Calendar mixup inflames Arthur
The Free Press editor deplores the ignorance of civics among schoolchildren (Jan. 6). Yet, Robin Smith claims that in 46 B.C. Julius Caesar replaced the Gregorian calendar with the Julian calendar. The Julian calender replaced the ancient Roman calendar, a lunar calendar of 10 months. The Gregorian calendar has been used since 1582. It is what informs Smith that her column was published on Jan. 5. The change from 10 months to 12 explains the apparent anomaly that the names of our ninth, 10th, 11th and 12th months come from the Latin words for seven, eight, nine and 10. The error should be obvious even to Smith, for the Gregorian calendar is also called the Christian calendar and is named for Pope Gregory XIII. It requires but the dimmest sense of history to recognize that neither Christianity nor the papacy existed before the death of Gaius Julius Caesar. Perhaps Smith thinks if she abolishes the Gregorian calendar, she can date the foundation of the world from Oct. 23, 4004 B.C., and vindicate the fraudulent concept of Young Earth Creationism.
Barbara S. Arthur
Medicaid expansion wrong solution
I am frustrated to hear about the proposed Medicaid expansion in Tennessee. Many supporters of Medicaid expansion overlook the financial cost of offering coverage to the thousands of able-bodied, childless citizens who will rely on a government subsidy to pay for an insurance plan they are now required to have. As Rep. Joe Pitts, R-Pa., chairman of the Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, said during a hearing on March 18, 2013, “States are already struggling to serve this core population. Is it fair that the president’s health care law will force millions of disabled and sick Americans to compete with able-bodied 25-year-olds for appointments with those doctors who will still see them?” I would be more inclined to support Medicaid expansion if the coverage was actually worthwhile. Medicaid offers poor coverage, as it exists now, so our solution is to offer the same bad coverage to more people? Let’s fix the problems with our current system and honor the promises we made to the most vulnerable in society, rather than expand the program to more people. I sincerely hope members of the legislature consider the consequences of enacting this devastating expansion of Medicaid.
Virginia Anne Manson, Lookout Mountain
TFP sets mark for quality newspaper
I was in your area recently and had the opportunity to read a copy of the Times Free Press. I was highly impressed with its content, layout and print quality. Here is a copy of my Jan. 17 letter to the editor in the Asheville, N.C. Citizen-Times: “If your staff wonders why your paper and so many papers are sliding into oblivion you just have to look at this morning’s edition of the Asheville, N.C. Citizen-Times. Above-the-fold story is about dogs on chains? Are you serious? The world is burning down in so many places and your front page above the fold story is about dogs on chains? “If you want to see what a paper that matters looks like, pick up a Chattanooga Times Free Press. It is a well-written paper chock full of local, regional and national news. “The AC-T used to be that way: no more. It’s a shadow of its former self. It is a waste of newsprint shilling for every nut-job group Asheville has devolved into. You can do better.”
James Gray Jr., Bryson City, N.C.