'Bitter' brouhaha

Responses to "Obama comment prompts criticism," News, April 12

Voters have plenty of reasons to be bitter

Why is it a big deal that Barack Obama has suggested some voters are bitter? From the local level through the state, all the way up to the federal government, people have a right to be bitter and angry over what's become of our government. Mired in a war without purpose or end and an economy weighed down by a crushing mortgage crisis, consumer confidence is at a low and unemployment is through the roof. The Legislature fights with the governor over what is the best type of tax cut, all the while ignoring serious troubles such as transportation and education, jeopardizing our state's health. Clayton County's school board can't figure out how to keep accreditation and Lithonia's mayor and council can't keep from fighting.

Of course I'm bitter. With all this, is it any surprise that voters are bitter? I'd be worried about any voter who isn't bitter.

LARRY KORN

Marietta

He's on the money about Americans' frustrations

Sen. Barack Obama's comments about small-town America's frustration with the economy are accurate. America today is a far different country than it was 40 years ago in terms of economic opportunities. Real wages are falling for most people, manufacturing jobs are routinely off-shored to maximize corporate profits, and the wealthy top 5 percent live like royalty.

Meanwhile millions of new applicants apply for food stamps to feed their families and struggle to keep their homes. You don't have to live in small-town America to feel bitter and angry about any of this when the federal government bails out the big commercial and investment banks and their well-connected friends.

LOU SARTOR

Atlanta

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Gun rights

Responses to "We're locked and loaded into our Rambo fantasy," @issue, April 10

Handguns are not the answer

Jay Bookman is exactly right. Gun nuts are scaredy-cats, to put it in schoolyard terms that they might understand. Men who need guns to make them feel whole are saying way more about their fragile psyche and timid existence than they intend.

Do they stop to think what carnage a shootout among gun-toting bystanders could cause? What about bad aim? What about nervous trigger fingers? What about confusion about who's the intruder and who's the victim? What about mob hysteria? What about crossfire? More guns is simply not the answer. Getting rid of guns is.

AL DALE

Atlanta

If I have to shoot, then I will do so

Rambo fantasy? Good guy kills bad guy? What kind of nonsense logic dreamed this screed up? How does it follow that legally armed, concealed-carry citizens are all fantasizing on how to kill bad guys like Rambo would?

For heaven's sake, the last thing I want to deal with is shooting someone. But if it happens that I'm in harm's way, I will. And I don't believe I'll be thinking about Rambo afterward.

BILL DUNCAN

Lawrenceville

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Let's have more stories of solid citizens

I enjoy reading the obituary stories in the AJC. I was especially touched by the obituary for Ben Henderson Jr. (Metro, April 12). He was a solid citizen, a great father, and will be missed by all who knew him. That is the kind of person I want to read about. Not drug-addicted movie stars, not crooked politicians, not criminal rappers. Thanks for the great story, and please keep writing them.

NAN BRITTON

Canton

Transportation fix needs to happen now

Transportation is the food of metro Atlanta's prosperity and growth. We've been on a reduced ration for years, the cupboard is bare, yet Jim Wooten proposes going to the grocery store without money to prepare a grocery list ("Traffic fix? Atlanta needs a plan before any tax levy," @issue, April 15).

Wooten would then have us return home with the list, look for money, change the list, go back to the store and buy food, return home to cook and feed our kids. The problem with that plan is that we will fall out before eating.

We're at the point where we need to take whatever money we can quickly lay our hands on and head to the grocery store. We can count the money on the way and figure out what ready-to-eat food we'll purchase when we get there. Wait a while longer and we'll be limited to fast food delivered to the house. Not best, and we're paying a premium, but transportation, water, Grady, and other issues demonstrate that Wooten's "New Georgia" state GOP believes in crisis-driven government for metro Atlanta.

DAVE BEARSE

Atlanta

Aggressive marketing of medicines pushes up their cost

Regarding "Drug companies save many lives" (Letters, April 9), I'm a retired hospital pharmacist and graduate of the University of Georgia School of Pharmacy. I strongly disagree with the letter writer's representation of drug companies. Television ads and "professional drug representatives" add tremendous costs to expenses that drug companies pay to peddle wares. Representatives bring lunches or dinners for staffs in physicians' offices and leave samples to push their brand. Those costs are passed on to consumers. Why do drugs in America cost substantially more than in other countries? What happened to the doctor telling the patient of a drug rather than the company advertising and telling the patient to ask their physician if the drug is right for them? It isn't that drug companies don't do wonderful things; it is how they go about it in the United States that I take issue with.

WILLIAM E. TRAPNELL

Atlanta

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MLK monument

Responses to "State stingy on King memorial?" Page One, April 12

No state dollars should be spent

The article concerning funding for the Martin Luther King Jr. monument on the mall in Washington was obviously intended to make Georgians feel embarrassed that the state hasn't stepped up to fund the project. I want to see the project funded as much as the next guy, but only with private donations. The state has no right or mandate to take taxpayer dollars and spend them on this project. Unless citizens vote specifically to spend their money, keep your hand out of our pockets.

MARK AASEN

Peachtree City

Better memorial? Help the poor

Dr. King would be appalled to know that $100 million was being spent on a memorial in his honor. This is just another example of how money is wasted by our nation. The memorial will do nothing to help the people he so desperately wanted to help. But $100 million could go a long way in eliminating poverty and the lack of education that is so prevalent in black communities throughout America.

KATHY KASTEN

Marietta