Tupeloan sees Childers as Nancy Pelosi's lap dog

It is hard to believe that our U.S. Rep. Travis Childers voted for almost $800 billion in the stimulus package which he had not even read.

I am sure there are some good things in the package, but also a lot of pork.

You don't buy the grocery store to get an apple. The bill includes throwing in more money for education. I am for quality education, but we in Mississippi are not getting much bang for our buck. The average ACT score in Mississippi is 18.9, the lowest in the nation, while we spend $6,866 per student. Utah's average ACT score is 21.8 and they spend $5,551 per student. Will someone in education or public office please come out in public and explain this discrepancy? I voted for Childers because I thought he would represent us well. I was wrong! What we got was another Nancy Pelosi lap dog.

Bill Mathews

Tupelo

Retirees reject objections

to stimulus funding plan

As retirees on a fixed income, it continues to disturb us that a small, but vocal group of governors are threatening to reject stimulus money for their states. The stated rationale is that to do so would "mortgage our children and grandchildren's future."

We find it offensive that these governors are only recently concerned with spending. Where were they when the previous administration was shoveling billions of dollars to a foreign country for a wrong-headed war in Iraq?

Apparently it is OK to go into debt to send billions of dollars into a foreign country, but not OK to do so for Americans. Disgusting!

Deborah and Donald Cooper

Tupelo

Socialism: What's new?

Look at 'socialist' Alaska

Recently, I noticed the far-right TV news talk-head, Sean Hannity, announced: the arrival of the "red dawn of socialism" and a "new America." The largest government expansion in our country's history is "a Liberal hijacking of American life." His rant was in response to President Obama's stimulus package. Of course, Hannity, a Conservative loud-mouth, would never mention that this country is now struggling through the results of an eight year George Bush/Reagan Trickle Down Economic Fiasco which is by far the worst economic climate since the Great Depression of the 1930's.

Hannity was using his network to make sure he pushed through one of the Republican neo-McCarthyist's favorite Obama era words: "socialism."

Later in the day, I came across an example of the neo-McCarthy proclaimed "socialism" in my hometown newspaper, the Daily Journal, in an opinion submission by Bobby Crosland titled: "The liberals in power can take everything."

Crosland pointed out that there are: "... those who count on government's 'generosity' to get by, those who think the government should give them money to [buy] a damn [TV] converter box, ... those that want the right to free health care, ... free lunches at school, ... the 'right' to own a house even if you can't make payments. When will this madness end?"

He continues by quoting Churchill: "The inherent vice of Capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings ... the inherent blessing of Socialism is the equal sharing of the misery."

Off the cuff, I would say that American Socialism is the sharing of the blessings and the misery of socialism by all citizens, regardless of their political affiliations. Socialism is not new. Here is a partial list of American government socialized programs: public schools and universities, roads and highways, police and fire departments, air traffic control, national parks, Social Security and Medicare benefits, the military ... And don't forget Republican Gov. Sarah Palin's Alaska which ranks high on the "socialized" government list with the huge defense security installations spending and socialized oil program that pays her constituency a bonus of some $1,200 per capita.

Al Bratton

Tupelo

Mississippi farmers cite

safety in peanut harvest

The Mississippi Peanut Promotion Board would like to address the recent peanut salmonella outbreak.

Due to a bad processing decision by a Georgia processor, the United States peanut industry has been severely impacted. There has been no evidence that the peanuts themselves were the carriers of the salmonella. Mississippi is one of the fastest growing peanut-producing states, with nearly 30,000 acres in production. In the span of a few years, peanut fields once found only in the Southern part of the state can now be seen in all regions of the state. Mississippi peanuts are still a safe and viable source of nutrition and protein. Even with glitches in our food supply, Mississippians and Americans should be thankful for American farmers providing the most reliable and safest food source in the world.

We would like to urge people to continue using peanut butter and peanut products. By doing this, you will also be supporting local farmers who help maintain stable local economies.

Josh Miller

Vice Chairman

MS Peanut Promotion Board

Higher rail speed poses

risks for residents

I read Jim High's letter (Feb. 22) with great curiosity, and it's clear he has the best interest of Tupelo at heart. Nonetheless, I question his proposal of allowing trains to pass through the city at 40 mph. While it's true that 40 mph will cut waiting time in half, it's also true that a train traveling at 40 mph, will take up twice as much track to stop, as would one traveling at 20 mph.

We all know train derailments are a common occurrence in this country, and given the fact that tank cars containing hazardous materials are almost always present on many of these trains passing through Tupelo, causes me to wonder, what would be the effect of a hazardous chemical spill at East Main and Front Street or at Crosstown, or any crossing for that matter?

I don't pretend to have the answer to Tupelo's train problems, but highballing (no pun Intended) at 40 mph through the city is not the answer. In my opinion, there has never been but three options, either go around Tupelo, go under, or go over the most affected crossings.

Ed Christian

Tupelo



Obama's stimulus raises

risk of stopping growth

I thought the 1st district was getting 9,000 new jobs from the Obama Stimulus Package! It looks like we are more likely to lose 9,000 more jobs than get an additional 9,000 jobs. You can't put handcuffs on the business community and expect them to respond with growth plans. You can't raise taxes on everyone and everything and expect the economy to continue to grow. Taxes repress growth, not advance it. We would all like to have more, but we must realize that someone has to pay for it at some point.

As long as we let our politicians decide how to spend our money, we can expect to become further in debt. The government must learn to live within its means. The 2009 budget should be based on the 2008 revenue, not on projected revenue for 2010! We have forfeited our children and grandchildren's futures in the name of progress. The next time you sit down with children to eat, look them in their eyes and apologize to them for your failure to stop this socialist madness.

As Thomas Jefferson said, "The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give it to those who would not."

Mike Curtis

Okolona

Full parole board story

story remains untold

As a victim advocate and survivor of a homicide victim, I have contacted a Mississippi Parole Boards eight times in the past twelve years on behalf of the Jean Elizabeth Gillies' family. I have sent letters, petitions and attended press conferences on the family's behalf. In one letter I recall telling them that you shouldn't have to beg someone not to release a violent murderer but that was exactly what I was doing-begging them not to release Douglas Hodgkins. The pleas fell on deaf ears this time as he has been paroled.

This is not the first time I've been disappointed for a victims' family about a parole board's decision. I've wept with them as they relived the murder and have shaken their heads in bewilderment. Somehow this one has gotten more of a public outcry and I've asked myself why, how? I believe the answer is Parole Board member, Betty Lou Jones' quote from Errol Castens' article on Sunday, March 10, 2009. As she insists the decision was a good one, she is quoted: "There are two sides to every story. All things were considered that needed to be considered," she said, "I feel this has been a pretty normal procedure. The difference is that a lot of media are involved."

God forbid that the media "get involved" and let the "public" know what goes on behind closed doors from our "public servants." After all, that is what the governor's press release says about his parole board nominees. He calls them good public servants--somehow "good" doesn't come to my mind in describing the servants who voted to release this convicted murderer.

Carolyn Clayton

Saltillo