Some people more blessed than others
I would like to comment on a letter in Wednesday's paper (Feb. 9) from the lady who indicated she and her husband had to live on $72,000 per year.
There are two in my family also. My 1040 tax return for last year was for $12,993, and this is the high for the last three years.
If I had an extra $59,000 this year, I could fill my car with gasoline at least once a month, go out to eat sometimes, maybe visit my grandchildren.
I yield to this lady who has surely received more blessings and is much more fortunate than I.
PAUL CANTLEY
Soddy-Daisy
Have you lived with homosexuals?
I am always fascinated with the lack of knowledge the general public has with regard to a lifestyle they have never lived, that of a soldier.
They seem to feel "they" are best capable to make decisions that affect the lives of our military personnel. Amazing!
However, with that stated, have they ever "really" lived with homosexuals (as the great President Ronald Reagan once stated, "there is nothing gay about that lifestyle"), and I don't mean knowing a homosexual at your work place, or having a neighbor who is a homosexual; or perhaps dating a homosexual?
I mean actually living with homosexuals, sleeping in the bunk next to yours in an open barrack, going to an open latrine with no privacy, showering in one large shower room; or in the field, a shower tent, or a shelter half in which to live, and in a combat situation when blood is needed immediately, can they be sure?
I have lived a soldier's life for 30 years, and I have witnessed many changes; some were good and some were bad, and I assure you that this decision by unknowing civilians will fall under the former and not the latter.
SGT. MAJ. LARRY E.
WILLIAMS
U.S. Army/Retired
Monteagle, Tenn.
Bennett addicted to partisanship
In Clay Bennett's political cartoon (Feb. 10), he uses the occasion of President Obama's announcement that he has quit smoking to suggest that Speaker of the House Boehner (and the Republicans in general) continue to engage in partisanship as the prime motivating force behind their actions in the government.
Are we really to believe that President Obama and the Democrats by contrast are not in any way motivated by partisanship? It seems obvious that the biggest chain smoker of the unfiltered Partisanship brand of cigarettes is Mr. Bennett himself. He is the most addicted to it.
LAWRENCE S. NAGLE, M.D.
New health act just plain great
The Affordable Care Act has worked for me. I was paying on a $250,000 option with AT&T. I am retired.
I no longer have to pay for this option for health care because of the Affordable Care Act.
I am on Medicare, and I do not believe that Medicare will be obsolete with the new Affordable Care Act. In matter of fact, we are allowed to have preventive services.
It does not make any sense to wait until someone is near death to begin to help them. People are dying because they cannot get to a doctor.
If the Affordable Care Act is repealed, the unemployed, low-income families and children will suffer. With it, insurance companies will be able to help everybody, instead of the selected few.
My daughter just found a job after being unemployed for months. When she was employed, she could not afford the premiums. So she has been without insurance for at least a year. She needs a low-price premium.
My grandson will be able to have insurance until he finishes college or trade school. This is outstanding.
I believe the Affordable Care Act is just plain great.
SAUNDRA PINCKNEY
Woodstock, Ga.
Why don't all back health plan?
Because a little bit of love is better than no love at all, and a little bit of good is better than no good at all, and the president's health care plan has done a lot of good for the people, it has stopped big insurance companies from discriminating against children and adults with pre-existing conditions by denying them coverage, which means more people can qualify and get health insurance now than ever before!
People who already have health insurance can no longer be singled out and dropped when they get sick or acquire a new illness.
It gives parents the opportunity to provide health insurance for their child after finishing school.
It helps people changing jobs to keep their health insurance and those who retire a little early to keep their coverage.
It helps seniors get care they need.
The main point is why shouldn't we as Americans want to support a health care law that's helping us better now than any other plan we've ever had?
Shouldn't Republicans and some others want all Americans to benefit from affordable health care? Don't they care about the health of all voters? Or do they oppose it because they just don't want to support President Obama and his administration?
CHARLES P.
RUTHERFORD SR.
Bridgeport, Ala.
Use term limits to trim abuses
I could write a short novel about Nancy Pelosi, but I will limit myself to the following comments.
It is reported that Pelosi used Air Force aircraft for a total of 43 trips home, covering 90,155 miles, from Jan. 1-Oct. 1, 2010. The Air Force documented in-flight expenses for 22 of these flights totaling $1,821.33. Pelosi's travel cost the United States Air Force $2,100,744.59 over one two-year period -- $101,429.14 of which was for in-flight expenses, including food and alcohol.
We have no direct recourse for these actions because as Tennessee residents, she is not on our ballot. But there is something we can do. We can work to establish term limits for all representatives. She alone would be reason enough for these limits, but she is merely the tip of the iceberg.
The longer our representatives are in office, the more self-serving they become. It's called "learning to work the system," and they get better at it with time.
PAUL PEPI
Editor's Note: Factcheck.org review of Air Force records shows that most of the expenses under House Speaker Pelosi's travel were for congressional delegations involving groups of other congressmen. Her expenses as speaker were similar to those of the former speaker, Republican Dennis Hastert.
Annuity isn't that complex
After reading Chris Hopkins' article (Feb. 9) on equity indexed annuities, I can see how the securities industry has lost hundreds of billions of dollars of their clients' money the last few years. If a securities guy cannot understand a simple equity indexed annuity (EIA), I wonder how he explains other financial products to his clients.
He mentions that EIAs are complex. Basically it comes down to this. The client is given an opportunity to participate in "some" of the gains in the market index, but "none" of the losses. Sounds pretty simple to me, and I am just a poor little Insurance agent.
Mr. Hopkins seems to be troubled by the fact that EIAs are regulated by the state insurance commissioner and not the "SEC." You might remember the SEC is the same gang that "regulated" Bernie Madoff, the sale of Enron, FNMA and FHLMC stock, and every toxic mortgage-backed security that was ever sold to an unsuspecting sucker.
No person who has bought an equity indexed annuity in Tennessee has ever lost a penny on their original investment.
DOUGLAS JONES
North Chattanooga