From Regressive, Red State USA: "Where's our leader?" Editorial!!!

Color me bowled over, completely and utterly shocked, shaken to the core (with joy) over this editorial in today's issue of the Fort Mill Times.

Fort Mill, South Carolina is where I live.

I do not like Fort Mill, South Carolina. For one thing, it's the most regressive, backwards, Jesus-land sickened place I've ever had to call home. For instance, our local leaders voted to uphold antiquated blue-laws just last month, vehemently frothing at the mouth and stating that opening businesses on Sunday morning would keep people from going to church, and that doing so was immoral. Some backwoods yokel shouted "PRAISE THE LORD!" when the vote to overturn the laws failed.

These people just do not GET separation of church and state. They think God belongs in everything, from school to church, soup to nuts.

The Fort Mill Times usually just parrots the parish-state authorities, but their opinion page actually leans to the left. A liberal named John Mantle has a regular column which regularly raises the ire of 99% of the newspapers readers, who are clearly conservative. But that's it, most of the rest of the newspaper is just as conservative as can be.

So today when I picked up the paper off my driveway, and settled in for my usual laugh, I was shocked to see:

WHERE'S OUR LEADER?

A few paragraphs are below. They took a stupid dig at Carter, but other than that, it's unheard-of rhetoric for a paper with an entire section devoted to church schedules and columns by pastors. The rest can be found here:

http://www.fortmilltimes.com/opinions/editorial/story/6436184p-5735209c.html


Civil rights violations are sanctioned by the government. Terror suspects are spirited away to secret prisons for torture. Political enemies are targeted for character assassination. The nation's top law enforcement officer may have lied to Congress. The federal response to a natural catastrophe in New Orleans is shamefully inadequate. The U.S. military is weakened after becoming embroiled in a messy civil war, and returning veterans are getting shoddy health care.

....

Immediately after Sept. 11, most of the world supported the U.S. It was a golden opportunity to push a unified agenda to systematically and lawfully root out terrorists. Instead, the Bush administration disregarded intelligence and misled his constituents into backing a war against Iraq, costing the U.S. diplomatic clout that could take generations to recover.

We're not picking on Bush because he's a Republican. A president who fails so spectacularly and with such arrogance should be called on the carpet no matter what his party affiliation. We'll never know if his Democratic opponents in 2000 and 2004 would have done a better job all this time. However, judging by Bush's embarrassing approval ratings, it's a safe bet many voters who supported him then now regret their choice. Our system of government doesn't allow for a vote of no confidence; notwithstanding any further scandals, we're stuck with Bush for nearly two more years.