Area drivers need to practice safety
I was recently transported to Erlanger hospital down I-75 via ambulance. What I witnessed was just sad.
I can't believe the drivers in Chattanooga are that self-centered and oblivious to their surroundings. Drivers jumped behind the ambulance to get ahead of other traffic and followed way too close. One driver followed for a while in the inside lane of southbound I-75, then suddenly veered over three lanes to get to the exit.
But worse was the number of drivers who operated in a void. They heard, saw and knew nothing of their surroundings. At one point, the ambulance driver had to get on the inside shoulder to pass, as all three lanes were blocked due to airhead drivers.
This happened all the way to Erlanger, both on and off of the freeway. It seems most Chattanooga drivers move in a dark fog. Is it a fog of ignorance or a fog of don't-care-about-anyone-but-me? That ride made me wonder how many people from Chattanooga die because too many drivers have their head in the clouds, or somewhere else, to see an emergency vehicle and get out of the way.
Steven Smith
Clinton should lose clearance
Our politicians and civilian government employees not employed by the Department of Defense undergo background checks and security clearances.
Anyone who is found to be grossly negligent in failing to protect and handle classified documents correctly, regardless of their "intent," can and in most cases does have their security clearances revoked. Service members, regardless of rank, can be forced out of service due to the loss of their security clearance as they cannot perform their assigned jobs.
It appears civilian employees are held to a different standards.
How can Secretary Clinton hold a security clearance after being found "extremely careless in [her] handling of very sensitive, highly classified information" by the FBI?
Hillary Clinton and those employees at the State Department involved in the email server scandal should have their security clearances revoked immediately.
If they cannot perform their jobs because of the lack of a clearance - well - that is too bad - fire them - they have failed to protect the nation's secure and secret documents.
Cliff Kent
Lt. Col. (ret)
Signal Mountain
Legislators did least they could
When it comes to looking out for Tennesseans, let it never be said the Tennessee state legislature did not do the least it could. When members put their heads together, you can almost hear The Three Stooges' skull-banging sound bite.
First, they formed a dummy committee to kill Insure Tennessee. Their latest anemic effort is an election-year answer to Gov. Haslam's Insure Tennessee. It is generously called the "3-Star Healthy Project," but a more appropriate name would be "You Are Not Good Enough, Tennessee," and it is worse than a Band-Aid. It is like prescribing aspirin for a brain tumor.
From the day they all got elected on a tidal wave of fear and propaganda, these legislators have looked down their noses at ordinary working people. With their actions, they are saying 275,000 working Tennesseans are not good enough to have access to affordable health care.
That is 275,000 people not good enough to have ready access to cancer screenings, blood pressure checks and treatment for diabetes. They show the same compassion for their fellow Tennesseans as the world did for the Jews in Germany during World War II.
David Clark
Tullahoma, Tenn.
Nonbelievers face day of reckoning
A few weeks ago, a woman wrote that the churches need to stop preaching that homosexuality is a sin, that it turns many people against this lifestyle and causes hostility.
My response to that is the churches need to teach it even more than they do. God states that it is unnatural and goes against everything the Holy Bible says. Many overlook these passages, but that doesn't change the meaning. Just because man decides he wants to make his own decisions on the matter instead of following God's instruction doesn't make it right in God's eyes.
Basically, either you believe in God's commands in the Holy Bible, or you don't. Many will regret not following God's word on this matter. There will be a day of reckoning.
Jean Rickard
Hixson
It's pretty simple: Every life matters
Black lives matter. White lives matter. Christians matter. Muslims matter. Police matter. Can we listen to, and hear, one another? Every life matters.
Claire Hale
Signal Mountain
When grief turns to rage
What happens to grief when its presence becomes essentially constant? When its prime harbinger arrives repeatedly without warning? Yet when its coming does not cause surprise? It becomes rage. A justified rage stemmed in heartache and abuse.
The people of Chattanooga have chosen to manifest their feelings peacefully by showing up in the hundreds to protest unjust criminal justice patterns experienced throughout the nation.
Chattanooga has spoken. Now it is the authorities' turn. They must do something other than make a statement. They must find where we can make policy reforms locally that can become exemplary for the nation.
And, taking one step back, how about we search not only for where there is room for reform within our government, but within ourselves? On an individual level, what mindsets can we adjust, or what relationships can we build to create meaningful change?
I myself am grappling with the answers to these questions on how to make a difference, and be a sincere ally of the Black Lives Matter movement. We can rise above, or we can fall with the rest.
Najia Humayun
Tunnel Hill, Ga.
'Birthday law' good for Tennesseans
This is just not right. My supplemental insurance coverage is going up over $30 a month.
I've been retired 15 years and not received a raise in Social Security or my pension. Because of an accident a few years ago, I had to be on antibiotics for almost two months, which threw me into stage 3 kidney disease. I didn't have a choice. Now I can't change to another supplemental insurance company with a cheaper rate because I would be denied.
Are you aware of the California Birthday Law? Although Medicare is a federal program, some states have regulations about its administration. California has a unique law known as the birthday rule that allows residents to enroll for supplements with a different company for 30 days following their birthday, with no denials for pre-existing conditions. Oregon has adopted this same rule.
I pray enough government officials read this and start the ball rolling before more seniors end up not having enough to live on and nothing to live for. With the right people in office, Tennessee can do the same.
Deanna Weekley Brown
Soddy-Daisy
When in Rome, you are a Roman
Regardless of our cultural, race, ethic, religious differences, when we choose to become part of a society, we are part of that society. That does not mean we do as we please and dress, act, defy traditions and assume we will be happily integrated into the new society we have chosen. To be a meaningful part of a culture, we have a duty to live by its rules or stay where the rules we do like exist. People tend to search out "their own kind," regardless of where they are, and that is fine. But to try to change everything to your own rules, stay where they exist.
It would save a lot of grief.
Pearl Randazzo
Pikeville, Tenn.