Pair of lawmakers waste time, money

Recently I read in this paper that two Tennessee lawmakers want all presidential candidates to prove they were natural-born U.S. citizens to qualify for the ballot in the state.

Another couple of "birthers" still think Obama was born in Kenya or some other foreign country. Have they ever heard of the U.S. Constitution? Have they read it? Are these the kind of people who are deciding the fate of Tennessee and wasting valuable taxpayer time and money on these fruitless journeys into the unknown?

Their names are Sen. Bill Ketron and Rep. Rick Womick. In the next election, make sure you send them back to the office they escaped from.

BILL BUCKLEY

Ringgold, Ga.

ACLU avoids big government

A letter (March 6) comments that the ACLU protects our freedoms against the likes of the tea party.

While the ACLU has taken on a few worthy causes, most have amounted to left-wing ideology such as stopping Christmas scenes on government property or the Ten Commandments in a courthouse. But the ACLU avoids attacks on big government, which is what the tea party is doing.

Big, intrusive government is far more a threat to our liberties than the Ten Commandments. One of the most glaring recent examples is the Obama health care bill.

GENE L. ROGERS

Georgia legislation backs ObamaCare

The Georgia House voted for ObamaCare by passing HB 214. It creates a Georgia Department of Public Health that on line 109 facilitates ObamaCare by saying "Cooperate with agencies and departments of the federal government."

On line 20, it creates a Board and a Commissioner (Czar). On line 481, it dictates to counties about their boards or health and "conformity prerequisite." On line 644 it "plans and coordinates a physician work force." Line 1440 regulates private contracting, a "physician may not enter into a nurse protocol agreement pursuant to this Code section." Line 1517 regulates insurance coverage, "of morbidly obese patients." Line 1564 dictates "sex education and AIDS prevention instruction in elementary and secondary schools."

Line 170 sets a "variance request should not be applied as written because strict application would cause undue hardship." I can just imagine multinational corporations taking our legislators off to junkets in Germany to explain about their "undo hardships."

In the U.S. House, Gov. Nathan Deal voted for increased government control over our health care and he gave his blessing to HB 214. The only recourse that overtaxed people have is to ask their state senators to vote "NO" on this health care power grab.

BERT LOFTMAN

Jasper, Ga.

You can trust PBS programs

For many years my family and I have been avid supporters of our local PBS station WTCI, Channel 45. Our children and now our grandchildren watch and enjoy public television. We believe funding for PBS should not be cut.

News and public service programs that have won countless Peabody Awards, Emmys and DuPont-Columbia Awards for Excellence in Broadcast journalism are worth continuing.

The "News Hour'' and "Frontline'' are part of an American institution that's now being threatened with the ax by government legislators.

It doesn't seem that this is about balancing the budget at all, especially when you look at that the amount these stations receive in comparison to other line items. Our legislators know these cuts would shut stations down and we may never see fair, balanced national television reporting again.

Now is the time to speak up, America. Tell your legislators you want programs you can trust and that cutting funds for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is not the right way to reduce expenditures.

RALPH KENDALL

It's your life that is at stake

The Apostle Paul in his writings kept repeating "I would not have you ignorant" because the ignorant are easily deceived as are so many today by catch phrases like "big government, small business and unions."

But for strong unions, America would be a third-world country. It was the unions that brought about wage, hour and child-labor laws that abolished sweat shops, gave us decent wages, 40-hour work weeks, paid holidays and vacations, employee insurance and safe working conditions. Communism was designed for England but failed because of strong unions.

Big business, not big government, is destroying small business. Through tax loopholes, tax subsidies and hiring foreign slave labor, they have made it impossible for small business to compete.

By deceiving the ignorant, dictators always destroy unions and control education in order to control the people.

Republicans have always hated Social Security, Medicare, unions and anything that favors the working people.

Don't be ignorant. Time is running out for America. Get informed and get involved. It is your life that is at stake.

EDNA TAYLOR

Commission wrong on PILOT funds

Please allow me to weigh in on two current controversies.

First, concerning the PILOT funds from Volkswagen, the county commissioners are totally wrong (as is the attorney general) to withhold those funds from the school board's general fund. Those monies were earmarked for the school system, and the commissioners should not have any say-so over their use; end of discussion.

Secondly, to those advocating Amazon being forced to collect sales taxes, the obvious answer is no.

Promises were made in order to lure them here, and those promises must now be kept. Otherwise, we will wind up as Texas did when trying to force Amazon to collect local sales taxes: Amazon closed every facility in Texas and moved elsewhere. It could happen again!

RONALD CUMBIE