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Big government sometimes can't even do simple things

Re: 9/11 recovery loans went to many far from attacks, Sept. 9.

When will we realize that counting on the federal government to head up relief efforts is futile, at best? Once again we get an example of our ineptness at work. Instead of those people and businesses who were devastated by the 9/11 attacks getting the low-interest loans they needed, the money ended up spread across the nation to those who, in many cases, didn't realize where it came from.

Don't get me wrong, this is not a bash on President Bush and the Republicans but an example of why big government cannot handle even the simplest of tasks. Obviously someone was asleep at the switch and as a result, those in need are still struggling while some dog grooming salon in Utah has new couches. It just makes me sick.

Maybe we need to consider the privatization of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Small Business Administration before we will see competent results. For those of you who want more government in our lives, please remember that these results speak for themselves.

Be ready to take care of yourself

Living in Florida with the risk of hurricanes, I have put away supplies to last at least two weeks in case of emergency. In the 2004 season, our neighborhood was without electricity for a total of nine days. We cooked, watched TV, listened to the radio, had lights, all the comforts of home. If anyone had been injured or ill I have first aid supplies and medications. I cannot conceive of people not doing this, but talking to friends and co-workers, it seems not many people are ready for storms or any disaster.

Please make it a point to warn folks about having supplies. I buy two or three items a week during the off-season and rotate the supplies. You don't have to be rich. Water, dry soup mixes, canned goods are cheap and easy to store. I don't intend to wait for local, state, or federal officials to come around and feed me or give me water. Take responsibility for yourselves.

Kudos to the Coast Guard

As a chief petty officer, I served in the Navy through World War II and Korea. Between these two wars and after Korea, I worked as a civilian for the Coast Guard where I retired from the Electronics Engineering Division at U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters. What the members of the Coast Guard have accomplished during Hurricane Katrina, when they have been instrumental in saving thousands of lives in just a few days is commendable. They appear to have been there before anyone seemed to realize there was a tremendous need.

Most people do not realize the tremendous service the members of the Coast Guard are called upon to do in all types of operations, both in war and peacetime. Thanks for your dedicated service.

Pilots' response was a human one

Re: Unscripted rescues get two pilots reprimanded, Sept. 8.

I've just finished reading about Lt. David Shand and Lt. Matt Udkow, U.S. Navy helicopter pilots who were reprimanded for stopping to pick up more than 100 hurricane survivors because their mission was to drop off food and water at military bases and get back to their base.

I understand the reason for their orders, but being the human beings that they are with human feelings, they did what any one of us would have done. I do not believe they had a choice. The survivors needed help and they provided it. Thank you to Lts. Shand and Udkow.

Things unsaid about Iraq

"We will defeat the terrorists," President Bush said last month in California. "We will build a free Iraq that will fight terrorists instead of giving them aid and sanctuary."

What he did not say is that Saddam Hussein had just as big a stake in defeating fundamentalist Islamic terrorists as we do, and that the reason today's Iraq is a base for terrorists is that he, himself, invited them in by creating a power vacuum in an already unstable region. He also failed to mention that Iraq, long a secular state under Saddam, is increasingly leaning toward allying with fundamentalist Iran and adopting a legal code based on Sharia, strict Islamic law that will set the cause of individual freedom and women's rights back hundreds of years.

The right to speak out

I am sick and tired of reading the term "liberal" as applied by shallow-thinking sunshine patriots to anything in opposition to this administration, especially the conflict in Iraq. I am a combat veteran of World War II (Combat Infantry Badge and two Battle Stars) and I am appalled by the similarity of our actions in Iraq to Vietnam, where we destroyed how many tens of thousands of young American lives. I am not shamelessly mocking and ridiculing my country, I am indulging in what I fought for: The right to speak out.

Let students hear both sides

Re: Veterans group tries to recruit for peace, Sept. 7.

I find it appalling that both Hillsborough and Pinellas County school officials refuse to let Veterans for Peace speak with high school students. Especially the reason given, "that the 40 minutes the group (Veterans for Peace) requested was too much of an educational disruption." What could be more important in students' education than deciding what to do with their lives?

If recruiters are given permission to encourage enrollment in military service, why are veterans who have served in the armed forces not allowed to present another point of view, based on their own experiences?

The Pinellas school spokesman explained the rationale for the decision: that the Veterans of Peace group wants to promote their cause. Isn't that what the recruiters are doing? Why shouldn't students be allowed to hear both sides of the issue so they can make an informed decision?

Students don't need these veterans

Re: Veterans for Peace.

What these "out of date" Veterans for Peace don't realize is that today's youth do have somewhat of a brain and they don't need some old veterans who have no clue about today's military running their lips about the dangers of military life!

If one joins "certain" military units during wartime there is a good possibility of landing in a combat zone. One has to be pretty stupid to think that enlisting in a combat field with the Marines or Army will not result in the possibility of landing in a hostile environment.

[Last modified September 12, 2005, 03:15:25]