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Hernando Today

Vote 'No' On Independence

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Hernando Today

Published: October 8, 2008

Updated: 10/08/2008 11:46 am

Vote 'No' On Independence

Sorry, Bill, but your arguments just won't wash.

You say you want what you pay for: We Spring Hill residents paid $650,000 (that's almost three quarters of a million dollars) for a 100-foot ladder truck! Sure, it looks nice in a parade, but considering that the tallest buildings here in Hernando County (the hospitals and Springstead Theater) are less than 60 feet tall, it doesn't make any sense. How many parades does Spring Hill Fire Rescue have?

There is another old saying "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." It is time to put partisan politics aside and merge all fire departments! Brooksville recently signed a mutual aid pact with the county. Indeed: Hernando County just signed a mutual aid pact with New Port Richey in the event of a natural disaster, so we will have all of their resources at our disposal, and vice versa, should the need arise.

Where I come from and in most of the country, there are unpaid volunteer firemen who are more than willing to donate a few hours a week to help out the community, have a good meal and share a few laughs at the fire house, with no compensation other than a tiny pension after a long period of service. Perhaps that could work here.

You say Hernando County is about 500 square miles, with 129 certified firefighters. Spring Hill has 98.

If you add those two numbers together, you get 217 firefighters to cover 500 square miles. That's about two miles per firefighter. That doesn't seem too outrageous to me. When I had my 20-pound propane tank catch on fire, Spring Hill Fire Rescue responded with two huge fire trucks, one ambulance and three police cars! All they did was throw the flaming tank in my pool! I could have done that, saving lots of gasoline and man power.

Every time I see a fire truck responding for some reason or another, it is never with just one truck! Firefighters love to respond. Just yesterday, at Delta Woods Park, three huge fire trucks with lights and sirens blasting went flying down the road. They were the only vehicles on it at that time. I wonder if three trucks were really necessary.

In these times of fiscal belt-tightening, we need to consolidate wherever we can.

Vote "No" on independence!

Mike Grab

Spring Hill

Greedy, Selfish

Undeserving Rats

As a single mom of three children, two teenagers and one in college, each and every day is a struggle to just put gas in the car and food on the table.

I am a hard worker like all the other middle-class Americans who strive every day to pay bills and take care of their families.

I firmly believe that something needs to be done. Our country has been overtaken by selfish greed, from executives of major corporations, pro athletes and Hollywood stars and many more.

Is it really fair that an athlete makes millions of dollars in one year when the average four- or five-member family can't afford to go to a single game? Is it really fair that Hollywood stars make millions per movie when the average American family can't afford to watch it in a theatre? Is it really fair that all of the executives and those at fault for the mortgage meltdown walk away with billions of dollars and their many homes, luxury cars and all of their other luxurious items, while ripping off middle-class Americans, receiving a bailout package that will be paid for - again - by middle-class Americans?

I believe that they should have to sell their many homes, cars and pawn their valuable items like many of the middle class are doing to survive. They need to liquidate all of their assets and put the money that was taken from the corporations back into them and bail themselves out. Make the executives of these banking corporations, who make millions, pay back this $700 billion loan - to the middle class average Americans with families who have suffered enough from these greedy, selfish, undeserving rats.

Wendy Cortalano

Homosassa

Baby Boomers

Face Harsh Reality

For nearly a decade, I've been trying to warn people that we were running headlong into an economic catastrophe. The Republicans kept telling us the economy was strong, that the Great Depression could never happen again. We were told that the banking system, the markets and the economy were too big to fall. They told us that there are safeguards in place that will make it stop before it could fail. They even told us that when it spread out over the global market that it was a good thing because we were insulating ourselves from feeling the pain!

If I only had a nickel for every time President Bush said "The economy is strong." I could pay off all the economic bailouts tenfold. Now they would have us believe Sen. John McCain whipped out his crystal ball and told Congress a couple years back this was going to happen. The GOP claims that they'd been warning us as far back as when President Clinton was in office that this was going to happen. Why didn't they do something about it the six years they controlled both houses of Congress and the presidency? After decades of preaching personal responsibility, why is the president running around with a tin cup in his hand asking for zillions of dollars?

What's funny, I don't remember hearing anyone, other than myself, talking about an economic disaster. Even the economic experts failed to mention the possibility that a recession, much less a depression, might occur. For crying out loud, they're still trying to pretend that we're not in a recession, technically speaking of course. Try telling that to the millions of Americans who have lost their jobs, their homes and their cars. If we're not in a recession, then why are we bailing out everybody? They lied, and they still continue to lie. Now they're trying to shift all the blame onto Democrats. They think we're dumb enough to believe all their lies again, and they're probably right!

The problem is the baby boomer generation. The greatest generation grew up in the Depression and then fought in World War II and raised their families during the recession that followed the war. They were realistic and knew how to limit their expectations according to the challenges that is life. Where as, the boomers, grew up at a time when lifestyles were improving, many avoided the hardships that the 1970s presented as they attended college. Then they entered the job market when it was easy work for big money. Employers were providing cleaner working environments that were relatively comfortable.

The boomers grew up at a time when America was growing rich, and they enjoyed all the benefits that entailed. They grew up with dreamlike expectations that no other generation enjoyed in American history. That is why it hits them particularly hard, learning that their retirement might actually be at risk; that they may not enjoy the lifestyle they're accustomed to in retirement or that the American economy could actually collapse!

The baby boomers are having a rude awakening. Too bad it wasn't soon enough to prevent the hardships that we'll all now have to endure.

Lorne DeWitt

Brooksville

The Perfect Crime

Congratulations to U.S. Reps. Barney Frank and Nancy Pelosi and Sens. Chuck Schumer, Chris Dodd and Barack Obama and ACORN. They've committed the perfect crime, got away with it and were rewarded with an $850 billion bailout. The Democratic Party avoids any responsibility for this disaster and wins back the White House in the process. Pelosi brazenly declares this to be the result of eight years of Bush's failed policies and is not challenged.

Are Republicans guilty as well? Definitely! Guilty of not doing enough to stem the tide of highly risky subprime, no-down-payment loans that filled mortgage-backed securities and brought down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. How far this house of cards will fall is anybody's guess. The criminals who ran this scam fought every effort to tighten up on the loans and provide oversight.

And we will elect as our next president the man who was an attorney for ACORN lawsuits that began to open the floodgates of risky loans. ACORN is also under investigation for voter fraud, identity theft and strong-arm tactics against financial institutions. Couple that with the expansion of the Community Reinvestment Act under President Clinton and you have a housing boom bubble that was destined to burst.

Thank you, U.S. Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, R-Brooksville, for voting "no" for this $850 billion early Christmas present for the corrupt and shameless incompetents in Washington. We should all be angry over this.

Bob Disser

Spring Hill

No One's Fault

But Our Own

Next month, we will go to the polls to elect new leaders, both claiming change is on the way. I know we need change; if we are not careful, we could be jumping out of the frying pan right into the fire.

George Bush is blamed for the mess we are in from both sides, with the war, economy and also the bailout mess.

But when Bush was elected, our economy was taking a downswing, like it does now and then. He then signed into law a tax cut that the Democrats claimed would only help the rich. Well, it helped. Our economy did recover, the number of unemployed went down and pay increased. Now some might not believe this, but it is a fact.

Now, the American taxpayer has to reach into his pocket and pull out $700 billion and, again, all this is blamed on the Bush administration.

But it was Bill Clinton who signed into law a bill allowing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and other federal banks to make loans to people they knew could never repay.

At the end of 2005, we went to the polls with the intent on cleaning house - to throw out the Republicans. And we did, but did it change anything? Like Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin might say, "No sirree."

So what exactly does the American voter want their next leader to do?

Far above all the rest is to keep our America safe. Without a safe America, nothing else means a thing.

We do need to end the war and bring our troops back home, but we need to do it with honor. We also need to create good paying American jobs and bring jobs back to the U.S. We need to look for other ways to fuel our cars, run our power plants and heat our homes.

As citizen, voter and taxpayer, we've got to take our heads out of the sand and hold our elected leaders accountable. All that is talked about is George Bush with a 26 percent approval rating. But what about Congress, which has a 17 percent approval rating?

And this is no one's fault but ours. We have been so busy fighting each other that we forget that we are Americans.

When I go to the polls to cast my vote for our next president, my main concerns are those I mentioned. I honestly believe that Sen. John McCain with Sarah Palin can and will do the job.

Sen. Barack Obama also seems to be a fine and honorable young man, who I do have reason to believe is just not up to leading this great nation at this time.

I do believe that no president in history has had to stand up to as much hate and slander as George Bush, who in my opinion has stood tall and never one time backed down from what he believed was right. Give him credit - not one attack on U.S. soil since Sept. 11.

I hope I never have to ask this question: "Where is George Bush when we really need him?" There are countries that hate us and will stop at nothing to bring America to its knees.

Robert Eady

Brooksville

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