Government actions wrong

Thank you for the editorial ("He who pays the piper...'' Oct. 23) on responsibility. I have been angered for months by the actions of our government.

I remember President John Kennedy saying, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."

I find no place in our Constitution where government is supposed to bail out failing companies or banks. Nor is it supposed to pay people's taxes or credit card payments. It is the responsibility of everyone of us to take care of our own responsibilities.

Because of greed and maybe cheating, these people have made their bed; let them lie in it.

I know there are people out there who need help. We need to find a way to help them, honest people.

Congress needs to learn money managing. They have failed also.

Hopefully a lesson learned.

DORIS BARRES

Ooltewah

Fox News beats other networks

I used to watch the same news broadcasts every night.

A little more than a year ago, I started watching Fox News. What a difference! I found out more about what was going on in our country and in the world and all of a sudden felt I had been deceived by watching network TV. Fox News states, "We report -- you decide." They investigate the news, report it and follow up with a clarity unknown to network news.

Glenn Beck has become my favorite at 5 p.m. His presentation is oft times radical but the news he reports is accurate to the T. He reports things weeks ahead of the regular media -- if an issue gets reported at all -- he investigates then reports. He is a true American patriot.

Fox News was responsible for the gathering of almost 2 million patriots who gathered in Washington on Sept. 12 to protest big government interference.

Fox News reports the news without fear or favor. Where have we heard that before?

JIM SIMS

Red Bank

AARP fighting against seniors

I just received a mailer from AARP (American Association of Retired People) with a header "Losing your Medicare Advantage Plan?" They are wanting to sell their own Medicare supplement plan that would cost most of us seniors at least $1,200 more a year and they are working with the Obama administration to get rid of the Medicare Advantage Plans through this new health-care reform bill. Seniors beware of AARP -- they are fighting against you!

CARL L. CLARK

Ooltewah

Schools ignore crucial fungi

I was recently alerted to a letter written by a reader of your newspaper. He was describing wild mushrooms on his lawn and that no one knows why they sometimes occur in "Fairy Rings."

The fairy ring phenomenon has actually been well understood -- at least to science -- for hundreds of years. However, it does clearly point out just how poorly educated the public is about fungi. I blame our schools; most groups of living organisms get good coverage during one's school years but not so with fungi -- despite the fact that many fungi are integral to our day-to-day lives and in fact crucial to our very existence.

As publisher of a mycology journal (with academic and amateur readership), I'm currently attending the Seattle Mushroom Fair and am impressed at the knowledge of, and enthusiasm for, wild mushrooms and other fungi out here. The populace of the Pacific Northwest has a historic and wellknown attachment to wild fungi. Indeed, wild mushrooms contribute quite a bit to the local economy.

BRITT A. BUNYARD

Halloween celebrates Satan

Luke 11:2, "Our Father which are in heaven, hallowed be thy name...".

Hallowed means to hold holy, honored reverenced.

All Saints Day, Nov. 1, long ago once was a day that Christians remembered those Christians who had died and left a good witness of a life lived for Christ and the good deeds that they had done for his sake.

The evening before Hallow-Eve, the poor would go door to door asking alms, food, clothing, the necessities of life and were given these in the name of our LORD.

In time, the pagans, Satan worshippers, to mock the Christians, would disguise themselves as evil beings, witches, devils, ghosts, monsters, coming in the dark to frighten and demand a "Treat," alcohol, food, money and animals to sacrifice to Satan in their worship of him on a night Christians used to honor Christ.

If the pagans' threats were denied, they would "Trick" by vandalizing, stealing, burning, to punish their victims, just like today.

In time, other people and Christians too, began to dress as the same and play "Trick or Treat."

Christians, why are you today still joining in on this holiday celebration of Satan? Please understand and stop.

Jesus loves you all. He is Lord.

ROBERT "BOB" M.

STANLEY JR.

Hixson

US officials aided takeover

Thank you for Sunday's editorial "Praising Communist butcher," referring to Anita Dunn, Obama's White House communications director's, praise for Mao Zedong taking over China against all odds. However, Mao would not have succeeded were it not for the interference of President Truman and his representative, George C. Marshall.

U.S. State Department leftists demanded that Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalists form a "coalition government" with the Communists. "Coalition governments" permit the Communists to "take over," and Mao predicted that a coalition would destroy both Chiang and the American imperialism.

Marshall imposed an arms embargo on the Nationalists while the Communists were supplied by the Soviets. Marshall boasted that he had disarmed 39 of Chiang's divisions with "the stroke of a pen," Free China was turned into Red China, which butchered 60 million of its own people.

Praise for a Communist butcher by an administration official is not surprising. Consider the Communist enemies of freedom, e.g. Castro, Chavez, Ortega, Putin, have praised Obama. Associations with radicals of ACORN, Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers, Father Pfleger, and appointment of Van Jones and assorted other radicals permit us, in the words of Thomas Sowell, "to connect the dots and stop denying the obvious."

MAL C. MAUNEY, O.D.

Crossville, Tenn.

Schools fail to educate

Why shouldn't the government take care of the 50 million high school dropouts. Their government schools are the ones that failed to educate them. The teachers' union is run by people who are dumbing down and brainwashing our children.

JOHN GIRARDIN

New Hope, Tenn.