Re-electing Obama would be disturbing

Some have raised the question: How could America ever elect a man president so devoid of professional accomplishment to manage the world's largest economy, direct the world's most powerful military, execute the world's most consequential job as Barack Obama?

Ushered into and through the Ivy League, despite unremarkable grades and test scores along the way, his only experience was a cushy non-job as a "community organizer," a brief career as a state legislator and an unaccomplished single term in the United States Senate. Obama's ideology is apparently more in tune with Marx's "Communist Manifesto" than with the Constitution of the United States of America!

Unfortunately, America actually did elect Obama. Now imagine such an inscrutable and disturbing act as America re-electing him to a second term. Forbid it, Almighty God!

GARY SMITH, Flintstone, Ga.

Mises best friend of economic liberty

Re: editorial, July 31: Milton Friedman was neither "the most powerful defender of economic liberty in American history," nor "the most important friend of freedom American has seen in the past century." Those designations better fit Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973) of the Austrian school of economics (AE). Founded in Austria and brought to America by Mises in the 1940s, AE's headquarters today is the Mises Institute in Auburn, Ala.

AE's influence has grown exponentially of late as decades-old statist economic policies derived from other economic philosophies, including those of Friedman's Chicago-school monetarists, flounder under the weight of bloated governments.

In 1971, AE Murray Rothbard recalled that, "One of Friedman's most disastrous deeds was the important role he proudly played, during World War II in the Treasury Department, in foisting upon the suffering American public the system of the withholding tax."

Unlike AEs, who would deprive government of any role in monetary affairs and restore the free market, Friedman advocated the Federal Reserve's authoritarian control of money. Two crucial factors facilitating the exponential growth of government since 1913 are the income tax and the Fed. Friedman contributed much to both.

Mises' 1922 book, "Socialism," proved socialism must ultimately fail.

NED NETTERVILLE, Lone Oak, Tenn.

Coaches need to be role models

As a long-time member of the sports media, I applaud Stephen Hargis for his annual one-day tour to high school football camps which this time marked his 24th year. That is quite an undertaking.

What did concern me, though, was to read on Page 1 of the July 31 Chattanooga Times Free Press that there were "17 coaches who broke into salty-language tirades during the visit."

Coaches certainly have reason to expect total effort and good behavior from their players. In turn, the players and their loved ones should hold the coaches accountable for their actions such as the "gutter talk."

These coaches obviously could use some soul-searching. In so many cases today with one-parent families, coaches are the athletes' only role model!

Perhaps these coaches should be introduced to Fellowship of Christian Athletes, a high-profile national organization of almost 60 years, which nearly all high schools in this section of the country now have.

DOUG HAWLEY, Dalton, Ga.

Know the facts about online school

Re: the recent Times Free Press article, "(Andy) Berke requests (Tennessee) review of for-profit school."

As a local parent of a student enrolled in the Tennessee Virtual Academy (TNVA), it's important for Sen. Berke and the newspaper's readers to know the facts.

Online public schools like TNVA are public schools that use state-approved curriculum, have state-certified teachers, and meet all the same state testing and accountability measures as a neighborhood public school.

My family and other TNVA families chose the online option to better meet the individual needs of our children -- whether they are advanced learners, students who are falling way behind, or have special needs or medical issues.

Sen. Berke regularly attacks our online learning option because it's new and different -- and because it's opposed by the teachers' unions. He bases his criticisms on a flawed national study which is funded by the American Federation of Teachers, National Education Association and other anti-charter and anti-school reform interests.

Sound education studies show that school turnaround efforts sometime take as long as five years before large numbers of students show significant improvement.

I applaud the Tennessee Legislature for giving tax-paying Tennesseans like me more public school options through charter schools and online learning.

MICHELLE HAMIDI, Old Fort, Tenn.

Speed bumps bad for vehicles, traffic

Thank you for bringing up the subject of speed bumps (front page article, July 30). I too live on a corner and have suffered property damage from those who lose control at the sharp turn and wind up on my property. Usually they drive off without even the courtesy of a note saying "I'm sorry."

That said, I absolutely loathe speed bumps! They are negative in every way with no positive application. Hundreds of vehicles from bikes to large trucks safely negotiate the corner by my house every day. Why penalize all of them by forcing them to abuse their vehicles on speed bumps? Like four-way stop signs, everyone loses and nobody gains. Speed bumps are absolutely the worst way to control traffic!

Oh yes, please campaign to remove those offensive speed bumps from Dietz Road.

ALLAN PHILLIPS, Tunnel Hill, Ga.

Don't allow cyclists on the W Road

I agree with the person complaining about cyclists who ride the W Road, and it shouldn't be allowed! This definitely is no place for bike riding. It's too dangerous and too risky for accidents.

I think cyclists don't care and just want to get hit or they wouldn't ride the W, especially in the "texting and cell phone world we live in today." No brainer!

There are many other places for cyclists to ride their bikes, and it's not the W!

ROBBIE MATHIS, Signal Mountain

Marketplace act will increase taxes

The Marketplace Fairness Act is misguided. The spin is that through this legislation, the government creates greater equality for small businesses, but the reality is that all Tennesseans will pay more to the state in taxes. A tax hike will only create more inequality in Tennessee, not repair it.

It's a fallacy to confuse local businesses with small businesses. In Tennessee, just as throughout America, Mom and Pop shops were replaced long ago by national corporations. They were sadly not sustainable for reasons of inventory, overhead and the corporation's facility to duplicate itself and take over new markets. Collecting taxes directly from Internet merchants will not extend a lifeline to struggling independent businesses. It's just kicking the can down the road.

Raising taxes is a cop-out when our elected officials refuse to cut budgetary pork. Where is the leadership we need to reduce the tax burden for entrepreneurs starting a business in Tennessee? A dollar more in the hands of the Tennessee taxpayer will be spent better than in Republican Gov. Bill Haslam's coffer. If you agree, let Republican Sens. Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander know. After all, they are the ones co-sponsoring a tax hike in the midst of a recession!

GUY FAIN, Signal Mountain