Individual freedom
Religious freedom under the Constitution is an individual freedom. Individuals can choose what to believe and how to pray free from government interference.
I don't want the government to tell me how to pray. I also don't want my employer to tell me what religion to practice. This country was founded so that individuals could practice their religion without interference.
Corporations don't have religious or moral beliefs. People do. If employers get to choose what medical procedures we can get, who has the freedom, who is making the moral choices?
Should corporations be able to dictate to its employees that blood transfusions are wrong? Businesses say you don't have to work for them if you don't agree with their choices. If you are independently wealthy, that's true. The rest of us work where we can find the best fit.
Should rich people have freedom of religion, and should the middle class accept the moral dictates of employers?
Corporations are in the business of making money. Will we get to the day when corporations can say they have a moral objection against treating people with expensive illnesses such as cancer? Both owners of corporations and employees should be able to live their beliefs. Health insurance should cover medical procedures based on the safety and effectiveness of the medicine. Individuals then choose what medical procedures are within their religious and moral beliefs. Individuals should choose whether to accept or reject medical care based on their beliefs, not on their employers' beliefs.
DEE EDELMAN
Winston-Salem
Changing things
For years I have been filled with hate and anger for Rep. Virginia Foxx. I could go on and on about the very long list of reasons I have for feeling this way. Let me just say that I share very little if any of the beliefs that she has. I question her motives and feel that she has an agenda that represents corporate lobbyists rather than the residents of her district. I fail to see any positive change she is making in our communities.
The other day I was thinking, "Why am I letting this bother me and drain the energy out of me? Why not do something about it?" We are in an election year; this is the perfect time to change things. What if instead of hating Virginia Foxx we change and funnel that negative energy into positive energy? Wouldn't it be better if we pulled all this hate and dislike together and backed the opposing candidate?
Virginia Foxx could finally come back home and enjoy her retirement. This would be the best use of our tax dollars.
MATT TWIFORD
Winston-Salem
Alcoa dams
Given North Carolina's high unemployment rate, it's no surprise that state officials are trying hard to create jobs. But a suggestion from state Commerce Secretary Keith Crisco — that the government take over Alcoa's dams on the Yadkin River and establish a public power agency — is out of bounds.
The fundamental problem with Crisco's plan: the state wants to take control of dams it didn't build and seize property it doesn't own. A government takeover like this would be unprecedented.
Instead, Crisco should try working with companies like Alcoa, which has owned and operated these dams for nearly 100 years, to promote economic development.
Alcoa recruited ERI to Stanly County last year, creating up to 200 new jobs. It then secured a $300 million investment from Clean Tech to bring another 450 high-paying jobs. But that opportunity was derailed by those who want to seize Alcoa's property.
One reason Crisco opposed Clean Tech is his belief that North Carolina can create "tens of thousands" of jobs by taking Alcoa's dams. That's simply not true. The Yadkin Project dams have a peak generating capacity of less than 100 megawatts — a fraction of what the public power agencies in New York and South Carolina can generate.
Creating new jobs is a mission that everyone in North Carolina fully supports, including Alcoa. But government cannot just take private property to achieve that goal. If it starts now, where will it end?
KEVIN ANTON
CHIEF SUSTAINABILITY OFFICER, ALCOA
Badin
Serving the country
The writer of the letter "Go Graham" (March 2) writes that President Obama spent 20 years with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, but he doesn't have any religious affinity. Twenty years with a Christian minister, but no religious affinity? Which is it?
He also says that Obama doesn't seem to love America — despite the fact that he's serving the country in its highest office. I guess the letter writer is used to all those Republican politicians who hate the government but run for office anyway.
PHIL RONALD TURNER
Winston-Salem
Individual freedom. Next thing you know, all of us will be responsible for buying our own sick care insurance. Might even have a few hundred insurance carriers to choose from too.
ReplyDeleteChange things. I can understand how you feel about Ms Foxx. I have the same low opinion of my Congressman, the dapper and fragrant Mel Watt. Not much reason to vote against him though as it will do no good.
ReplyDeleteThose darn dams again. If they were mine, I would be tempted to tear them open and let someone else deal with it.
ReplyDeleteServing the country. No, he is dis serving the country. He said "change has come to America". We didn't win the Cold War just to default to a backdoor hack like Mr Obama.
ReplyDeleteWhen Bob comes back, I hope to ask him what ever happened to Billy Packer who used to announce college b-ball for CBS. I figure Bob is probably up on all matters sport.
ReplyDeleteFor years I have been filled with hate and anger for Rep. Virginia Foxx.
ReplyDeleteMatt TwiFord
____________
Don't feel like the lone ranger, Mr. Twiford. A lot of liberals are filled with hate and anger, and they express it daily with attacks on good and decent people. It's just in liberals' DNA.
Hi WW, CBS replaced Packer with Clark Kellogg in '08.
ReplyDeleteBob, thanks. I guess Billy just sort of "aged out" of the game.
Deletehe "aged out" long before they got rid of him. Anytime he announced, I muted the TV and turned on the radio. Billy just turned 72, graduated WFU in 1962, led them to two ACC Championships, and a final four in '62 where Wake Forest lost in the semi's to Ohio State , 84-68. Wake defeated UCLA 82-80 for 3rd, while Cincinnati took the national title by beating Ohio State 71-59.
DeleteI went to high school with his son Brandt.
Delete"Twenty years with a Christian minister, but no religious affinity? Which is it?"
ReplyDeleteSome days he's a Muslim, some days he's an atheist, and some days he believes in liberation theology, according to them. It isn't really a coherent intellectual critique as it is simple hatred of the man.
Not that there would be anything wrong with having a President who followed any of the above belief systems...there isn't a religious requirement in the Federal Constitution thank goodness.
The typical American when asked what religion he follows almost automatically says "Christian" despite the fact that he hasn't been inside a church except for weddings and funerals for 20 years, nor has he had any real religious thoughts during that same period.
DeleteMost churches are jammed at Christmas and Easter, half empty the rest of the year. That's because the Christian mythology, like the Norse, and Roman and Greek before it, is slowly fading out.
What really amuses me is that the christian nutsoids think that Reagan and W were big Christians. Neither was a regular church goer, and after he was shot, Reagan's main religion was his wife's daily astrology readings.
By far the most regular church attender in recent years has been Bill Clinton, who went almost every week.
Liberal Democrats know they probably won't win this fall. Unless................Heck, who could win an election after being in charge for last four years and everything that they've touched has to turned to fecal material. The deficit has almost doubled, remember Obama's promise to cut in half during his first four years? Health Care, that went up everybody's 'yahoo', and they didn't feel to good about it either. The law is pending being thrown out by the SCOTUS too. Moving on to jobs, 8.9 percentage unemployment is being reported. But even the most liberal experts know that that's not an accurate percentage. Moving on to gas prices-they've double under Obama and they are moving higher everyday.
ReplyDeleteWhat's a liberal Democrat to do? Start a war. A real war would work, and the liberal Democrats may well employ that tactic with the bombing of Iran if all else fails. But a better, and easier war to start is one of a non-existent Republican war on women.
The destitute, Georgetown law student story has erupted into such a wonderful misrepresentation of the facts by the liberal media, even top liberals have gotten on board. What makes it so nice is that your average Democrat has never has being known to be on the higher end of the IQ scale. So it's an easy sell.
It's also such a 'good' lie that even Hillary Clinton has gotten on board. Note: Everybody knows how much the Clintons love a good lie.
Here's the link:
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2012/03/hillary-clinton-extremists-control-women-/1
So instead of having approval ratings in the 30s where they should be, Obama is plugging along in the 40s. The real question is how much longer will the liberal media be able to 'save' Obama from the truth. That is: He's been a horrible president.
Attorney General Eric Holder is doing everything he can for his boss. His department is blocking a Texas voter ID law.
ReplyDeleteGotta keep the ACORN members and illegals voting you know. Otherwise, Democrats will lose in the fall. We can't have that can we 'Eric'?
Unbelievable!
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/03/12/justice-department-files-objection-to-texas-voter-id-law/
The sun will rise in the east tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteAnd Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.
DeleteDon't be too sure about that. I hear he has been sighted having lunch with Elvis in Tupelo.
DeleteFor some years now South Carolina has laid claim to having the most ignorant citizens. But it seems that Mississippi is fighting to regain its throne.
Dumb, dumber, dumbest
The MS and AL GOP electorates probably won't be in the vanguard of advancing race relations. But they're out in the open about about their racism, which is refreshing. Usually everyone knows the score, but won't come out and say it.
DeleteTrue...they cloak their racism in terms like "worst president ever" rather than coming right out and saying "I hate the effing n----r."
DeleteOf course, they lack the education to know that we already have a triumvirate of worst presidents, widely recognized by legitimate historians, to wit:
1. James (nmn) Buchanan, Jr. (D) - often derisively called Buck-anan (does that ring a bell?)
2. Warren G. Harding (R)
3. George W. Bush (R)
The current POTUS does not even come close to that bunch.