• Bad for America

Did you vote for Obama? How’s that working for you? Massachusetts rejected his “Progressive” plans for America. Rush Limbaugh is happy and you might not like Limbaugh, but you too should be happy about Obama’s failure.

Senior citizens should be happy the health care bill is dead. Obama planned to take $500 billion out of Medicare. Those of you with retirement plans need Obama to fail. Last week, he talked about how he wants to punish banks, and the stock market lost 4 percent in two days. Obama talks and we all lose our investments.

Unemployed? Obama promised unemployment would top out at 8 percent. It’s over 10 percent now. (All his promises are failures.) The bailouts of the auto industry benefited only union members at your expense.

Maybe you hated George Bush, Guantanamo and the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Well, Gitmo is still in business, Obama is following the Bush timeline for Iraq, and we’re now in a real quagmire in Afghanistan. Maybe you’re a small businessman who has trouble keeping your doors open and you’re worried about all the taxes this administration is considering. For Obama to fail in that category would be good news for you, your customers, and your employees.

If you’re hoping to vote for Obama again, I can only guess that you vote on personality alone, or you’re a “progressive” who still thinks socialism is good for America despite socialism’s failures in the past. If you don’t fall into these two categories, what will it take to convince you Obama is bad for America? Obama’s failure was easily predictable. He was never a governor, mayor, military commander, or businessman. What made you think he could run America?



Peter L. Supp

Valdosta



• Staying informed

The fact that a group of thinly veiled racists with loud mouths and nothing to contribute are being treated as a legitimate political organization by our mainstream media is disgusting. Fiscal conservatives know that Palin and the Tea Baggers are the death rattle of their party. Stirring up klan-like fervor amongst marginal half-wits is not going to get her elected.

The major news networks know that these people are fringe lunatics, but they also know they are great for ratings. Make no mistake, you do not watch the news when you turn on your television. You're watching intentionally provocative statements made to get ratings so they can sell you more drugs for illnesses created around some corporate board room. Ever wonder why the robots that read you the news ask provocative teaser questions like, "Is there a new terrorist threat?" right before commercial break? I just scream at the TV, "Make a declarative statement you jerks!" That's what the news is supposed to do. It's supposed to give factual data so people can make informed decisions. Instead they politicize everything and make it into a football game where one group of people think they need to cheer on their team. No one pays attention to the issues. People should be screaming for details, but they settle for sloganeering and platitudes.



Johnathan Coody

Quitman



• Showing respect

As a father of three daughters, all now in their 50s, I could not help but observe the contrast in dance style as presented in two recent articles. One was focussed on the very popular, “Father-Daughter” dances whereas the other (by Betsy Hart) focussed on the increasing suggestiveness at high school dances.

At the Father-Daughter dances, an emphasis is placed upon proper etiquette by the male toward his female partner as a means for helping the young women to learn how men should behave toward women. By contrast at many high school dances, boys expect the girls to allow rubbing and groping of their genital areas during “grinding” and other “sexually aggressive” movements.

Being a father and former teacher, I must echo Ms. Hart’s comment: “Whatever happened to the courtship and romance of the high school dance?” As my wife and I observe in our book, “Courtship,” the current expectation of almost immediate sexual involvement has taken the place of the traditional dating process where by the two individuals have the opportunity of getting to know each other and discovering if they have any chance for a meaningful relationship.

Hopefully, the concept and lessons of “Father-Daughter” dances will spread and help both girls and boys learn more respectful means of relating one to the other.



Mario D. Bartoletti, Ed. D

Valdosta