FROM THE BARREL OF MY PEN
By Gonzalo "Jun" Policarpio


WHAT TO DO WITH "ANTI-CHRISTIAN" CONGRESSMAN GARY ACKERMAN WHO REPRESENTS A PREDOMINANTLY CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY THIS ELECTION YEAR

Below is my reply to a Letter to the Editor article in the TIMESLEDGER, Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper chain circulated in Queens written by FRANK SKALA, a Bayside resident, commenting on my article titled "ACKERMAN IS ANTI-CHRISTIAN."

Mr. Frank Skala in his Feb. 8th letter titled "Ackerman is not Anti-Christian" claims to be a Republican and a licensed Eucharistic minister in the Episcopal Church. He tries to defend Congressman Gary Ackerman who is a Democrat and and a non-Christian for voting against a Congressional Resolution about the importance of Christmas and the Christian faith. He contradicts himself!

In fact, Mr. Skala's comment on my article "Ackerman is Anti-Christian" is full of contradictions and inconsistencies:

He said he is a minister in the Episcopal Church supposed to be Christian. But he calls the Congressional Resolution about the importance of Christmas "bizarre" and an insult to the separation of church and state. He therefore exempts two Ackerman-supported congressional resolutions recognizing the importance of Ramadan, a Muslim holiday, and Diwali, a Hindu, Sikh and Jain holiday from his self-serving condemnation.

He said he is a Republican. Does he know that no Republican congressmen voted against the Resolution for Christmas and the Christian faith?

He bragged about his 40-year knowledge of Gary Ackerman... Does he know that when Education Secretary Rod Paige in 2003 remarked that the values being taught in Christian schools are far superior to those in public schools, Ackerman demanded to President Bush the immediate resignation of Paige? A true Christian would never support such attitude that provoked William Donohue, the Catholic League president, to call Ackerman "an Anti-Christian Bigot."

He said that I am a zealot that which I accept if he means being a fanatic in defense of Christmas and the Christian faith against modern-day persecutors of Christians like him and his congressman-friend Ackerman.

He said that he will not vote for me if I ran against Congressman Ackerman this year for charging Ackerman "anti-Christian."

Well, if he votes for Gary Ackerman, he supports a candidate who is against Christmas and the Christian Faith and the congressional resolution that "rejects bigotry and persecution directed against Christians in the United States and worldwide."

Mr. Skala therefore betrays himself in his letter to be an anti-Bush fanatic, anti-Iraq war rabble rouser, and a hard-core leftist hiding in the closet.

In his whole-hearted support for Rep. Gary Ackerman, he also reveals himself to favor Ackerman's revised definition of traditional marriage as between men and between women, Ackerman's reported defilement of the American flag in Congress when he raised it sewn as an underwear in protest of a proposed constitutional amendment to ban flag-burning, Ackerman's endorsement of the Move-On.Org's New York Times' advertisement labeling American General Petraeus a traitor, Ackerman's treatment of the unborn child in the mother's womb as a mere piece of meat that can be destroyed anytime, and Ackerman's anti-Christian bigotry.

Because of Ackerman's rejection of the Resolution giving importance to Christmas and the Christian Faith, the FILANGIERI SOCIETY FOR JUSTICE AND GOOD GOVERNMENT, a New York-based organization that advocates passage of good laws, published an article condemning Ackerman's anti-Christian bias and mailed out letters to Ackerman's constituents in the 5th Congressional District of New York to vote him out of office next November elections.

It is said that wisdom, not stupidity, comes with age. I may say that Frank Skala must have retrogressed sadly to his reckless teenage years.

End
junpolicarpio@gmail.com