‘Remember the safe passing rule’
Re “Cyclists may get more room on road,” May 14: I was glad to see that Ohio is considering a bill to specify a minimum 3-foot clearance when passing a bicyclist.
When I cycle, that’s never been a problem as long as no cars are approaching in the opposite lane or there’s not a blind curve or hill ahead. In those cases, when there’s no shoulder and I’m having to ride in the lane, the existing “safe passing” rule means that vehicles are actually supposed to slow down behind me and wait until it’s safe to pass. Many do, thank you very much, but many pass anyway directly into oncoming cars (and force screeching of brakes to avoid the head-on collision), or they decide they will squeeze past me (and hope they won’t hit me), since apparently they can’t conceive of slowing down to wait until it’s safe to pass.
I beg of all drivers to remember the safe passing rule to prevent injury or death to the oncoming car, yourself, or the cyclist. KEN MERCURIO, MONROE
Speak Up
As a taxpaying American citizen, family man, retired businessman, veteran and tea party member, I'm outraged. This vendetta didn't originate with low-level IRS employees in Cincinnati. It began in Washington, D.C. …
Federal employees of the IRS knowingly and deliberately targeted U.S. citizens with politically conservative viewpoints that apparently differed from those of the IRS employees. The IRS employees then empowered themselves, with the awareness of the IRS commissioner and other senior IRS supervisors, to use their official positions to take illegal actions against those associated with conservative groups. It's illegal and reprehensible for IRS employees to take actions against any U.S. citizens with opposing political views. The strength of our country comes from our diversity.
501(c)(4) tax-exempt status is to be granted only to social welfare organizations. In what universe is the tea party a social welfare organization? They're clearly a political group that promotes the Republican Party agenda and its candidates. If Congress is looking for a real scandal to investigate, they should check out how political organizations misuse the tax code and accept millions of dollars in unregulated donations.
What is the big righteous indignity over the IRS thoroughly examining information on the tea partyers' forms? Infinitely more chilling is how the tea partyers displayed Hitler-esque features on Obama posters during their parades and how tea partyers who are avid churchgoers manage to insert their political will and messages of hate into sermons and religious ceremonies. … Maybe they are just getting a taste of their own judgmental, paranoid medicine.
The outrage against the IRS should be directed at them for even considering tax-exempt status for any political propaganda organizations. A search of IRS.gov for "501" seems to indicate that partisan political activity would cause tax-exempt status to be denied. Admittedly, tracking through the definitions suggests that Congress intended to obscure what political activity is acceptable.
I believe the IRS should be investigated, and action taken against them if they targeted the tea party unfairly. At the same time, I can't help but be amazed at the speed and strength of the outrage on the part of the GOP lawmakers. Are these the same people who dismissed background checks that could save lives? Are any tea party lives at stake from too much paperwork or taxes? The current hue and cry shows where our lawmakers' priorities really lie.
It is painfully obvious that Democrats have no intention to seek the facts in Benghazi, but to just sweep it under the rug. Had Republicans similarly stonewalled the Watergate issue 39 years ago, Richard Nixon would have finished out his term.
The Benghazi affair is a real blot on the Obama administration. If it were not for Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and other conservative news outlets, we wouldn't know anything about it because the mainstream media would refuse to publish it.
Re "If bigotry is a germ, our society is pretty sanitized," May 6: Reading anything from Jonah Goldberg is frustrating enough, but this feature was particularly insensitive. Oberlin College overreacted to the racist graffiti? Easy for Goldberg to say. I doubt he'd spew his usual conservative propaganda if he saw things through the eyes of an African-American, or might that be too liberal of a consideration for him? It's people like him who do nothing to sanitize American culture from the malignant germ that is bigotry.
Re "Smear campaign against whistleblowers begins," May 10: Michelle Malkin's opinion piece defending whistleblowers would have been more persuasive if the right had been even half as supportive of those who tried to blow the whistle on secret shenanigans in Republican administrations, not to mention commonplace corporate malfeasance.
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