Apologies for the delay in posting this. Dad remains in the hospital, improving as antibiotics roll back an infection. We got him to the hospital before this became anywhere near a life-threatening situation.
The LTE's: no time to dissect each one, but I see a couple of blame game letters, with Reagan being the target of one, to no useful end at the moment, but typical of Mr. Ostberg, who appears to be kin to the good Dr. Cutri. And, more currently, a more useful observation in that the drunk driver who killed the unfortunate Mr. Thompson is the appropriate focus of blame. However, the cult of victimhood wishes to cast as wide a net as it can. The LTE writer is also correct about the abysmal state of traffic enforcement.
OK, the LTE's:
Blame
It seems strange that people are blaming the death of Vernon Thompson on the lack of sidewalks ("With sidewalk, he'd 'still be alive,'" July 26). Why don't they put the blame exactly where it belongs? That is on the shoulders of James E. Williams. After all, Williams was the one who was allegedly driving the car drunk. Come on, let's get these drunks off our roads.
Our courts and law enforcement are gutless or they would put a stop to this. I guess it involves too many of their friends and family.
TOM WALKER
Thurmond
Reagan and the debt ceiling
Republicans should be better students of history.Here's a quote regarding the debt ceiling from Ronald Reagan, their hero, that Republicans have apparently forgotten: "Congress consistently brings the government to the edge of default before facing its responsibility. This brinksmanship threatens the holders of government bonds and those who rely on Social Security and veterans benefits. Interest rates would skyrocket, instability would occur in financial markets, and the federal deficit would soar. The United States has a special responsibility to itself and the world to meet its obligations."
Here are some also apparently forgotten Reagan facts:
- Reagan presided over 18 debt ceiling increases;
- Reagan raised taxes 11 times;
- Under Reagan, spending ranged from 21.3 percent of GDP to 23.5 percent;
Reagan would be thoroughly exasperated by what's now going on in Washington.
When will the adults in the GOP take control and begin exercising responsibility?
KENNETH R. OSTBERG
Winston-Salem
Government waste
In the early 1970s while I was working at the University of Delaware, the terrible economy led the leaders to decide that they must cut the budget. The president ordered that every department head must cut the department's budget by 10 percent. Every department did it. In housing and residence life, the loss was one employee and a few minor expenses. Most folks wondered why that employee was there, anyway.
If we were having a friendly conversation and for some reason someone mentioned federal government wastes of money, we would all agree that there is much waste. This waste comes within department budgets and duplicative programs, whether they are duplicative of other programs or things that are already in private enterprise.
Overnight the feds could cut all kinds of expenses and the U.S. would go along. There would be no need to raise taxes or get hysterical with falsehoods about losing programs.
PAUL JOHNSON
Clemmons
Sum It Up
Will a Republican defeat Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential election?
Not to be overly wordy in my answer, but YES.
ReplyDeletePaul Johnson...it seems like all the crying and screaming is begun long before the needle is shown by the Dr. Once seen and used, all is quiet and ok in a few seconds. This is the style of the vested interests that depend on goodies from DC and Raleigh that are NOT in the realm of entitlements. We had a good bout of that in all the hysterics about the school budget in Raleigh last month.
ReplyDeleteKen Ostberg...curious letter you have there. It seems the debt limit was raised a good 39 times since 1980- many under Reagan as you say. I believe 4 or 5 times under Clinton too. Brinksmanship is the name of the game in DC as pols just hate taking positions on anything until they must. All of that that you mentioned is coming to an end as the bill is now due. Those "adults" you wondered about in the R party? They were complicit in all that has gone before which is another way of saying status quo Washington. America can no longer pay for status quo government and biz as usual. Explains the TEA Party freshmen's arrival.
ReplyDeleteMr. Johnson's idea is not a bad one. But, as always with good ideas, there are problems.
ReplyDeleteThe US military has repeatedly said "We don't need this airplane; we don't need this ship..." But Congress has repeatedly continued the program because part of that plane or ship is made in some Congressional District...reelection is all.
At the moment, we are launched on another project to build a new group of super aircraft carriers. They WILL be built, even though they fail to address our most serious problem.
Most people imagine our carriers launching and recovering planes around the clock for weeks on end. That is not possible.
Why? Because despite the huge number of crewmen...over 3,000...on our current carriers, there is only ONE (1) flight deck crew.
Why? Because there is not enough crew space on a carrier for two flight deck crews. So unless we expect these folks to be superhuman and work around the clock day after day without rest, we are selling our carrier operations short.
The Navy is very much aware of this problem, but it is NOT addressed in the next generation of carriers, because political pressure is so intense.
Thanks to huge advances in technology, the next generation of carriers will carry even smaller crews. But there will still be only ONE flight deck crew. Can they work around the clock for weeks at a time? No.
Even I, who sleep hardly at all, could not accomplish that.
Wow! Good night macavity where ever you are! A good example you gave too.
ReplyDelete