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I appreciated The Telegraph’s article about language I drafted for inclusion in the 2010 Defense Authorization bill clarifying that core depot workload includes major modifications. I was not alone in this effort.
I might not have known the clarifying language was needed but for the alarm raised by former Robins Commander Ron Smith, who has done such great work for Robins’ 21st Century Partnership. I’m pleased Ron will remain active with the partnership after his formal retirement at the end of this year. His shoes won’t be as hard to fill.
Both Ron, Pat Bartness and Mary Terese Tebbe kept up the drum beat on this issue. And they, particulary Ron, served as sounding boards as we came up with different ideas of how to tackle the problem.
Finally, although I was able to get strong clarifying language in the House bill, that language was challenged by Senate staff. They wanted it altogether removed from the conference report. The ensuing stalemate broke soon after I called Sen. Saxby Chambliss for help. Though they didn’t fold altogether, Senate staff relented somewhat and we reached a good settlement on the issue. Teamwork makes it happen.
— U.S. Rep. Jim Marshall
8th District
Marshall wrong
As much as I admire and like our own Rep. Jim Marshall, D-Ga., he is wrong to oppose Democratic proposals on health-care reform. That means he’s against a public option. Thus, he’s against helping citizens who don’t have employer-provided health insurance and thus are on their own against greedy health insurance companies who drop us whenever they want to for any reason.
Marshall describes our wildly popular and efficient Medicare and Medicaid programs that serve more than 70 million citizens as being run like the Soviets. He claims the centralized payment system is the main problem. Consumers and doctors are not involved in vital decisions. Medicare, with 45 million members, pays millions of bills a day, and without centralization, that wouldn’t work.
Marshall has said that without health-care reforms our expenditures on health care will bankrupt our federal government, yet he voted for every military appropriations bill for Iraq and a war that Gen. David Petraeus said cannot be won by our military. Now Marshall is doing the same for a totally corrupt Afghanistan where we have less of chance for victory than Iraq.
— Frank Gadbois
Warner Robins
Miscategorized
It was good to see the rant of Bill Knowles in the Sunday Telegraph. I had been worried that he might have been called home to the Angry Old White Men planet. Unfortunately, it is never really good to see him try to categorize me as someone that “hates liberty and Republicans.”
I would rather be judged by the people who matter to me in my life. I do not think the Republicans in my family think I hate them. I do not think the Republicans that come into my coffee shop think I hate them. I do think some Republicans only think the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution only applies to them. Sadly, Bill Knowles may be the charter member of that group.
— Daniel Schlafer
Byron
Unaffordable overhaul
Well, the numbers are in and, my fellow Americans, thanks to the previous and current administrations, we are now heir to the largest national debt since World War II — namely, $1.42 trillion. Unfortunately, our seemingly inept and apparently clueless representatives in Washington are continuing with plans to overhaul our health-care system to the tune of an additional $900 billion if a compromise measure can be pushed through in the next few months.
I doubt many Americans are opposed to legitimate health-care reform that actually assists individuals who cannot afford insurance and incentivizes cost controls without compromising quality and access to care. What we should oppose is an ill-advised, unaffordable overhaul of the current system before addressing the ongoing economic woes and an unemployment rate bordering on 10 percent.
— James M. Cunningham
Macon
No facts
As was expected, one of your routine liberal letter writers recently made a statement that he cannot back up with any data, just as I had challenged his ilk to do in my last letter. “The majority of Americans favor a public option. An even stronger majority favors health-care reform.” This statement has no basis in fact. The latest widely accepted numbers come from the respected Rasmussen Poll and show the following:
Ÿ 56 percent of American voters oppose the plan put forth by President Obama and the congressional Democrats.
Ÿ 41 percent of American voters favor this plan.
Ÿ 59 percent of American voters favor a series of smaller reforms for specific problems.
Ÿ 59 percent of seniors oppose the health-care bill as it now stands.
This data makes anything that was stated in the letter I am addressing pure fantasy, and nothing but a person’s dream. The election in 2010 will speak for itself and will reflect the data that I present above. The statistical trend has been in this direction for weeks ... the data will speak for itself.
— James Chapman
Macon
Take another step
The city and county government did a wonderful thing by banning billboards from the Warner Robins and Houston County portion of the Russell Parkway extension. Take a look at the Peach County side the next time you are in that area.
We are now plagued by another blight in the form of stick-in-the-ground signs advertising everything from roof repair, haircuts, new homes, etc. All free advertising space at taxpayer expense. This week I counted 15 signs at one intersection, and to me, it is just another form of litter. There ought to be a law. Actually, I thought there was one.
— David Ryburn
Warner Robins
Prayer for today
The Lord is my strength and song and he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him. Amen.
— Submitted by Shirley McGhee Harvey
Warner Robins
Readers — ministers, priests, rabbis, imams and laypersons alike — are invited to contribute prayers for this daily feature.
Send them to “Prayer,” The Macon Telegraph, P.O. Box 4167, Macon, GA 31213; or by facsimile to 744-4663; or online to letters@macon.com.
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