Letters: Reid makes false tax return accusations
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., makes baseless and false accusations about Mitt Romney's taxes, first in an interview with The Huffington Post and then on the Senate floor ("Harry Reid's accusation fans flames over Romney's taxes").
And
then he tells us that a person running for president should be open and
transparent. Apparently, being open and transparent applies only to
conservatives.
Reid suggests that a person
who doesn't pay taxes, as he claims Romney is, should not be fit for
any office. But he didn't seem to show this level of concern during the
tax evasion controversies involving Timothy Geithner and Charlie Rangle.
This proves once again that Reid is concerned only about such issues when the person is not a liberal Democrat.
Barry Levy; Hawthorne, Calif.
Romney should clear controversy
Someone's
pants are on fire, although it's not clear whose. Is it Senate Majority
Leader Harry Reid's, who claims that presidential hopeful Mitt Romney
hasn't paid income taxes for 10 years? Or is it Romney's, who says he
has?
Letters to the editor
USA TODAY receives about 300 letters each day. Most arrive via e-mail, but we also receive submissions by postal mail and fax. We publish about 35 letters each week.
We often select comments that respond directly to USA TODAY articles or opinion pieces. Letters that are concise and make one or two good points have the best chance of being selected, as do letters that reflect the vibrant debate around the nation on a particular subject.
We aim to make the letters platform a place where readers, not just writers representing institutions or interest groups, have their say.
USA TODAY receives about 300 letters each day. Most arrive via e-mail, but we also receive submissions by postal mail and fax. We publish about 35 letters each week.
We often select comments that respond directly to USA TODAY articles or opinion pieces. Letters that are concise and make one or two good points have the best chance of being selected, as do letters that reflect the vibrant debate around the nation on a particular subject.
We aim to make the letters platform a place where readers, not just writers representing institutions or interest groups, have their say.
Enough
rhetoric! It's time for Romney to either put up or shut up. Only he can
put an end to all of the controversy. Time will tell who the real liar
is.
JoAnn Lee Frank; Clearwater, Fla.
Faith often misunderstood
It was a refreshing and unexpected joy to read Tom Krattenmaker's On Religion column Monday ("Column: Can faith help an Olympian?").
It
is obvious that Krattenmaker has exposed himself to more than the
typical narrow, restrictive, misinformed and, dare I say, ignorant
understanding of the Christian faith. As a pastor, I teach my
congregation to clearly recognize and understand with absolute clarity
that we are people of faith, not "magic." I can only ask Krattenmaker
to please share his sources with his news media colleagues so we can
have more fair and balanced presentations of our beloved faith.
Rev. John Allen Newman; Jacksonville
Letters: Physical education reform needed in schools
I read with interest StudentsFirst founder Michelle Rhee's "sounding the alarm" commentary on the "harmful policies" in our educational system, but I was stunned that she didn't mention reforming physical education as a key element for our future success ("Column: Olympic effort needed for education").
We are witnessing another generation of our
sedentary children becoming increasingly obese, at high risk for
diabetes, negative body image and self-esteem, and plagued by
attention-deficit disorder, as well as other psychological problems. We
know from the work of John Ratey and others that consistent physical exercise effectively prevents and often reverses these and other chronic conditions.
How
can we not invest massively in physical education to help our current
students and prevent kindergartners from becoming statistics? How can
we not use our sizable fund of knowledge in exercise and its benefits to
tailor physical education to individual interests, sensitivities and
capacities? What do you think would happen to the focus and grades of an
8-year-old boy if you forced him to sit at his desk for an additional
two hours a day in a classroom or incorporated walking, basketball and
other activities into his day for two hours? Could the industrialized
nations that ranked better than the USA simply have outdone us by strengthening the mind-body experience?
Eric Bachman, M.D.; Swampscott, Mass.
Great Olympics reporting
In
response to a Wednesday letter "Olympians deserve praise," I think that
the reader misconstrued USA TODAY'S July 30 headline "Some Olympians
coming up short."
I have been faithfully watching the Olympic Games
coverage on TV, and I believe strongly that USA TODAY is doing the best
job covering the Games for print and online readers. It wasn't the
intention of the newspaper to bash or offend any of the participants but
to celebrate their wins as well as losses, accordingly.
In
my opinion, USA TODAY attempts, as best it can, to give each Olympic
event fair and balanced coverage. If you read past the headlines and
actually scan through the articles, you'll find the reports applaud
these brave individuals for all that they do. Just like the old adage
says about not judging a book by its cover, one can't always judge a
story by its headline.
Tim Buege; Racine,Wis.
Letters: Do seniors realize which programs strain budget?
Doug Kapustin for USA TODAY
Jack Ireton-Hewitt is a 75-year-old Romney volunteer working the Republican booth at the Shippensburg, Pa., community fair.
I am a 40-year-old man who is between both age groups featured in your article "A defining gap: Seniors for Romney, Millenials for Obama."
The
positions taken by some of the seniors quoted in the article are
somewhat disingenuous. How can seniors who are now receiving or soon
to receive Social Security
and Medicare benefits complain that government is too big? This age
group by far receives more than its fair share of the federal budget.
Yet to really alleviate the budget crisis, both programs are going to
have to be cut. Are they advocating cutting these programs to fix the
deficit? I haven't heard anyone in this age group say that.
Furthermore, one senior interviewed stated that she cannot vote for President Obama
because she does not want nationalized health care for this nation. I
am left to ponder: Why is a nationalized health system OK for seniors
(Medicare) but not OK for all other age groups?
Alan J. Bellomo; Ebensburg, Pa.
Letters to the editor
USA TODAY receives about 300 letters each day. Most arrive via e-mail, but we also receive submissions by postal mail and fax. We publish about 35 letters each week.
We often select comments that respond directly to USA TODAY articles or opinion pieces. Letters that are concise and make one or two good points have the best chance of being selected, as do letters that reflect the vibrant debate around the nation on a particular subject.
We aim to make the letters platform a place where readers, not just writers representing institutions or interest groups, have their say.
USA TODAY receives about 300 letters each day. Most arrive via e-mail, but we also receive submissions by postal mail and fax. We publish about 35 letters each week.
We often select comments that respond directly to USA TODAY articles or opinion pieces. Letters that are concise and make one or two good points have the best chance of being selected, as do letters that reflect the vibrant debate around the nation on a particular subject.
We aim to make the letters platform a place where readers, not just writers representing institutions or interest groups, have their say.
Free speech consequences
USA
TODAY reader Larry Schmidt takes exception to "people on the left
(who) don't approve of free speech unless it is in line with their
beliefs." He defends the Chick-fil-A president's right to espouse his
religious beliefs under freedom of speech, but apparently not the
rights of the detractors to organize a boycott. I find that highly
hypocritical ("Matter of freedom of speech").
Free
speech comes with responsibility and accountability. Try exercising
unbridled free speech in the workplace and see how fast you are marched
down to human resources.
If a business
chooses to go public with its religious or political convictions, it
is terribly naive for its supporters to think there will be no free
speech repercussions in return.
Dan Shelton; Albuquerque Letters: Concerns of communist infiltration not 'baseless'
In DeWayne Wickham's column "Bachmann plays risky anti-American gambit," he states that Sen. Joseph McCarthy's claims of communist infiltration of our government were "baseless."123
123As we know now, thanks to the Venona transcripts of Soviet intelligence files, many of McCarthy's claims were almost all true, and backed up by Soviet documentation.
If Wickham cares to call things "baseless," perhaps a comparison with budgetary savings to be found in the Affordable Care Act would be more apt.
Michael Meehan; Albuquerque
Don't give in to fear
We tried McCarthyism in the 1950s. It was a dark period for our country. Back then, the boogeyman was communists. Today, Michele Bachmann and others want to revive McCarthyism using the boogeyman of Islamists ("Editorial: Bachmann's Islamist scare relaunches McCarthyism").
Letters to the editor
USA TODAY receives about 300 letters each day. Most arrive via e-mail, but we also receive submissions by postal mail and fax. We publish about 35 letters each week.
We often select comments that respond directly to USA TODAY articles or opinion pieces. Letters that are concise and make one or two good points have the best chance of being selected, as do letters that reflect the vibrant debate around the nation on a particular subject.
We aim to make the letters platform a place where readers, not just writers representing institutions or interest groups, have their say.
USA TODAY receives about 300 letters each day. Most arrive via e-mail, but we also receive submissions by postal mail and fax. We publish about 35 letters each week.
We often select comments that respond directly to USA TODAY articles or opinion pieces. Letters that are concise and make one or two good points have the best chance of being selected, as do letters that reflect the vibrant debate around the nation on a particular subject.
We aim to make the letters platform a place where readers, not just writers representing institutions or interest groups, have their say.
We
ask ourselves how people in other countries let oppressors come to
power. Turns out we don't need to study other countries. We only need to
study ourselves. Bachmann shows what happens when winning becomes more
important than anything else. When a people buy into the fear the
Bachmanns of the world spread, that's when the oppressors take over and
atrocities go unchecked.
Russ Johnson; Port Richey, Fla.
Beckel betrays liberals
In the Common Ground column with Cal Thomas, the phony liberal Bob Beckel says he favors a flat tax ("Are the wealthy taxed too lightly?", The Forum, Thursday). Only right-wing politicians such as Steve Forbes favor a flat tax because it is a very regressive tax. Please get rid of Beckel. He is an insult to true liberals.
Reba Shimansky; New York City
Romney just like Bush
How long will Mitt Romney refuse to release more tax returns? We already know he has a $100 million IRA, and bank accounts in the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and Switzerland ("Obama presses GOP on Bush tax cut plan"). While Romney dodges questions about taxes, he blames President Obama for former president George W. Bush's disastrous policies that led to the "Great Recession."
Of course Romney supports the proposed budget from Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., giving more tax breaks to the rich, the repeal of ObamaCare and the roll-back of Wall Street
regulations. Romney is like Bush on steroids! A vote for Romney is an
endorsement of Bush-era policies, which mean more pain for the middle
class.
Tom Minnerick; Elgin, Ill.
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