Shocking
As I read the article from Rep. Carl L. Anderson’s agenda for a homeowners meeting, it left me in a state of shock. It read …
HELP with foreclosures.
THOUSANDS of dollars for first-time buyers.
FREE home energy audit.
ZERO INTEREST for home repairs.
ENERGY CREDIT / REBATE PROGRAMS.
FREE PHONES / 250 FREE MONTHLY minutes.
FREE health screening by the Georgetown Hospital.
FREE gifts and dinner.
I went online to S.C. Help. I read nothing about thousands of dollars for first-time buyers, free home energy audit, zero interest for home repairs, energy credit, rebate programs, free phones, free health screening by the Georgetown Hospital System. What does that have to do with foreclosures? Who is paying for gifts and dinner?
What am I missing here?
E.B. West
Georgetown
Reply to editorial “Keeping our freedoms alive”
In a long, overblown editorial (2/16/12), accompanied by a copy of the Declaration of Independence, the Waccamaw Times [and Georgetown Times, 2/13/12] argued that the Affordable Health Care Act violated our precious liberties by not exempting Catholic Hospitals and Universities from including birth control in health insurance plans.
I find it interesting that the Declaration of Independence says men (not women) are created equal. I also notice that not a single woman signed the document.
Have the editors ever considered the precious freedoms of women? What could damage a woman’s freedom more than an unplanned, unaffordable pregnancy?
Why wouldn’t our constitutionally-guaranteed freedom entail the right of a woman to control her own body, to choose if and when to get pregnant?
The U.S. Constitution clearly gives the federal government the right to regulate interstate commerce, and the Supreme Court has ruled more than once that religious institutions are not exempt from compliance with federal law. This principle has been upheld twice in majority opinions written by Antonin Scalia, arguably the most conservative justice on the court.
One of the greatest ironies of this entire debate is that 98% of Catholic women have, at some time in their lives, used contraceptives.
Another irony is that the entire structure of the Affordable Health Care Act (incorrectly called Obamacare) was initially a Republican idea, developed by the Heritage Foundation and championed by Republican leaders like Bob Dole. Before Obama, leading Republicans referred to the individual mandate as an obligation for “personal responsibility.”
In reality, Obamacare is no different from Romneycare. The plan is modeled – almost line by line – after a state plan initiated by Republican governor, Mitt Romney of Massachusetts. Unable to push through Democratic goals such as single payer or a public option, Obama settled for the least objectionable Republican plan. In their zeal to destroy the Obama presidency Republicans are now fighting against their own ideas.
Nothing could enhance our freedom more than universal health care. It would give men and women freedom from early death, freedom from suffering and disability, and freedom from bankruptcy associated with medical bills.
The Affordable Health Care Act costs less than George W. Bush’s unfunded Medicare prescription drug program. What a deal! Let’s get on with it.
Larry Gates
Pawleys Island
Rubillo and “Anglos”
In Tom Rubillo’s opinion piece on local history published in the February 10 issue of the Times, he asserts Norman the Conqueror led “Saxon hordes” in conquest of the “Anglos” in his invasion of Britain in the year 1066 A.D.
William was a Norman from France who led an army of Normans who defeated the Anglo-Saxons at the Battle of Hastings. The Anglo-Saxons were descendants of two Germanic peoples who had invaded Britain about five hundred years earlier, the Angles, not “Anglos,” and the Saxons.
One has to wonder if Mr. Rubillo’s other assertions of fact are as inaccurate. Hopefully he will do a better job of research in his future pieces.
Jack Scoville
Georgetown
Descendant of
Ralph de Scoville, a Norman