Don't forget Pearl Harbor significance
"A day that will live in infamy." Are you kidding? If it wasn't for the editorial on Free Press editorial page, there would not have been even a mention of Pearl Harbor and the attack that changed the world in the Dec. 7 Times Free Press. How soon before no one understands why the memorial at Ground Zero is even there?
Lee Heidel, Signal Mountain
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Fleischmann hailed for tireless work
Waterways Council Inc., the national public policy organization representing a coalition of inland waterways stakeholders -- barge carriers, shippers, ports and agriculture, labor and conservation organizations -- truly appreciates the Times Free Press' attention to the inland waterways' barge diesel fuel user fee increase ("And Another Thing: Fleischmann and the Fee," Dec. 5). But we feel the criticism of Rep. Chuck Fleischmann's [previous] "reluctant" support for the user fee increase is not accurate. Fleischmann has been a true champion and been very supportive of efforts to move an increase, urging reform to the system of delivery first, to be followed by this increase next. As a member of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Fleischmann was able to work very effectively to increase funding for capital investment in the waterways in fiscal year 2014, and to push hard to provide an additional $112 million toward priority navigation projects that include Chickamauga lock in fiscal year 2015. Chattanooga will reap the benefits of the fee increase and the work of leaders like Rep. Fleischmann and Sen. Lamar Alexander, who have worked tirelessly to deliver for your city and for the nation through increased investment in the nation's waterways' infrastructure.
Michael J. Toohey, President/CEO
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Freedom, 'idiots' not good combo
Our Constitution provides several freedoms. Free speech, freedom of religion, freedom from unwarranted search and seizure, freedom from intrusions on privacy and the right to protest when you do not like something. Unfortunately, all these benefits of our Constitution assume reasonably intelligent, knowledgeable citizens, because otherwise they can be powerful weapons when misused. Freedom and idiots can destroy the very freedoms that the Constitution allows them to use. What is happening now in the streets of some of our major cities is a good example.
Gene Rogers
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Calling statesmen for good of nation
Democrats are all heart and no mind. Republicans are all mind and no heart. The Democrats have a great story, but they can't deliver. They have no plan. They promised to end poverty in the 1960s but instead only managed to break up the family. Now the poor are addicted to the Democrats' welfare crack, and the national debt has reached $18 trillion. Let that figure sink in. It's $18 trillion, and we are still charging on our government credit card every day! The Republicans have an answer, but they can't sell it. And they can't get on the same page. If the Republicans would cut spending, put us back to work and make every able-bodied American have to work, we might just make it. But it will take statesmen, not politicians -- statesmen who are willing to take the pressure and not back down. This just may be our last chance.
Gerald Whitely, Ringgold, Ga.