The News Courier encourages letters to the editor. Submissions should be no more than 400 words and should include a name, address and telephone number for verification. Submissions that do not meet requirements are subject to editing. Send letters by noon on Thursdays to P.O. Box 670, Athens, AL 35613, or e-mail to kelly@athensnews-courier.com.

Obama’s first 8 months

Dear Editor:

Let’s recap what the Obama administration is attempting in its first eight months in office. A $500 billion cut in Medicare benefits for seniors, and no cost of living increase in Social Security payments for the first time in history. Senior citizens, due to their age and physical condition, can’t readily find employment to gain income to pay for the lost benefits and lost income. Instead, Obama wants increased funding to welfare recipients. Welfare is currently costing $800 billion, paid from 71 different government agencies, and he wants to increase its funding by $300 billion over the next two years to over a trillion dollars per year. Many welfare recipients are people who decided not to complete their free public education and can’t find jobs, mothers of multiple illegitimate children by multiple fathers, and in many cases illegal aliens. Interestingly, welfare recipients young enough to get work, including single mothers, or those illegally in this country, receive free taxpayer funds, but elderly senior citizens, who worked all their lives, are being deprived of their earned benefits!

This doesn’t discuss the trillions of dollars current pending bills will cost such as health care with its possible destruction of the private insurance industry, and excellent immediate health care, and all the insurance industry jobs, the clean air and energy cap and trade bill and its tremendous cost and loss of jobs, the billions spent needlessly on Congressional earmarks, and expenses for Obama’s 37 czars that will control and oversee all aspects of our daily life. These czars do not require the approval of Congress to be appointed but will have more power than Congressionally approved Cabinet officers.

Obama said he wants to redistribute the wealth. He’s not only trying to take from the hardworking, taxpaying citizens and giving away to the undeserving, but really giving our nation’s financial wealth to China, Japan, and India. This will potentially reduce the dollar’s value due to serious future inflation and China’s potential currency devaluation will make their products even cheaper. I hope all common sense and intelligent citizens will do everything in their power to put a halt to the disastrous activities of this Congress and administration, or your children will have their futures destroyed and your current income dramatically reduced. Congress must get the message: Halt the deficit spending, higher taxes, and legislation causing higher living costs, or lose your job in the next election.

Sincerely,

Quentin D. Anderson Sr.

Athens

Banks becoming dumps

Dear Editor:

When I was a young boy growing up, there was not a house on Elk River. I remember how clean and pure the waters were and the wildlife was plentiful except for the deer and turkey that had been killed out years ago for food by poor people.