Letters to the Editor

Friday, January 1, 1904

World is facing dangerous fights

There are wars that seem to be spread out all over the planet Earth. Whatever happened to "Love thy neighbor?" The answer is it has been replaced with hate! Violence is everywhere! If people don't learn to live together in peace, the world's population may cease to exist. A good start would be if the Democrats and Republicans would stop their fighting and focus on the problems that are important to our survival.

Our great country and the rest of the world have another dangerous fight and that being Mother Nature. We will all be in trouble if she keeps on with earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes and floods. The Bible says the end will be by fire. The wildfires that have been burning thousands of acres, destroying people's homes, seem to be a sign. Crime also is running rampant!

We should all take notice of what's going on, which is mostly negative. It's been said that we live in a dangerous world, but hopefully God will decide to save us because we are all God's children.

RICHARD D. BLOOD, Ringgold, Ga.

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GOP candidates show no courage

Just when it seemed to me that the Republican presidential campaign could not get more surreal, Thursday's debate in Florida proved otherwise. In two previous debates, some audience members applauded when it was mentioned that Texas Gov. Rick Perry had presided over 235 executions, and expressed support for letting an uninsured coma victim die.

But a moment in last week's debate demonstrated the candidates' lack of leadership and courage -- you know, traits Americans want in a president. When a gay Marine in Iraq asked whether any of the candidates might try to circumvent the recently repealed "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law, some in the audience booed him.

Politically, however, the booing paled in significance to the nine candidates' repulsive failure to chastise the audience for its behavior. The best a couple of them could manage in response -- and this was after the debate -- was to allow that the booing was "unfortunate." That's telling 'em.

Small wonder that even among the GOP faithful, the prevailing opinion of the Gang of Nine seems to reflect the classic Peggy Lee song, "Is that all there is?"

MICHAEL LOFTIN, Hixson

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Fastening seat belt a simple act

This is a letter long overdue to parents of young, inexperienced drivers. Again my heart is saddened to read about the death of a teenager by automobile accident. I fear few people read and heed the permanent billboard on Brainered Road by the parents of the Notre Dame student who did not wear his seat belt. It is not "cool" to wear a seat belt, but very cool six feet under.

When your precious child reaches that magic age of 16, even with adequate training, you are putting your child behind a lethal weapon.

This letter is addressed to future parents to develop a will of steel on saving their lives by the simple act of fastening their seat belt. We need more than publishing statistics on this subject.

During our early years of getting experience, we were all guilty of putting too much pedal to the metal. This was part of our grandsons' growing-up experience. Two of them had separate accidents that would have taken their lives. We still give thanks to God that they were wearing their seat belts. Had it been otherwise, we would have planned their funerals, like so many others.

MAXINE F. PFITZER

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Support measure to combat cancer

With a five-year survival rate of just 6 percent, pancreatic cancer has the lowest relative survival rate of all cancers tracked by the American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute (NCI). It's the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the United States.

The good news is there is currently a bill, the Pancreatic Cancer Research & Education Act (S362/HR733), that would change these statistics by requiring the NCI to develop a long-term comprehensive strategic plan to combat this insidious disease. We need the Pancreatic Cancer Research & Education Act passed.

Fighting this disease is personal for me because my Mom, Jane Hogan, lost her 15-month battle on Feb. 17, 2009. We were so hopeful because she was one of the few to be a candidate for the Whipple surgery. Unfortunately, this didn't save her.

As a member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP), our U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander wields enormous influence over the fate of the Pancreatic Cancer Research & Education Act. We need his support. Please join me in urging Sen. Alexander to co-sponsor S362 today in order to give hope to the 44,000 Americans who will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer this year.

Together we can make a difference!

EDITH SNIDER

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People must ask right questions

Two vexing issues we avoid discussing, abortion and homosexuality, appear light years away from resolution despite recent progress. But are we asking the right questions? When does life actually begin? Is sexual orientation actually a choice?

Conservatives argue that at conception, the very moment the microscopic sperm cell enters the one-celled ovum, a little person is created with a mind and a soul. But substantial scientific evidence indicates that at this point the human zygote has neither the neural sophistication nor cellular differentiation to be considered a being of any kind, only the potential.

Evangelicals insist that if we can't remember the date and time we chose Christ as our Savior we probably didn't. But if sexual orientation is a choice, as they claim, I can't for the life of me remember when I chose girls. In fact, I can't recall when I didn't; it was just natural. Homosexuals feel they have experienced a similar phenomenon but in a different direction. Does anyone honestly know?

Until we convene our best scientific, legal and theological minds and address these issues objectively, dispassionately and yes, prayerfully, these highly-emotional debates will never progress beyond the name-calling stage where they are today.

GEORGE B. REED JR., Rossville

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America needs more teamwork

The truth is, nobody running for president can get anything done with the way both Houses of Congress are playing political games!

No presidential candidate, whether Democrat or Republican, whether black or white, can get anything done because of our lawmakers' nit-picking and defeating everything that is presented.

Teamwork is essential. Teamwork, yes teamwork! I urge all good citizens to rise up and start demanding that Congress work together to correct what needs to be corrected in our great country. Not overseas, but here in our country.

Congress is where the laws are created. There are no laws coming from Congress for the president to sign. The president is not the one to make laws. It is the Congress.

Obama knows exactly what needs to be corrected. But he cannot because Congress blocks everything he tries to do. And I might add, a man as white as snow could not do any better.

Teamwork, not political games, is what America needs. So, citizens, start writing letters to our congressmen demanding they do the job we elected them to do. Write to them.

JOY E. ADAMS