Letters to the Editor

Rob extremists of recruiting pool

I spent a little over a year in Iraq, and what the Marines on patrol heard in their daily interactions with the people was often the same question: Why does America hate Muslims? Marines and soldiers patrolling in Afghanistan hear the same thing today.

While you may not feel this sentiment is justified, it is still no less of a real threat to our national security. Terrorist and extremist organizations need a large population who feels persecuted in order to effectively recruit. Today, due to the combination of an incredibly effective extremist propaganda campaign and poorly thought-out messages from our politicians, the Muslim world does feel persecuted by the United States.

If you truly care about our national security, the best thing you can do is welcome a mosque in your neighborhood. Make America a place that young Muslims want to live and you begin to rob the extremist groups of their recruiting pool.

In 2002, Richard Holbrooke famously asked, “How can a man in a cave out-communicate the world’s leading communications society?” This question highlighted our inability to communicate effectively to the Muslim world. Please join me in asking for more from our elected officials.

GORDON N. GRIFFIN

Razing mansion not a green move

Nothing’s green about demolition.

In Sunday’s Metro section, an article says Tyler Perry bought a $25 million mansion in Atlanta. He plans to demolish it and build his own environmentally friendly home. How ridiculous.

There is nothing environmentally friendly about demolishing a perfectly useable domicile, nor is there anything environmentally friendly about a mansion. His money would best be spent making green changes to the already existing structure and reducing the amount of building materials that go into the landfill.

RHIANNON MAYNARD

ACLU out of line on airline scans

I watched a recent news segment on TV that the ACLU was “looking into” the airlines’ new policy of “total body scans,” or “full pat-downs” for those who refuse the scan, for reasons I still don’t understand.

The ACLU is supposed to support and help citizens enforce the Bill of Rights. Nowhere in the bill is there a civil liberty to carry a bomb onto an airplane. Nowhere in the bill is there a “right to fly.” If you want to refuse the scan because you think someone is going to be so enamored with your body, or that some government entity will somehow use those scans to invade your privacy, then that’s your own vain paranoia.

Get over it. I’ll stand for the scan, even though Playgirl will never publish it. The airlines are private businesses, not government bureaucracies, and can require us to comply with any “reasonable” policy they deem necessary to ensure public safety.

If you still refuse the scan then you have a right to go to your destination by car, boat, train, bus, or hot-air balloon. Not by airplane. The ACLU needs to get a life and find something meaningful to assault, for once.

BOB MCLESTER

Graysville, Tenn.

Society can decide conduct of citizens

Moral behavior is a good reason to deny same-sex marriage and is not a religious reason. A society can determine the conduct of its citizens.

One of the greatest falsifications spouted today is “You cannot control, or legalize societies’ morals.” That is hogwash and even the people spouting it know it is. A society can determine rules of conduct that must be followed. You have traffic laws. You have laws against all types of crime.

Space does not allow for the many do’s and don’ts that govern our activities, none of which are religious. If a society’s voters determine a definition of marriage and determine who can participate, then the courts have no legal right to change it.

The First Amendment has been victimized by judges. The “Freedom of speech” portion of that amendment has been expanded to include any pet peeve you can imagine. Your rights stop at a point where it interferes with the rights of another. Your rights do not supersede his.

A society without rules lead to anarchies and rulership determined by the strongest.

BOB BRANAM

Investment tax credit is way to go

Large companies and wealthy individuals are sitting on large amounts of cash. Recent articles attribute this partially to the fear that tax rates will rise after this year. If this happens, we should help the economy regain its health by using the proven technique introduced by Ronald Reagan — the “investment tax credit.”

Very simply, the increase in taxes can be offset by a tax credit for making investments which will result in American jobs. It worked well once; why not again? The creation of American jobs will restore us to economic health quicker than any government handout. Let us use our wonderful free enterprise system to simulate the economy, not simply put more money in government hands. Liberals object to benefiting the “rich” by such a tax credit. It might reduce their tax burden, but the stimulus it will provide will help us all. And hopefully prevent us from passing this generation’s problems on to our children.

KEN RENTZSCH

Hixson

Methane landfills killing the Earth

The Old Summit landfill which VW proposes to use for methane energy reinforces the states’ “environmental death march” to increase landfills and related methane gas instead of reducing the number and volume of landfills by recycling.

Landfills continue to belch out methane, a greenhouse gas which is 21 times more toxic than CO2. The city’s landfill in Harrison alone belches out over 225 million cubic yards of methane gas per year; an equivalent to 4,725 trillion pounds of carbon.

Recycling reduces the need for Earth’s natural resources. Products made from recycled material reduce the need for trees to be cut, minerals to be dug and oil from drilling. Products made from recycled materials reduce “carbon-footprint” by decreasing carbon emitted by transportation and manufacturing operations

Landfill methane energy production is expensive. Landfill methane requires ever increasing purchases of land for landfill expansions.

Landfill methane requires ever increasing fleets of garbage trucks, related labor and maintenance.

Oregon mandates that all cities over 4,000 in population recycle 60 percent of their waste. Chattanooga recycles approximately 8 percent of its waste.

Tennessee’s methane landfills are killing our Earth.

FRANK DEPINTO

Warren best pick for consumer job

It’s about time we had someone looking out for Americans, not Wall Street. That’s exactly what the head of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will do, and Elizabeth Warren is the best choice for the job.

There is no time for someone to learn on the job. The middle class in this country is in dire straits. Professor Warren has carefully thought through, not just the policy goals, but the implementation challenges. There will be no time-in-training; on the first day she will hit the ground running.

Senators have a powerful role in the decision and consumers need senators to fight for consumer rights. The best way to do that is by publicly supporting Warren and letting the president know that consumers have gone unprotected long enough.

It’s time for the Senate to stand up for Elizabeth Warren. She is the right person to lead the CFPB.

DARREN MITTON

Rome, Ga.