Health directive offensive to many
The issue of mandating that religious institutions provide health care coverage including birth control to their employees is not a cause taken up exclusively by "hard-right Republicans" as your editorial on Jan. 31 suggests.
This issue is offensive to many people, especially those who value the United States Constitution. The thought that our government can impose its will on any religious institution, contrary to the core beliefs of that institution, is frightening at best if you pause to consider the wide door that such an imposition opens.
The arguments put forth in your editorial don't strike me as strong enough to warrant such oppressive action by our government.
Women who are employed should easily be able to afford contraception if they choose. A quick Internet search offers the cost of birth control pills at $15 to $50 per month. Perhaps the cost should be part of the calculation of personal responsibility in reproductive issues.
If women insist that contraception be part of their health insurance coverage, perhaps they should seek employment at a non-religious institution.
LOUANNE BENNETT
Spring City, Tenn.
Bennett cartoons missing the mark
Re: Clay Bennett's cartoons: Feb. 8, Bigots against gay marriage. Most Americans are not bigots!
Feb. 9. Milking a bull. I doubt if Mr. Scottie Mayfield is that stupid.
FRANK SIMMONS
Rossville, Ga.
Save country, deport Republicans
Have you ever wondered why we can't vote on a Saturday, better yet, a holiday? If the Republican Party is so certain it has the will of the people ,why would it make it more difficult for us to vote?
Out of 3 million voters, there were only 86 cases of voter fraud, reports Laura Murphy, director of the Washington office of the ACLU which proves the unnecessary yoke put on the people is only one more evil ploy by the sneaky Repugnants to make it more difficult to vote (against them).
Bush's voting machines obscured 2.8 million votes. If the Repubs really care about fair voting, why won't they outlaw these bogus machines, give us a paper trail?
The Republican Party is like an old, worn-out pair of brown shoes. They are so astray from reality and normality it's downright boring. As Dalton Roberts says, "these talking heads make me sick to my stomach." I concur; I stopped listening to them years ago.
Isn't there something in the Bible about "He that troubles his own house shall inherit the wind"?
Hold onto your hat.
Save our country -- deport all Republicans.
ROBERT LEE BROWN
Missionary Ridge
Amazon workers are mistreated
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men do nothing."
It galls me to see reports praising the Amazon distribution center when I know of mistreatment of its employees. Amazon hired 1,200. But, thousands more were hired through Integrity Staffing expecting to become permanent employees, only to be fired for various and unjust reasons.
Integrity workers must meet higher production quotas than those of Amazon. Employees report to work and are told there is no work, go home. Workers are penalized if they return late from breaks when restrooms and break rooms are far from work stations. How can anyone be expected to do well in such uncertainty?
The Chattanooga Times Free Press reported "New Amazon distribution centers such as the one in Chattanooga will vault Tennessee to the top three among states in terms of the Internet retailer's footprint." Unfortunately, that footprint is on the backsides of workers fired from Amazon/Integrity. Can the city, county and state governments do anything about how our citizens are used and then kicked to the curb? I don't know. But, due to the way our citizens have been treated, I will not purchase anytime from Amazon again.
GLENDA F. THOMPSON
World press scoffs candidates
The GOP debates are reminiscent of a ship of fools floundering on the rocks of ignorance and buffoonery.
They are the laughing stock of the world press. Mark Pitzke in the German Der Spiegel writes:
"The Republican presidential contest in America is a freak show. The candidates vie with one another to spew the most outrageous hard-right positions, denying evolution while endorsing torture and joking about electrocuting illegal immigrants. How did a major party in the world's sole superpower become a club of liars, debtors, betrayers, adulterers, exaggerators, hypocrites, and ignoramuses?
"These know-nothings are enabled by a U.S. press that has been neutered by the demands of political correctness so that it can't say what's obvious: These people are daft!
"Instead, it proclaims one clown after the next to be the new front-runner. The current favorite, Newt Gingrich, is actually considered an intellectual merely because he can create sentences with multiple clauses.
"Scarcely a one has even the most basic grasp of foreign policy. One said Africa is a country, another that the Taliban rule in Libya. Collectively, they expose a political, economic, geographic, and historical ignorance that makes George W. Bush look like a scholar. Das ist so wahr!"
JOHN HIGHT
Mall runoff ruins property
I have the misfortune of living downstream from Hamilton Place Mall. I and other downstreamers have had a severe flooding problem ever since the mall was built. This has degraded, destroyed and devalued my property and caused me to spend several thousands of dollars that I otherwise would not have had to spend.
City officials were made aware of this problem when it first began. They should have required the mall to increase the water storage capacity and decrease the flow from the mall. Instead, they allowed other developers to build without building holding ponds.
(The city engineer told me in May 2000 that a survey he had made for this area revealed that 66 onsite and 37 offsite that were supposed to be built were not built and that others had been built a fraction of the required size.) One would have thought they would have been on high alert since they were aware of the horrific flooding problem.
The city has effectively stolen my property for the benefit of the wealthy developers, so I will refuse to pay the stormwater fee this year.
HOMER GOINS
Look for a way to control storms
These tornadoes are definitely weapons of mass destruction. If you ask the people in Birmingham, Ala., and in many other places such as Georgia and Tennessee, they seem to be surrounding us Southerners.
The song that comes to my mind is "Why Me, Lord? What did I ever do?" It make us wonder, is there any safe place? Maybe the rich may be somewhat safe if they have underground shelters, but the poor people remain the targets for these killer storms.
Our country has put men on the moon and spent big bucks on the space program, so why not take some of that money and put into doing research on trying to kill or at least to control tornadoes that put fear into all of the world's population.
Besides these horrible tornadoes, there are floods, earthquakes and other dangerous problems with Iran and North Korea, and now China and Russia, which can't be trusted. The only difference in nuclear missiles and tornadoes is radiation. We should ask ourselves, "Is man stupid enough to destroy man?" Let's hope not. Remember the Cuban Missile Crisis? That should serve as a wake-up call!
RICHARD D. BLOOD
Ringgold, Ga.
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LETTERS TO THE EDITORS
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Great letter, John Hight. The fact that our media treats these buffoons with even a smidgen of respect and dignity only shows how emasculated a media we have. If any of these Republicans said that the earth is flat and a Democrat refuted him/her and said that, no, it is round, our media would simply say, "Gridlock! Republicans and Democrats cannot agree on whether the earth is round or flat."
We do not have a "liberal" media (far from it). We have a corporate and a dumbed-down media that caters to the dumbed-down masses.
I like your letter, too, Robert Lee Brown. If I had my druthers, I'd keep all the Mexicans and deport the Republicans. That's one way of solving the immigration problem.
Once again with the mandated "things" included in the compassionate healthcare, we see how the Separation of Church and State mantra is really just one of convenience for the government. In other words libs(leftists really)who want the church to be quiet or not exercise rights claim it. But when the government wants to step across the line and dictate things to religious institutions, suddenly Separation becomes blurred. It is sadly ridiculous. Not too many people care what the"world press scoffs" about in this country. And Rickaroo, just who are the true buffoons, the ones debating and trying to get elected or the ones elected and prove they have no idea what they are doing? Finally, if you really think we do not have a "liberal" media, dude, dudette, whatever, you are just NOT paying attention, not at all.
The only difference in nuclear missiles and tornadoes is radiation.
I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
As I said in my comment, L4L, you and your like-minded cronies who want to keep our health care in the hands of private business and the free market need to accept the fact that when a church decides to enter into that market and provide a service for the community at large, it forfeits its status as a purely religious institution, and it must abide by the same rules, laws, and policies as any other business in the market place. Obama is not attacking anyone's religious beliefs or practices. This whole issue is no more an "issue" than so-called voter fraud or birtherism. My god, you right-wing nuts keep focusing on such insignificant matters, we will perish as a nation, trying to stomp out your make-believe fires while the real fires rage all around us.
LOUANNE BENNETT
This issue is offensive to many people, especially those who value the United States Constitution. The thought that our government can impose its will on any religious institution, contrary to the core beliefs of that institution, is frightening at best if you pause to consider the wide door that such an imposition opens.
And yet they can pass sweeping laws that means that schools can't have banners with bible verses on them, that you can't have prayer before a football game. Or you can't post the Ten Commandments on a courthouse.
Contrary to any opinion you may have, Christians as a whole are now a minority who are being discriminated against due to their religious beliefs. The Atheists have managed to strip you of your rights to freedom of religion. Welcome to America, land of the oppressed home of the politically correct.
RICHARD D. BLOOD We should ask ourselves, "Is man stupid enough to destroy man?"
Your kidding right? Man is the only creature that kills its own kind for pleasure. You really want an answer to this question?
Thanks, Rickaroo. You are right; religious institutions have inserted themselves into the secular domain, but they don't want to play by the same rules as everyone else. Good grief, they don't even pay taxes on the millions they rake in from contributions and "non-profit" ventures.
Contrary to any opinion you may have, Christians as a whole are now a minority who are being discriminated against due to their religious beliefs. The Atheists have managed to strip you of your rights to freedom of religion. Welcome to America, land of the oppressed home of the politically correct
Churches chained closed, Christians thrown to lions, religious people jailed for praying, dogs and cats living together, mayhem and chaos...
get a grip
Catholic institutions like hospitals employ people of all faiths. These employers need to abide by the same rules as everyone else. No one is forcing Catholic employees to use the contraceptive benefit in their insurance plans. What the Catholic bishops are trying to do is get the federal government to enforce the church’s anti-contraception doctrine because they have failed to do so on their own. This isn’t an “assault on religious liberty,” it’s the exact opposite: it’s getting the government to enforce a church rule that no one has followed in decades.http://southernbeale.wordpress.com./
lkeithlu said...
*Churches chained closed, Christians thrown to lions, religious people jailed for praying, dogs and cats living together, mayhem and chaos...
get a grip*
I have a grip, it is a rather firm one on reality. that grip tells me that as a Christian, my religious freedom is being trampled under the religious freedom by organizations such as the Freedom From Religion Foundation. their mission statement is something along the lines of The Foundation works as an umbrella for those who are free from religion and are committed to the cherished principle of separation of state and church.
And yet because of them, I now can not say a prayer before a football game without offending someone, because my personal religious beliefs are being forced down someone's throat. Sorry no that's not whats happening. but yet, now because it offends maybe 3-10% of the attendees, the remaining 90-97% of us have been Denied our freedom of religion.
I have a grip, thank you.
Richard D. Blood of Ringgold, GA wrote:
"Why Me Lord? What did I ever do?" in reference to tornadoes coming his way and then later "so why not take some of that money and put into doing research on trying to kill or at least to control tornadoes that put fear into all of the world's population."
Now stop laughing about man killing or controlling tornadoes and focus instead on the great contradiction!
And yet because of them, I now can not say a prayer before a football game without offending someone, because my personal religious beliefs are being forced down someone's throat. Sorry no that's not whats happening. but yet, now because it offends maybe 3-10% of the attendees, the remaining 90-97% of us have been Denied our freedom of religion
No one is stopping you from praying at a football game. How silly can you get??
Unless of course you are a school official and you want to LEAD people in PUBLIC prayer at SCHOOL events. Sorry, our taxes pay for that so you can't do it, even if it "offends" 0.001%. But pray? You can pray whenever and wherever you like. No one is stopping you from praying, attending church, tithing, singing in the choir, speaking in tongues, or handling snakes. Be our guest.
But don't expect everyone to welcome you expecting the rest of us to believe, pray, tithe, etc with you or use our schools to force it on our children. Preventing that is not an imposition on your religious freedom.
I repeat: GET A GRIP! You want to feel persecuted? Move to Egypt. Now those Christians truly suffer for their faith. American Christians? Please.
It's time to coin a new term in our socioeconomic system. Ladies and gentlemen I present to you The Religibiz.
A Religibiz is a business that can provide and charge for products and services just like any for-profit business, but because it is owned by a religious organization can claim exemption from laws that other businesses are required to adhere to.
I guess if I were starting a new business today maybe I should set up one of those phoney $29.95 church charters first and then claim exception from everything I don't want to comply with on religious grounds - minimum wage, payroll taxes, environmental regulations, licensing - you name it.
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