Letters to the Editor for Oct. 11, 2010

Sunday

Oct 10, 2010 at 5:11 PMOct 10, 2010 at 11:44 PM

Letters to the Editor for Oct. 11, 2010

Notch inaction

I cannot complain to my Congresswoman because she isn't running for Congress; she is retiring.  I am a notch victim, I was born between 1921 and 1927.  I have been deprived of my regular monthly Social Security check since I began getting it. 

There is and has been a bill in Congress that should be voted on.  I'm now calling on Cliff Sterns to present this bill to Congress and have it passed so that we victims can get our $5,000 settlement on this bill.  If this bill is not given to Congress to vote on, then all of these elderly people should not vote for Stearns because he is not doing his job representing all of us notch victims. 

What are they waiting for, all of the notch victims to pass away before they present it to be voted on? 

The elderly in Stearns' district should not vote for him unless he presents this bill.  He hasn't even mentioned it whenever he speaks or wherever he goes.  Seniors do something, get rid of him. 

Angelo TelescaDunnellon

Academy cookout

Some Marion County residents may not know about a little charter school located on Northeast 35th Street.  Francis Marion Military Academy is in its third year.  It has approximately 200 students.  Because it is a charter school, it does not receive all the funding that the other public schools of Marion County do. 

This school teaches the core values of honesty, integrity and patriotism.  You won't see underpants or cracks showing at this school.  Parents are involved and are requested to provide community service hours right along with the students.  On Oct. 22, they will be holding a fundraiser for the school.  A rack of ribs for $16.  Tickets can be purchased at the school, (2091 NE 35th St.), during school hours prior to Oct. 22 or at the MTI parking lot on Fort King on Oct. 22. 

Please come out and show your support for a great school and a wonderful group of young people and their dedicated teachers.  Thank you. 

Mary Kay ArmstrongOcala

Rape and abortion

Hey, ladies, the next time you're in a dimly lit parking lot, remember that if the Republican Tea Party has its way, women will be forced to give birth to their rapists' babies. 

Incredibly, at least five teabaggers running for the U.S. Senate believe that if you are raped by a 350-pound, HIV-positive, mentally ill, homeless man or your alcoholic, overly affectionate uncle and become pregnant, your government should force you to have that baby.  To you, your rape is an unspeakable tragedy that will take a lifetime to recover from, but to the teabaggers, the resulting fetus is a little miracle, another precious gift from God. 

Teabagger candidates Sharron Angle (Nevada), Christine O'Donnell (Delaware), Ken Buck (Colorado), Rand Paul (Kentucky) and Joe Miller (Alaska) all oppose a woman's right to an abortion, even in the case of rape or incest.  This is the same ludicrous position held by half-term Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who inexplicably could have been our vice president, and Dan Webster, who wants to replace U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, who represents part of Marion County. 

The GOP has a history of nominating intellectual lightweights (George W. Bush, Palin and Dan Quayle) to important jobs, but they all seem downright professorial compared with today's know-nothing, Bible-thumping teabaggers.  Prior to Palin's emergence, few Republicans had the audacity to suggest that victims of rape or incest should be forced to bear their rapists' children.  But now, with moderates purged from the GOP, primaries have yielded truly extreme, embarrassing candidates. 

You may be dissatisfied with Washington, but it's important to understand that while the Democrats have moved to the center, the GOP has moved into a mental institution, and only well-informed voters who reject extremism can rescue the nation from the teabaggers' stupidity. 

Nick FortunaOcala

A bunch of bologna

As to so much attention paid to nutrition in school lunches, I say, bologna! 

I, and many of you, went to school with lunch pails or sack lunches containing bologna sandwiches, peanut butter and jelly with an occasional meat loaf sandwich thrown in for interest.  We were able to buy milk in a school line.  In winter our mothers would send a thermos of soup and crackers.  Or, we'd take milk in our thermos. 

The point is that parents need to take back responsibility and not expect taxpayers to feed our kids fancy lunches.  And don't tell me that we have to do it because it's the only good meal the child eats.  Mom, get creative in the kitchen.  Cereal for breakfast, bologna for lunch and beans for dinner with rice.  Once a week my mother served soaked lima beans and rice for supper and we loved it.  She could whip up an inexpensive tasty meal and today I am not overweight. 

Pizza and fast food??  What part of no don't you moms understand? 

Patricia FrancesOcala

A candidacy that is criminal

Please, someone tell me how someone who was CEO of a company that defrauded more than a billion dollars from Medicare/Medicaid funds is allowed to run for governor of Florida? 

I consider this a fraudulently run election.  There must be laws that do not allow such a person to run for elected office, although he was not convicted personally but rather the person that should have known the facts. 

Rick Scott should be removed from the ballot.  I served 30 years to preserve the freedom/rights of our elected officials, but this individual is not one that I can support.  He should be prosecuted as a criminal.