Obama’s change not what we need
To the editor,
I don’t make a practice to speak up about the running of our country, but I believe with this administration, all Americans had better speak up and do it soon.
What happened to the auto industry is unbelievable. Our government owns Chrysler, yet the news that workers got in Fenton were laid off except for a few that stayed to box up tools for shipment to Mexico, makes me wonder what will come next.
Voters believed Obama would bring change and that he is doing. Not the change that most voters wanted, I fear, but the change he had in mind for us.
The cap and trade bill is ready for the Senate to vote. Please people - our electric rates have gotten higher already and if our President signs this bill, you can prepare to dish out another $100 a month for electric.
I for one don’t want that and cannot understand our elected officials wanting that for the American people. What about more nuclear power plants?
Another subject being discussed is healthcare. Getting free healthcare sounds good but please understand it will not be free. There will be waiting lines for medical problems.
Who would like to wait a year for a hip replacement? Canadians do. I know a Canadian that waited seven months to have a cancerous tumor removed from his tongue.
That Canadians come across the border for our medical system should tell us that there are big problems with government-run healthcare. Cigarettes have been taxed already.
You say great! Well how will the American people feel when our sugar products are taxed? Money must come from somewhere.
Free healthcare sounds great, but please check it out. We know nothing is free. Let’s not let President Obama and his buddies smooth talk us into a promise of a better USA.
It won’t be better and I am sure it won’t be cheaper. Call your elected officials. Let’s keep another Hitler from taking over.
—Audrey Swain, Rolla
Canadian system isn’t answer
To the editor,
We can simply look to our neighbor in Canada, which has a socialized medicine system, to see what is in store for us. It is not a pretty picture. Canadians cannot choose a docor, they are assigned one. When they have a health problem they are put on a waiting list unless it is a dire emergency.
Even then, if the procedure is not life threatening, patients are put n the “queue” for scheduling of hospital procedures. All of that means one thing: the bureaucracy is making all the choices, not the patients and the doctor.
Can you imagine the discomfort, pain and suffering patients must experience while waiting months or even a year or more, for needed gall bladder surgery, a heart bypass operation, or even just cataract surgery?
Then there is the sad fact that socialized medicine systems typically resort to rationing of health care services. That means older and sicker patients are often excluded from receiving life-saving medical treatments.
— Edward Johnson, St. James
Remember the real American heroes
To the editor:
I have reached a point in my life where I have become very disillusioned with the hero worshipers of today. It seems to me that far too much news has been spent honoring superficial deceased heroes such as Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley, Princess Di, and I could go on and name many more…but I think you get the picture.
What really disturbs me is the lack of caring for those who really and truly did something to make a difference for “Our Great United States of America.” We have failed to honor those who fought so valiantly to give us a free country. We continue to fail in remembering all of our wonderful men and women in the Armed Forces who continue to fight for FREEDOM and are rarely even told
“Thank you for serving our country,” and yet they continue giving with all their hearts!
I don’t remember the endless coverage for Ed Freeman so I’ve decided to pass along some of a story about this true American hero and also some of his obituary.
At age 17, Ed enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served on the USS Cacapon for two years. Upon return to Neely, Mississippi, Ed graduated from high school and then enlisted in the U.S. Army. He was a Master Sergeant in the Army Corps of Engineers, but he fought in Korea as an infantryman.
He took part in the Battle of Pork Chop Hill and was awarded a Battlefield Commission, which enabled him the opportunity to apply to flight school. However, standing at 6'4", the 6'2" height restriction prevented him from being eligible, earning him the nickname "Too Tall." In 1955, the Army regulations changed, thus allowing Ed to attend flight school. He earned his wings at Ft. Rucker, Alabama.
Ed was sent to Vietnam in 1965, assigned to the 1st Calvary Division (Airmobile). He was second in command of a sixteen-helicopter unit responsible for carrying infantrymen into battle. On Nov. 14, 1965, Ed's helicopters carried a battalion into the Ia Drang Valley. The following is an account of his actions.
You’re a 19 year old kid. You’re critically wounded, and dying in the jungle in the Ia Drang Valley, 11-14-1965,
LZ X-ray, Vietnam. Your infantry unit is outnumbered 8–1, and the enemy fire is so intense, from 100 or 200 yards away, that your own Infantry Commander has ordered the Medi-Vac helicopters to stop coming in...
You’re lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns, and you know you’re not getting out. Your family is half way around the world—12,000 miles away—and you’ll never see them again. As the world starts to fade in and out, you know this is the day.
Then, over the machine gun noise, you faintly hear that sound of helicopter, and you look up to see an un-armed Huey, but it doesn't seem real, because no Medi-Vac markings are on it.
Ed Freeman is coming for you. He’s not Medi-Vac, so it’s not his job, but he’s flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire, after the Medi-Vacs were ordered not to come.
He’s coming anyway. And he drops it in, and sits there in the machine gun fire, as they load 2 or 3 of you on board. Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire, to the doctors and nurses. And, he kept coming back…13 more times…and took about 30 of you and your buddies out, who would never have gotten out.
Medal of Honor Recipient, Ed Freeman, died Wednesday, August 20, 2008 at the age of 80, in Boise, ID…May God rest his soul. THANKS AGAIN ED FOR WHAT YOU DID FOR OUR COUNTRY.
Ed’s was just one of many stories. There are many, many more!
May God bless and protect all of our brave men and women who chose to join the military to serve their country and serve a grateful nation and even some not so grateful citizens.
God bless you all,
—Judy Wright
Ladies Auxiliary of the
Veterans of Foreign Wars
Post 2025
