My letter to the editor published

[NewJeffCT]

Mine is the second one down about Blue States Give, Red States Take. I was writing in response to a prior letter that cited the College of Philanthropy index to say that Red States were better because they scored higher on the index.
>>>

Lee Sataline claims that blue states are stingier than red states. He cited the flawed Catalogue for Philanthropy index that uses only itemized charitable deductions in its calculations. But even if that flawed study were accurate, perhaps those of us in the blue states would be more charitable if we did not have to support the welfare of the red states.

Nine of the top 10 states that gave more money to the federal government than they get in return are blue states. Connecticut is included on this list.

Eighteen of the top 20 states that received more federal government money than they paid into the federal government were red states. Yes, believe it or not, those anti-big-government red states survive and prosper because of the charity of us in the blue states, which subsidizes all of those red state interstate highways, national parks, oil and gas subsidies, grazing rights, crop subsidies and farm subsidies. Heck, look at all the hurricane cleanup we paid for this year in red states.


http://www.ctnow.com/news/opinion/letters/hc-lets1121.artnov21,1,2664214.story?coll=hc-headlines-letters

[Jo March]

1. Awesome! Way to go!

Kick!

[H2O Man]

2. Letters to the Editor

remain one of the most important things that peole can do as far as "grass roots" level democratic action. Every time I see someone on DU posting that their LTTE was printed, it brings a smile to my face, and a good feeling deep inside. It takes something important to actually write a letter, and send it in: it takes a confidence that your opinion is of value, and that you can make a difference by participating in something the Constitution encourages -- a free press.

Thank you for posting your letter here. And thanks even more for having taking the steps to get it printed!

[NewJeffCT]

4. unfortunately...

Unfortunately, none of my LTTEs on Plame have gotten published, except one that mentioned her in passing.

[H2O Man]

5. You wrote them ....

... and that is where your responsibility ends. What the papers do with your letters is their responsibility. If you take a democratic step, and they take an undemocratic step, you deserve just as much credit as if they printed it. In fact, it is perhaps more important to take a stance on issues that, like Plame, are being covered up by the media.

[Spazito]

3. WTG!

Good letter!

[spooky3]

6. excellent! And since deductible contributions includes those to churches

who engage in many NON-charitable activities and benefit the church-goer directly, it's not surprising that red states came out ahead in that index.