Letters, 12/2: Stop the insanity
In regard to the employee at Wal-Mart who was trampled to death in New York: I can only ask, when in the world will this greed and insanity stop?
Are all of these people so desperate that they will stop at nothing for their 5 a.m. doorbusters? The obvious answer is simply, “yes.” And don’t for a second think that this kind of thing can only happen in larger metropolitan areas. Greed has no limitations or boundaries, and it is not only our responsibility as human beings to assist in halting this madness, but moreover, it is the responsibility of the corporations to end Black Friday before anyone else gets killed in the name of the holiday spirit.
Of course, Black Friday will go on and on, because no one is willing to stop making money, and no one is willing to stop spending it on more stuff they don’t need, no matter how deranged it may have become or has ever been. Ah, well, happy holidays!
Amanda Owen-Doerr, Lincoln
A mess to clean up
Ronnie L. Herrold seems to think we should blame the stalemated Congress of the past two years for most of the problems we are now facing. Even if its members did come up with anything constructive, President Bush would veto it or threaten to do so. The Republicans had six years of total control to turn the country from peace and prosperity to war and ruination. Consequently, we will have a new Democratic president and Congress in January.
Herrold must have forgotten that the elder Bush left growing debt and budget deficits during his term, partially because of the Gulf War. When Bill Clinton took over, the debt was about $4 trillion. His administration added more than another trillion, making more than $5 trillion of debt. The present Bush administration doubled that amount, and it is now increasing at an alarming rate, thanks to six years of war, tax cuts for the rich and a credit fiasco. However, the Republicans took over with a budget that had improved in each of the previous eight years ending with a surplus, which was certainly much different from the disaster Barack Obama and the Democratic Congress will have to start with.
The present sad conditions are the result of total mismanagement and lack of oversight and regulation by a Republican administration and Congress, coupled with a war of choice that we did not pay for, as previously has been done, but charged to the next generations. Eight years ago, we had a functioning economy, a climbing stock market, plenty of jobs, low fuel prices, a balanced budget, peace instead of constant war and respect from the rest of the world.
Obama likely will chart a course very similar to the one FDR used, because we have just finished our Herbert Hoover episode. Our best bet is to support our new president in this troubled time as we supported President Bush after Sept. 11, 2001, and give the new team a chance to repair the damage.
This is not a good time to engage in negative comments or divisive actions because it could mean the difference in a decent future for our children and grandchildren.
Bernard Marvin, Imperial
Ironic
With no apparent sense of irony, Karen Azparrent pens the following:
“… There’s the choice to abort …. All of these are going to affect only the person making the decision: to abort or have the baby … (second italics mine).
Henry Eugene Brass, Lincoln

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Republicans Saint Ronald Reagan also ran up the national debt under his "Trickle Down" economic policy. When he took office in 1981, the national debt was approx $994 Billion. When he left office in 1989, the debt was $2,867 Billion. Triple what it was 8 years earlier and he didn't even have a war unless you call the invasion of the small island of Grenada a war. "
soccermom wrote on December 2, 2008 5:59 am:
STF wrote on December 2, 2008 7:20 am:
to Bernard wrote on December 2, 2008 7:31 am:
Randy wrote on December 2, 2008 7:39 am:
negative wrote on December 2, 2008 7:52 am:
mitchy_v wrote on December 2, 2008 8:29 am:
Jody P. wrote on December 2, 2008 8:44 am:
We might do best to avoid attributing godlike status to politicians, be it Reagan, FDR or even this new guy. "
Why Ironic wrote on December 2, 2008 8:50 am:
Mark wrote on December 2, 2008 8:51 am:
Moral Choice wrote on December 2, 2008 9:06 am:
And isn't it ironic that the male dominated pulpit seeks to make this moral issue a legal issue when they cannot control female parishoners with their words. I think my faith might be strengthened if their pursuits of legal morality included premarital sex and extramarital affairs as crimes. If men had to do time behind bars for impregnating women outside of marriage, the playing field might be a bit more even. "
katierose wrote on December 2, 2008 9:23 am:
We have indeed become an uncaring and selfish society. "
Black Friday wrote on December 2, 2008 9:24 am:
Hey Black Friday wrote on December 2, 2008 9:47 am:
Nina wrote on December 2, 2008 10:09 am:
Henry Eugene Brass wrote on December 2, 2008 10:25 am:
Okay, thanks for clearimg that up for me. "
To Moral Choice wrote on December 2, 2008 10:27 am:
Ignignokt wrote on December 2, 2008 10:35 am:
Abortion = death of unborn child
Extramarital/premarital sex = death of no one
Yes...I can totally see how one would equate the two issues. "
Wow wrote on December 2, 2008 11:00 am:
women, we'd have all jails in this country and revolving doors on jails
and there'd be no men to run this country and get double the wages a
gal gets. And just think, no men trying to out talk each other on all
the TV programs. And no more rude drivers shoving ya down the street. Wow, what a great idea!! "
To Mark wrote on December 2, 2008 11:24 am:
Nina wrote on December 2, 2008 11:41 am:
Unprotected sex instances = 0
Abortions = 0
and To Moral Choice, try this equation:
Responsibility accepted for unwanted pregnancy:
Females = 100%
Males = under 40% (according to federal stats) "
Chris wrote on December 2, 2008 11:46 am:
Luna wrote on December 2, 2008 12:04 pm:
Pete Allen wrote on December 2, 2008 12:16 pm:
Even with sharply higher expenditures and a moderately poor economy, the R's did quite well in holding the lid on. The deficit was slowly coming down - until the Dem's took control in 2006. And just look at the mess the Democrats have us in now.
We have a trillion dollar budget looming, the bailout was at 5.7 Trillion last night, it has ballooned to 8 trillion today. Thanks Dumbocrats.
Pete Allen "
stop wrote on December 2, 2008 12:28 pm:
Ignignokt wrote on December 2, 2008 12:30 pm:
And how are men able to just "walk away"? Did someone outlaw 'child support' when I wasn't looking? "
stop wrote on December 2, 2008 12:30 pm:
Tom wrote on December 2, 2008 12:48 pm:
HB wrote on December 2, 2008 1:20 pm:
Henry Eugene Brass wrote on December 2, 2008 1:58 pm:
Henry Eugene Brass wrote on December 2, 2008 2:08 pm:
If the eggs are fertile, yes! "
Ignignokt wrote on December 2, 2008 2:14 pm:
And according to the illegal immigrant supporters, Constitutional rights are not just granted to legal citizens of this country, but to everyone residing within the U.S. borders. But I suppose if one is in the business of making up definitions, it would be very easy to say that a developing human being is, in fact, not human...and therefore, not protected by the constitution. "
Colleen wrote on December 2, 2008 2:45 pm:
The basic issue underlying the concern over abortions is not morality and not all of these other techniques for criticizing others. The basic issue is this: half of all pregnancies are unplanned. That is horrifying. Children should be planned and wanted, not a matter of chance in our society.
Women and men need to respect their bodies and their ability to reproduce and use one of the many methods for birth control available until they decide to be parents. With proper use, the numbers of unplanned pregnancies could be dropped substantially and make abortion less of an issue. If you aren't willing to use birth control, you probably are not ready or mature enough to have sex (and are definitely not mature enough to have primary responsibility for a baby). "
Mike wrote on December 2, 2008 3:34 pm:
Nina wrote on December 2, 2008 3:37 pm:
To Ignignokt wrote on December 2, 2008 4:03 pm:
The 'egg carton as chicken house' metaphor remains perfectly valid, and for mocking somebody's supposed lack of "elementary understanding of biology" when it is in fact you who suffers this ignorance, I, hereby declare that you FAIL. "
I wonder wrote on December 2, 2008 4:15 pm:
Hey Pete wrote on December 2, 2008 4:48 pm:
I hate to admit it but it seems to this conservative republican that the dems are the ones who held the line on deficit growth and not the republicans. "
So.... wrote on December 2, 2008 5:19 pm:
Zoomie wrote on December 2, 2008 5:19 pm:
As of last estimates, total bailout guarantees (not spending...BIG difference) now stands at $8 trillion. Of that, thus far, $350 billion (less than 5%) was approved bailout money by the Democratic controlled Congress (with, FYI, GOP support...or did you forget McCain's dramatic parachuting in to "save the day"?). To spend the 2nd $350 billion requires Congressional approval first. The remaining $7.3 trillion has been handed -- VERY quietly -- by Bernanke at the Fed and Paulson at Treasury, along with several smaller programs, created for a multitude of purposes over decades, but they've been used in bulk by the Bushies to guarantee and support, well, we're not sure what! With typical Bush arrogance, Bernanke and Paulson are refusing to release any info, even to Congress, to account for where they've committed over $7 TRILLION taxpayer dollars! Currently Bloomberg News actually has a lawsuit pending to force them to release details of what firms they've supporting and with how much money and under what terms (FOIA). So...if you're so critical of Democrats for allowing use of $350 billion, why haven't we heard you screaming and attacking Republicans for allowing use (in secret) of more than $7 TRILLION dollars? "
HB wrote on December 2, 2008 5:25 pm:
Its US folks wrote on December 2, 2008 5:26 pm:
We should have been paying more attention to what these people that we elected were doing, and we should have used more common sense when choosing people to govern us. We put too much emphasis on abortion, gay marriage, instead of infrastructure and good old fashion common sense. We have allowed corruption and greed to invade every crevice.
We need to put Washington on notice, we will no longer tolerate shoddy workmanship, that we will insist upon bipartisanship and we will stop blaming everyone. We just need to fix it. "
JohnR wrote on December 2, 2008 5:44 pm:
Per US Treasury Historical records, US Gov't tax revenue grew slightly the year of Reagan's 1981 tax cuts, but it then DECLINED 3% the following year! In 1983, Reagan agreed to sign tax increases, and revenue grew 3%. He then signed some sorts of tax increases literally every year thereafter until he left office. Additionally, he never made any effort to hold the line on spending (quite the opposite - lets not forget even Republicans credit him with dramatically increasing Defense spending, the single largest component of gov't spending).
Let's not also forget the studies done by Forbes, Money Magazine and S&P, all of which found stocks and gov't growth have consistently been stronger and better under Democratic led gov'ts, and consistently weaker under Republicans, at least going back 80-90 years! "
I wonder wrote on December 2, 2008 6:29 pm:
Also, how many fertilized eggs do not implant in the womb and are discharged during the woman's monthly cycle naturally? Wouldn't that be called an abortion too because you didn't allow the fetus to develop?
Using the pro-life argument that a fetus was not allowed to develop is an abortion, how many abortions happen to pro lifers each month when the fetus is not allowed to develop in the womb whether by birth control or naturally? "
pro choice mom who kept her baby wrote on December 2, 2008 8:09 pm:
to Colleen wrote on December 2, 2008 11:52 pm:
And to those Pro-lifers who'll jump on the real feelings of loss, for their own agenda-I have no respect for you.Many of your kind told me to "get over it" "It's not a big deal" "it wasn't really a baby" etc.I guess to you the only "life" worth politicizing and pontificating about are those aborted and not miscarried! "
Respect from other Nations wrote on December 3, 2008 9:55 am:
But that's ok, since he only added 1 trillion to our debt, rather than 2 trillion we should be grateful to him. "
Tom wrote on December 3, 2008 10:12 am:
New Dad wrote on December 3, 2008 10:55 am:
Sorry Pete wrote on December 3, 2008 1:08 pm:
Julie wrote on December 3, 2008 2:01 pm:
Re-Amandas editorial wrote on December 3, 2008 4:45 pm:
davidb wrote on December 3, 2008 9:52 pm: