Letters To The editor

White House Actions Cause Antennas to Rise
Editor, Times-Dispatch: I'm a firm believer in volunteerism. I've been involved in voluntary activities since my early teens. So while I am generally very cautious of government involvement in our private lives, I have no issue with its gentle support and promotion of volunteerism. (See President George H. W. Bush's 1,000 Points of Light et al.) But if the government were to force it down my throat, well, that might be just a tad worrisome.

Recently, as I read A. Barton Hinkle's Op/Ed column, "Media Cheer White House's Two-Minute Hate," about the Obama administration's attempts to ostracize Fox News, I took note of his comment that Hollywood had "launched a week-long propaganda campaign inspired by the president's call to service." It was to be included not only in talk and opinion shows, but also in soap operas, prime-time series, etc. "Nearly ubiquitous" in the words of the Los Angeles Times. My worry antennas began to rise.

I came to the comics, which I read, ritual-like, at the end of a newspaper session to expunge the realities just absorbed. Consternation is a mild word to express my emotions as I discovered seven of the 13 funnies I routinely enjoy had a volunteerism theme. Even "Hagar the Horrible." Puhleeze.

I am inclined to pooh-pooh the far right's charges that this administration is attempting, à la the U.S.S.R., to manipulate the public through control of the media, force its environmental goals via control of the auto industry, and promote its socialist agenda through the arts. But honestly, if saturation marketing by the government of a good thing can be accomplished so innocuously via "Hi and Lois," can the same for an unpopular agenda be so improbable?

Let's not cry wolf. But is this a test media campaign? When I couple it with the attempts to ban Fox from the press pool, my worry antennas become fully extended. Matt O'Connell. Midlothian.

Keep Reform Short and Sweet
Editor, Times-Dispatch: The medical care bills in Congress constitute thousands of pages of devilry that miss the essential mark. My pocket copy of the Constitution uses only 42 pages.

What is needed is a bill containing only the two measures that will absolutely reduce costs for everyone: (1) tort reform and (2) expansion of private-insurer competition by allowing all medical insurers to sell policies in every state.

Everthing else in the proposals Congress is tinkering with is questionable, wasteful, and destructive of our freedom. Any form of a public option, including a Trojan-horse trigger, is intended to use the government's power and lack of fiscal restraint to guarantee socialized medicine. That is the truth, unvarnished and nonpartisan.

Donald W. Cahill.
Palmyra.

I know that if this giveaway becomes a reality there is no way of returning the money. It would only be wasted in some other way, perhaps dental care for chimpanzees, or we could scatter it from the balconies of Congress and watch that other strange breed of primate scramble for their piece of the action.

I consider this whole fiasco a personal insult. I have a suggestion: The unemployment benefits are about to run out for millions of the long-term jobless. I'd feel much better if the money went to them. And, just in case someone thinks I'm some rich guy who couldn't use the money, I'm just an old retired Navy chief who would dearly love to see these characters from a B-grade movie forced to walk the plank. We'll remember in November!

Dick Lennard.
Midlothian.