Medicare waste goes beyond belief
I could not believe my eyes when I read Monday's Times Free Press front page story, "Health care rip-offs bilk taxpayers out of millions."
The headline of the story was not what I found so incredible. Between fraud and bloated inefficient administration of government payout programs, I would conservatively say that less than 70 cents of every tax dollar spent actually reaches its intended cause.
What I did find beyond belief in the story is the fact that Medicare pays for Botox. If you are a young American, I have only one piece of advice for you: Save every penny you can. There will be no Social Security or Medicare when you are in your retirement years. The generation above you spent all the money trying to combat crows' feet.
Dab S. Sawyer
Signal Mountain
Constitution not 'growing' on guns
People who wish to give the broadest interpretation of the Second Amendment to the Constitution also maintain the Constitution is not a growing document. They say the Founding Fathers meant only what they wrote. The guns that existed at that time were muzzle-loaders, flintlocks, etc; they never meant weapons available in the future should be available to all citizens.
In this particular case, I will say the Constitution is not a growing, evolving document.
John D. Beck
Ooltewah
Please restore extra comics
What has happened to the extra comic strips that were in the Classified section of the paper? How are we going to to get along not knowing what takes place with Alley Oop and the others? I enjoyed that extra laugh each day with the characters. Please reconsider and bring them back.
Anna Mae Karnes
Rossville
Stupidity reigns in Washington
A June 21 CBS Evening News story reported that the Department of Housing, which provides rental subsidies to millions of families across the U.S., "is aware of lead in homes that it rents to the poor, but it has a policy of waiting until a child" is actually poisoned by the lead before "any repairs are required or moves approved."
More than 2.5 million HUD-subsidized homes have "hazardous levels of lead," but HUD's threshold is four times higher than what the CDC recommends. HUD has proposed changing its standard to match the "tougher" CDC position, "but regulatory review takes a long time."
Yeah, let's wait until children have irreversible developmental disabilities before we do anything to prevent the disability from happening in the first place.
William G. Colvin
Erlanger ruined good hospital
Walker County, please settle with Erlanger and pay it the money it is legally owed.
Walker County citizens, please vote Bebe Heiskell out of office in November. Even a household must live within its means and must have a working budget. We have got to do better.
Walker County and Catoosa County citizens, please consider using Memorial or Parkridge hospitals for your future care. They are great hospitals, and we won't have to patronize Erlanger. Erlanger ruined Hutcheson, as anyone who has been in health care in the Chattanooga area suspected it would.
Yes, this is my opinion. It's the only one I have.
Elizabeth Thomas Gross, RN
Chickamauga, Ga.
'Fluffy' dictates weakening U.S.
Washington D.C., acts in accordance to whatsoever the global powers dictate.
ISIS has become the cannon fodder of choice that advances the cause of Islamic domination the world over. America's allies like Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and United Arab Emirates ecstatically relish together in secret when our politicians rush through "fluffy legislation" because their ethos is weak.
Terrorists know Washington, D.C., will hit American citizens a hundred times to their one through executive orders and unconstitutional "rules of law." ISIS knows well that America has become a nation full of predictable, educated screamers whose voices of protest demand the legislative, executive and judicial branches remove any freedoms required to protect this nation. Their response is always the same as the three collaborate to destroy America!
What do protesters actually think is going to fill the void of freedom once lost? What happens when their youth fades and their existence becomes irrelevant? No one can be this stupid, right? I mean millions of students cannot possibly be wrong, right? Yeah, sure, right!
Charlie Wall
Chickamauga, Ga.
Enforce current firearm laws
We are faced with another overwhelming tragedy. How to respond?
I received two email requests for support involving firearm safety measures prior to Orlando. There were no specifics. In each case, I requested more details. Did the details come? Nope.
In the past, the president made a speech about enforcing current gun laws and seeking out the bad guys. What happened? Nothing.
What if the Orlando shooter had been barred from buying firearms? Would the tragedy have happened? These events speak powerfully for enforcement of current laws and assessing those who should not have firearms. How many of these mass shooters had histories of mental illness?
The pro gun folks make several points - that thousands of gun violations were not prosecuted and that felonies and domestic violence incidents were not forwarded to the National Crime Information Center. But a person with an unreported felony could pass a background check.
The anti-gun folks focus on confiscation. This confiscation would be from visible legal firearm owners, who belong to shooting associations and/or are legal hunters.
We need to be mindful of the bloodshed in our own community. We need to go to the heart of the problem.
William A. Reed
Pond-raised fish is for the birds
As a Tennessee angler with a lifetime license who takes pride in his pursuit of our many native species, I take great offense at the recent state record for a rainbow trout caught in a Polk County farm pond.
How ridiculous that a farm-raised fish is our "state champ." It's an insult to every bona fide outdoorsman. How about giving awards for the largest aquarium-raised bluegill?
You guys have not only lost your mind, you've lost all credibility as a governing agency for Tennessee wildlife, "wild" being the key word.
I suppose the state record whitetail or elk can now be pen-raised, grain-fed, "harvested" and added to records. Give me a break.
I have caught 12 citation-sized Tennessee game fish by fair chase. Some took three years to find and catch. I guess as an old school sportsman I've been doing it the hard way. The new way is to go to Grandpa's trout pond, which has no public access, sit on the porch sipping iced tea and patiently wait for "Ol' Walter" to take the bait.
The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency should be the Tennessee Farmpond Resources Agency.
Andrew Paduch
Johnson City, Tenn.