Over the last month or so, there have been quite a few letters and editorials in the newspaper showing a real fear of what our President, and the Democrats in Congress have done for our country, and what they might do. While I can understand and appreciate the desire to patriotically question those in power, it seems that many of the letters state things that are either untrue or missing key details.

Much of the rhetoric has obviously centered around the recently passed Health Care Law. A number of times, letter writers have told readers that the law scrapped the Hyde Amendment and that your tax dollars will fund abortions. Surely, I could see how that would infuriate those on the right... If it were true. As a matter of fact, President Obama issued an executive order that protects the Hyde Amendment far more than any actions from Republicans in the White House or Congress have done. I would expect those on the right to celebrate their accomplishment, so to speak, but it's more persuasive to mislead, I guess.

Another common assertion is that the Health Care Law funds the hiring of 16,500 new IRS agents to make sure that taxpayers comply with the wishes of "Big Government". While it is likely that a number of IRS agents will be hired to combat fraud, it is no where near that number created by Republicans opposed to the bill at that time. That number was based on assumptions of how money allocated to the IRS would be spent. In fact, much of the money for the IRS is actually intended to give tax credits to families and businesses to purchase insurance coverage.

The issue of free markets being the better solution to health care affordability issues misses the point as well. Supply and demand has made health care less affordable. Considering that everybody will need access to medical care at some point, it makes sense that everyone has access to insurance. Compassionate conservatives prefer a more Darwinian approach, which is pretty funny on a number of levels when you think about it.

Republicans, of course, had the opportunity to propose other solutions regarding affordability. All that was offered was anger. Given the desire to reach some sort of bi-partisanship, Democrats put together a bill that was for the most part drawn from 15 year old Republican proposals. They erroneously thought that the GOP would at least support their own ideas. Not when their own reelection in the era of Tea Parties is more important.

I'm not sure if the information in the recent letters is intentionally misleading, or if those writing just have unreliable sources, but it's clear to me that the intent of the information is to ensure that Conservatives get elected to as many positions as possible this year. I suppose that this is one of those things where the end is supposed to justify the means, but doesn't really help people make good voting decisions.

This year could be very important in shaping the bodies that affect our lives. Getting good information from reliable sources is critical to good decision making. Using emotion drvien "news sources" meant for entertainment purposes only as your primary sources of information will skew your view to the point of losing your credibility.

Steven Puvogel

Much of the rhetoric has obviously centered around the recently passed Health Care Law. A number of times, letter writers have told readers that the law scrapped the Hyde Amendment and that your tax dollars will fund abortions. Surely, I could see how that would infuriate those on the right... If it were true. As a matter of fact, President Obama issued an executive order that protects the Hyde Amendment far more than any actions from Republicans in the White House or Congress have done. I would expect those on the right to celebrate their accomplishment, so to speak, but it's more persuasive to mislead, I guess.

I hope you are not intentionally misleading.
Dig a little deeper.

Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) -- one of about a dozen antiabortion-rights lawmakers who attended the executive order signing -- said that several past presidents have used executive orders to reaffirm legislation. Rahall said two of the groups that are criticizing Obama's order -- USCCB and NRLC -- endorsed President George W. Bush's June 2007 executive order on embryonic stem-cell legislation. "It's the same groups criticizing this executive order as being worthless that endorsed executive orders under [Bush]," Rahall said (Bendery, Roll Call, 3/24).