Ringgold veteran offers other side of VA story and other letters to the editors

Ringgold veteran offers other side of VA story

As I watch news of the horrifying stories about the VA around the country, I feel the need to speak up about the care I have received in Chattanooga. As a combat-wounded veteran, I have been treated for several years at the VA center here and have received better care than I ever got in the private sector. I consider my doctor, Luther Stanfield, a friend. When I have been sent to the VA Center in Murfreesboro, the care and professional courtesy were equally outstanding. I have all confidence in their ability and commitment to my health as well as to other veterans who visit this facility. I have never seen any veteran treated with anything but the utmost respect. I cannot tell you how many times staff members have thanked me for my service. Keep up the good work.

MIKE GRIFFIN, Ringgold, Ga.


Too many political letters

OK, I have had enough of the free advertising for candidates running for office in the CTFP editorial section. We need the space for real comments, ideas, thoughts, likes and dislikes. If you want to endorse a certain political candidate, buy an ad! DENNIS BROWN Cloudland, Ga. Wamp needs real experience I see where TFP has given Weston Wamp a forum to campaign from your editorial section. I read his commentary recently opining on U.S. military affairs. If Mr. Wamp wants to serve his country, he should put on a uniform and do so. Get some seasoning. Real life experience. Build his resume. To think that he is qualified to serve in our Congress with nothing but name recognition is a stretch. To serve in a legislative body that sends our young men to war? He's entitled to his opinion, but he is not qualified to be a congressman. I'm sure he is a good man, but he should actually do something before he goes to Washington D.C. Maybe city councilman.

TIM ENGEL


Why pick on Hobby Lobby?

In "Don't Tread on Vegas Cop Killers," your Times editorial writer seeks to establish the so-called tea party's guilt by association with the recent murders of two policemen in Las Vegas. Placement of a Nazi flag and a "Don't Tread" flag on the bodies of the slain policemen apparently makes that association beyond dispute in her judgment. Just as curious is her mention that the female killer was a former employee of Hobby Lobby. How is that relevant to anything? Could it possibly be because Hobby Lobby is the lead plaintiff in challenging the Obama administration's mandate that employers under the ACA pay for certain abortifacients, to which the owners of Hobby Lobby object on grounds of religious freedom? An explanation is owed. Why else mention a murderer's former place of work? Guilt by association is a cheap shot.

GARY LINDLEY, Lookout Mountain, Ga.


Save wetlands at Chatt State

First, the head of Chattanooga State has the geese killed. Now he wants to destroy the wetlands for a chapel. Chattanooga has plenty of churches and chapels but an ever-diminishing number of wetlands. Why not teach students to appreciate nature and live alongside other living things? Separation of church and state could be an issue here, but the real educational opportunity would be lost by further destruction. This is a horrible proposition that compounds the earlier bad judgment. Save the wetlands is a far better message.

ALICE TYM, McDonald, Tenn.


Slanting the Bergdahl story

The Republican majority in the House of Representatives undermines every action taken by President Obama as a matter of course. Unable to defeat him at the polls, it must settle for undermining his leadership, confusing important issues and further dividing the country. A current example of this is the president's negotiating the release of Sgt. Bergdahl. An article in the UK newspaper "The Guardian" on June 6 reported, "interviews with angry members of Bergdahl's platoon - the source of much of the criticism of the soldier's alleged disloyalty - have on at least one occasion been arranged by a public relations firm with strong links to the Republican party." In a free society, public relation firms hired by political parties are free to create whatever reality serves their motives. They are often nothing more than professional hit men, creating and advertising lies that destroy reputations, harm people, their families and the public at large. And they do this without remorse.

FAYE WALTER, Sewanee, Tenn.


Bergdahl was a deserter

Our poor excuse for a president sent Susan Rice, the national security advisor, on a Sunday talk show to lie again with impunity. Does anyone remember the Benghazi talking points she made famous? Ms. Rice was speaking about Sgt. Bergdahl, just released after five years as a hostage with a Pakistani extremist terror group. In exchange, our government released five of the most hard-core leaders of the Taliban from Guantanamo prison. She stated that Bergdahl had served the nation with honor and distinction. Really? It is widely felt that at best he was a deserter who left his unit and at worst a collaborator with the enemy. This situation has been known since 2009 from intelligence sources and also recently from countless leaders of his platoon who have substantiated the claim. If the citizens of this country do not realize the incompetence and arrogance of this administration, there is no hope after so many scandals. The inmates are running the asylum.

MARY JANE REILLY


White guilt a waste of time

Open letter to David Cook: I did not murder Emmitt Till. If you are ashamed because your skin color resembles his killers', that is your self-inflicted guilt trip. Whites are not "voiceless." I am proud of my whiteness, heritage, accomplishments. If your friend Rudi feels "scared" by her white heritage, that's her own problem. My English/Swedish/German grandparents migrated to the Northeast with not a nickel. Whatever their success was derived only from skill, smarts and hard work. Our Haitian daughter-in-law made herself into a doctor here because of those same attributes, without obsessing about her ebony skin. You lack a historical worldview of slavery, a word derived from white "slavs" enslaved by Muslims. Hispanics enslaved blacks and whites. Native Americans owned slaves as did most cultures in most centuries. Africans enslaved nearly half of themselves and sold some to Europeans. Even if our ancestors 150 years ago were owners, we are no more guilty than a child whose parent commits a crime. You say blacks and browns are painfully aware of their color every day. Again, self-inflicted. Stop worrying about skin tone, and get on with your life. Your group of whites sitting around wallowing in undeserved guilt is a senseless, counterproductive waste of time. ELLIOTT MOREN, Ooltewah


Presidential scandals mount

Obama should be impeached. He ignores the Constitution, won't defend our borders, won't deport known criminal aliens, ignores the House and Senate, would rather rule by fiat and executive orders. He has our grandchildren's children in debt. The Obamas spent nearly $7 million dollars of taxpayer money for their Ireland vacation. Scandal after scandal. Fast and Furious (unresolved), Benghazi (unresolved), the IRS scandal (unresolved), now the VA health care scandal. This administration can't handle VA health care, and now comes Obamacare? He recently traded five high level Taliban members for one American deserter. This was also illegal. How much longer must we be an Obama nation?

JOHN BOHANNON

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