Letters to the editor: August 12, 2009

Editor:

I am greatly disturbed by the goings-on at the Federal and State levels at this time. This has occupied much of my time for the past few days. I believe we are in a battle to save our great country from socialism and Marxist ideas. If we don't take a stand against the current attempt to take over our healthcare industry as well as the attempt to impose "cap and trade" restrictions on our economy I am certain we are doomed to decline just as the Roman Empire did. If you feel as I do I hope you will call for town hall meetings and express yourself editorially and in person to our congressional representatives and to the President - I am.

I am alarmed not only by what I see as serious violations of our Constitutional rights to freedom of speech and assembly. As a would-be outdoor writer I am also alarmed at just how insidious and ubiquitous the threat to our freedoms has become. Our rights are being whittled away, one by one, by an out-of-control government that despite being bankrupt in every sense of that word continues to disenfranchise us from every angle, often with the aid of bad law administered by all-powerful agencies with the aid of special interest groups and many other ignorant, naive or uncaring but willing accomplices. But the "black hats" aren't winning every time as this column shows. We can and must stop the tyranny we face but every shoulder is needed at the wheel. I am adding what weight I can. As journalists I urge you to do the same.

Frank Galusha,

Shingletown

Dear Editor,

These are worrisome times. While the world's governments are bragging about their country's virtues, our leaders are slamming the U.S.A. as virtue-less.

Meanwhile, people are still coming to America, and many die trying. The complacent, taxpaying citizens have been awakened and don't like what they are see or hear.

Mr. Obama has vowed to get health care reform passed regardless. That kind of talk represents an arrogance from a man of change. America is not a community in Chicago where you can buy or bully your way around. If there is something fishy to report to Washington, it's what is happening in the White House right now.

Sincerely, Vernon Packer, Redding