In two recent letters to the editor, Monty Stewart has identified himself as a conservative and then proceeded to verify that with unsupported assertions, distortions/falsehoods and callousness.

Stewart asserts the Democratic party is owned by “radical” environmentalists. Are those who want to stop global warming, species extinction, power plant air pollution, forest overcutting, the dumping of coal tailings into plowed over streams, and the like “eco-freaks?” If so, that characterization would apply to a majority of Americans.

Stewart accuses the Democrats of receiving more than 10 times the corporate donations of Republicans without providing any supporting evidence.

One imagines that Stewart is aware thousands of Americans die prematurely each year because they do not have access to even primary, affordable health care. If nothing else, Stewart should be concerned about the national lost productivity due to unhealthy and suddenly disabled workers. Health care is a government responsibility because the private sector is in it for the excess profits and top management exorbitant compensation, derived largely from excluding those without the ability to pay.

Stewart goes on to blame foolish and greedy homebuyers for the housing mess, never mind the neglected due diligence of the lenders. Sen. Dodd reported that more than half the sub-prime borrowers would have qualified for conventional loans, but were sold the riskier ventures with the promise their housing values would go up. The loans were packaged and sold  to unsuspecting investors. Homebuyers aren’t real estate experts and depend on industry agents for advice. This wasn’t mentioned in his letter.

While the likes of Stewart may be better off after the Bush tax cuts, those cuts, supposedly to keep the economy from tanking, could have been weighted from the bottom up to narrow the immense gap between the rich and the rest, not exacerbate it. Or the revenues could have been invested in upgrading national infrastructure, providing jobs that the private sector won’t.

Stewart repeats the oft-cited falsehood that Democrats now control Congress and have done nothing. As long as the Republicans can filibuster in the Senate — and stop every bit of progressive legislation — Democratic control won’t happen until they get more than 60 senators. Oregonians can help out with this task in November.

Congress has done something since 2006. It passed the FISA bill (with the compliance of some Democrats) which takes the Bush administration off the legal hook for massive wire tapping without court order, a clear violation of the separation of powers and our privacy. Every senator who voted for this FISA legislation (including almost all Republicans) violated his oath of office — including Obama.

However, a glaring omission does support Stewart’s do-nothing contention. House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi never initiated impeachment proceedings against our president and vice president.

Stewart’s letters should qualify him for a pundit spot on Fox. It is long past time liberals got enough spine to stand up to the right wing propaganda machine and “conservative” yahoos. When they don’t, we lose.