Shame on Aspen Times columnist

Dear Editor;

One can only assume that Melanie Sturm is paid for her columns by some Republican political-action committee that encourages her to disseminate lies and propaganda. To put it bluntly, she is an egregious liar. One would think that if the Republicans’ plans for improving our country were any good at all, they wouldn’t have to keep lying to try to sound better than the alternative.

Melanie talks a lot about the national debt, which is still growing but is actually growing at a slower pace under Obama than any of the past three Republican presidents. In fact, if you want the debt to increase, history from the past 50 years shows us that the best way to do this is elect a Republican president. So pretty much everything Sturm says about the debt is hogwash.

Her statement that “Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are … consuming more annually than the combined cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and (Troubled Asset Relief Program) bailouts” is another boldfaced lie. Or maybe she just sucks at basic math. The 2012 budget for Social Security is $882.7 billion; the Department of Health and Human Services budget, including Medicare and Medicaid, is $940.9 billion. That’s just

over $1.2 trillion, a huge amount, to be sure, but nowhere close to the

combined cost of the Iraq invasion ($5 trillion), the Afghanistan mistake ($855 million and still growing), and the TARP bailouts ($1.54 trillion outstanding, $13.87 trillion at risk). And keep in mind that all of this spending was due to Republican policies and actions. Yes, Democrats voted for TARP, but the recession that caused the need for TARP was due to Republicans gutting the banking laws.

And “Democrats in complete control of Congress?” Has Melanie never heard of the word “filibuster,” or is she just a blatant liar?

I could go on, but why bother. Melanie Sturm is an embarrassment to Americans. If you have to resort to lies, Melanie, it just shows how bad your crap stinks.

Agustin Goba

Snowmass Village