Ethanol deserves to be criticized

LETTERS TO THE EDITORS

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Ethanol deserves to be criticized

Ethanol does increase food prices. Land previously used to grow sweet corn is now used to grow field corn due to the profitability of ethanol. That is only one bad fact of ethanol.

I have owned an automotive company for 32 years and have never seen any one thing more devastating to a fuel system than ethanol. The molecular makeup of ethanol is different than gas.

Ethanol attracts moisture, becomes heavier than the gas, then separates and settles to the bottom of tank. In that form, it becomes a corrosive agent and damages the in-tank fuel pump and fuel-sending units. In devices that are not used daily to keep it "shaken up" such as lawn mowers, weed eaters, boats and classic cars, it forms a brown, slimy substance that clogs and ruins the carburetors. Next month, when the ethanol content goes to 15 percent, the problem will get significantly worse.

JOE KIRKPATRICK

Cleveland, Tenn.

Land formerly OK now deemed bad

I bought a lot in Walker County on Salem Road a year ago and found a double-wide to put on it. It had a burned place where the last home had been located, and another had been on it before that with another owner. So in the last 20 years two permits had been issued for this lot. County officials will not issue a permit to me because they say the land is not fit for a septic system.

The owner of the burned home said she would sign anything saying the system had never failed in 15 years. I paid $7,000 for a lot that has had two permits and cannot live on it.

If Walker County will not grant permits for land they have given permits to in the past, then they should be required to have sewer systems on every road for every home! By the way, I paid them $75 they will not return and $200 for soil tests.

JIM GRIFFIN

Chickamauga, Ga.

Columnist total waster of time

In answer of Steve Barrett's "Yes, but ..." column, he excuses an action but condemns the reaction. If this Jim Jones-type individual in Florida wants to make a dramatic statement about Islam, he should go to a Muslim country and burn the Quran. Until then, it's all about a show.

Mr. Barrett has written about his support for the war in Iraq even after every excuse for the invasion has been disproved, saying everyone read the same intelligence reports. But in true Republican style, he fails to mention that everyone read the same skewed, hand-picked intelligence, and anyone who disagreed with their viewpoint was said to be un-American.

On the debt and deficits, Mr. Barrett supports the Republican position that only spending is the culprit, never taking to task the devastating Bush tax cuts for the wealthy that are the underlying cause of our financial problems. If you vote Republican, but you're not independently wealthy, then these people are laughing at you just like a schoolyard bully who's taken a small child's lunch money. Our position is not about class envy, or even about what's fair, it's about what's just.

Steve Barrett and ("Mallard Fillmore" cartoonist) Bruce Tinsley are two total wasters of time.

ALLAN BAGGETT

Trion, Ga.

God's way, not man's, will save us

A recent Sunday edition of our local paper showed how much better our community would be if the evolutionary secular humanists had not been allowed to have their way in banning God's Ten Commandments from public life. The front page depicted everything from war to lying by public officials to murder.

Families can teach their children by simply turning to Exodus chapter 20 and reading the first 11 verses. There they will learn how we are to relate to God and to each other as well as how powerful God really is in that He created the entire universe in six days.

The time has come to ignore and brush aside those who would intimidate people who want to glorify God by public displays and statements in His name. Return the Ten Commandments to the schoolhouse, the courthouse and other public buildings.

It is certain that the plans of man are not working. Returning to God's Word is the only true solution to the problems plaguing Chattanooga.

PHILIP W. HAYMAKER SR.

Hixson

Deficit solution is no solution

All members of executive and legislative branches of U.S. government making minimum $177,000 per year should take SAT math aptitude tests.

How can any of these claim "victory" for cuts of $38.5 billion for the last 170 days of FY 2011? That's $226,500 per day. But in eight days to April 7, U.S. debt increased by $6.7625 billion per day, or $54.1 billion. Debt increased $653.4 billion since Oct. 1, 2010, or $3.421 billion per day.

If eight-day figure is used, debt will increase by $1.11112 trillion by Sept. 30, 2011, to $15.3956 trillion! Using average per day since start of fiscal year, debt will increase by $581.57 billion to total $14.866 trillion! Little wonder that increase in debt limit is contemplated.

It's a comprehension problem, not a math problem, when this highly paid group of people cannot see how ludicrous a savings of $38.5 billion is? That's enough to cover only 11 days using lowest increase per day rate. What about the remaining 159 days?

What's the plan? We know the answer: increase debt limit and keep spending to increase debt by $3 billion-$7 billion per day, or $1 trillion-$2 trillion per year. Ad infinitum?

JOHN A. LYNCH JR.

Whitwell, Tenn.

Lowe's provides discounts for vets

Good news for a change: Lowe's Home Centers now are giving both vets and active military personnel a 10 percent discount on all purchases without a dollar limit. It applies to any item in the store without restrictions. You must have proof that you are either a vet or are on active duty. You don't need discharge papers unless that's all you have. I used a VA card. Let's hear it for Lowe's.

GENE JONES

Signal Mountain

New budget 'deal' just GOP posturing

The whole deficit reduction process led by conservative Republicans (who, don't forget, created the deficit) is nothing more than political theater.

It has nothing to do with decreasing federal debt. It has everything to do with promoting the inhumane, antisocial and pro-corporate ideology of the extreme right.

How else can one explain that the cuts in the budget "deal" are largely targeted against programs that benefit the poor and government agencies that regulate corporate abuses which conservatives have been against for years?

The very wealthy who have benefited disproportionately from the economic output of American workers are not touched by this "deal."

There is nothing in the "deal" that impacts corporations that have made huge profits by outsourcing American jobs.

There is nothing in the "deal" that reduces the huge expenditure on a bloated military that spends more than all the other countries of the world combined.

Until these deficit-producing sources are included in a deficit-reducing budget, the posturing by right-wing, tea party ideologues is just that: posturing.

We need to throw out of Congress the people who believe government is the problem and replace them with people who will make government benefit all Americans.

TED TUMELAIRE

Signal Mountain

Popular slacklining is still available

I really enjoyed your article about a UTC student's slacklining hobby in Monday's (April 11) paper.

Slacklining is a great pastime that is easy to learn and can be set up just about anywhere. The only thing I would like to add, though, is that while slacklining at UTC has been very popular over the last year, it has recently been banned from campus.

For anyone interested in slacklining, there is always a line set up at the Tennessee Bouldering Authority, and supplies to rig your own slackline can be purchased at Rock Creek.

NATHAN DROLET