National debt

TO THE EDITOR: Hot news flash: P-R Feb. 7: "With Perry away, acting governors cost Texas 32K."

Let's see, Texas's population is 2.7 million, so $32,000 comes to an outrageous cost of slightly more than one cent per Texan resident ($00.0118818).

But the article did get to name the lieutenant governor, a Republican, who received $410.96 extra per day, and if the lieutenant governor was out of town, a state senator got this stipend, another nasty Republican.

This newspaper could be better served.

President Obama raised the national debt over $4 trillion in 3 years. The debt now is $48,000 per U.S. citizen. President Bush deservedly drew much ire for raising the national debt $4 trillion, but what Bush did in eight years, Obama did in three, and this year's debt is slated to put us $1.3 trillion further in debt.

President Obama's political speech from the Solyndra plant stating the $500 million we gave them to make solar panels of the future was worth every penny. Too bad Solyndra went belly up, and what about all those panels? Seems it was cheaper to smash them in the dumpster than store them.

How about all that money we gave GM to build the Chevy Volt? Great car if you want to pay $75,500 for a small car that gives you 35 miles on its electric charge before it has to convert back to gasoline. Oh yea, don't forget to buy the charger; it costs $8,000. But good news: You get a $7,500 tax rebate — too bad we taxpayers have to make up that $7,500. Perhaps we can borrow more from China.

How does Obama walk on this? He has little business or management skills and has wasted trillions. I could go on, but I am allowed only 300 words.

Nick Masters

Cumberland Head

Nation compromised

TO THE EDITOR: Trashing our Constitution and freedom is nothing new for our government, so Obama's recent forcing of birth control on us shouldn't surprise anyone.

If it does ... well, maybe I shouldn't go there. We have for decades told other governments to force things on their populations that violate their religious beliefs. The last decade has shown the blowback from this, which continues to escalate, especially in the Middle East.

Our rights (Constitution) will continue to be eroded, and we will continue to slip further into socialism. This will happen since we feel "we must compromise to get things done." Well, if you always compromise toward socialism, that is what you eventually get.

The tea party has been making an attempt to compromise toward freedom, something they get hammered on by the press as being uncompromising.

This all may not matter. As with Greece, we are quickly reaching our borrowing ceiling. Once we hit it, all bets are off on how things shake out. We already owe more than we all own, so we cannot sell everything to pay it off. We continue to experience rising inflation, all while Ben Bernanke tells us there isn't any, which will only accelerate.

Now to presidential candidate Ron Paul. See his 2002 prediction on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifJG_oFFDK0.

Now pick your jaw off the floor and help get him elected.

Tim Sherman

Westport

High deductible

TO THE EDITOR: The 2,500 employees of the CVPH Medical Center work hard for our pay and benefits.

We care for the sick, the dying, the newly born and the community. So, as an employee, why is it that I must choose whether to bring my children to the doctor when they are sick or to forgo treatment because of the health-care plan initiated in 2012?

The high-deductible plan, for my family, consists of this: a payment of $156 every month for my premium. Sound good? My son and I are on a family plan. Our deductible is $5,200. CVPH contributes $2,600 toward this amount (for this year only). So until I pay for $2,600 worth of health care, I still pay in $156 a month and get nothing in return.

I'm not sure about others, but my family tries to remain healthy and have only a few visits. This means I have to pay out of pocket for every visit. Every time my baby is sick, eyeglasses, ob-gyn, etc., we pay out of pocket in addition to the premium we pay monthly. Once the $2,600 is reached, then the insurance picks up any costs.

This does not include prescription coverage at all. Each month, in addition to the $156 premium, I pay more than $200 in prescriptions because they are not covered.

Thank you, CVPH, Mr. Mundy and the illustrious vice presidents. They should rethink the priorities of the hospital. Is it really to help the community or just get another Press-Ganeys Star? It's certainly not to help their employees.

We struggle to make a living — yes, thankfully, we have a job. However, when a mom has to choose to bring her baby to the doctor because they are sick or to save the $200 for food/rent, how can that decision be made?

Sarah Duquette

Plattsburgh

Character skeletons

TO THE EDITOR: The pious liberal media is now scrutinizing Newt Gingrich's past marital infidelities?

Where were the heightened concerns when Obama was running for president? He was a admitted drug enjoyer, the use of cocaine and marijuana are documented in his 1995 autobiography "Dreams of my Father." His interactions with a rogues gallery of questionable characters, including Bill Ayers (radical activist), Bernardine Dohm (radical activist), Tony Rezko (convicted felon), Rev. Wright (radical pastor) and Father Pfleger (radical priest), portrayed a extraordinary tainted past. There were no liberal media rebukes of the Obama societal breaches, so why Newt?

Obama's admitted drug propensity, combined with the haunting resumes of his aforementioned cohorts, should have instigated proficient media scrutiny? This is a man that had more dubious character skeletons than a wild west graveyard, but any competent newsperson or compliant gravedigger knows that skeletons can be "dug up." Why did the liberal press fail to exhume the numerous Obama character faults? Illegal drug use eliminates one from ever becoming a DEA or FBI agent, so why should such a person become president?

Do the liberal journalists perceive Gingrich's marital endeavors to be more heinous than Obama's drug use and disputable associates? I would conclude that remarriages are insignificant in comparison to the Obama transgressions. Let's ascertain that remarriages are legal; drug consumption wasn't.

Ayers and Dohm were unrepentant domestic terrorists with the radical underground Weathermen group, having caused documented bombing deaths. Rezko is presently doing more than 10 years in prison for corruption. The clergy have spoken many distortions, with Father Pfleger once advocating buying time with prostitutes as a means for their counseling and job training? A sermon delivered by the Rev. Wright exulted "God Damn America." that proclamation might be a prophecy now being fulfilled by a then congregation member, Barack Hussein Obama?

THOMAS IRWIN

Peru

Yearbook sought

TO THE EDITOR: I am looking for a 1967 Saranac Central School yearbook "Tommehawk," preferably new and unused. Please call 570-1647.

LAURIE FOX

Saranac