Politics and business just don’t mix
I was disappointed to see Kohl’s has discontinued the line of “My Pillow” products. It can’t be a business decision because the products are great. It must be because Mike Lindell is outspoken about his Christian beliefs or because of pressure from activists using bullying tactics or because of political decisions at your corporate level. I support Mike’s right to free speech. I also support your right to fill your store with, or remove, any product you please. But I have the right to shop wherever I please and spend money on products I support. I am frustrated when politics and business mix. Boycotts are bullying tactics. Removing products for any reason other than the value of the product is political.
I support the right to fly the Confederate flag on the back of a pick-up truck or the LGBTQ to lawfully parade. But both should be done decently. Whatever happened to free speech? Speak your words in a kind way, and let the force of your argument cause your viewpoint to stand or fall. Intimidation has no place in decent discussion … nor at Kohl’s Department Store.
Gerald Whitely
Ringgold, Ga.
Why not a homestead exemption program?
Other states (Georgia and Texas, for example) offer a homestead exemption program to cap the percentage in property tax hikes to their taxpayers on primary residences. In Hamilton County, Tenn., only retired and disabled homeowners with low incomes are offered freezing or relief opportunities. (I am in no way suggesting that these folks be removed from these programs.)
I, personally, saw an increase of roughly $700 on a two-bedroom, one-bath, 1,100-square-foot home. It was a 68% increase. I’m a single teacher who hasn’t seen a cost-of-living pay increase in more than 17 years, but my insurance, taxes and cost of basic goods are ever rising. With an additional lack of educational funding during my career, I’ve had to spend more and more out of pocket to provide the exceptional opportunity I want my students to have before leaving my classroom.
Why isn’t there a cap on the per-cycle, appraisal-linked increases to our system of multiple taxation?
I’d also really like to know where this increase is going? Anyone seen that new, post-election roadwork started?
Wendy Morgan
Wants more Black history in schools
I know nothing about “critical race theory.” What I do know is that we need a frank discussion about our past and present. For this to succeed, some facts need to be taught.
I was never taught in school about the Tulsa massacre, although it took place less than three hours from my home. I never knew about the “great migration,” although I was a history major. I was never taught about the numerous lynchings, or that these were sometimes considered festive occasions, with pictures taken. I was not taught that, for decades, African Americans were not permitted to reside in certain neighborhoods and were crowded into substandard, unsanitary slums. I hardly knew about the fear in which many non-whites lived. Or that it is still a reality – how many white families have to have “the talk” with their children about how to survive an encounter with the police?
These and other facts need to be taught somewhere. Why not school?
Will that make some people feel bad? Judging by my experience, absolutely. Truth hurts. Let’s get it done.
Herbert K. Lea
Chickamauga, Ga.
Biden-omics pushing prices to new levels
Why are the prices high?
I am a carpenter, and I have seen the price of some building materials double recently. The materials price is being driven up right now, I believe, due to this current administration’s policies. A third of the country’s workforce either have been sitting home drawing unemployment freebies thanks to Biden-omics, or they have lost their jobs due to mandatory vaccine edicts in every Democrat-controlled region of the country. These two factors have caused major shortages in employees and in productivity.
As a result, prices of everything have gone up and are climbing daily. This is not a good time to purchase materials. The bad thing is, there is no telling if it is going to drop.
Michael Siemer
Respect worldviews with understanding
Any Christian who thinks “how to torture a Jew” is OK better read Romans 9-11; at least 9:1-5, 10:1 and 11:25-36.
But amid her screech of self-righteousness, Pam Sohn (Feb. 8 Chattanooga Times editorial) asks sarcastically, “would we equally welcome a $1.8 million contribution to our schools to teach Torah history? Or … The Quran … The Atheist’s Bible … the Ku Klux Klan …”?
Sure, as long as the classes are opt-in, require understanding of worldviews and theories but not agreement, allow for plenty of debate along with teaching, and carry warnings: “Remember Stalin and Mao were atheists in doctrine, and Hitler in practice – he never visited church – so secularism can bring mass murder and genocide.”
But regular classes and lady Sohn could use the same: understanding without agreement; debate; warnings of actual consequences; respect for people, however wrong, who use different worldviews. Would she require a big donation to teach “1619 Project and critical race theory,” or grab tax dollars and require that?
Christians’ sins are accidents against Jesus Christ’s perfection, cutting against the grain of biblical love. Other worldviews …?
Andrew Lohr
Biden enforcing the border – just not ours
It’s great to finally see Biden taking national borders seriously – I just wish it were ours. The Biden administration is doing everything it can to keep Russian boots off Ukrainian soil, while he continues to do nothing to enforce our own nation’s much more important (to ourselves, especially) border. While strategically making it hard for Russia to make its move physically by exposing all its excuses for invading Ukraine, he is simultaneously only coming up with excuses why invaders from our Southern border should be pushing into all parts of the United States. The irony should make the U.S. nauseous.
Will Lance
Hixson
10 Commandments will protect you
There’s a joke. Moses came down from Mount Sinai and announced: “I have good news and bad news. The good news is that I got him down to 10. The bad news is that adultery stays.” It’s a funny joke about the seventh commandment about adultery, but it is a serious command with devastating consequences when it’s violated. This joke comes to mind after reading last week about a University of Alabama VP resigning his post as a result of being caught in a prostitution sting. He has a wife and three children. We read and hear about these stories all the time.
After I graduated from college in the ’70s, I landed a job with a large firm. As I completed the employment forms, the office manager gave me some odd advice: “keep your privates out of the payroll.” OK. However, there were fellow employees who ignored that instruction. I saw marriages and careers collapse as a result. There was Marion, Dave, Bob, Roger and others I can’t remember. A good friend was a slow learner and broke two marriages in this manner. Jeff Zucker should have adhered to this advice.
All humor aside, the Ten Commandments is still the best moral code – not only for people of faith, but atheists can benefit by it, too. Read it. Think about it. It’s there to protect you.
Thomas Blewett
Signal Mountain