Editor, Manteca Bulletin,

In reply to “Democrats employing double standard” on Nov. 26,  the writer, like his political party, can’t help but fall into the black hole of contradiction, confusion and hypocrisy. Not to mention just making up stuff.

First, in the “confusion” part, the writer claims Democrats complained about ‘everything’ President Bush did “...to keep America safe...) as “unconstitutional”. Actually the things most Democrats complained about were indeed unconstitutional, such as un-warranted wire taps of American citizens and torture. To be clear, water-boarding is torture. The wire tapping endorsed by the Bush Administration was not just for ‘suspected terrorists’, it was intended to apply to anyone making overseas calls.

The writer claims Democrats “complained terrorists should have the same rights as an American citizen in our courts”. No, the argument was for “suspected” terrorists. Remember “you must be considered innocent until found guilty”. Apparently the writer would prefer to hang them first, and then determine their innocence.

In the “making up stuff “part, the writer’s whole purpose seems to complain about the use of full body scanners and full body searches at airports and blame the whole thing on Democrats. He claims these scanners have been proven to “increase the likelihood of cancer and other diseases by “a neurosurgeon” apparently whom he did not name. The writer throws in the searching of “the elderly, nuns and even three-year-old boys and girls”. I suppose the writer thinks 4- or 5-year-olds are fair game. He also thinks full body searches at the Mexican border are OK as well.

Instead of the present TSA policy, the writer thinks we should only use racial profiling as the guide for further screening. So an elderly nun with children under four years of age should be exempt from screening. I assume this would also apply to any Caucasian without a spray-on-tan? That would mean John Boehner might be held up in the scanner area. Speaking of the man who thinks he may be king, soon-to-be Speaker of the House, was recently caught on tape in a Washington Airport being escorted around the screening area. This is what the writer must have meant when he said, “However, our government elite always give themselves exemptions.  They do not feel they need to go through the same body scanner...”

In that same statement, the writer continues: “...Social Security, or take the government-run health care that will be imposed on each American citizen.  That is because our government elite has given themselves special clearance, their own retirement and medical that “we the people” should not have.” If the writer would recall, that is exactly one of the health options presented in the Senate only to be filibustered out by the Republicans.

The writer is correct in that Senators and Congressmen have their own government-run health care. They also enjoy their own retirement and do not pay into Social Security. What he fails to mention is all government employees, retirees and other professions such as teachers do not pay into Social Security because they do have their own retirement programs. However, if said employees do manage to obtain their required 40 quarters of Social Security-backed employment, they too can claim Social Security, however at a reduced rate based on the time they did not pay into the Social Security system. I happen to fall into this category so I have firsthand experience in this subject. All federal government employees and retirees are also covered by the same government-run health care system.

After all his ranting against the TSA policy, the writer claims he would not mind having his phone tapped or being subjected to a full body search and scan. Does he really think we would buy that? Nobody wants their phones tapped or to be subjected to a full body search or scan. TSA policies at airports are a necessary evil, have we already forgotten the “Underwear Bomber” or the “Shoe Bomber”? The writer knows this and so do the Republican leadership and they would be the first to throw a fit if someone managed to slip by and blow up a plane somewhere. Contradiction, Confusion and Hypocrisy are not just words; the Right Wing lives by them every day.