GOP hopefuls will need new material
Republican candidates and operatives like Limbaugh have left enough material for the Democratic campaign, without anything new to use against them, through the next election.
When candidates wanted birth control issues to be aimed negatively at the church and religious freedom, it soon became seen as an attack on the rights of women. A student was called a "slut" for testifying that contraceptives should be included with health benefits.
Romney, the political switcher in the past, became current with his flip-flopping in the confines of a day on the Blunt employer contraception bill. On numerous occasions, Romney said that his Massachusetts health care plan would be a model for the nation. Now he denies it.
When gas prices were high in the Bush administration, "fair and balanced" Fox newscasters and pundits proclaimed that no president could do anything about it: "Gas prices are controlled by market forces." What a change of tune! Now a Democratic president is to blame for the high price of gas.
As a consequence of all this and with monthly job and income growth and other positive economic indicators, the candidate Republicans choose will have to be creative in finding grounds on which to campaign.
JOHN BRATTON, Sewanee, Tenn.
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Erlanger in red by serving public
The article by Dr. Clif Cleaveland regarding Erlanger hospital (March 22) on its financial situation hit the nail on the head.
No wonder they were out $82 million for the fiscal year. Whenever an emergency comes up, you will hear on the evening news that they were taken to Erlanger.
Thank you, Dr. Cleaveland, for making the public aware of saving lives and "what if Erlanger vanished."
MARY J. WEST, Soddy-Daisy
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Campers destroyed public property
The next time I camp at Chester Frost Park, I will ask the park ranger to break camp and put my stuff in the car, since they so graciously did that for the people who were destroying public property. This whole thing is absurd. Free speech is not the right to destroy property at the taxpayers' expense.
I wonder what the Times editorial of March 22 would be if that was the tea party occupying the courthouse lawn?
BILL KRAUSE, Ooltewah
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Put phones down to save lives
Phone booth vs. motor vehicle: Texting, facebooking, calling, dialing, are all things that are taking innocent victims these days on our roadways. It is completely ridiculous to me that citizens still ignorantly believe that it is OK to use their phones while driving! Not only is it now illegal in 35 states, it is a preventable death risk.
Why is it so hard for people to lay their phones down while they are behind the wheel?
Citizens need to think when they hear their phone ring, "Is reading or replying to this text worth a life? Is it worth my life?"
Another thing that is completely preposterous, to me, is people who say that it is mainly teenagers and younger citizens who commit the crime. This idea is completely absurd. My boyfriend and I find it sort of a game while we are riding in the car to count the citizens who have one hand on the wheel and one on their phone. We counted five older citizens one day who were committing the crime. It is not just teens, it is everyone.
Citizens, your cars are a form of transportation, not a phone booth! Put down the mobile device and save a life.
CHELSEY STRUTTON
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Put some letters on comic pages
Some of your recently published letters from readers should have been printed in the comic section, not the editorial pages.
LARRY FOSTER
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Add you name to marrow list
In my most recent letter to the Times Free Press, I failed to include an appeal for young adults to sign up for the national Marrow Donor Program. Bone marrow donors are very much needed for people with a wide number of ailments.
I am still urging readers to visit Blood Assurance to donate blood product. When you do come to render your gift of life, you can also sign up and be tested to determine marrow type.
An individual's bone marrow may be the only one listed that is compatible with that of a person who is in desperate need.
HARRY GELLER
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People power is a mixed bag
Our Republican-dominated legislature recently threw dirt at a decades-old United Nations objective : Agenda 21. House Joint Resolution 587 (nonbinding) opposes the U.N.'s effort to halt worldwide pollution of air and water, genocide, and population surges that can only perpetuate poverty.
Well, well, our legislature is subscripted into the national GOP's agenda for re-election of "conservatives." Conservative actually means preservation, adherence to sound principles, risk avoidance, and protection of governmental institutions.
Last week, the "conservative" majority of the Supreme Court voted to favor property rights over the government's responsibility to keep air and water clean and preserve habitats. The court selects its cases, thus it and the GOP seem to collude; influencing uninformed or corrupted voters in November.
Also in the news are efforts to force corporations to pay dividends to stockholders. But, corporations are supposed to pay quarterly dividends; that's how capitalism works. Now, profits are feeding sky-high salaries to top executives.
Has grand larceny become "legal"? In 2001, a local clerk of court, said that a trust's trustee can do anything with the money -- even make personal use and ignore designated recipients.
Where's the solution? People power is a mixed bag.
RACHEL WHEELER
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Story needed on E-Verify bill
I hope that you will also do a story on HR 2885, the E-Verify bill. This is part of a letter from John Duncan Jr. of the 2nd District and why he cannot vote for this bill:
"But H.R. 2885 is a good bill gone bad.
"That's because it guts the rights of states and local municipalities.
"Buried in the bill is a clause that says that states and local jurisdictions can act against businesses that knowingly hire illegal aliens -- after the federal government acts against them.
"If the federal government doesn't act against those businesses, states and municipalities can't.
"H.R. 2885 will actually block states and municipalities from enforcing their own laws punishing businesses that knowingly hire illegal aliens.
"As someone at the forefront of the illegal immigration battle, I don't trust the federal government to do its duty and enforce a new immigration law."
MONA FREEMAN, Calhoun, Ga.
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Republicans can't handle the truth
If you really want the truth about Fox News, go to YouTube, keyword Fox News Lies. You had better pack a lunch, there are over 9,000 results.
While there, check out Sarah Palin's greatest hits. If you still believe she is qualified for president you probably believe Elvis is alive.
I've told a few Republican friends about it, but they can't handle the truth. They have already forgotten how Bush and a Republican Congress led us into a record deficit and the worst economy since the Great Depression. They have forgotten that the stock market was at 6,500 and sinking, that we were losing $700,000 a month, stuck in two wars with no end in sight
With as much Republican obstruction as possible, Obama and the Democrats have doubled the stock market, got us out of Iraq, created more than 200,000 jobs a month the last three months, raised the minimum wage, got equal pay for women, credit card and health care reform, got Osama bin Laden, and saved the American auto industry.
When was the last time a Republican politician did anything for the working class?
STEPHEN BORDERS, Hixson