Published: September 06, 2009 05:52 pm      

9/6 Letters to the Editor

Reasons to oppose Obama’s health care plan



Dear Editor:



People ask me why I dislike Obama’s health plan. Am I fearful of losing my benefits, etc.?

Let’s take a step back into my history. In the late 1970s my wife was head nurse at Johnson County Memorial Hospital and one day told me, “You had better get us a good health plan for our retirement years; it is going to get rough with regulations and rationing of care, etc.”

I researched health plans, and we decided that Blue Cross Blue Shield Federal Employee Retired would be the best plan considering our conditions.

I then started working toward that goal, and I am now thankful I did so.

I quit a job in 1977 that paid about $20,000 a year and took a part-time, regular job as a custodian with the U.S. Postal Service.

I worked four hours a day and had to commute from Cleburne to Arlington for two years.

It was a tremendous decrease in our income, but we understood it was a first step in gaining the goal.

After taking tests I got a full-time job at the Jack D. Watson Post Office in Fort Worth.

I retired in 1997, when my pay adjusted for inflation was down to less than $8,000 a year in 1977 dollars.

But I had succeeded in attaining my goal. I now had one of the same health plans available to Congress.

And I seriously doubt that Congress is going to cut its benefits, so I feel relatively secure I will keep mine.

I am certain that the rest of America will not be improved by what the liberal Democrats are attempting, which is basically the first major step to complete socialism.

I have quoted you figures indicating the displeasure most socialized medicine recipients have with their insurance and that around 85 percent of insured Americans are pleased with their insurance.

People complain that health insurance is expensive. Well it should be.

Virtually all the things we have now in the health care field did not even exist 50 to 60 years ago.

MRIs, cat scans, antibiotics and thousands of other R&D developed medications, joint replacement, microscopic surgery, organ transplants, and undreamed of technological advances in every aspect of the health care field.

About 70 years ago I cut my knee severely, and it was sewn up with black thread and a needle, no pain killer and alcohol as the antiseptic.

Health care is not a right nor is owning a home.

We have just seen our government’s attempts at socialism in housing.

A recession with misery for most and a possible future depression.

In the Constitution you are guaranteed only “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

It is your right to work and purchase what you want and need.

Nowhere am I required to feed, medicate or house anyone.

We sacrificed, planned and worked for what we have.

We contribute to several charities and our church.

If I chose to help you, it’s my choice, but my government should not force me.

Providing health care for those without it shouldn’t ruin it for the rest of you.

People make choices, many of them wrong, while others have been simply unfortunate.

Government help should be provided for those with pre-existing conditions similar to the “high risk” driver’s insurance plans.

Tort reform has been successful in eliminating unnecessary tests and lowering costs.

Historically, capitalism has worked better and longer for the majority of the working class people than any other system.

On Tuesday Obama is going to address the school children of America. Propaganda, brainwashing, you decide?



W.V. Bonds

Cleburne





Cleburne needs some kind of care for teens



Dear Editor:



You know what Cleburne needs?

Some kind of before-school and after-school care and schoolbreak- and summer-care for teenagers.

Why teenagers? Aren’t they able to take care of themselves? Depends.

Some are responsible enough to do chores at home before their parents come home from work.

Some aren’t. Some need supervision. Sometimes supervised activities help.

Sometimes they need somebody to talk to who could give them good advice.

Sometimes they need help with their homework before it gets so late at night that sleep overcomes them.

I know that most day care facilities don’t accept children after the age of 12, but it doesn’t mean the older kids don’t need someone to look after them.

They do still need care-givers — somebody to provide snacks, games, relaxation like TV or video games, all these in a teen friendly atmosphere.

Do you think any of the churches might want to provide space for anything like that?

You know what place would be great for something like this? The huge gym and fellowship hall at the old Central Church of Christ.

I don’t know if it could be done as a sort of teen club and have volunteer adults or as a business with hired employees or what.

Does anyone have any ideas that could be brought to the table?



Theresa G. Williamson

Cleburne





Sadness tempered by loving community support



Dear Editor:



With unexpected suddenness, death has come among our family twice within a two-month span. Our beloved Donald “Bernard” Mitchell and mother Billie Skinner.

On behalf of our mother, Mrs. Billie Skinner, we would like to say thanks to the entire community and a portion of the Metroplex and on as far away as El Paso for those friends and family who shared in the loss of our mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, aunt, cousin and dear friend.

She was an awesome, God-fearing lady and was loved by so many. She had a giving spirit and was very soft spoken. But she had a voice even in her quietness.

A special thanks to Pastor Edward Ingram and the First Mt. Zion Church family, along with the New Birth Church family.

And also a special thanks to Dr. S. Dalley and staff for the fine and dedicated attention and time given to our mother.

We so loved her, but God loves her best. Keep us in your prayers

And also a very special thank you to so many friends and family who made phone calls and visited and came by the funeral services, giving their time and love during the homegoing of our beloved son Donald “Bernard” Mitchell.

This was a tragedy we will never forget but will put it all in the hands of the Lord.

The character of Bernard’s life was very sincere.

He was earnest, loyal, industrious and very self sacrificing.

We know of no other young man of this generation who tried harder to interpret good deeds and wishes to others than Bernard Mitchell.

He was very handsome and strong, even in his faith with the Lord.

His genial personality will be missed by all. He had great self esteem in the community.

His untarnished life leaves us an example of inspiration for higher deeds.

That smile of his was another one of his gifts from God.

A very special thanks to Rosser Funeral Home for their kind and true services.

They even helped us in gathering information, etc., the day of this tragic catastrophe.

Thanks to so many extended family members for coming from far and near during this tragedy, especially those family members coming from out of state.

Thanks also to Bernard’s church family, New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, and the First Mt. Zion Church family for rendering the blessed funeral services.

Thanks also go out to the city of Cleburne transportation staff and Renfro Food Company in Fort Worth for the fine acknowledgments of their love to the family.

Thanks to Bernard’s high school and college friends for taking the time to show their love to the family. We all loved Bernard, but the good Lord loves him best.



Beverly Earl, Dawn Donald, Brenda, Brielle, Robert, Mike Melvin, Ronnie, Laura, Tommie, Helen, Mitchell, Kandice, Ron, Nadine, Roger, Harold, D’Angela, LaTrice, Beatrice, Booker T., and the entire Mitchell, Hardy, Hawkins, Thomas, Brown, Pollard and Fuller families.





Get rid of Obama before it’s too late



Dear Editor:



Hopefully, we’ve seen the last of the Kennedys, but what are we going to do about Obama and his cronies?

How do you like this president now?

After giving away billions of dollars to corporations, which were paying bonus money in the millions of dollars to their executives, now there is not enough money to give cost of living increases to Social Security recipients.

Obviously this so called stimulus package was to pay these corporations for their support in getting him elected. It stimulated nothing.

The next step is decreasing benefits under Medicare. Wait and see if that which I am telling you is true or not.

His “health care reform” is not reform, it is doing away with our health care system.

We have to get rid of this guy and his cronies before this country goes completely down the drain.



Donald Henry

Cleburne





Scared, mad or both



Dear Editor:



I never thought that I would actually be scared of my government.

Well, I am both scared and mad at what and how our new “leaders” are manipulating the rules as well as the players.

Did you get the message that many congressmen don’t have to read the new bills but just accept Obama’s word “that to vote yes for anything he throws out there would be in favor of him and their party and wonderful for the country”?

That message was hard to believe, considering that I still believe there are some patriotic, if not always reliable, congressmen in both parties.

As many congressmen have spent the biggest part of their lives in Washington, doesn’t experience tell them to limit their trust in another professional politician to tell the absolute truth?

Are they so sick from power they have forgotten all the rules as well as those oaths taken in order to gain office?

Term limits could rid us of some rascals.

I neither like nor trust our regaled president nor many of his appointed cronies.

This may make me, in multiple opinions, to be a racist, a suspected radical, and also to be un-American.

In my opinion, I am a patriot and a broad-minded and semi-alert American citizen who is stirred up because of the use of partisan political power and other unethical methods used by people in this country who seem to be dead set on changing our lives from freemen to drones.

They have already made great steps toward their goals without much early hardline resistance.

More recently, voices and demonstrations have been successful at “rallying the troops” for the purpose of showing our limber-legged representatives and other opposing factions that the silent majority’s hackles are up.

Hopefully, some gnashing of teeth will follow as a preview of “painful bites” at the voting booth.

Soon, the president is to appear on TV in our children’s schoolrooms, hopefully, to talk about patriotism, America’s virtues, and how the children should remain in school to grow up as productive citizens in a free society with all the known advantages.

However, he may smoothly weave into his address how “good” American children and their “patriotic” parents should gladly help him by following whatever edicts and advice comes from him without question.

If he brings his political propaganda into the juvenile classroom, that unethical and immoral act should ring loud throughout the households of this land.

As were the young adults who believed in and helped elect Obama, these much younger and more pliable minds could also be overwhelmed by this oratorical magician.

This is only an example of impressive persuasion to be performed by this narcissistic political figure who may have reached the peak of his snake-oil sales.

What may be pre-advertised as a historical day for students might rather be considered as a day for allowed absenteeism.

Surely, parents who are at all concerned should attend school with their children that day and observe how the teachers conduct this program and how the children react to it.

I have faith that our teachers will be apolitical on this day.

Have you thought about using your talents as advocates for improved and smaller government for the people and by the people following the guidelines of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights as intended by the originators of those documents?

Politics can be an exciting but sordid game played by many whose happiest days are those when they have bent or changed the rules for their purpose.

There has to be a better way — it is called the right way.



Monte Swatzell

Cleburne