Readers Write 9/13

ECONOMY

We don’t need a pep talk from the president, nor do we need Congress spending all its time on health care reform. What we need is the president and Congress focused on and spending their combined energies on job creation. People are still losing their jobs and their homes. With jobs, the economy improves, and with jobs, people keep their homes and their health care benefits. Only in an improved economy, with people back to work and paying taxes, can any health care reform realistically take place. To pretend otherwise is sheer folly.

Wayne Kerr, Stockbridge

HEALTH CARE

People in other nations don’t want U.S. system

As an Englishman who has lived and worked in 11 countries, I was very interested in CNN’s recent surveys on foreign universal health care coverage. Citizens in several countries were asked if they were satisfied with their system. Obviously, nothing is perfect, and various complaints were made, but overall, the approval ratings were positive.

However, the key question was never asked — namely, “Would you like to exchange your system for the American system?” I can assure you that the answer would be a unanimous and categorical, “No!”

John R. Ibbotson, Peachtree City

Hard to believe promises of the Wizard of Ozbama

I don’t know about town hall protesters believing in black cats and witches, but Cynthia Tucker and her liberal comrades must have a high regard for the Wizard of Oz (“It’s time for Obama to go on attack,” Opinion, Sept. 2).

It is becoming clear that the majority of Americans don’t believe you can offer health care coverage to another 50 million people without increasing taxes or reducing benefits — even if the all-knowing, all-powerful President Barack Obama tells us we can.

I doubt many of us believe Obama wishes to kill our grandparents. But we do fear the unintended consequences of another big government social program — especially one that will be created by a massive piece of legislation like HR 3200.

If the president wants the nation to support his health care reforms, he needs a bill that spells out how his program will work. If you are not paying for abortions, spell it out. If you are going to limit surgical procedures for the elderly, spell it out. Instead, we have a bill that leaves the details of regulation to the whims of a Cabinet department’s bureaucracy, and its enforcement to the Internal Revenue Service and the Social Security Administration.

Brad Stonecipher, Atlanta

HOPE

Horse racing would generate jobs, revenue

“Lottery funds can’t keep up with HOPE” (News, Aug. 31) doesn’t have to ring true — if we keep an open mind in the upcoming Legislature.

The pari-mutuel gaming necessary to support horse racing is legal in 43 states. Georgia isn’t among them. The revenues to this state could augment the HOPE scholarship fund. Or, they could help with the construction or renovation of public schools.

Horse racing would create jobs — from grooms, to exercise riders, jockeys and trainers; to vendors, security personnel, office executives, accounting and legal staff, and more. It would also be a boon to the tourism industry.

To build a track would cost from $150,000,000 to $300,000,000 of private money. It would take a few years to build. So, we would have two years of good construction jobs built with private investment funds.

Racing in Atlanta, or another major Georgia city, would attract the best horses from Northern states that suffer through racing in brutal weather. Those monies would be spent here. And, training facilities in Middle and South Georgia would turn barren farmland to use.

It makes sense to develop this industry when Georgia needs jobs, industry, better tax digest and revenues for things such as HOPE.

Ed Gadrix, legislative affairs chairman of the Georgia Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association

PUBLIC SAFETY

Danger in Atlanta has reached crisis levels

When is Atlanta going to wake up and do something about the crisis in our city?

There is no safety on the streets of Atlanta. I recently read that an 80-year-old woman was murdered for no reason. I also read that a Spelman College student was killed by a stray bullet from nearby fighting. The city must take strong measures to prevent this from happening again. The police need to have a strong presence in the city. Criminals should be afraid to be on the streets of Atlanta.

How many more innocent people have to die before the city admits there is a crisis, and takes action?

My prayers are with Jasmine Lynn’s mother and family.

Robin Blankenship, Marietta

CONDOLENCES

Ex-Georgia DOT chief was mighty, yet humble

I was saddened to hear of the recent death of a great man. I worked with Wayne Shackelford in the mid-1980s. He was knowledgeable about all the minutia of business. But he was also great because he was such a humble and kind human being. He cherished his family, and treated all with dignity.

I think of him as the “gentle giant” of a man. His legacy is the greatness of the human spirit. With all that we do in life, it is who we are that will truly live on. Wayne is this lesson.

Mira D. Bergen, Atlanta

Kennedy chose service over life of mere luxury

Like his brothers before him, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt before them, Ted Kennedy chose a life of public service over his birthright of a life of privilege. I will remember Ted Kennedy for his unfailing commitment to the have-nots, or the “little guys,” whether they be have-nots because of the color of their skin, or other circumstances beyond their control.

Liberals loved him for this. To conservatives, he was a bête noire for many years. The irony of today’s political discourse is that the vast majority of Americans fail to recognize that most of us are “little guys.”

Mike Profit, Dunwoody