Socialism is not a dirty word
Many politicians/writers today use the word "socialism" as something bad to make you afraid so that you will support their position/agenda. Socialism means pooling resources to help everyone.
In October 1952, President Harry S. Truman said, "Socialism is their name for anything that helps all the people - called public power ..."
Government at all levels can provide things which people cannot do for themselves: Social Security; Medicare; fire, police and EMS departments; public schools and hospitals; roads and bridges; safe drinking water; sewers; CDC; unemployment insurance; bank deposit insurance; veteran's benefits; food and drug safety; and the list goes on.
If you do not want these things, then give them up. Pay to go to private schools, pave the road in front of your house, fight the fire in your house yourself, no Social Security, no Medicare (be sure to save lots of money) ... .
Martha Butterfield
Foothills Project needs our support
I am an environmental science student at UTC and want to thank TFP staff writer Ben Benton for his Nov. 8 article. I'm impressed the Foothills Landscape Project he wrote about is aiming to preserve at least 5,000 acres of forests, including old-growth forests, canopy gaps and woodland habitats of native species.
It is imperative this project gains public support, according to Southern Environmental Law Center senior attorney Brian Gist, who says: "Informed public input is critical to responsible forest management and, if implemented correctly, the phased approach will better allow the people who live near, recreate in, and love this area of the Chattahoochee National Forest to have a voice in the Foothills Landscape Project."
I believe this project's success should be highlighted and continued. These projects are better than their predecessors, which led to an estimated 110,000 acres of commercial timber harvested and burned. This project is focused on finding a balance between recreation and what's best for the ecosystems there.
The more we allow people to participate with nature, the more they appreciate its existence and are more likely to take care of it.
Connor Schoenl
Morganton, Ga.
Pro-choice bias creeping into coverage
Science matters. Excellent journalism accurately reports scientific data. However, when it comes to abortion, I've noticed that high journalistic standards often give way to the misleading pro-choice narrative. Four times in the past few months I've read inaccurate statements in the TFP.
Twice I read that there is no good data that pill-induced abortions can be reversed. That is false. There are multiple controlled trials documenting the safety and efficacy of reversing a recent medication abortion by using oral progesterone.
Twice the TPF has quoted unnamed "experts" who say a six-week fetus has no heart. In the Dec. 8 edition, a front-page article asserts that, "doctors say the heart does not form until nine weeks." That is also false.
Throughout my 30-year career as a physician, I've detected a growing human inside a uterus by using ultrasound to observe the regular, rhythmic, pulsatile motion in the 6-week-old fetal chest - the fetal heartbeat. Ultrasound and OB-GYN texts have for decades noted the fetal heart to be observable around 6 weeks of gestational age.
TFP journalists must fact check these important articles before publication. Their commitment to high journalistic standards demands no less.
Paul Dassow, M.D.
Lookout Mountain, Tenn.