I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore. A quote from the movie “Network”? No, it is my reaction to a letter to the editor from Mary Jane Newell. (Aug. 25)

Now she’s bashing the “liberal” editor of this paper because he dared to criticize the president and the war. The reason Mr. Bush is being bashed is because, in making his case for war, he was either: lying, gullible or both.

Now, before all the right-wing conservatives start foaming at the mouth and writing letters calling me unpatriotic, consider this. Patriotism is defined as love of country. Now if you were to parse that sentence you would get, love and country.

If you love something, you want what is best for it, such as peace and prosperity, not war and recession, and what is the country? It is all of us, our families, our businesses, our culture, our natural resources and our laws and Constitution, and a myriad other things and ideas. The country is not a bunch of egotistical, middle-aged white men and women and their military minions, ensconced on the banks of the Potomac River.

If you want to blindly support the government, with almost religious fervor, go ahead, it’s a free country. But don’t mask it as patriotism.

It is not the liberals, but you Ms. Newell and your cohorts, who hate (your word) anyone who doesn’t think the way you do, of which, thankfully, there are millions of us.

Barry Allen, Norway

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