Friday, January 1, 1904
At first, whenever I heard anything about the revolutions in the Arab Spring, in particular in Libya, I would be overjoyed. I felt proud that the Libyan people were finally (escaping) the tyrannical reign of Gadhafi. But now that Gadhafi is dead, we all have to see how the Libyans will take to running their own government.
When I found out that Libya's interim government has announced that "Sharia Law" will govern the country, I was devastated. As a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, I know that Sharia law emphasizes the separation of mosque and state. How ironic could it be that they are, like other "Muslim" countries, running their government with a religious law code that says that it should not be used in state government.
This common misconception among Muslims also causes them to abuse this Sharia law and use it to justify acts that are oppressive, especially to women, and completely un-Islamic.
Yes, Gadhafi's death freed Libyan citizens after 42 years of oppression. But, is the government to come just the start of another era of tyranny? We can only hope and pray that it is not.
NAJIA HUMAYUN
I recently downgraded my service with Comcast Cable to basic. It took three days, speaking to a representative in Florida, Mississippi and Mexico to get this done with each one quoting a different monthly amount.
I am now in the process of setting up an online account which seems to be impossible. I have set up accounts may times and have no problem reading instructions. Even talking to representatives, I have been switched from one to another without getting any help.
I must say their customer service is the worst I have ever dealt with.
IRIS POORE
Chickamauga, Ga.
Republicans, spurred on by tea partiers, insist that demanding the multi-rich be denied their enormous extra tax cuts would be a job killer. If this was true, where are the jobs they were to create?
If the enormous stimulus given to the multi-rich oil tycoons was to increase drilling in America and make us less dependent on foreign oil and lower gas prices "at the pump," where is the cheap gas?
If the editor and the rest of the tea party Republicans can support a more "equal" tax code, and ex-Gov. Mitt Romney, who the religious right has dubbed his Morman church a cult, they can bring hypocrisy to a new level.
The Congress -- of which our Sens. Alexander and Corker are members -- recently voted not to support a bill to rebuild the country's infrastructure that would have created much needed jobs.
A leading Republican, South Carolina's Sen. Lindsey Graham, strongly supports rebuilding the infrastructure in Libya.
No wonder the Congress has a whopping 11 percent approval rating and 71 percent of Americans say Republicans do not have a clear plan for creating jobs.
Compared to these poll numbers, President Obama's 41 percent approval numbers look pretty darn good.
DON MYERS
Hixson
The Occupation of Chattanooga's City Council Nov. 1, 2011, set a historic benchmark for political reformers.
The council rejected Occupy Chattanooga's request for a place to protest the corrupting influence of monied interests in government. So the Occupiers started protesting 24 hours a day from the council lawn.
The next City Council Meeting is 6 p.m. tonight (Nov. 8) at 1000 Lindsey St.
Now Occupiers are considering the end game of occupy. They keep asking our politicians to stop giving our assets to the elite and selling us down the river to our corporate predators. They just get ignored and demonized.
Too many of the politicians and their cronies rely on the gravy train of corporate welfare, subsidies, sweet real estate deals and cushy contracts.
We've got to replace these bubbas with honest citizens, and demand true representation by our peers. And the puppeted party system will only produce the usual suspects.
The end game of Occupy is to Occupy Public Office ourselves. Aren't you more qualified than a corrupt, career politician?
This is our government. These are our streets, police, courts, parks, City Hall and tax dollars. Occupying the elected offices should be our next benchmark.
LANA SUTTON
An editorial ("Don't abandon rule of law," Nov. 7) piqued my interest. I decided to do a little research to see just how "unlawful" our current president has been compared to former presidents.
Well, darn ... He needs to pick it up with those executive orders, or he will never catch up with George W. Bush's 291 total. It seems this is a standard practice for sitting presidents but as usual, your right-sided, half-truth editorials only tell right-sided half-truths.
SALLY COOK
Hixson
The front page article ("Global warming gases set record") by alarmist AP journalist Seth Borenstein on Nov. 4 is filled with downright scary information about heat-trapping carbon dioxide.
Although the text of the article carefully does not mention global warming (aka, green house gas effect, climate change, climate disruption, etc.) being caused by an increase in anthropogenic carbon dioxide, the frightening implication is very clearly there.
The article however does allude to "climate change." It would make Al Gore and his disciples proud. The only problem is that there has been no "global warming" for over a dozen years.
In 2009, there were 31,000 scientists who publicly dissented with the IPCC position on carbon dioxide and global warming. The whole anthropogenic warming/climate change notion is clearly a well orchestrated and very expensive fraudulent deception.
Perhaps editors of the Times Free Press and AP would do us all a favor by reining in the obviously biased and deceptive journalism that Borenstein exemplifies.
ROBERT CHILDRESS
Sewanee, Tenn.