Recent letters to the editor:
Missing the initiative
Letter: I quit watching the debate Tuesday night after about 30 minutes, since both candidates were merely blaming the other for our woes and telling us how they will solve them even though most of the woes have to be acted on in Congress.
Fraud's the problem
Letter: You've got some cheek, as my Irish wife would say. We may see voter fraud this election of a magnitude not seen since the late Mayor Daley's Chicago or New York's Tammany Hall, thanks to our friends at ACORN.
Unregulated greed
Letter: The Republican chickens have come home to roost!
Debate question
Letter:Is it possible for John McCain and/or Sarah Palin to speak or debate without repeating the contentions about their opponents that have been repeatedly demonstrated to be false?
Tax cuts work
Letter:The writer of the Oct. 9 People's Forum letter captioned "Big break" wonders why the wealthy and corporations deserve a tax break. Maybe it's because they pay the vast majority of the taxes.
Candidates' views
Letter:Kudos for the informative and easy-to-digest "Election 2008" spread on Oct. 6.
Why is gas so high?
Letter:I am shocked that our gas prices are not coming down.
Easy issue?
Letter:Your Oct. 8 article on the second presidential debate did not mention Sen. John McCain's response to the question of how he would save Social Security.
Exaggerated claims
Letter:If the past is any guide, it seems that the current drive to purge voter rolls, as reported in the Oct. 9 article "Voter purges appear illegal," is driven, in part, by alarmist claims of widespread voter fraud.
Can you handle it?
Letter:Did I read a letter to the editor where someone did a "fact check" on the comic strip "Mallard Fillmore"?
Crude profits
Letter:Crude oil prices have plummeted to $83 per barrel. When the per-barrel prices rose, so did the price at the pump, yet the reverse is not happening.
Making McCain's case
Letter:Bruce Lightner's appeal (Point of View article, Oct. 10) to North Carolina's undecided voters on behalf of Barack Obama was clearly trumped by the Charles Krauthammer column on that same day that examined the radical associations of the senator.
Swayed by fear
Letter:To my surprise, I found myself reading Charles Krauthammer's entire Oct. 3 column and agreeing with parts of it. In my opinion, Barack Obama does display both a first-class intellect and a first-class temperament.
The GOP slate
Letter:The partisan preferences of The N&O are well known and expected. Endorsing seven Democrats and two Republicans for Wake County seats in the state House is par for the historical course.
Calling people 'vile'
Letter:As mentioned in your Oct. 9 Election 2008 column, Elizabeth Dole's campaign sent out thousands of mailers claiming that Kay Hagan met with a group of atheists. The mailer refers to them as "the most vile, radical liberals in America."
Excessive valuations
Letter:Wake County revalued property at the peak of the real estate bubble. There was much said about values increasing as much as 40 percent or 50 percent, particularly in areas around North Hills where teardowns became commonplace.
Workplace freedom
Letter:Regarding the Oct. 3 People's Forum letter captioned "Outdated labor laws": The Employee Free Choice Act, more appropriately described as the "card check bill," would take away employees' individual rights to a federally supervised private ballot when deciding whether to join a union.
What's up with that?
Letter:I really, really, do not like the new weekend section that comes with the Friday N&O. I liked the What's Up magazine-style section.
Unfair to Perdue
Letter:Your Oct. 8 article "Dole, Perdue content to avoid debates" was misleading and unfair to Bev Perdue. She has committed to five televised debates in this campaign, with the next one is schedule for next week in Charlotte.
Widely available
Letter:Regarding your Oct. 8 article "Dole, Perdue content to avoid debates": I think the reason Beverly Perdue declined the two debates with Pat McCrory and Mike Munger is because those two debates were broadcast on North Carolina public television, which is broadcast statewide.
Overreaching
Letter:When the Rev. Walter Leake at a GOP rally in Greenville prayed that God would silence the speech of Democrats who lie about McCain/Palin (news item, Oct. 9), he should have checked his facts first.
Blame democrats
Letter:As your newspaper continues to fawn over U.S. Senate candidate Kay Hagan, you fail to recognize that the failure of the Democratic Congress is the reason we have the gas shortages in our region and the international financial crisis.
On the money
Letter:The "Mallard Fillmore" comic on Oct. 7 stated that Sen. Chris Dodd received $134,000 from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, implying that he has been bought by them.
Don't blame Bush
Letter:I am tired of hearing about the past horrible eight years under the Bush administration.
Obscene amount
Letter:On Oct. 4 you published a photograph of congressional leaders rejoicing at the passage of a bill that will allow our federal government to borrow and spend more than $800 billion we don't have.
It's here too
Letter:Reading state epidemiologist Jeffrey Engel's comments in a Sept. 29 news story, I was struck by his reported view that "there is no evidence that Lyme disease has been contracted in North Carolina, where the deer ticks that carry the disease are not as common as other types of ticks. Instead, North Carolina residents who have Lyme likely contracted the disease in another state."
Big break
Letter:At Tuesday night's debate, John McCain never did say why he believed wealthy people and corporations were the ones who deserved the tax break.
The better offer
Letter:When a successful football coach gets a call from another university, usually one of two things happens: The coach is hired away at a substantial pay increase or he's given a substantial pay increase and other perks by his current employer.
Act responsibly
Letter:I supported the proposed bailout plan as it was a better alternative to a full-fledged global depression.
Stop the madness
Letter:Has anyone thought of declaring a "market holiday" to try and stop the out-of-control slide on Wall Street?
