What’s wrong with this picture

Can you believe this? Our friend took his dog to a kennel for weeks while he was gone. Guess what! The dog has to get shots before he can stay with other dogs. 

But here in the U.S.A., our children don’t have to get immunizations. What’s wrong with this picture? 

Judy Slye, Valdosta 

Thank you for your kindness

The family of William “Bill” Claude Summers wishes to thank the generous escort and performance at Bill’s wake and funeral on the 25th and 26th of January. 

The firemen performed the services with dignity and solemnity and in a manner that gave great comfort to Bill’s family and friends. Many commented on the performance and the recognition of Bill’s more than 30 years of service to his country and the city he loved so dearly, Valdosta, Ga.

As the family sat at the funeral listening to the speakers, the temperature near freezing and the wind cutting through our clothes, the firemen of Valdosta were stone-faced in the service of one of their own, unmoving and silent standing at attention in a beautiful exercise of respect.

Near the end as the funeral drew to a close, a fireman read the Fireman’s poem and after was the ringing of the bell. As we sat comforted and proud that our Bill had belonged to such an estimable profession and city, the peal of that bell washed over us and rippled through the universe carrying our memories and emotions and reaching finally into eternity.

We are so grateful for your kindness and dignity. The love of brotherhood and family, community and fellowship could not have been expressed with more earnest beauty.

Again, thank you,

Doris Summers and family, Valdosta 

Constitution: To promote the general welfare

Gary Wisenbaker was in rare form in his latest Valdosta Daily Times op-ed (02/02/19). 

After extolling the president, hitting every one of Rush Limbaugh’s talking points, he characterized the Democratic Party as Democratic Socialists. I find it interesting that Mr. Wisenbaker wants to frame basic liberal Democratic policies as “socialist.” 

When I was young, Political Science 101 taught me socialism was “government ownership of the means of production.” There is no Democrat I know of that advocates for such a position. As a staunch Democrat, I have no interest in that, so I don’t know what he’s talking about about. 

It seems Mr. Wisenbaker, for some reason I cannot fathom, has a problem with taxation as a means of providing public services, and would like to call it “socialism” like it was a bad thing. 

Given Mr. Wisenbaker’s definition of socialism, do you not appreciate traveling the socialist roads of Lowndes County? Are you not thankful for our socialist traffic lights and socialist engineering departments? I would wager you like our socialist fire departments, and socialist police and socialist sheriff’s departments and our socialist jails and prisons. 

Local water departments ensure our water is safe. Whoa, that’s a socialist entity. 

Republicans have called Social Security “socialist” since its inception. Do you want to do away with it? Medicare, that “socialist” medical program for senior citizens, is the most popular of all government programs, and even their Saint Ronald voiced a commercial that said it was akin to slavery or oppression. 

As a recipient of Medicare, I am both thankful for it, and find it the best way of providing health care having come through all the other ways. Are you and he against TriCare, that covers most of the military personnel?

The vast majority of people like their socialist school systems. In Mr. Wisenbaker’s definition, even our city councils and county commission would be socialist entities. Which brings us to largest socialist entity in America, one of the largest in the world, the U.S. military. 

There are so many more examples of socialist policies embedded in the American way that is considered our way of life today.

So I ask you, if you hate socialism, do you want to do away with all these socialist programs? The Constitution of the United States states clearly that “to promote the general welfare” is a task of the U.S. government. 

“To promote the general welfare,” not just that of the top 1 percent, the oligarchs, the neo-aristocracy. That’s where I get my constitutional authority for this.

The Republican Party is the reason we can’t have good things in this country and Valdosta.

Jim Parker, Valdosta