By Charlie Gregory
newsroom@newsandtribune.com
>>SOUTHERN INDIANA —
I sincerely hope that you had as much fun writing your diatribe toward me in your column March 2 as I had reading it. The guys at The Copper Kettle, where I meet with coffee klatch, were so proud of me. Seeing my name in such bold print, they were thoroughly convinced that I was as important as I had been telling them. Now, if only I could convince my wife!
I recently spoke with a local elected official at St. Anthony’s fish fry, and noting that he had been a recipient of one of your recent bashings. I said, “It looks like you and I are going to have to steer clear of Kelley Curran,”
He responded, “You mean the gal that spouts off without knowing the facts?”
Yep, that one!
However, Kelley, I do laud you for coming to the defense of your friend, or whatever the relationship. Now, Mrs. Rinker started her column with what sounded logical, but then she made two outrageous statements as facts: That it is a myth that people in the U.S. are dying for lack of health insurance — that is not only a moot point, that is drivel. Also, the comment she made about the United Kingdom paying for an operation table with my guts hanging out and they suddenly find another problem that would cost an extra $20,000.
Seriously, Kelley, if either you or Mrs. Rinker would provide me with verifiable proof of this policy, I would be quick to issue an apology. All I am saying is when you put your name out in public, you lose your credibility if you speak nonsense the way you lost your credibility with me when you alluded to Baron Hill as acting shamelessly during his town hall meeting at Indiana University Southeast this past summer.
Or, maybe we didn’t attend the same meeting?
Now, Kelley, I know you were angry, but please don’t let that fact allow you to be untruthful. You were alluding to your positive experience, and my not so positive outcome, in which I spoke of most insurance companies and you quoted me as saying all insurance companies.
As a rule, your insurance is only as good as your agent. You spoke of my having a tad of anecdotal evidence. I would like to tell you that I have had 35 years of anecdotal evidence as I owned and operated an auto body repair business, and I will say that most insurance companies are reliable, but some will take advantage of you in a minute.
Now, on the subject of health care — you and your kind, like myself, know little or nothing about the content of Obama’s proposed health care package, but I can tell you that the Republicans on the Hill have perfected the art of divide and conquer, and your kind are falling into their trap.
Remember the run up to the Iraq War, when we were bombarded incessantly with talk of aluminum tubes, yellow cake from Niger and mushroom clouds from the Bush/Cheney team. It worked so well that — despite the pleading of Mohamed El Baradel, the leader of the United Nations Weapons Inspection Team, who asked for a few more days to convince the Bush/Cheney team that they had no weapons of mass destruction — they even had the Democrats voting for the war for fear they’d be labeled weak on terrorism. Look at the terrible mess we are in today, because of this gigantic blunder.
The same is happening with health care. The Republicans are using their usual incessant scare tactics of the sky-falling rhetoric, such as the cost of the program; Medicare would be drastically cut; you couldn’t choose your own doctor; the panels that would decide who lives and who dies; and the many other lies they prey upon the naive with. Mitch McConnell and Sen. Boehner will get in front of the cameras and proclaim, “The American people have spoken. They don’t want this.” The Republicans are the ones that don’t want it. Why do you think they do this?
Of course, they know they haven’t come up with any ideas and they are scared to death that Obama will succeed.
Finally, Kelley, by your admission you have no health insurance, which means you either are very irresponsible or you are among the needy. If it is the latter, I would like to invite you to have lunch at the Community Kitchen at the corner of Chestnut and Pearl in Jeffersonville, which serves a very nice lunch Monday through Friday. If you happen to come by on Wednesday, they day my wife and I volunteer, I might have the honor of serving you personally. We turn no one away!
— Charlie Gregory is a Charlestown resident.
