The Letter That Launched a Thousand Hate Mails

T.V. Reed has been given an opportunity to froth at the mouth again today in the Daily Evergreen. Remember, according to Raymond, he has no undue influence, even though that's TWO PARD op-ed pieces in the last week and a half in the Evergreen. It's mostly just a rehash of his letter to the editor that ran in the Daily News last week. However, he did add an attack on me and the letter to the editor that I wrote that appeared in the Daily News a few weeks back. It must have been a good one, because several PARDners have now attacked it publicly, one even saying what I recommended would lead to kiddie porn and crack houses:

Kudos to Steve McClure (Opinion, Oct. 8-9) for pointing out that there are different definitions of quality of life for Palouse residents.

However, it goes beyond “mom-and-pop” versus “big-box.” Economic freedom is an essential key to quality of life.

Many of us in Pullman, mom-and-pop store owners and national retailer supporters alike, believe in free enterprise. We want maximum freedom for any business, large or small, with minimal governmental interference. In this fertile environment, entrepreneurship has taken root and borne fruit in our city. Competition is good and healthy and benefits both merchant and consumer.

The Pullman Alliance for Responsible Development, on the other hand, wants the government to regulate competition, mandate wages, control how private land is used, support labor unions, and arbitrate the morality of business practices. These current and former WSU faculty members are passionate about social justice and yet are practicing the kind of discrimination against a corporation they would vehemently protest if applied to an individual or minority group.

PARD obviously distrusts capitalism, our city government, and the people of Pullman. This is evidenced by their "lawyering up" to stop Wal-Mart through appeal after appeal. A group that supposedly supports “diversity” is trying to force their strict interpretation of “quality of life” upon the rest of us.

The ultimate fate of Wal-Mart should not be decided in a courtroom or in a “public” hearing but by the wallets of Pullman citizens. It is, after all, customers that choose to patronize a store or not. It is up to us to determine how we grow, not self-appointed amateur city planners.

People come to Pullman to pursue different dreams. We are guaranteed that right by our Constitution. Follow your own vision, according to the dictates of your own conscience. That freedom is the truest quality of life

Timmy believes that all us Wal-Martians are becoming increasingly lonely, like the Maytag repairman I suppose. Riiigghhhhttt. He doesn't realize that every rant of his that gets published, that many more people sign up for BREO. His words and the words of the other PARDners, are PARD's worst enemy, not me.

Given the level of rhetoric we're hearing, they must be almost finished over there in the PARD bunker.