Free speech

To the editor:

I normally brush off your editorials, knowing the J-W is a very conservative-oriented newspaper. However, the March 22 editorial headlined “Hogwash” really got to me. It is very obvious to anyone with an open mind that there are a lot of people in this country and the rest of the world who think Bush is very wrong in what he’s doing.

He decided six months ago we were going to war and kept coming up with a new reason any time he failed to make a valid case for his action. I have a grandson, a nephew and several people related through marriage in the military, all potentially in danger, so I have a vested interest in the outcome.

Free speech belongs to all of us, even if we are in a minority. I have a real problem with the reaction and name-calling aimed at us because we don’t toe the Bush party line. I support the troops very strongly in what they are doing, but I strongly object to the reasoning that sent them there.

I think you need to re-read the last paragraph of your editorial and apply that reasoning to the first three paragraphs. There is no need for anyone to engage in name-calling and insults, especially someone in an editorial capacity.

Final question: Do you really believe every J-W employee believes as you do? Because an unsigned editorial could be attributed to all of them. I sure don’t believe 100 percent of your employees support Bush, either.

Carl Ellerd,

Lawrence