Health care bill historic moment
The health reform act has passed the House and is now a reality. Life is now assured for the poor and jobless as well as the unborn. Some will call this a power grab by the government, but when private insurance failed, it is the government’s job to provide “… Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness …”
The American people should now step back and see how this latest experiment in equality and social justice works. In every great step forward, it is important that there are adjustments made to correct the unexpected problems and to close the loopholes that corporate lawyers immediately seek out. Corrections are necessary in all journeys.
Leading Democrats now need to explain what this means for all groups in our society, in order to relieve anxiety caused by the distortions that have been put forth by the opposition and to clarify the details that came about as this bill slowly moved through the Congress.
Women’s suffrage, Social Security, civil rights, Medicare and Medicaid have all been milestones in America’s history which were initially resisted but later found to benefit our country’s varied people. We can rejoice that we have seen history made once again.
ROGER A. MEYER
Republicans dangerous to U.S.
The most dangerous organization to the American middle class way of life is the Republican Party. It is the party that wants to do in the United States in an American way what Hitler did in Germany in a Prussian way.
The Republicans would prefer not to use violence. Their method is to poison the channels of public information. With a Republican, the problem is never how best to present the truth to the public but how best to use the news to deceive the public into giving the Republicans more money and more power.
The Republicans claim to be super patriots, but they would destroy every liberty guaranteed by the Constitution. They demand free enterprise but are spokesmen for monopoly and vested interest. Their final objective toward which all their deceit is directed is to capture political power so that, using the power of the state and the power of the market simultaneously, they keep the common man in eternal subjugation.
Make no mistake, the GOP of today is not the party of Howard Baker, Gerald Ford or Abraham Lincoln.
WILLIAM BETTS
Block registration instead of booting
Unpaid tickets? No registration?
While “booting” may be an effective way to collect unpaid parking tickets of major offenders, I have seen a very efficient method in another state for collecting unpaid tickets. That is, require that all unpaid parking tickets be paid before a vehicle’s registration can be renewed.
ROD BRADLEY
Get government out of business
Events in Washington are why party matters. American people mostly are good, honest and trusting. It is honorable to say, “I vote for the man – not the party.” One man, one vote and votes count equally.
What goes on in D.C. may not be considered.
When we have votes such as health care, the president, speaker and Senate leader have enormous power. They can strip members of chairmanships, committee memberships, put their office in a basement, cut off party funding and lean on a member’s supporters, such as unions, to cut off donations. They can make party members irrelevant.
They can buy votes by funding members’ projects or rides on Air Force One. They can make or destroy a member. This is being done.
Sometimes, you may have to hold your nose, but it can be better to vote party. The members aren’t saints, but party can be important. The ideal situation is that both are one.
We are seeing fundamental change. The country will never be the same. If you believe that the government has been successful in running any of its businesses, look again.
Ask a bureaucrat for a timely, life-saving, expensive medical treatment. Lots of luck!
DON MOON
Downtown
Congressional term limit needed
I feel term limits for all members of Congress are important.
The proposal was for two six-year terms and that’s it.
People living off the public dole for their entire professional career is not right and something I don’t believe the founders ever intended.
Congressional service should be a temporary public service to the country and then you return to the private sector.
This would speed up elected officials’ getting something done rather than worrying about getting re-elected.
Sadly, there are very few politicians these days who would even consider proposing this amendment. It certainly wouldn’t be by either Rep. Wamp or Sen. Corker.
JOSEPH S. HODGIN
Cleveland, Tenn.
Ban plutonium as reactor fuel
Citizens of the region should oppose the use of nuclear weapons plutonium as a reactor fuel in TVA plants due to the serious public health hazard. Government leaders should especially oppose this.
Its radioactivity makes plutonium extremely hazardous. Exposure can cause cancer and leukemia. Plutonium has a radioactive half-life longer than 24,000 years. If released, the radiation will remain in the environment indefinitely.
Plutonium is produced in small amounts in conventional reactors, but its use as a fuel will increase hazards to the public and plant workers. Using plutonium as a reactor fuel was not considered in site selection or design of TVA plants and was not included in the environmental impact statements required for licensing those plants. The hazard of such use has not been studied or disclosed.
The Sequoyah and Browns Ferry plants are in populated areas. No plans were made to protect the public from a nuclear emergency involving plutonium fuel. Current TVA emergency plans would not protect the public from accidental release of plutonium.
Furthermore, the plutonium fuel would increase the possibility of terrorist attacks.
TVA plants are civilian facilities and should not be used for disposal of military wastes at the expense of public safety.
DAVID M. TRAYER
Hixson
We need equal care for all
I get angrier all the time about hearing rants of “we are becoming a socialist state” or “all these health care reforms are leading to socialism” like that is a bad thing.
Some of these same people do not feel hypocritical about having surgery they cannot afford to have done here performed in a so-called socialist country or ordering medicine from out of the country (if they can get away with it).
How can all these socialist countries afford free health care for all and provide good education for their students, which we obviously cannot?
Since we are supposedly the richest country in the world, where does the money go? We assuredly have the richest insurance companies, doctors and drug companies, but is the money used for the benefit of all?
I guess I am a socialist if the word means equal care for all social classes.
MARIANNE W.
DOUGLAS