To the editor:

For Walter Crockett to even begin to say his opinions are reasoned is laughable (Public Forum, Jan. 1). Walt’s screed rings loudly in the deaf ears and closed minds of liberals and the French. His rhetoric was tried before, during (and now after) the elections.

Let me reassure Walter and all the liberals who still can’t wrap their head around the fact that America soundly rejected their way of thinking, I will benefit from the privatization of Social Security. I can and will get a better return on my investment than the paltry amount now set by the government. We all benefited from the United States not signing the Kyoto agreements. Our troops will benefit from not being prosecuted under the international courts — and maybe even Bill Clinton (because after all, he went to war in Kosovo for no real reason except a brutal dictator).

And on a final note, Osama bin Laden is not the end-all, be-all of terrorism. If we do indeed capture or kill him, there are hundreds of radical Muslims out there to take his place. Maybe one being protected at this moment by Chirac in France, or possibly maybe someone currently living in Lawrence.

Robert M. Tyler,

Ozawkie