Your 2 Cents

Webster's defines barbaric as: uncivilized, primitive, wild, crude, unrestrained. It doesn't speculate on the length of time it takes a civilization to go full circle, or whether it is a trickle up or trickle down process.

-- Al Schalow, Midlothian

. . .

Health care reform is a cruel joke perpetrated on the American people by congressional Democrats and Republicans. They are using smoke and mirrors to make it appear they are doing something -- when actually they're accepting donations left and right from big insurance, big pharmacy, and the American Medical Association to change absolutely nothing. Nobody wants health care reform but poor people. And we all know what chance they have of getting it -- the same as that snowball in you-know-where.

-- Ernest Irby, Henrico

. . .

I witnessed the car in front of me hit and kill a deer. Was it late at night, and did the deer dart out in front of him? Were we on some winding back road? No -- it was broad daylight and we were driving about 40 mph in suburbia. I saw the deer walk tentatively across the opposite lane and thought to myself, "Surely that guy in front of me sees her!" But obviously he didn't and hit the deer head on, rolling over her and flinging her body into a ditch. We both pulled over and that's when I realized he had been on his cell phone. One cannot be giving full attention to driving if one is talking on the phone! That could have been a child on a skateboard. Hang up and drive!

-- Susan Jones, Powhatan

. . .

Condemned killer Paul Warner Powell won another reprieve this past week. Some say justice is blind. In this case justice is not only blind, but deaf and dumb as well. This low-life murdered a young girl, raped and tried to kill her younger sister. Later he taunted the mother of the victims when he believed he couldn't be prosecuted again for the crimes. Let justice be served. Execute this murderer without further delay.

-- James R. Flinn, Richmond

. . .

Is it true that the Russians crowned 18 czars in hundreds of years of Russian history -- while President Obama has named 29 czars in just six months in the White House?

-- Jim Petty, Midlothian

. . .

Our wonderful government, once it has its cap-and-trade show on the road, plans to kick it off by auctioning "carbon credits" to our already disappearing industries. This sharp move is expected to raise many billions in the coming years -- for the government. Of course, all these costs will wind up being paid by Joe Blow consumer, assuming that he has a job by then. The clowns who govern us have just about run out of things to tax, so now the plan is to clobber us with a disguised tax, all in the name of junk science. Tighten your belts folks (and I don't mean seat belts), because we are about to be taken for the ride of our lives.

-- R. Adrian Davies, Richmond

. . .

Smoking certainly presents a paradox. One side of a billboard might say "Smoking Kills. Stop!" -- while the other side says "Keep on Puffing. We Need the Tax Dollars."

-- Gene Mrava, Midlothian

. . .

Two of Richmond's greatest assets: the James River and city auditor Umesh Dalal.

-- Noreen Brown, Richmond

. . .

President Obama and the Democratic Party have given the term "useful idiots" a very bad name.

-- Jim Seay, Henrico

. . .

A recent state poll in this newspaper showed President Obama's approval rate at 48 percent. The poll had an error rate of plus or minus 4 percent. The report pointed out that due to this error rate, Obama's approval could be above 50 percent. It failed to mention that it could also be below 44 percent. Just an oversight, I'm sure.

-- Howard Lindsey, Highland Springs