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Renters also will feel bite of higher insurance

The dirty little secret that no one is telling individuals who rent their homes is: Most will face monthly rent increases of $100 or more this year. All due to increased insurance costs.

No landlord likes to increase rents on good tenants. But when faced with $1,000 and up, way up, increases in insurance costs, we can only pass that cost on to the tenant.

It is time everyone start speaking out on this outrage.

More defibrillators mean a safer Pasco

I commend Rep. Tom Anderson for his bills to provide funding for defibrillators. Pasco County has been purchasing and placing defibrillators in their public buildings for over two years. I brought this issue to the board a number of years ago, and the board agreed to begin this process.

When the Penny for Pasco allocations were approved, at my suggestion, money was set aside to purchase additional defibrillators. With this funding and additional grant money, we will purchase over 80 this year.

The Board of County Commissioners shares Rep. Anderson's concerns, and we have acted upon them and will continue placing these lifesaving devices in our public buildings. I believe they should also be on our buses.

Working together we can have a safer, healthier Pasco.

Rep. Brown-Waite learned wrong lessons from Vietnam

Re: Supporting troops in word only, Feb. 7.

In Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite's guest column, she clearly outlined what individuals had to think, say, and do in order to be supportive of our troops. She tells us that a person must not say anything that encourages our enemies and must have a commitment to win. She informs us, "Democrats believe they gain momentum if the president and our troops fail in Iraq." How very sad it is to hear such intolerance from an elected leader.

In a free society, one clearly has the right and the obligation to criticize policies one believes are wrong. It certainly does not mean that those who oppose war wish harm and defeat to come to the young men and women who have volunteered to serve this country. Rep. Brown-Waite was fortunate that her brother, cousin and friends came home from the Vietnam War. Over 50,000 died, and countless others were injured. By 1972, 80 percent of the American people, not merely the liberal left, opposed our presence in Vietnam. It was a Republican president, Richard Nixon, who finally ended the war and brought the troops home.

What I learned from Vietnam War was not how to make better buttons, but that wars should be avoided whenever possible. Most Americans and our allies supported the war in Afghanistan after we were attacked on 9/11. There are many who believe we should have focused our military strength and intelligence on capturing Osama bin Laden and not diverted our military to a country that posed no threat to the United States.

Yes, I learned a great deal from living through the Vietnam era. I learned not to be manipulated by slogans such as "it is the fight for freedom and civilization." I learned that when we are drawn into a civil war (Shia Iraqi vs. Sunni Iraqi), the death toll is high and the winning comes about only when the competing sides compromise.

I learned that when we are not supported by our allies, the economic toll and loss of young American soldiers is staggering. It is a great price to pay for actions based on misinformation.

Some oppose our troops as well as the war in Iraq

Re: Supporting troops in word only, Feb. 7.

Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite's column about supporting the troops was right on target. She has the courage of her convictions and beliefs, and isn't afraid to state them clearly and publicly. After I put down the paper, though, I was reminded about another writer who also had the courage to write about their beliefs, but for radically different reasons.

Los Angeles Times columnist Joel Stein recently showed the true colors of the liberal left when he wrote that he did not support the troops. His exact comments were, "I don't support our troops. This is a particularly difficult opinion to have, especially if you are the kind of person who likes to put bumper stickers on his car. Supporting the troops is a position that even Calvin is unwilling to urinate on. But I'm not for the war. And being against the war and saying you support the troops is one of the most wussiest positions the pacifists have ever taken, and they're wussy by definition. It's as if the one lesson they took away from Vietnam wasn't to avoid foreign conflicts with no pressing national interest but to remember to throw a parade afterward."

I have read over and over about liberal groups like FCAN and MoveOn.org that claim to oppose the war, but still support our troops. Like Brown-Waite wrote in her column, perhaps these groups are just too afraid to admit the truth, that they really hate the success of the troops in Iraq but are unwilling to actually say that for fear of political retribution.

[Last modified February 14, 2006, 15:53:17]