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EDITOR:
During the past couple of weeks we have been reading a lot about culture; Chicago’s culture, Israel’s culture and the awful culture of some business people and their companies.
The mayor of Chicago told us that Chick-fil-A restaurants would not be allowed in Chicago as the owner and his company would not fit into Chicago’s culture (the mayors of Boston and San Francisco said about the same thing without using the word culture). I believe the mayor’s definition of culture precludes having and stating Christian Biblical beliefs about homosexuality. Apparently the homosexual crowd believes that merely having and stating these beliefs is hateful and cannot be tolerated. None of these spokespersons have mentioned that Mr. Cathy’s company has no record of any type of discrimination against minorities, homosexuals, women and fat, short or tall people.
The Chicago mayor apparently is not concerned about letting Islamic mosques and Moslems have unfettered access to Chicago even though Islam treats homosexuals as abominable and assigns the death penalty. Isn’t this hypocritical and kind of crazy? It appears as if only Christians are not included in Chicago’s culture, but everyone else is.
Now I wonder whose culture should be promoted — the Chicago mayor and the homosexual demonstrators or the owners and employees of Chick-fil-A. I ate at a Chick-fil-A restaurant both on the Wednesday when crowds were enormous and on the following “kiss-in” Friday. On Wednesday I met many great people with no one complaining about the long lines. There were young and older people, men and women, people of all skin colors and no one was bashing homosexuals. The most common topic was that the “so-called” silent majority is no longer going to sit back and be silent. On Friday, there were no problems at my local restaurant, but I have read stories about vandalism, graffiti and vulgar hate words being spoken at other Chick-fil-A restaurants. Which culture is really hateful?
One last comment about the Chick-fil-A and homosexual controversy: I noticed The Sacramento Bee covered the Wednesday nationwide crowd at Chick-fil-A in its Business section. But, it covered the Friday “kiss-in” on the front page and identified this article as culture. Does this show where the hearts of these editors are?
The main street media (MSM) stated presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s comments in Israel were a major gaffe. What did he say? Israel’s culture was a significant factor in its development of a desert into a thriving and productive country. And, he added that Palestinian culture was a significant factor in its non-productive society. What did he say to back this up? Israel is a democracy, it celebrates the liberty and freedom of individuals, it has a free market economy, it believes in the rule of law and property rights to name a few. He stated that Palestinians teach hatred for Jews and Christians, celebrate when children become human bombs and their leaders control everything. This seems to me to be the truth and a MSM created gaffe.
The culture that has made our country great is composed of several key ingredients. Some are:
• Our motto — “e pluribus unum” — out of many, one. We practiced and celebrated this action until recently when diversity became the driving force.
• Our federal system of government with the people and the states having much more authority than the federal government. This system emphasizes liberty for the individual. Much has changed during the past several years as the feds are trying to control our decisions and even our thoughts.
• Our emphasis on free and open markets where individuals make better decisions regarding production and consumption, and allocations of goods and services than does a controlling government in Washington, D.C.
• Our full understanding that our inalienable rights are derived from our Creator and not from any government.
• Our Constitution and our Bill of Rights.
Let us not let these evaporate into thin air by our inactions.
EDWARD T. BERNHOFT
Cameron Park
The Mountain Democrat does not necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post. Read our full policy
MorrisAugust 27, 2012 - 11:30 am
I got this one. As a chicken biscuit eatin, Confederate Flag waiving North Carolina native who just so happens to live in both El Dorado County AND Chicago, (Lakeshore East...go Cubs) my day has just been made. By you. Check this out: That dog of yours ain't gonna hunt. First and foremost: Mayor Rahm Emmanuel is NOT attempting to block Chik-Fil-A. One of the Alderman is. Huge difference. Secondly, there already IS a CFA in Chicago; it opened about a year ago in Gold Coast / North Side. I was there for a long awaited sweet tea on the day it opened. Our Mayor was present. Perhaps your family has never visited the city to appreciate just how amazing a place it truly is. In fact, it is a model and functional testament to The American Melting pot. Every nation is represented as is every faith. The many neighborhoods (more than 50) reflect this in both their demographics (Chinatown, Armenian Village, Greek Town, etc) and their ability to 'melt in' while simultaneously retaining cultural identity. This includes freedom of religion and yes this includes Mosques. it also includes Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist, Sikh, Jewish, Primitive Baptist, Not so Primitive Baptist and yes even Catholic churches, And the mother of all house of worship: Michigan Avenue. 8 million people on a small sliver of land and you're bound to a few Muslims. And The City works just fine with all this diversity. As for our Christian attempt at putting to paper the very loving entity we are incapable of even remotely defining, the ONE reference (and it is a questionable reference at best in its translation of the original Hebrew passage) to those hateful homosexuals you mention is in Leviticus. The Old Testament. The book deemed by God himself to be fully replaced by the New Testament; a book of course that is without single mention of the topic. And not a whole lot on the pork products you may dine on either; these having been forbidden in the Old Testament. Kinda near the whole 'kill your children' for backtalking scripture also found there but conveniently absent from your selective quotational prowess. And as for vandals (huge bands of roving homosexuals scrawling ugly messages OMG!) being proven as representative of an entire group, then you'll need to be on the look out for hateful teens as well because the EDC crime log has one of those who was arrested for tagging her house. Yup..all teen are bad now. Hateful spray painting heathens headed straight for hell. I admire CFA and the fact that they are closed on Sunday, pay their people a decent living wage and hold true to their beliefs. That is their right. They also happen to make a mean chicken biscuit. But Sir, your letter reflects little to no knowledge of Chicago, Chik-Fil-A or the few Mosques that exist there. As well, your attempt at stirring up arguments on scripture long since deemed 'N/A' by God Himself yet conveniently and selectively used by hypocritical individuals to drive hate is the real sin here. Shame on you. Get right with your facts. Because they are neither.
James E.August 27, 2012 - 3:04 pm
Yep, Morris took care of this one.
MarkAugust 27, 2012 - 4:08 pm
Ahh, beautiful diverse Chicago "a model and functional testament to The American Melting pot". With a murder rate quadruple that of New York, it would make a wonderful place to settle down and open up a nice little mortuary....Added, .James E. Sir, you seem to have completely lost any intellectual edge you might have ever processed. It seems now, you are reduced to just submitting meaningless, insignificant left-wing letters to the Editor over and over that get little or no response. All the while persistently patting Morris on his Liberal rump for his rambling, self-important, nonsense. Oh, where has that wonderful weaver of liberal thought gone??. It's all getting a little embarrassing.
DB SmithAugust 27, 2012 - 5:00 pm
Yep! Mr. Morris should move back to lovely Chicago and take Mr. James E. with him. They would have a gay old time.
MorrisAugust 27, 2012 - 5:32 pm
@Mark: its obvious Mark that you also have a serious lack of knowledge regarding Chicago also. Specifically in your mention of the murder rate in Chicago. To understand those numbers and their spike one needs to know the city and it's neighborhoods; many of which are larger than most of our towns in EDC and are small cities within a city. The rate has gone up, yes. And that is tragic. But rates are going up nationwide. For Chicago, the increase is predominately in the South Side and some sketchy areas to the western edge by Midway. The bulk of the city remains as it had for years: Safe. Amazingly clean and friendly. I have NO problem walking home from downtown at 3am. Safer than similar in Sac. But back to the issue at hand: The letter from Mr. Bernhoft is simply vile. It is unbelievably manipulative and I question it's actual authenticity. Specifically: 'had lunch there on Wednesday and met many people' (that supposedly shared his viewpoint). Really? You did? Let's see: CFA moves quickly..no matter how crowded they are. Simply an efficient system they are known for. So in these crowds while having lunch, the author managed to meet people of EVERY color, people young and old etc etc who shared a common view? Seriously, I'm up to at least 15 people covered during his lunch. That don't sniff out well. And there are many other holes in his editorial. MUSLIMS (Kristians) with unfettered access to Chicago? What the hell is THAT supposed to mean? Yea, they do. Because they LIVE there, WORK there and they CONTRIBUTE there; their HOME. And the ignorance in his 'e pluribus' reference in diversity being a new 'force'? Umm no. Irish, Italian, Portuguese...need I go on? The waves of diversity that made our nation their home how many generations ago? There is no new force. Mr. Bernhoft is simply wrong and transparently manipulative.
MorrisAugust 27, 2012 - 6:01 pm
@BS: Welcome back BS. Was wondering when we would be graced with your mature counterpoints. Still wondering. Good to see you anyway.
Phil VeerkampAugust 27, 2012 - 6:05 pm
Morris, point of curiosity - As you list Chicago as a home do you follow the TV series "BOSS"? The series stars Kelsey Grammer as Tom Kane, the mayor of Chicago. On a scale of one to ten how close is it to reality? Total fiction? Good TV? - just curious
DB SmithAugust 27, 2012 - 6:14 pm
Morris what the heck are you doing walking the Chicago streets @ 3AM. Dude ~ what are you up to? I know how easily you get offended and feel like you've been insulted so I'll let it go.
MorrisAugust 27, 2012 - 6:31 pm
@BS: I have never been offended by any of the letter writers. Your postings simply amuse. Important distinction.
Ken SteersAugust 27, 2012 - 7:12 pm
Mr Morris, Your smarmy long winded diatribe was boring and I want my 2 minutes back it took to read it. Rahm Emmanuel is someone in dire need of a B.... Slapping. And most importantly Chicago has sucked ever since Jordan left. Except for NW University, Mortans of Chicago, Dunkin Donuts, most of down town those are awesome. But that pizza sucks. I take that back, I like deep dish pizza.
Phil VeerkampAugust 27, 2012 - 9:29 pm
And I take it that Morris is not a fan of "Boss".
MorrisAugust 28, 2012 - 1:03 am
Welcome to the fun Phil. Re: Boss. Unfamiliar with the show. Don't really watch television.
Ken SteersSeptember 12, 2012 - 10:42 am
Morris, I'm sad to report that Chik-fil-A does not sell chicken in a biscuit. They sell fried chicken in a hamburger bun with a pickle on it. You have to ask for sauce separately. KFC and Popeye's sell chicken in a biscuit. A man of my stature deems it important to know these things.
SwoooshSeptember 12, 2012 - 2:24 pm
Ken - Glad to see you still got it! Well done.