Obama’s plan is socialism

Dear Editor:

Obama stated that we're not a Christian nation although the roots of our country are as a Christian people. Comments to the contrary are a fundamental danger to the moral fiber of our country and the very principles we, as American citizens, hold dear.

Now the Obama administration wants to legalize the narcotic, marijuana, for use with a doctor's approval. Will this be covered by the new government health care plan?

Obama wants to redistribute the wealth, take from the working taxpayers that have and give to those who don't work or don't have.

This is socialism.

He also wants to have government control every aspect of our lives and businesses. It will be the destruction of democracy as we know it.

The government wants to grant amnesty to illegal aliens, federal lawbreakers. This will result in payment of costly taxpayer subsidies to these lawbreakers for health care, rent and utilities, debit food cards, and other public benefits including $5,400 in Pell grants for annual college tuition.

Amnesty will add an estimated $200 billion to the current annual taxpayers’ bill for these various subsidies and benefits.

Welfare benefits, at a current $800 billion, plus $300 billion more, Obama wants to add over the next two years, plus the subsidies and benefits to illegal aliens, will escalate the annual welfare cost to over $1.3 trillion per year. This is 62.5 percent more than Medicare, which Obama wants to cut by $500 billion.

Seniors paid their way.

Taxpayers don't want to work to end up paying for the expenses of those that don't work or contribute to society.

Those, non-working, on welfare, should be required to perform a minimum of 36 hours of public/community service, without union complaint. This would make the payment of welfare have a value to the taxpayer by requiring labor in exchange for the free benefits.

We haven't even calculated the total cost to taxpayers of the proposed health care legislation and cap and trade energy bill, which will cost several trillion more taxpayer dollars, plus the cost of other social programs desired by this new administration. This is leading to national bankruptcy.

We need change all right.

The 2010 election needs to change the faces in Congress to better represent the working taxpayers’ best interests.

Otherwise, we will no longer be the land of the strong and the free. Speak up, loudly, before it's too late!

Sincerely,

Quentin D. Anderson Sr.

Athens





Obama voters stay home

Dear Editor:

I read this headline in a neighboring newspaper Nov. 5 concerning the Virginia and New Jersey elections: “Young Obama voters stay home.”

If they had stayed home last November our country would not be another $3.3 trillion dollars in debt with 10 percent unemployment that’s still going up with no end in sight of ever solving the big government problem.

What is the true cost of the stimulus bill from Obama and the Obamacrats? Go over to the Congressional Budget Office Web site and you’ll find this interesting tidbit: Rep. Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, asked the CBO to project the 10-year cost of the House version of the stimulus bill if 20 key, hard-to-eliminate provisions were permanently extended. Stuff like the Making Work Pay Tax Credit, Head Start, the Earned Income Tax Credit and so forth.

Making those provisions permanent, it turns out, costs $2.5 trillion. Then tack on another $744 billion in interest costs, and the true total comes to $3.3 trillion.

Great Britain’s Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once said, “The trouble with socialism is after a while you run out of other people’s money.”

The citizens of Alabama have believed in socialism for a long time. We pay $1 in federal taxes and receive $1.66 in benefits. The belief has always been, “Let the Yankees pay taxes. We’ll take their money.”

Alabama ratified the 16th Amendment (personal income tax) with these words.

They were thinking other people were going to be paying this tax.

One Alabama lawmaker at the time noted that New Yorkers would pay $1,000 for every $1 paid by an Alabamian.

http://thequad.blogs.tuscaloosanews.com/10010/conventional-wisdom-yankees-pay-taxes/

Let’s turn this socialistic belief to one of “you reap what you sow.” The turnaround has to start somewhere. Why not Athens, Alabama?

Young Americans, next time there is an election, ask you grandparents who they are voting for; they’ll get it right.

Sincerely,

Larry Keenum

Athens



Festival a huge success

Dear Editor:

On behalf of the board of directors of the Athens Storytelling Festival, I would like to offer my sincere thanks to all those who made our third annual event a resounding success. From our local legislators and sponsors, to those who purchased tickets to attend the festival — you have once again made dreams come true by helping to establish a fun, educational and profitable event that has quickly become an Athens tradition.

Without the support offered by Mayor Dan Williams and the City Council, County Commission Chair David Seibert and the Limestone County Commission, Sen. Tom Butler, and Representatives Henry White and Mac McCutcheon, we would not have been able to share the art of storytelling with over 6,000 local schoolchildren. These fine legislators provided the funding to pay for local students to experience the nation’s leading storytellers at no cost.

This is unique as we are the only Storytelling Festival, of the 300 nationwide that offers this free instructional event to students.

Special thanks also go to Police Chief Wayne Harper and Captain Tracy Harrison, and City of Athens employees James Rich, Todd Stovall and Sam McMeans for making the event safe.

Thanks to the support of sponsors Railroad Bazaar, Bank Independent, Mindvolt, Isom’s Orchard, Boys and Girls Clubhouse, Greater Limestone County Chamber of Commerce, Flanagan Lumber, Athens Lions Club and others, the festival has garnered much success in the three years of its existence.

Athens State University’s partnership by underwriting the performance of Trout Fishing in America was one of the weekend’s highlights.

This free concert fit perfectly into the festival and we hope to have these talented performers join us again. Thanks to ASU President Robert Glenn for making this available to the public, and to Tracy Hicks in the university’s publications department for all of her work in printing everything from posters to flyers.

The attendance for this year’s Storytelling Festival was record breaking — even with a rainstorm on Friday evening.

Although our feet were wet, our hearts were warmed by stories from Bil Lepp, Carmen Deedy, Donald Davis, John McCutcheon and of course, Alabama’s own Kathryn Tucker Windham.

In fact, the rain added a touch of fright to the Friday night Ghost Stories by Miss Kathryn Tucker Windham and Granny Sue.

Saturday’s sunshine brought another round of sunny smiles to the tent and with an evening finale we said goodbye to the Storytelling Festival until next year.

We can hardly wait until it all happens again in October 2010!

Sincerely,

Wayne Kuykendall, chairman

Athens Storytelling Festival





Thanks for the help

Dear Editor:

A couple of weeks ago, we were traveling down I-65 on our way to Destin for fun and relaxation with friends. Without warning, our transmission blew just past exit 351 in Athens. We were fortunate to be able to guide our truck to the shoulder safely. Now what. We had heard all the rip-off stories of being out-of-towners at the mercy of strangers.

I called information for the number of a wrecker service and randomly chose Athens Auto. They said they would be right there. There was some delay, but found out that they were calling transmission shops for us. We were assisted by their driver (whose name I failed to get, but he’s from Illinois). He recommended a transmission shop, took us there, safely parked our vehicle in a lot, and charged us $50. OK, not bad. But now we had to deal with the repair.

The repair service they recommended was Al’s Transmission. We weighed our options and decided to let them fix it. We were first helped by Garry Hargrove. He was polite, professional, knowledgeable, and made us feel a little more confident with our decision. Then we met the owner, Al Tinnon, and were impressed with his knowledge, professionalism, and empathy for our situation.

Our next call was to Enterprise Car Rental. It was again our good fortune to talk with Al Hutchinson, who drove to Al’s Transmission, picked us up, and gave us a good deal on a rental car. Even recommended a good place for lunch.

We finished our vacation and returned to Athens at the end of the week. Again, Enterprise delivered us to Al’s. The truck was not quite ready, so Al loaned us a vehicle to use while we waited. By afternoon, we were on the road again. The repair charges were reasonable and the truck is running like a top.

If I ever break down again, I hope it is in Athens, Alabama. We could not have been treated better in our own hometown. Thanks to the crew at Al’s Transmission, Athens Auto, and Enterprise for taking a bad situation and making it better.



Sincerely,

Garry and Dale Crowell

Watertown, Tenn.