It’s wrong to view the Constitution as an inconvenience

Published 12:00 am Sunday, October 4, 2009

Our administration and Congress seem to rarely talk about the Constitution other than criticize the fact that it “ties their hands” sometimes.

It occurred to me that the only czar we need today is one with the power to veto every piece of legislation that goes beyond the constitutional limits imposed upon government.  Of course, such a czar must not be under President Obama’s control.  This czar would have to be appointed by the Heritage Foundation or maybe Rush Limbaugh.

Climate change legislation, taxing people for carbon emissions, allowing some to buy credits so they can pollute and other arrogant assumptions that man somehow has more power than God granted nature are a constant concern to those of us who think our forefathers knew what they were doing when they limited the power of government.

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If the globe warms, so be it.  If the atheists are convinced that man evolved, man and animal life have adapted through ice ages and every other sort of natural calamity for bazillions of years, why should they not be able to deal with a couple of degrees of temperature change over a century? And, those of us who believe in God have faith that God will do whatever he wants to do with the globe, and we will worship him, no matter what.

The one institution I really am having a hard time believing in is the current U.S. Congress. And I pray for the 2010 elections to change many of the faces.

William W. Watson

St. Joseph, La.

Taxes are race-neutral

On Aug. 12, Earnest McBride had a letter in the paper in defense of Vicksburg attorney Marshall Sanders, who is in federal prison for failing to file tax returns. Mr. McBride made it sound like race was the main reason Sanders is in jail. As I recall, Mr. Sanders had failed to file tax returns since, I believe, the paper said 1994. This was a well-thought-out effort to avoid paying his taxes. This is a federal crime. Mr. Sanders must have known this long before he quit filing returns. It made no difference. He did it anyway, thinking his knowledge of the law would be sufficient to protect him. Not so. His plan went sour and he is in jail for tax evasion and for that reason only.

It is not supposed to make any difference if he were black, white or pink with yellow spots. A crook by any other name is still a crook. He was stealing from taxpayers and for that I will shed no tears. I feel his 18-month sentence was too light.

I just read in The Clarion-Ledger where a Jones County deputy chancery clerk was given seven years for embezzling $307,985, which is very small compared to Mr. Sanders.

Another woman stole about $225,000 from MIDD-West in Vicksburg and only got a mild slap on the hand and instructions to pay back $27,000, or about 10 percent of what she stole. It is very doubtful she will ever pay any of it back. Nevertheless, we will never hear any more about it. Who said crime doesn’t pay?

Mr. Sanders should have been disbarred when he was found guilty. Wonder why he wasn’t?

R.G. Hollowell

Vicksburg

‘Thanks’ for the peanuts

This letter is to the person who “unwittingly” drove down Newitt Vick Drive Monday littering both sides of the road with those horrible foam packing peanuts!

Let me introduce you to two items that have been around for decades and are cost friendly.

One: Twisty ties. You get them off bread wrappers. They will keep a bag closed if it is full of those peanuts. Twist it on. Works great.

Two: Duct tape. Oh, the wonders of duct tape. If these “I don’t know why they were ever invented” peanuts are in a box, tape it closed. Need I say more?

I want to believe this person was not aware of the billowing white frenzy trailing behind his or her vehicle. I truly want to believe that and I will, but in the future please twist or tape it! Thank you.

Ginger Kelly

Vicksburg

Don’t ‘robotize’ kids

I would like to address Mr. Obama’s “suggestion” of more school for our little ones. This is just another way for our lives to be controlled. He already wants to control our health care, now he wants to control our children.

Don’t get me wrong; I believe in education, I want my children to get the best advantages and to become whatever they wish to be, but to make them stay in the classrooms more hours a day, longer weeks and no summer breaks? This man has lost his mind!

The Monday article told of schools that have already implemented these longer programs, but I ask where is the time for the children to be nurtured by their parents? Where is the time for them to go fishing, play ball, bake cookies or to just be kids? We like to do these things here. Teachers already see children more than parents do.

The article also made mention of poor kids and having places to go, etc. Start a program for those who “want” to attend, not for those who enjoy a little “kid time.”

I hope there are more parents who will speak out for their children. This is supposed to be the best times of their lives, and I for one do not feel that it is best spent cooped up all day, most of the week, and all year in a stuffy classroom with teachers who would rather be spending time with their families.

Oh yeah, I wonder where this funding would come from since education’s funding has been cut.

Parents, let’s take a stand, let’s give voice to our “little ones.” Let your congressmen, school board etc., know how you feel.

I want my children to be children, not mindless robots Mr. Obama would have.

Tina Rowland

Vicksburg

Back 10th-graders, too

In today’s society where crime seems to be the only thing you hear about anymore, it seems that people need to be taking a bigger interest in what their children are doing.

I attended the Warren Central Junior Varsity football game on Monday night. My son is on the team. While there were some parents there, the stands were quite empty. I also noticed the lack of cheerleaders and a band. When I went to pick up my son from practice on Tuesday night I noticed that the prep football teams had a huge turn-out, cheerleaders and the band was playing.

What kind of message are we sending to our kids when we say that it matters in eighth and ninth, 11th and 12th but who cares about the 10th-graders? It’s just as important to have the support of parents and the school, no matter what grade you are in.

It’s great to see these guys on a team instead of in the streets or behind bars. More people need to get involved in what their kids are doing instead of leaving them to their own devices once they become teenagers. That’s why we see so many teens in the crime section of this paper everyday.

Jennifer King

Vicksburg

Loan guarantees essential

The danger of climate change has cast much-needed attention on efforts to curtail greenhouse gas emissions from power plants that burn fossil fuels. But in the name of fiscal responsibility, there is a move afoot in the Congress to deny loan guarantees for clean energy technologies, particularly nuclear power. This misguided approach would result in increased atmospheric concentrations of global warming gases, potentially damaging the very environment we seek to protect.

Those who disparage the use of loan guarantees ignore the fact that if we hope to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to safe levels, the United States will need to build 45 more nuclear power plants by 2030, according to the Electric Power Research Institute. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., has called for the construction of 100 new plants.

The new plants would be in addition to the 104 now operating. Safe and reliable nuclear plants produce nearly 20 percent of the nation’s electricity, and they do it at less than a third of the cost of power plants burning natural gas.

Nuclear power plants do cost a lot to build, beyond the financing capability of most electric companies. Without help from the government in the form of loan guarantees, it is unlikely that more than a few, if any, plants would be built.

Electricity demand nationally is projected to rise 20 percent by 2030, according to forecasts made by the Energy Information Administration. This suggests that electricity will be come increasingly important in our economy. Electric cars are on the horizon. Nuclear power plants, built with the help of loan guarantees, will be counted on to supply much of that electricity.

C.T. Carley

Starkville