Positive things have gone away

LETTERS TO THE EDITORS

Positive things have gone away

Not long ago I wrote asking, "Is the world on the brink of insanity?" I feel the need to revise that question to "Are some of the world's inhabitants losing their cool?"

The wars continue, and crime is on the increase. It makes you wonder when you leave your home, will I make it back? Are we returning to the days of the Old West? Is there any place to feel safe and secure?

I wish there could be some positive things happening. When you read the newspaper or turn on the TV, it would be great to hear some good news.

From Washington, D.C., on down, it's the Republicans versus the Democrats. You could call it a war on the home front with the two parties wanting to make sure for another big "change" in the 2012 election. The present administration had promised the American people a "change," but it seems that went negative instead of positive.

It is more important to keep watch on North Korea and Iran because without our foundation, the planet Earth, we wouldn't have to worry about a "change."

RICHARD D. BLOOD

Ringgold, Ga.

GOP budget cuts would cause harm

The budget cuts passed by the House of Representatives and endorsed by Republican senators attack the neediest and most politically defenseless. Victims include seniors needing home heating assistance, low-income health care recipients, preschool children, low- and middle-income college students, and homeless veterans.

Among other targets: health care reform, financial consumer protection, high-speed rail, education, Americorps, environmental protection, renewable energy, the National Archives, national parks, cancer research, law enforcement, the arts, public broadcasting, foreign aid promoting democracy in the Middle East, and much more.

Rep. Chuck Fleischmann and others demanding these barbaric cuts falsely claim they would lower the deficit. In actual fact they would affect only a negligible fraction of the federal budget. Moreover, the harm they would do to the economy would actually increase the deficit. These lawmakers know this. They don't care.

The motivation for these campaigns is not fiscal. It is ideological. Today's radically right-wing Republican politicians and their backers don't believe government should help anyone - except the one-half percent of Americans who already control 40 percent of the nation's wealth. Thanks to the malignant influence of the tea party mentality, indigent elderly people will freeze next winter so that billionaires can keep their tax cuts.

CHRIS MOSER

Lithonia, Ga.

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