Letters To The Editor: Lincoln and Obama Have A Lot in Common

Lincoln and Obama Have a Lot in Common
Editor, Times-Dispatch: Many comparisons have been made between Abraham Lincoln and Barack Obama. Now we can add one more: In May 1864, Lincoln ordered Union Gen. John Dix to "take possession by military force of the printing establishments of the New York World and Journal of Commerce and prohibit any further publication thereof. You are therefore commanded forthwith to arrest and imprison the editors, proprietors, and publishers of the aforementioned newspapers."

Why did he do this? He did it because these newspapers dared to tell the ugly truth about Lincoln and his administration. Was this a violation of the Constitution and a flagrant disregard of due process? Almost all constitutional scholars agreed that it was an egregious violation of the First Amendment right to freedom of the press.

In October of 2009, we saw President Obama attacking Fox News. Why did he do this? He did it because this news channel dared to tell the ugly truth about Obama and his administration. Would he shut down Fox News if he had the chance? I think both conservatives and liberals can agree that he would. Thankfully, we live in a world today in which the president of the United States cannot throw members of the press in jail just because he doesn't like what they say. Thomas N.C. Spivey. Richmond.

Pilots Are Ultimately Responsible for Flights
Editor, Times-Dispatch: Regarding the two Northwest Airlines pilots who flew far beyond the Minneapolis airport recently: I like the quote from T. Allen McArtor, former administrator of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. He said: "The most important wings on an airplane are on the pilot."

Joe DiNapoli.
Providence Forge.

Proposals in Congress would be paid for with tax increases on businesses and insurance providers. Does Congress think that insurers will eat the cost of new taxes? They will increase premiums to the insured, forcing patients from private insurers into the government program. The public option will not create competition in the system, but rather eliminate all competition from the system.

Over time, the government program will become a huge expense for taxpayers and, despite arguments to the contrary, a source of rationed services.

Nothing about a public option changes the status quo in America's health system.

Carolyn Gray.
Richmond.

• Moody Middle School expects its students to regularly do good deeds. As a result, a boy adds to my trash bin, takes it out to the curb, and returns it. He does the same for my recycling container. I'm old and his help keeps me from worrying I will fall.

• Then there's the time a woman called and said she had found my credit card. I said I'd go to her house and pick it up. She said that she would bring it to me -- which she did. She also refused the modest reward I offered her.

• And a friend told me that on her street the newspaper is dropped in the driveway. Every day a kind man takes up about a half dozen of them and deposits them in the right doorways. By way of contrast, my carrier always sees that mine is where I can merely open my door and pick it up.

Anyone else have some good news?

Marion James.
Richmond.

Here we were in late October and the World Series was just beginning. Why? Because the owners and players association did not want to adjust the baseball schedule to accommodate an earlier World Series. The emphasis behind the decision was dollars and cents. The owners did not want to give up any home dates that were potential moneymakers for an abbreviated schedule to accommodate the game -- that would mean less revenue for the team owners. I did not know of and I do apologize for their hardships.

The devil with playing the World Series in rain, hail, snow, or freezing temperatures. They want their money. The question is, how much money does an owner need? Aren't the fans and the love of the game the drivers that make the game great?

Budd Buono.
Powhatan.