Government intrusions grow
Trading constitutionally-backed freedoms for "security" is a dangerous path. As a veteran who worked in military security, I am sad at what's happening.
Federal: NSA snooping, TSA groping, Homeland Security arms buying, and domestic drones flying. It is shocking how many agencies now have their own SWAT teams. The Patriot Act has been conveniently used to prosecute anything under the catch-all term of terrorism. The list goes on and on.
State/Local: Highway checkpoints, forced searches and federalization of police departments through grant money. State legislators appear to have little concern for the Constitution and generally don't return correspondence on the issue (I have tried repeatedly). Many seem unaware that there is more than the Second Amendment in the Bill of Rights. But they wrap themselves in the flag and label 'unpatriotic' anyone who doesn't fit neatly into their left-or-right political paradigm.
I guess it's all OK though. I mean, we can watch hours of Hollywood and immerse ourselves in entertainment and sports, and buy slave labor goods down at the local big-box store. Apathy: It's priceless isn't it, especially for our kids and grandchildren?
MALCOLM FROOME, Murfreesboro
Don't outsource chicken to China
I recently read where the "U.S. Department of Agriculture is now permitting slaughtered U.S. and Canadian chickens to be processed in China and then exported back to the States." Agnvall and Saigon in the Dec. 13 AARP Bulletin.
Really? This is the same China that sent the United States tainted pet food that killed our pets. China was also responsible for the tainted baby formula that sickened or caused the deaths of many babies in the United States and in their own country of China. Remember the problem with lead paint used on toys from China even after the U.S. toy companies sent other nonlead paint for the Chinese to use on the toys?
I hate to think how they will "process" our chicken and who will oversee it.
It is time to stop buying chicken and write to our U.S. Department of Agriculture to complain and ask what they are thinking. Maybe raising the price for processing and exporting "boomerang chicken" doesn't matter if it makes U.S. citizens sick or kills them.
LISA LOVELADY, Fort Oglethorpe