Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Anchorage Daily News wants only the liberal discussion

Follows is my letter to Patrick Doyle, President and Publisher of the Anchorage Daily News (www.adn.com).

Mr. Pat Doyle,
President/Publisher
P.O. Box 149001
Anchorage, Alaska 99514

Re: Shannon Moore’s recent column regarding rape and abortion; banning from making comments

Mr. Doyle:

I became engaged in the commenting process to Ms. Moore’s very recent piece on rape and abortion. I considered her piece very offensive. She made bald faced assertions with her comments that were simply libelous in any other context, were the objects thereof not in the public purview–politicians. She also included conservatives in general, which I am, as subjects of her rage. I also noted that the bent of her opinion piece venting her spleen dealt with the subjects of rape and abortion. She offered nothing constructive as to anything to diminish either rape or abortion. Further, Ms. Moore totally ignored the illegal practices in contravention to State and federal law by Planned Parenthood of not notifying the authorities of the rape of underage girls by adult males.

I noted those commenting and realized that with one or two exceptions, the vast majority of comments arose from the left of the community in support of her rabid fomenting against the Republicans mentioned by name, and conservatives in general, thereby including yours truly in that group. Her attack was simply outrageous, inaccurate, and served no purpose other than to divide the community.

I responded to several of the commenters by noting that the platform of the Democratic Party was at opposition with the philosophy and intent of our Framers and Founding Fathers as expressed in the Constitution. I did use the word traitor as a description of anyone who believed that our rights under the Constitution were other than endowed by a Creator, and, therefore immutable by man. As a result, I was also called a ‘traitor and coward’ for my National Guard and Army Reserve service by commenters using the user Ids Frostyone and FrankieFlynn. They did not appreciate my conservative interpretation of the Democratic initiatives assaulting faith, patriotism, family, the value of our children, and supernatural basis for our rights under the Constitution. However, I did not seek their exclusion from the conversation.

In fact, FrankieFlynn evidently had access to a database that showed my military record, as he made derisive comments regarding the length of time it took me to make E-5. Both Flynn and Frosty then labeled me as a coward and traitor, which, taken in context became inclusive of all NG and Reserve members, past and present.

I believe that Flynn used a computer that was either State or Federal to find the information

regarding my military record, which he then used that information, which is privileged, private, and confidential, as the basis to make derisive comments.

Those inappropriate comments did not really bother me, as anyone who is familiar with the reserve components knows, one has to have a slot to justify the rank, and one is not promoted without having a slot allowing the promotion. The Alaska National Guard, and I have been both Air and Army Guard, is relatively small in comparison to the federal military. The Army Reserve at the time had only one unit in Alaska. Therefore, opportunity for promotion was very limited in the units to which I belonged. Just the way it works.

However, it is the use of information derived from a federal or state database that is the issue, and I will be making a complaint to the FBI, the Army and USAF regarding the situation. FrankieFlynn implied in his comments and by his access to the information that he may have been active duty or a civilian employee of the military or the State of Alaska in a capacity that gave him access to the info. He may have violated the law. Banning me, and not taking any action against FrankieFlynn or Frostyone shows agreement with their conduct by virtue of allowing those comments to remain. No reasonable individual could believe that Date of Rank information is in the public domain and readily accessible. Therefore, whomever made the decision to ban my comments discriminated against me, but allowed the illegal use of confidential information to remain, thereby condoning the conduct.

The fact that I have been banned from making further comments on any article in ADN I find discriminatory, given the outrageous nature of Ms. Moore’s inclusion of every conservative minded person as the object of her rant. My banning demonstrates that the ADN is not interested in fostering any community discussion, but rather promoting only one viewpoint. In which case, you have lost a reader and one who has placed many comments contributing to many discussions. I have even had Compass pieces published in the past.

The liberal at ADN who made the decision to ban any further comments on my part served to ignore what was clearly 1st Amendment protected political speech on my part with my criticisms of the Democratic Party’s policies. My banning made my points about the inability of the liberal mind to tolerate an opposing viewpoint.

I am a 58 year Alaska who writes and will comment upon this hypocrisy on the part of ADN and its liberal bent elsewhere. Your paper’s liberal bent is out of touch with this community and Alaska.

Maybe, one day, the liberals who comment and the management of ADN will cease to be intolerant and allow a public discourse without restoring to ad hominem attacks or the public dissemination of private information on the ADN’s website?

I truly look forward to the day after the coming election. I am looking forward to the collective howl from the liberal community over their realization that they are not in the mainstream of political and social thought in this country.

Regards,
Lawrence D. Wood (Larry)

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