Nowlin ran a positive race

I want to thank Mike Nowlin for running a very clean, positive race for the District 1 seat for Georgia. Although he did not receive enough votes to get in office, he won big time. He showed us how to conduct ourselves as a Christian running for a political office. He was able to witness while visiting homes and businesses for many months on a daily basis.

When God closes one door He opens another. I'm anxious to see what He has in store for Mike in the coming months. Again, Mike, thank you for being a great example to all of us including your five granddaughters. Looking forward to see those red and white signs back out on the roadside and in yards again soon.

DOROTHY BROWN, LaFayette, Ga.

Weapon stirs uneasiness

My wife and I were eating at Ryan's in Hixson on Aug. 17 and in walked this man (about 75 years old) who sat across from us. He had a western six-shooter strapped to his right hip. He must have thought he was Gene Autry or Roy Rogers. It didn't faze him that people were watching him.

I know that hundreds of thousands of Tennesseans have permits to carry weapons, but few of them go around with them strapped to their leg. If a policeman had seen him, would he have asked for his permit? Many people feel uneasy when they see someone carrying a weapon like that.

JIM L. WILSON

Democrats wrong about Medicare

I am a senior citizen and receive Medicare. I am angry about the misinformation, kindly put, spread by Democrats.

Medicare is going broke. The neutral Congressional Budget Office projects the hospital part of Medicare will be bankrupt by 2024. That would mean no Medicare.

Republicans don't want to eliminate Medicare.

No one will be forced off Medicare by the Romney-Ryan ticket. Changes do not apply to persons age 55 (born in 1957) and earlier. Vouchers will not replace Medicare. They will be offered to those under 55 when they become eligible. They may take the voucher or choose conventional Medicare.

The original Ryan plan became legislation co-sponsored by Democrat Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon. This bipartisan legislation passed in the House, but failed in the Senate; no surprise there.

The Romney-Ryan plan will return the $716 billion taken by Obamacare and make some needed changes to preserve this much-needed program. Senior citizens, don't take my word, or that of Democrats. Do your own research. Make up your mind, based on fact, and vote for Romney-Ryan in November.

HORTON HERRIN, Dalton, Ga.

Romney has paid taxes that are due

I am sick and tired of people questioning how much Romney paid in taxes. It's none of our business what he paid, and it has nothing to do with his ability to lead.

Romney has earned money and has legally paid the taxes due. The taxes are based on the requirements of the Federal Tax Code (FTC), and the same rules apply to you and me. If he didn't follow the requirements of the code he would be dogged to pay back taxes, and that would be big news. If we don't like the FTC, we should push our lawmakers to advocate change.

In my opinion, this country needs a businessman to run it and a businessman to get us out of this mess, not a community organizer. Romney would bring a fresh new economic perspective to the mix.

This tax issue is an Obama/Democrat ploy to draw our attention away from the miserable record amassed over the last four years. They have nowhere else to turn. Obama has been dishonest, deceitful, nonpartisan -- and unlike what candidate Obama promised about transparency, his administration has been just the opposite. Don't be distracted. We have work to do in November.

PAUL PEPI

Focus on violence, not prostitutes

Periodically as I peruse the goings-on of the Chattanooga Police Department, most often I am proud and feel for the stress and strain that the job requires.

What I can never understand is the steady and obligatory big "busts" features of area escorts and prostitutes. While I see prostitution can be a public nuisance on the streets, it bothers me to hear of undercover sting operations behind closed doors.

We have a rapidly growing reputation for gang activity, drugs and violent activity in the city of Chattanooga, yet these select officers are excitedly taking turns booking appointments in private hotel rooms to meet, talk and sometimes sexually engage in a single girl's effort to make a living in a private room to do something that is legal in half the world.

All for what? A big headline? A big bust? It feels cowardly that they don't deliver the big gang busts that threaten our businesses and truly threaten our citizens, and it feels as if CPD is just trying to get some brownie points to bully and scare a defenseless girl possibly for their own enjoyment.

How about really protecting us and stop dating on the job.

TODD WEBBER

Drop incumbents to enact changes

Someone enlighten me on what I'm missing. The rhetoric is how much this president has wasted taxpayers' money since he took office. According to Article 1 of our Constitution, all bills and revenue will originate in Congress. Our so-called terrible entitlements originated in Congress.

Here is the kicker: we have had 36 years of Republican presidents and 24 of Democrats in the last 60, these years being when most of our entitlements and welfare laws got started. Presidents have the power to influence Congress with these laws, but Congress has the purse strings.

The closest we came to reforming some of the waste in our welfare system was with a Democrat president. You say it was a Republican Congress, and you're right. So fast forward to the present. After only two years of this president trying to clean up the mess he inherited, the voters got impatient and elected a Republican Congress of which we have now. So who spends the money, the president or the Congress? Has the Constitution been changed? Could it be both parties are at fault?

The change we need is to vote out all incumbents until we get the changes we can live with.

JACK PINE, Dunlap, Tenn.

Following tax code is acceptable

Since when is knowing your way around the U.S. tax code an argument against the integrity or honesty or political viability of anyone?

I am not a great fan of either presidential candidate, but Obama's latest ad that ends with a picture of Mitt Romney and the phrase, "chances are you pay a higher tax rate than him," is offensive on several levels, not the least of which is the obvious misuse of the pronoun. The wonks who chose to do so have assumed that an ad promoting class warfare should not use correct grammar. It is patently offensive to anyone who may be struggling to make ends meet but still believes in the American economic system and proper education.

The disparity in our tax code is a strong argument for a flat tax, but Mitt Romney did not write or endorse that code; he simply understands it and uses it to his own advantage. Which one of us would pay more taxes than we legally owe?

BECKY WOOLEY

Obama makes fool of whole country

This is to all those yellow dog Democrats who think so much of the president we have now. Why did we seniors and disabled persons not get a raise on our Social Security checks from the time he went into office until the next election year? But he gave the federal workers who make $75,000 and up per year a big raise.

You write letters to the editor wanting Romney to show all of his tax records for years past yet no one is pressing for Obama to show his legal birth certificate, his college records, etc. Obama doesn't want anyone to see anything of his past records and has spent millions protecting them because they would show he is not an American citizen by birth and that he has made a fool of this whole country.

All he does is stay on vacation and sign executive orders the minute Congress recesses because he can't come up with a good bill or a budget that the lawmakers will pass.

DOVER BEAVERS, Ellijay, Ga.