This is Viewpoints for Monday, Jan. 18, 2016

Pass HB 722

I fully support House Bill 722. It licenses the limited cultivation of medical marijuana. Not the growing of pot. The bill authorizes the growing of specially bred cannabis and the manufacture of medications in liquid or pill form for any one of 17 diagnoses. In order for a patient to obtain their medication, they would have to obtain a doctor's recommendation and join the state's medical marijuana registry. This medication will alleviate the suffering patients now have to endure. This is especially true of children.

Gov. Deal does not support this bill. He is convinced the state could not control the medical marijuana industry. The state effectively controls the manufacture and sale of alcohol. The same procedures can be used for the cultivation and distribution of liquid medical cannabis.

Some individuals are concerned this bill will allow individuals to be able to smoke some weed anytime and any place they want. They do not realize there is a difference between pot and medical marijuana.

I encourage all voters to contact their state representatives and petition them to pass HB 722.

— Jim Costello

Perry

Chickens headed home

After listening to the Republican Party for several decades state how "conservative" they were and how they heard the voters loud and clear, that coupled with Nikki Haley's rebuttal to President Obama's State of the Union speech was the tipping point for me. You cannot be conservative and enable the national debt to more than double in under eight years. You cannot claim to have balanced the budget when you don't include all of the unfunded liabilities.

Please see U.S. Debt clock.org that needs to be posted on every street corner to underscore the gravity of this crisis. We are spending $1 million a minute. Those off the record numbers would make John Gotti blush. John Kasich, Newt Gingrich and Bill Clinton all lay claim to having balanced the budget, yet they all fail to include all the liabilities the citizenry, including the unborn, will have too bear.

Bill Clinton supporters even state he left office with a surplus? That's the equivalent of believing the Braves won the World Series last year. I do agree with Haley that both parties have failed the nation woefully and in those now famous words of Obama's favorite preacher Jeremiah Wright, "the chickens have come home to roost."

Year after year and politician after politician of both political stripes have literally crushed this nation and they do it with a smile on their face. Washington is beyond broken. It is irreparable unless all three branches return and strictly adhere to the Constitution. Only then will we have a fighting chance to survive. History proves this repeatedly. Who decides?

— Michael Snipes

Kathleen

Reasons for the recession

President Obama's comment in his last State of the Union address: Food Stamp recipients didn't cause the financial crisis; recklessness on Wall Street did. Immigrants aren't the reason wages haven't gone up enough, those decisions are made in the boardrooms that too often put quarterly earnings over long-term returns.

In relation to Wall Street, it wasn't just the greed of Wall Street, but also greed of people like Obama and all politicians who gain power by making promises catering to the society that will vote for them.

Let's just say anything the government takes over is reason enough for failure. The government's takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had a big influence on the mortgage market increasing home ownership rates that outweighed the benefits. Government and competitive banks allowed people to buy what they could not afford with the blessing of Congress and their voters. So the more logical statement by Obama would have been, we allowed some poor people to buy houses that could barely afford food stamps.

The U.S. Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission reported in January 2011 that "the crisis was caused by: Widespread failures in financial regulations including the Federal Reserve's failure to stem the tide of toxic mortgages. Plus lacking an understanding of the financial system they oversaw; and systemic breaches in accountability and ethics at all levels. It also stated to what extent Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and their allies in Congress contributed to the largest financial and economic crisis since the Great Depression.

Wasn't it just like Obama to use the poor, both in receiving free food and non-affordable houses by accusing anything and anybody rather than the powerful greed of government?

As to Obama's comment that immigrants aren't the reason wages haven't gone up enough, they are the reason why some U.S. citizens do not have wages at all. However, due to that almighty powerful vote for presidents and politicians, they are the reason big corporations hire illegals and immigrants, raising their assets that Obama complains about.

— Faye W. Tanner

Macon

In agreement

A salute to Ron Cain from a fellow vet. You told it exactly as it is. "War is a racket."

— Thomas Spence

Bonaire

Not going to happen

All the Republican candidates for president don't support our president's use of executive actions to make our nation safer. They are all afraid of the National Rifle Association and its lobbyists that control Congress. Ninety-five percent of us have supported universal background checks most of the time. Especially after Newtown.

There is no way for President Obama to confiscate 310 million firearms nor would he want to. It's never going to happen.

— Frank W. Gadbois

Warner Robins

This story was originally published January 17, 2016 at 8:57 PM with the headline "This is Viewpoints for Monday, Jan. 18, 2016 ."