U.S. spending looks a lot like socialism
You know, tax dollars are used to pay for things, such as a standing military, law enforcement, an educational system, roads and bridges. Tax money is used to subsidize farmers, airports, hospitals - and don't forget the money given to the big oil companies, General Motors, etc.
So maybe government uses taxpayers' money for a lot of things we take for granted. Seems like when they do this in other countries, we call it socialism. Looks to me like we've had it for years, but we call it by another name.
Just saying.
Jim Morris Blairsville, Georgia
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Good climate news might be overlooked
Some recent great news on climate change! You might have missed it.
Investors Business Daily reports NASA weather data indicates global temperatures dropped 0.56 percent from Feb. 2016 to Feb. 2018. And, over 12-plus years the U.S. leads the industrialized world in Co2 emissions reduction.
These positive environmental metrics come from producers' free market efforts to meet their customers' demand for clean and safe products. Companies worldwide are engaged in countless initiatives to protect our environment, which are featured as a key position in their corporate mission statement. It is also the right thing to do.
To produce, package, transport and market oil, gas, chemical derivatives and downstream materials requires enormous layers of certifications, rules, regulations, taxes, fees and potential fines. The costs of compliance are daunting and are passed on to the consumer. I strongly believe in checks and balances, but free market capitalism always works best.
So my sincere question for "climate change" fanatics: How much more regulation do we really need?
Warren Daniel
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WWTA holding commission hostage
Consent decrees have become useful tools to give local governments political cover to make the difficult political choice to spend taxpayer money on very unexciting items that have been ignored for years - such as water and sewer infrastructure. They are often flaunted to show taxpayers that government has no choice. It puts the habitual offender in charge of the design and implementation of its own rehabilitation plan.
The WWTA's consent decree will require a lot of money. It will take excellent execution, supervision and discipline to meet the obligations and benchmarks promised to the EPA.
Who has the authority to hold the WWTA accountable to fulfill its consent decree obligation? Not the mayor. Not the county commission. Is there any elected official who has authority over the WWTA? Not one.
Needless to say, the North Hamilton County community has no confidence in the ability of the WWTA to properly execute a consent decree or oversee a $45 million-plus sewage plant project where they want it - at Mahan Gap.
Brent Smith
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Women make all you give them better
Women are foolish to pretend they are equal to men. They are far superior and always have been. Whatever you give a woman, she will make greater. If you give her sperm, she will give you a baby. If you give here a house, she will give you a home. If you give her grocers, she will give you a meal. If you give her a smile, she will give you her heart.
A thought all men should remember this Christmas season: Our wives get too little credit for the wonderful things they do for us. Let's remember how blessed we are to have wives who love us this much.
Tell her you love her. That is all it will take to make her Christmas.
James Rose, Signal Mountain