Shutdown averted

A government shutdown has been avoided. Yippee!

But what does it mean? Simple. The gutless Republicans got rolled, of course. The $38 billion in cuts they negotiated might sound like a lot of money to those of us who can barely put gas in our cars, but the traitors and incompetents are trying to wreck our country.

To put it in perspective, haggling over a few billion dollars, compared to the trillions of dollars in new debt brought on by these morons, is like haggling over $2 of a $100,000 mortgage.

It’s all a show for the people who still believe anything this administration says. So now we kick the can down the road — again?

The unimaginable debt that the president has saddled us with is as devastating to the future of this country as any war. Actually, it’s more so.

So the fight continues: Democrats vs. Republicans. Mindless vs. spineless. A pit bull vs. a toy poodle. The Smithsonian is still open. The borrower is still slave to the lender.

America is still the loser.

So many of us are frustrated out of our minds. I don’t care about politics. I just care about this country.

C.W. Raines, Dawson

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It’s hard to believe the GOP would nearly shut down the entire federal government over proposals whether to continue funding Planned Parenthood — an organization that provides family planning and health care for the poor.

The Hyde Amendment of 1976 prohibits any federal funds being used for abortion. Since the Republican Party is so dead-set against Planned Parenthood, they might think about the consequences of cutting funding for contraceptives, which would result in more unwanted pregnancies and back-alley abortions.

 The GOP and those in the tea party movement also claim to support our troops. But if the government had shut down, then military paychecks also would have stalled.

Meg Hillert, Dallas

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In reference to Laura Slonaker’s Friday letter urging politicians to compromise: If compromise is all that matters, then what happened with health care reform? There was no compromise. Democrats did it their way.

The Republicans are doing, or should be doing, what they were voted into office to do: make tough decisions to decrease this county’s debt so we can live within our means, not borrow from China and other foreign governments to cover things not needed in the first place.

M. Johnson, Mart

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The United States is broke, and Congress and the president can’t decide where not to spend money. I have a suggestion: Let’s leave Medicare, education and Social Security alone and cut Congress’ and the president’s pay. Better yet, stop paying them, period. If a private-sector business has an employee who does not do as he is told, he is fired or demoted.

I haven’t even heard a suggestion that lawmakers take a pay cut. All they do is argue and fight like grade-school kids. Cut their staffs and perks and let’s see how many of them stick around. They might actually do some work.

Bill Pugh, Valley Mills