Journal-World publishes canned letter--twice

This morning, the Lawrence Journal-World published the following letter to the editor, purportedly written by Sammie Locke of Lawrence:

"The divisiveness in Washington is costing American jobs. Over three weeks have passed since President Obama sent his American Jobs Act to Congress, but the Republicans refuse to even look at it.

"President Obama’s American Jobs Act is exactly the type of solution that we need: a bill full of ideas that both parties support. It is a deal that creates jobs by lowering taxes and investing in our future. And, the best part: It is fully paid for.

"We need relief for the middle class now. It’s time for our politicians to get over politics and put America back to work."

It seemed to me that I had read this same letter before. Why, yes, I did--two days ago in the Lawrence Journal-World! The J-W published this letter by Mike Lawrence on October 10:

"The divisiveness in Washington is costing American jobs. Over three weeks have passed since President Obama sent his American Jobs Act to Congress, but the Republicans refuse to even look at it.

"President Obama’s American Jobs Act is exactly the type of solution that we need — a bill full of ideas that both parties should support. It is a deal that creates jobs by lowering taxes and investing in our future. And, the best part: It is fully paid for.

"We need relief for the middle class now. It’s time for our politicians to get over politics and help put Lawrence, northeast Kansas and America back to work."

Did Sammie plagiarize Mike? Not quite. The same letter has been published throughout the country. Here are two other examples:

http://www.nwfdailynews.com/opinion/jobs-44312-american-act.html

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/letters/chi-111011butler_briefs,0,6044589.story

Yael Abouhalkah gets caught in lie

Yesterday, The Kansas City Star's Yael Abouhalkah offers a blog item entitled "'Occupy' movement is pro-American, anti-Republican." According to Abouhalkah, "I know the Occupy movement is having some effect, because ultra-conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh called the Americans involved in the group 'idiots,' 'clowns' and other names Monday."

Of course, anyone who actually listened to Limbaugh's program on Monday knows Limbaugh had a guest host, Mark Davis.