Tea party time!

Some think they’re protesting because of abortion. Some think they’re protesting because of same-sex marriage. Some think they’re losing their freedom, but if you ask them what freedoms they’ve lost, they won’t be able to answer because we haven’t lost any freedom.

Some are protesting what they call socialized medicine. The most pathetic and depressing are those protesting because they can’t stand for the president of the United States to be black. There are other reasons people go out in the hot July sun and join the tea party crowd, but the real issue is, what is the tea party all about?

It is “Taxed Enough Already.” That is not a protest about city, county or state tax. Its aim is President Obama’s tax hike that starting in 2011, will raise the taxes of people making more than $250,000 from 35 percent to 39.5 percent. If you are making $300,000 yearly, your tax will be $36.63 a week.

The majority who will join the tea party, or 97 percent of the population, will receive a tax decrease; no matter what you think you are protesting, you are actually protesting a tax on the super rich, while protesting money you would get!

Truth is those who control the nation’s money are experts at using your fears and hates to benefit them. It’s not a new thing — they’ve been doing it a long time, and you’re still going.

Well, in the words of P.T Barnum, “There’s a sucker born every minute.”

John Nance Garner,

Denton

Britain and Geneva Convention

Mr. Stodola [Letters, June 23]: You were playing checkers while I was playing chess. 

About the Churchill World War II statement: I didn’t ignore it. By 1942, the German U-boat campaign had reduced imports to the point England could not sustain the war effort much longer. 

Then a break: A damaged German U-boat surfaced; the crew abandoned it, a British boarding party retrieved a strange looking typewriter and some code books. Turns out, the Brits had a top-secret Enigma Code machine! 

The Red Cross wasn’t notified the captured German crew was housed in a separate prison in Canada. The crew was not allowed to write home. This was all part of a plot to make the German high command think the sub and its crew had perished. 

Select convoys were re-routed to avoid now-known locations of U-boat wolf packs. Capturing an Enigma machine was no doubt one of the key elements in the eventual defeat of Germany. 

The German crew’s treatment throughout the next three years was a violation of the Geneva Convention. Imagine in 1945 their next of kin’s surprise to learn their loved ones were alive and coming home? 

Was that a form of torture, Mr. Stodola? 

Global warming: Many more Hurricane Katrinas were expected the next year because of “global warming.” When that didn’t happen, the reason was “global warming.” 

The Southeast states went through a terrible drought a few years back. This year: more than abundant rainfall to refill the reservoirs. What did the environmentalists do to affect that happening? Nothing. 

Roger T. Horrell,

Denton

The deficit

It does look as if deficits are going to be going out of sight, but Mr. Obama does not make Mr. Bush look like a piker, as suggested by a letter in the DRC [Letters, June 28].

This recession started in 2007, and we were well on our way to a huge deficit (despite having started in 2001 with a surplus) well before Mr. Obama was elected. Huge tax cuts, a not-so-very-necessary war, a reduction in tax receipts due to the 2000 market crash and recession all contributed, as did the Medicare prescription drug gift to the drug companies (as least that has some positive results).

The Wall Street bailout was started in the Bush administration (though continued by Obama).

The programs initiated by Obama (the stimulus package) add another chunk, as do some other programs, but these total some 16.5 percent of the current estimate of the deficit: $201 billion of $1,215 billion (New York Times analysis of the Congressional Budget Office data, June 9).

For once, we have someone in charge who is able to think long-term, not only in terms of the immediate payoff. We may not take advantage of this opportunity; I hope we do. This does not look like a communist takeover.

(By the way, the Obamas — as has been the case for other presidential families — pay for their own food and snacks and for those of guests in the White House, unless it is an official function.)

Elinor Johansen,

Denton

National health care wrong

Socialist liberals typically make broad untrue statements to make their case; most often, facts and truth are ignored. Their opinions are spouted with hopes that most readers are too stupid to realize the difference.

There are a few liberals who believe that national health care is supported by a majority of Americans. While one recent poll indicates that 51 percent of those polled were in favor of some kind of national health care, the same poll indicates that only 38 percent are willing to be taxed to pay the tab for a new program.

So who pays? We the taxpayers, that’s who.

Seniors and baby boomers beware. The Hussein Obama administration has proposed that Medicare and Medicaid be cut by up to $300 billion a year to help pay for nationalized health coverage.

Frankly, there is no doubt many of those who have no medical coverage have made the choice to forego health insurance to spend the money on cigarettes, beer and other pleasures.

Seniors, you had better stand up and be counted, for this current administration couldn’t care less whether you have adequate coverage or not. You are expendable.

Regardless of how you voted, stand up now; get your children and grandchildren involved before it is too late. When did the federal government run a business or make a profit? Socialized medicine is dead wrong.

Perhaps if the president and all 100 senators and 535 U.S. House members would accept their coverage under this proposed program, many more Americans would support this plan.

H. Wayne Lasater,

Denton

Clear-cutting the trail

I would like to alert you to the devastation of the Denton Rail Trail that is going on currently.

The company building the DCTA railroad is cutting all the trees near the trail, currently working on the stretch between Colorado Boulevard and Loop 288, near Colorado Court apartments.

The trail was quite overgrown, and I understand that some trimming is necessary, but current work seems rather excessive.

Judging by trunks, many trees were quite old and were growing there when the old railroad was in operation. Nonetheless, such trees are now being cut, too.

Maybe public outcry could stop this unneeded devastation from proceeding any further.

Maciej Puzio,

Denton