Town hall meeting an opportunity missed



Dear Editor:



I attended the Chet Edwards town hall in Cleburne, hoping to hear health care related questions and learn about the legislation and my representative’s viewpoint.

But I could not do so, thanks to the mob there, led by members of the Burleson Tea Party, who were screaming at Edwards almost every chance he had to speak, despite stating on their Web site, “We must be willing to exercise dignity, especially, when speaking with our elected officials.”

At a recent event, their president spouted two mistruths in a row, about the Constitution and the federal deficit.

And at the town hall meeting she again was wrong but never in doubt, shrieking an untruth about Medicare.

There is a big difference between speaking truth to power and yelling falsehoods.

Such crude disrespect towards a Congressman, whom we see in person about every year or so, and such contempt for the audience, who at times could not hear Edwards over the screeching, was as appalling as anything I have witnessed in 25 years of political activism.

The Burleson Tea Party did not intimidate Edwards; they embarrassed themselves.

I praise Edwards for the rational and unflappable demeanor with which he confronted this verbal assault.



Pete Wrench

Cleburne







Health care reform proposal too costly



Dear Editor:



We want to thank Congressman Chet Edwards for taking the time to bring his town hall meeting to Johnson County and to once again thank him on behalf of veterans in bringing reform to the treatment of veterans and for his concern and watchdog oversight for the veterans.

Our biggest concern in regards to the health care bill is the runaway cost of health care and insurance as it now stands.

We can not continue paying for our government to give grants — “stimulus money?” — to the banking, automotive and insurance industries without oversight and allow medical care and insurance companies to flourish, all at elderly and taxpayer expense.

Our government has benevolently told us we may keep our private pay insurance but failed to finish the sentence “ ... and you can also pay the thousands of dollars out of your Social Security for those without insurance.”

Frankly, we’re tired of doing without in order to finance illegal immigrants and able-bodied citizens who don’t contribute to help pay for their “freebies,” including hospital treatment.

Congressman Edwards mentioned in the Sept. 4 meeting that “free hospital care for illegal immigrants doesn’t exist.” It does, Congressman.

Did you stop to think what would happen to a hospital that receives Medicare and Medicaid payments if they turned away an illegal who slips across the border, or if a school refused to enroll the child of an illegal? And where is that money coming from?

I was honored that I was one of the few chosen to speak at the meeting.

Instead of asking questions as I should, I made statements from the heart and, except for applause, was fortunate in that I was not one of the many speakers who were interrupted.

As for the town hall meeting, it did not take long to realize hopes of hearing an intelligent discussion regarding the proposed health care bill facing our nation was not to be.

The boisterous behavior perpetrated by what appeared to be a prearranged circus with the intent to deliberately disrupt soon dispelled any signs of a civil meeting.

By the protesters’ actions, they did not gain our respect.

We respect their opinion, but shouting down speakers and acting in a discourteous manner is not the way to express opinions.

Regardless of a legislator’s party affiliation, the speaker deserves more respect from citizens. If they disagree, just as Congressman Edwards said, they can show their preferences at the voting booth. Being disruptive should never be an alternative.

Please vote against the health care bill, congressman; we can’t afford it.

Anytime the government gets involved, greed and lobbyists step in.

Medicare and Medicaid have proven successful but are still rife with opportunists and government red tape, which is the costliest part of it all.



Jack and Frances Hardwick

Keene







Purposeful misinformation?



Dear Editor:



On Sept. 4 my wife and I attended Congressman Chet Edwards’ town hall meeting in Cleburne. Mr. Edwards, as always, was cordial and polite.

In fact, even though I disagree with some of his policies, I was beginning to feel sympathy for him in having to deal with an obviously hostile crowd. This sympathy was short lived.

Toward the end of his meeting, he told all members of the audience that primary care doctors make about $150,000 per year.

He then went on to compare that with orthopedic surgeons who make $1 million per year.

A simple internet search will illustrate to the reader just how Edwards hyperbolically inflated his orthopedic figure.

This is frighteningly reminiscent of President Obama’s recent town hall meeting in the Northeast where he stated that when the surgeon amputates the foot, he makes $30,000, $40,000, $50,000 immediately.

In this district, Medicare reimbursement for a foot amputation is about $650.

In New York City, a surgeon may receive about $1,000.

Simple math confirms that these figures are, at bare minimum, a 30,000 times exaggeration.

I see only two possibilities with this misinformation — it is accidental or it is purposeful.

If purposeful, the implications are clear, and I do not feel the need to elaborate.

If accidental, we are compelled to ask ourselves if these same politicians, who cannot be trusted with numbers like $650 and $1 million, can be trusted with the number $1.2 trillion.



Richard M. Adams, DPM

Granbury and Cleburne







Applauding the president’s education message



Dear Editor:



I have been sickened and appalled by the poisoned partisan attack on President Obama because he chose to speak to school children about doing their best and staying in school.

I have heard it said he has no business meddling in education. Surprise — every president at least since Sputnik has exhorted students and teachers to do better, do more, achieve more.

It has been said that this was a political speech because he has a political agenda in mind. Of course, it is.

The Preamble to the Constitution says that one of the purposes of our government is to “promote the general welfare.”

What could better the general welfare of the nation more than an educated people who can solve problems and achieve great things?

The president is trying to promote the welfare of the nation.

School districts instructed teachers to not view this speech with their students, to get parental permission before they did, or tell parents about it and hope that they would decide to watch it with their children.

I hope parents did that.

However, a speech of this nature is an educational event and should be presented in school like any other.

I have been a teacher for 37 years, and never before now in my career have I been hindered by a school district from using a speech by a president of the United States with my students.

Some said this would be a political speech by the president.

Well, so is the State of the Union address. That speech is a clear announcement of what that president hopes to accomplish politically.

I have viewed and discussed those speeches by many presidents over time ,and never once was I told I should not use it or get parental permission beforehand.

Some have said the president should not meddle in education.

Think for just a moment where George W. Bush was when he was informed about the attacks of Sept. 11. He was reading to some elementary school students.

Was that just for the sake of politics? Was it only for a good photo opportunity? Did he encourage those students to work hard in school, practice their reading, and set goals for their life like graduating from high school?

President Obama did exactly what President Bush was doing and every president since Woodrow Wilson has done.

He was “promoting the general welfare” of our nation by encouraging the next generation to perform better in school, set goals for their lives and take responsibility for their learning.

I applaud his courage and his message.



Sharon Corder

Cleburne







Tell your congressman what you think, often



Dear Editor:



During the Great Depression the government called out everybody they thought might carry some weight with the public and had them tell Americans that the economy was recovering and the depression was almost over.

Guess what, they are doing it again.

They were wrong in 1933 and they are wrong in 2009.

You might have noticed that some weeks after the AIG collapse, the government announced it was the “department dealing with derivatives” that caused AIG’s demise.

They had about 400 people in that department earning between $140,000 and $400,000 per year, each doing nothing but gambling on derivatives.

You may also remember several years back that derivatives brought down Orange County in California and the Bank of London’s branch in Hong Kong.

The other night on a TV financial channel, they were discussing the really big derivative traders, who were taking home during the good years of 2002-07, between $1 billion and $3 billion a year in income each, and they finally called derivatives what they are — bets.

A derivative is simply a bet or wager, and in the 1930s they had places not unlike today’s legal off track betting parlors which were called “bucket shops,” where you could place a bet on anything you could think up.

It was legalized gambling and eventually outlawed. Unfortunately we have turned the stock market into a modern-day bucket shop or lottery; you can take your pick.

In 2005 the financial institutions under a liberal Congress’s directives started making adjustable rate mortgages with two-, three- and five-year terms before a higher interest rate adjustment would occur.

In 2007, the two-year ones came due and started our increased foreclosure rate and economic problems, and then the three-year ones started hammering us in 2008.

Guess what — the five-year ones are coming in 2010 along with even higher projected unemployment and Obama’s increased taxes, etc.

Estimates from European economists indicate that more than 50 percent of American mortgages will be upside down in 2011.

I was employed by the federal government four different times, and I guarantee you that they are lying to you about several things.

First is Obamacare health reform, which Reagan, among other presidents, advised us against, saying “One of the traditional methods of imposing ... socialism on a people has been by way of medicine; it is very easy to disguise a medical program as a humanitarian project, most people are a little reluctant to oppose anything that suggests medical care for people who possibly can’t afford it.”

Americans rejected mandatory universal health care during Truman’s administration.

All Obama and the liberals want is to get their foot in the door, and then they can expand in any direction, to any size and level they desire.

I am proud that a few Americans are raising hell with their congressmen, but unless their anger expands to others and rages through the next election it will be for naught.

I fear we forget too quickly and are too comfortable to resist the lies and pressure the liberals will continue to apply.

Whatever the outcome on health care, the liberals in Congress are already lining up additional legislation to try to gain even more control of our lives.

The most onerous is cap and trade. This boondoggle has proven an outrage in Europe.

It became a system politicians could use to reward their money sources and friends at the taxpayer’s expense. It will cost the average American family about $1,500 per year initially in additional costs for necessary items.

Call your congressman and complain now, and repeat frequently.



W.V. Bonds

Cleburne