Be careful who you label
We conservative readers are informed and well-prepared for serious debates, because we read both sides of the editorial pages. But it now seems that the "leftist" side, the Times, has reached a new low in journalism.
In it (July 26 titled "Hate and Mass Murder"), the article blamed a fundamentalist Christian extremist for the recent horrific mass murders in Norway. How utterly disgusting of you! The accused individual who was arrested for the bombing and shootings, which killed 76 and wounded many more, has never claimed to be a "Christian extremist" as you called him. He has, in fact, said that he was attacking the Norwegian government as a whole, and the governing Labor Party in particular.
When it is in the interests of the extreme liberals within your Times editorials, Christians are fair game. But when attacks by left-wing radicals are taking place, their carnage and havoc are swept under the rug. Where was your outrage when the "Lockerbie Bomber" was sent home to parades and congratulations?
Half-truths and distortions have no place on an editorial page; facts are more impressive, and will likely increase your circulation. Try it -- you'll see I'm right!
JOHN BERGEN
What's definition of marriage?
Could you provide your readers with a defensible definition of marriage, given your support of same-sex marriage?
EDMOND LONG
Ringgold, Ga.
Fund cut hurts disabled citizens
Our community has been blindsided with a funding cut to an essential facility that serves disabled children and adults of this region, called the Team Center. The Team Center is the only comprehensive diagnostic and treatment facility in our region that incorporates a multi-discipline testing approach, with a developmental pediatrician, psychologist, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, and so much more.
The Team Center of Chattanooga is a regional facility that serves Hamilton County and the surrounding counties (Bradley, Rhea, Meigs), and currently serves about 2,700 patients with developmental disabilities, such as autism.
The Team Center has received annual state funding for 40 years. On about July 6, the State of Tennessee Department of Development and Intellectual Disabilities (DIDD) notified the Team Center of Chattanooga that their annual funding of $774,000 would be discontinued. The impact of this funding cut is going to be devastating for our community, because 2,700 patients will be displaced.
The goal of the Team Center is to achieve the maximum independence possible, which equates to long-term savings to the taxpayers. While the DIDD cut our Team Center out of the budget, the DIDD has increased funding to the Greenville/Knoxville area by $4 million. This is very odd to me, and warrants a full explanation.
APRIL EIDSON
Social Security isn't a handout
Social Security represents the best of the American dream, the idea that my lifetime of hard work will let me live comfortably in old age.
It's not a handout. It's money that I earned and deserve to have when I decide to retire.
Americans believe in this program, whether they vote Republican, Democratic, tea party, or Independent.
The only people who don't seem to believe in this program are politicians and their big corporate donors, who would rather see the rich get more tax breaks than for hard-working Americans to get their Social Security checks.
Any representative who says that Social Security needs to be cut because of the debt ceiling is lying.
Social Security doesn't contribute to the deficit, and using the current climate to cut benefits is unacceptable.
Now they want to create a new super committee in Congress to solve the deficit problem. If they do that, this group should be prohibited from considering cuts to Social Security. Politicians should not be able to use Social Security as a piggy bank for their pet projects. It is our money, not theirs.
JAMES HAUN
Stagnation can follow divisiveness
The debate concerning racism just shows how divisive this topic can be.
On the one hand, some believe that Rhonda Thurman was correct in defending suburban children and bringing it up. Then there are some who think that she was being insensitive toward poor urban black children. The answer probably lies somewhere in the middle.
For instance, if you're in agreement with her assertion that poor children can't learn to read or write and even slaves could learn, you could be perceived as too willing to give up on a whole generation of our youth. Plus, it is and always has been insensitive to paint a whole people with the same brush.
Some poor and black urban children can and do learn. Personally, I don't think that Rhonda Thurman meant it as racist. Perhaps insensitive, but certainly not in the same vein as Commissioner Skillern.
Maybe our leaders need to realize that they represent the entire community and not just a small section. Chattanooga has become a growing, prosperous city now, and its representatives, in whatever capacity they serve, should reflect that reality.
Wherever divisiveness becomes the order of the day, stagnation, regression, and a dwindling population follows.
HOWARD G. HUMPHREY
Wartburg, Tenn.
Notification delay unfair to TEAM
Having spent many years working in the Tennessee service system for people with intellectual disabilities across the state of Tennessee, I find it appalling that the state would delay notifying TEAM that the grant would be discontinued until it was virtually too late to find other funding sources.
It is well known that both private insurance and TennCare reimbursement for the sort of services that TEAM has provided for over 40 years is not adequate to cover the costs.
Otherwise there would be many other health providers vying for the same business instead of it being virtually impossible to find another provider for many of the population served by the center.
While Siskin does provide some similar services, the public already has been made aware of the long waiting list, and Siskin does not serve the very vulnerable adult population. Many of them live at home with their families (costing very little to no taxpayer funding).
Also curious is the simple fact that many of the referrals made to TEAM, both in Chattanooga and in Memphis, are made directly by Tennessee Division of Intellectual Disabilities Services. If this indeed is a "duplication of services," why would the state itself continue to be a primary referral source?
SHARON ERTSGAARD
Doyle, Tenn.
Benefit argument sounds familiar
Doesn't the line "they" are going to steal your Social Security ring a bell?
That line has been used for 50 years. Why can't they pay me when I paid in all of those years? Have you heard of the "Social Security Lockbox"? That's where it was supposed to be until over the years Congress spent it.
When these plans, including Medicare, were devised we didn't live as long. This means that the young are paying in less than the old are getting out.
Also, you never pay in as much as you get. Remember how low your salary base was compared to now?
Anyone trying to devise a plan to help get us out of this mess is accused of taking it all away from the poor and the sick.
We better hope that someone comes up with a plan because in a few years it will all be "gone." And the line about "tax cuts for the rich": they are already paying the majority of taxes, and if you took all their money it still wouldn't pay us out of this mess we are in.
And have you ever wondered why companies go overseas? We better get facts instead of political brainwashing.
JOYCE YOUNG
Rossville, Ga.