Fiscal responsibility needed

I am so relieved to hear that President Barack Obama is going to dumb down his speeches so that pickup-driving Americans can understand him. It’s great to hear that he’s not an ideologue.

The truth is that Obama has been perfectly content to sit by and let middle-income Americans wallow in pain until his approval ratings fell to the point that it affected his ability to push through a health care bill and a cap-and-trade energy and environment bill. Both would kill jobs and the economy and would be a huge tax on middle-class America.

Obama has been more concerned with rights for terrorists and illegal immigrants than middle-class America.

Now, due to sagging poll numbers, he wants to reinvent himself as a fiscal conservative. The problem is that his proposed budget is filled with new spending, loaded with new taxes and bloated with money for special interests.

The new budget is full of fuzzy math and whimsical assumptions. It includes money for ramming universal health care and cap-and-tax down Americans’ throats with even more backroom deals than before.

If Obama really wanted to be fiscally responsible, then why doesn’t he turn back the $500 billion of unspent stimulus money and $500 billion of repaid TARP money, and cancel the $260 billion jobs bill and remove all protected money for special interests?

He should concentrate on what should have been priority from day one: jobs and the economy. We can’t sustain four years of uncontrolled spending by this administration and this Democratic Congress.

Butch Miller

Robinson

Acts of kindness appreciated

I want to publicly thank four gentlemen who showed great kindness to my son when we were out to dinner Jan. 30.

My son and I were having dinner with his dad at Hooters — his dad’s favorite place to eat — when we struck up a conversation with four men nearby. We were commenting on the Texas-Baylor basketball game, and it turns out they were cheering for Texas, as well. As the gentlemen got up and left, one of them stopped and whispered to my son’s dad and told him he had left something for our son at the front.

It turns out that they had picked up our tab and left my son a $25 gift certificate, which allowed him to get a Hooters calendar and T-shirt. This meant a lot to me, and I did not have the opportunity to thank them for their kindness.

My son had a medulla blastoma removed from his brain stem last December, which was malignant. The radiation, chemotherapy and surgery have left him unsteady on his feet. He requires assistance with walking and other activities. He’s also bald.

Their kind deed was so nice compared to the awkward stares and avoidance that my son normally receives while out in public.

So much thanks and may God bless those men. It’s nice to know there are still some kind people out there.

Rhonda Machac

China Spring

Defending Fox News

The Feb. 5 letter denigrating Fox News is a perfect example of the danger of left-wing fanaticism. Many major media outlets are demonstrably slanted to the left, and NBC News has become a hand puppet for the Obama administration. The golden rule of  impartial reporting no longer exists for these organizations, and facts are no longer important. Fox is the only real news organization, so others feel they must shut it down. The other networks have lost all credibility, while Fox is the only one that tries to impartially present both sides of an issue. Fox also has an equal number of liberal and conservative commentators. That is why it is such a phenomenon.

Perhaps if some of these people actually watched Fox they would see this, but they prefer to sit in their caves and absorb leftist propaganda from other organizations. They should put on their jackboots and get in step with Hugo Chavez, who also does not believe in freedom of speech and is shutting down all news media in his country that do not adhere to the official government line. I prefer to make up my own mind and not have some talking head telling me how to think.

Ken Pflanz

Elm Mott

Second-hand smoke and pit bulls

Since Rick Perry has been governor of Texas, the state has not had his support regarding secondhand smoke and the pit bull issues. What do the others have to say on these topics?

If the Legislature cannot keep the pork off the bills, as they have done the past two sessions, and your little hole-in-the-wall towns continue to smoke and have no ban on pit bulls, then city limit signs should read: “Pit bull dogs and smoking welcome.”

Lynn Tardy

Marlin

Tea Party Convention coverage

The way the press has covered the Tea Party Convention in Nashville, you’d think 600,000 people showed up instead of 600.

Sarah Palin is taking it to the bank with her $100,000 fee from this speaking engagement. Who would listen to a runaway governor with no new ideas, just the same old right-wing rhetoric from the GOP base?

 The Tea Party movement wants less government or no government at all. The former would keep government from regulating Wall Street, insurance companies and the banks allowing the rich and richer to continue their own tea parties at the taxpayer’s expense. The latter would cause anarchy with no one in charge. Is there something besides tea in these people’s cups?

Meg Hillert

Dallas

GOP primary coming March 2

May I request that the Tribune-Herald inform readers about the upcoming March 2 Republican primary election date.

Bill O’Hare

Waco