made us less free.
Your hypocrisy in unconscionable.
Defending the Constitution is meaningless if you attack it at the same time.
For my part, I will fight the good fight for ALL our freedoms.
Robert Lyman
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