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Tax bills would mean many churches would close down

First you advocate bailing out the banks, then you say that all churches should lose their tax exemptions ("Free religions of their exemptions," Oct. 1 editorial).

Our elected representatives are sent to Washington to represent us, the taxpaying citizens, not the government or the media. Thank God, some of them realize this and voted down a Wall Street and bank bailout that would place another burden on every citizen.

If churches had to pay income tax on their offerings and property tax on their land and buildings, then thousands would simply have to close down. Also, the last lifeline for people who are hungry, homeless or who have experienced a disaster would be gone.

Perhaps you are unaware of just how much assistance churches and religious organizations render to the poor, the sick and the broken. They pick up where government and other charities leave off.

Government does not have the answer to everything. As a matter of fact, most things the government touches are made worse. When Social Security began, we were promised that our money would be kept safe in a special fund, but Congress raided that fund and left an IOU in its place.

Opinion page shows a bias

I'm appalled at the way you select the letters you put in the paper. You print more letters for the Democrats than you do for the Republicans.

Any mistake the Republicans make, you seem to make a big deal of it. But let something come up about the Democrats and you want to sweep it under the rug.

Remember, this country was founded on truth and religion. It seems you pick out just what you want to print instead of giving both sides the same time. You probably won't print this, but the people need to know it all.

Timing questionable on closing building

Imagine calling contractors on Friday and having plumbers, electricians and carpenters show up with building materials early the next morning. Sounds impossible, right?

The only thing impossible about this scenario was that they were not called until Friday.

Roanoke's City Market Building was closed by the Virginia Department of Health on Sept. 19 after an inspection early that morning found evidence of mice. The timing of this closing is questionable.

Since the Health Department found reason for closing the building Friday morning, why did it allow me and other patrons to eat there before closing the building late that evening? And how is it that the closing coincided with the city's delivery of materials and arrival of workers?

Mice are not the only problem. As landlord, the city of Roanoke has ignored even the most basic upkeep to the building for years, which surely contributed to, if not caused, the mouse problem. Not to mention that many of the pictures taken by the Health Department were of the vacant areas that are the responsibility of the city and its management company.

I don't know about you, but I smell more than a mouse.

The country has to get off oil

Everyone seems to miss the point that new drilling, offshore or anywhere, will not put gas in the pumps or affect gas prices for 10 years.

No politician can get gas prices down. Prices are set by worldwide supply and demand. Within the next 10 years, we must get our oil usage below 30 percent of current usage, and we must be totally off oil in 20 years.

This can be done if we force car companies to make ultralight cars that will get 90 mpg (hybrids, 150 mpg). At the same time, we must drop that stupid mandate for corn ethanol and push other biofuels, natural gas and oil from garbage and sewage and push research on H2 (made from water hydrolysis) and all-electric cars.

We must try to have all ground transportation be electric by 2028, and all electricity generated by nonpolluting means. This means wind, solar and nuclear, and coal only with CO2 capture. We can get to zero CO2 by 2028 and save a lot of money, too.

So drill, drill, drill! When this oil reaches the market in 2018, we can sell it all overseas.

Break with the past and vote for Obama

On Nov. 4, the voters of Southwest Virginia will have the opportunity to help get our country back on the right track by helping elect a new president, but will we?

Are we ready to help elect someone who will make a real change, or are we content to continue the downhill slide of the last eight years? Are we ready to cast aside our racial prejudices, or are we going to continue to judge people by their skin color?

Are we going to continue voting Republican because our parents were Republicans, our grandparents were Republicans and our great-grandparents were Republicans, or are we finally going to break the cycle?

Are we ready to vote for the better qualified candidate instead of for the party? Are we ready to make our own decision instead of letting our preachers tell us who to vote for based on outdated religious beliefs?

If so, then join me in voting for Barack Obama and Joe Biden and beginning a new and better era in our great nation. And by the way, I am a white, former Republican who deeply regrets voting for George W. Bush in 2000.

A vote for Obama's family values

After Lilly Ledbetter won her suit against an employer who had paid her less than her male counterparts, she lost before the Supreme Count ("Fix an injustice," June 2 commentary).

The court ruled she should have sued 20 years before, after receiving her first paycheck -- even though employees were forbidden to discuss salaries. When Congress presented an equal pay for equal work bill, Reps. Bob Goodlatte and Virgil Goode stood against women by voting no.

Sen. John McCain was against the bill but did not vote. He said women needed more education and training. Republicans in the Senate banded together to defeat the bill.

Gov. Sarah Palin has helpfully let us know where she stands on family issues. She said that, if elected, families with special-needs children would have a friend in Washington, but she cut Alaska's Special Olympics budget in half.

These "family values" issues are incomprehensible to my family. I will be voting for candidates who believe in family-values-issues like equal pay for equal work, health insurance and tax breaks for the middle class -- I will vote for Sens. Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

Goode works for strong families

Citizens in this part of Virginia have a congressman who is as close to being a statesman as any you will find. That congressman is Virgil Goode.

When Goode was a state senator, he did more to strengthen the families of Virginia than any serving at that time. He continues with that commitment today.

Goode supports strengthening our borders. He co-sponsors the FairTax Amendment, HR25. He would get us out of the stranglehold foreign oil has on us by permitting offshore drilling and developing alternate fuels. His only definition of marriage is a union between one man and one woman. He would work to reform our health care system.

Goode has a proven record. We can count on him to deliver for us. However, he needs your vote and your support by informing others just what he has accomplished.

Let's send this statesman back to Washington so he can continue his quest to preserve our American heritage. Go, Virgil, go! Please vote for Goode for Congress.