Readers Write 01/03

SPORTS

Response to “Tiger Woods saga follows ancient script of transgression.” Opinion, Dec. 16

I, for one, am not rooting for Tiger Woods. Yes, we have all made mistakes, but saying that “he’s human” sounds like many men have slept with 16 women, and that it is OK. No, it is not OK. Perhaps the reason he has been “icy” to the public is because his mind has been juggling numerous liaisons with women while deceiving his wife, children, mother, and fans.

That must be exhausting. Who knows how long this would have lasted if he had not been caught?

I say, let’s look at the real role model for everyone from this day forward: Phil Mickelson, a devoted husband and father who treats the media and his fans with great respect. Susan Hartsfield Tanner, Cumming

POLITICS

A clean Statehouse takes an open government

Knowing my penchant for activism, a friend gave me a little plaque that says, “I can’t clean house and save the world at the same time.” I looked at that plaque recently and realized that we can, and must, clean house and save the world at the same time!

I am proud of those legislators who are making an earnest effort to rid our General Assembly of those who would place their own interests ahead of the interests of the people whom they serve. Kudos to bold legislators such as Republican Sen. Jeff Chapman and Democratic Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver, and others of both parties who pledge to work for open government and ethics reform.

Dorothy Ingram, Atlanta

‘Tea party’ activists will soon be in hot water

A simple civics course could have solved a problem that most of the “tea party” crowd now have. 

Any “right” thinking person should know that in a true socialist or leftist government, a march on Washington would be promptly broken up by police and federal authorities, who would then take names and Social Security numbers. For those true believers, the worst is yet to come.

  Just wait until next term, when President Barack Obama issues an executive order suspending private ownership of guns. That act will be followed by ATF agents paying a visit to all law-abiding, gun-toting citizens to collect those guns. It is so — says the Tooth Fairy.

Ronald D. Johnson, Austell

Only one wise course
in Afghanistan: Get out

The only excuse for continuing this situation in Afghanistan is having no recollection of history. It’s time to move on and let the people decide what they want. Other foreigners have tried and failed. Now is the time for America to recognize the facts.

Tom Rizzi, Mableton

HEALTH CARE

Ordinary market forces should not apply

As a volunteer in a free clinic, I grow weary with those who say that, to give health care to the poor, money must be taken from those who earn their income. Our problem lies in the definition of “earn.” 

I suggest the entitlement question be answered this way: If you are an employee in a legitimate occupation, and you work at least 40 hours a week, you should be entitled to basic health care that does not require more than a fair share of your income. If, for example, the median portion of gross income for health care for all employed people in the United States is 10 percent, no one should be required to pay more than 10 percent.

Ordinary market forces should be allowed to operate with goods and services we can do without — but not with those we must have. It is unconscionable for the carpenter’s assistant to pay, say, 30 percent of his income for basic health care, and the chairman of the board to pay less than 1 percent for boutique health care.

Harris Green, Big Canoe

Rest of us deserve what lawmakers already have

The veterans have a public option, as they should. The members of the House have a public option, as they should. The senators have a public option. And every American should have a public option. Why should profit be part of the package on the private actuary side (which also continues to further shape the system so they only get the healthiest of us)? The immense costs would be dramatically impacted by a real public option.

There is no insurance corporation that is elected by the people, for the people. The industry is by Wall Street for Wall Street, which expressly puts corporate profit above individual health. Requiring each of us to send in a monthly payment to the private insurance industry without a meaningful public alternative is taxation without representation.

Write the option of Medicare for all. Pass the public option for all.

Mark Miller, Alpharetta

TERRORISM

Those convicted should be put to death promptly

Re: “Two terrorists get prison sentences” (News, Dec. 15), I don’t think our criminal justice system serves us well in protecting us against terrorism. Such light sentences are inappropriate for people who plot to kill us. These two young men will be in their 30s when they are released, so what’s to stop them from becoming terrorists again? Also, they’ll have had access to Muslim chaplains in the prison, who could be a means for them to communicate with the outside world. And exactly who is going to keep them off the Internet?

Terrorists are predators and, as such, should receive the same treatment as all other predators on this planet. They should be executed. Their aims are different from most criminals found in our country.  Their main interest is in killing and in destroying as much property as possible.

There should be a separate judicial system for these people, American citizens or not.  Once found positively guilty, execution should be immediate. They are the enemies of civilized people everywhere.

  Jack Francis, Conyers