The big bailout, thugs and stopping the mine

By Published by The Editorial Board

Published: September 24, 2008

The ‘Great Betrayal’ of our children

To the editor:

I was recently dismayed to read of a proposed $700 billion economic bailout for our nation’s failing banks and mortgage lenders. How have we come so far down? At the time of this writing, our national debt exceeds $9 trillion — and by the time this is read, billions more dollars will be added to the federal debt. We currently have a multi-trillion dollar trade deficit that is exploding exponentially and our government seems content to continue to allow this to go on unabated. In 1981, Ronald Reagan in his first inaugural address stated that government is not the solution to our problems, government is the problem. Truer words were never spoken by a politician. Unfortunately, his administration and others that followed failed to live up to the rhetoric he intoned.

Tom Paine, Thomas Jefferson and Henry David Thoreau are all attributed with the expression that the government which governs best, governs least. While this idea may not be completely useful, it is certainly worth more consideration. At this stage of our history, we are so far removed from the principle of less government that it seems practically alien to the reader. H.L. Mencken once observed that democracy is the system wherein people get what they deserve. And, he added, they deserve to get it good and hard. We as a nation have found ourselves in a deep hole and have continued digging deeper and deeper. We are the world’s greatest debtor nation as individuals, in our trade policies and through our federal government. We are on the brink of a financial meltdown brought on by gross speculation in housing, rampant corruption and malfeasance, massive tax cuts, costly wars and an ever-declining dollar. What are we doing to fix these staggering problems? The answer is simply very little.

We are living in an era that will be known as the “Great Betrayal.” We have mortgaged the future of our children for our immediate gratification. We live in an age where personal savings are at an all-time low and credit debt is as common as breathing. How will I be able to tell my 18-month-old son when he grows up that his parents’ and grandparents’ generations squandered the health and well-being of this republic on our own wants and betrayed his generation’s needs?

Our shortsightedness and avarice have caused much of this financial fiasco. We demand more return on our stocks and mortgages even if we can’t afford them. When everything begins to break down, as it should on these ridiculous financial schemes, we then immediately turn to the government to solve our problems. I say it is the beds these businesses have made, so let them lay in them. We have a need for fiscal health that must come through drastic changes. Without immediate economic surgery, we may face an unprecedented financial crisis. Our generation must face the reality of less government spending and more taxes — or our children will be drowned in a flood of crushing debt and tax burden.

I knew things had taken a turn for the worst when in 2002 Vice President Dick Cheney told then-Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill, “You know, Paul, Reagan proved deficits don’t matter.” Well, deficits do matter. They are not necessarily stimulating conversation pieces or salacious sex gossip, but they matter. In fact, deficits are one of the most important issues our nation faces. But don’t worry — our grandkids can deal with them.

PATRICK TOUART

To the editor:

Why are working people having to pay for people stealing their money? We are paying people to steal and paying the cost of them doing so. This continues the cycle of theft.

Who is going to be next?

This has been a constant pattern of this administration. Will it happen with the next? How can we fix this? There are no simple solutions, since we don’t know where the evil is in high places, which seems to be everywhere. This much I do know — we need some people who will at least attempt to correct the problems and, in the end, do the right thing.

I should not have to bail you out for the wrong you did. I trusted you with an investment and you made money for me and you, and in the end, you got paid for doing this.

Isn’t that enough? Apparently not. For those who cheat and steal, I think you should pay back each investor with the interest they should have received on the investment. After all, you should have been making something. So where is the money?

DELILAH MANGUM

To the editor:

Democratic thugs have increased their savage attacks on John McCain and Sarah Palin in recent weeks. Some idiot on the radio said McCain never had a hand laid on him while a prisoner of war in North Vietnam.

Rep. Charlie Rangel said Palin is “disabled.” Obviously, he has the two confused, since McCain can’t raise his arms very high because of the beatings he endured while he was a POW. Rangel is currently being looked at for evasion of taxes.

While Obama pushes his campaign of victimology, his blogging minions increase the smear campaign against Palin and her family. The so-called “Troopergate” is just another fraud, as well as the lies being circulated about her children.

Feminist militants say Palin’s only qualifications — set forth by the Republicans — is she never had an abortion. The mainstream media puts her down for having five children and having the audacity to state she is a Christian. Obviously, being a good person is not a quality Democratic supporters like in their politics — and they wish only to viciously destroy Republicans.

Obama and his news media supporters blame just the Republicans for the current financial crisis, but Bill Clinton loosened the reins on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

DAVID W. GRAY SR.

To the editor:

There are a lot of veterans like myself in Chatham and throughout Pittsylvania County that have put their lives on the line in foreign lands to protect their families from harm’s way. Then you have things happen that you have no control over, like 9/11, that kills thousands.

But there are things happening now in Pittsylvania County that veterans and everyday people can do something about. Virginia Uranium Inc. wants to mine and mill uranium in an open pit mine. It will have to be done by blasting with dynamite. The dust and tailings — which is rock containing uranium crushed to dust that will be left behind at the mining site, never to be cleaned up — from the mining and the milling is radioactive and can get into the air we breathe and the water we drink. Tens of thousands of Virginians can be affected by this if this company gets the OK to mine.

We need to stand together and say no! It won’t only affect us as adults, but our children, grandchildren and our great-grandchildren.

VUI says it can do it safely, but it can’t control Mother Nature and accidents. Like at any job, accidents happen — no matter how safe you are. Most of the time, those accidents will only hurt one or two people. But if an accident happens in mining and milling, there is no telling how many people will be affected.

There is a group of people called Southside Concerned Citizens and other citizens that are giving educational seminars in Virginia. This group is trying to teach people about the hazards of uranium mining.

VUI has a lot of money backing them and lobbyists in Richmond trying to get the mining and milling approved.

So I am asking veterans and good hard-working people of Chatham and Pittsylvania County to say no to the mining and milling of uranium in Virginia for the good and safety of this generation — and generations to come.

ALLEN E. GROSS

Chatham