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Obama's position wasn't included in Senate editorial

Re: "Punish Blagojevich, not Illinois" (Jan. 4 editorial):

It's nice to see The Roanoke Times' editorial board come out against the position taken by the U.S. Senate Democrats, and urge the Senate to seat Roland Burris in the former Senate seat of President-elect Obama.

However, it's rather sad to see how those same writers conveniently left out of their missive any mention of Obama's position on whether Burris should be seated. In fact, Obama is clearly on record as being against any appointment made by the current Illinois governor.

What a dilemma for Virginia's own two senators to find themselves in: Do they follow the publicly stated wishes of the president-elect, or do they follow The Roanoke Times' plea and vote for the greater good? Apparently, The Times is advocating that Virginia's two senators take the opposite position from that of the president-elect.

Since the editorial board failed to even mention Obama's position (of course, Obama doesn't have an actual vote on this, but I suspect that he does wield some influence), I guess the board simply forgot what his stance is. I doubt it'll make that mistake again.

Ordinary Joes just want simple fairness

I argued shortly before Christmas that Wall Street was collapsing, not because of some elaborate Ponzi scheme, but rather because of greed -- specifically, the greed of CEOs retiring and taking many millions of dollars with them. They were simply greedy.

Today I read that when these CEOs leave with their huge bundle of dough, the tax on these obscene millions is also paid by the corporation they have left. Greed.

To Joe the Plumber (and me too) this looks like thievery. "Thou shalt not steal," said God, and Wall Street comes tumbling down. "Too simple," say the experts of double-entry bookkeeping.

Now President Bush is trying to buy the crash away, and Obama is trying to think it away. Joe the Plumber only wants a fair day's pay for a fair day's work.

Actually, the top word wasn't on the list

I can't believe Julia Keller actually omitted the very top word of 2008 in the column you published on Jan. 5, "The top words of 2008" (commentary). The word is "actually."

Listen to any actual conversation or to the radio or television and you will hear the word "actually" used dozens of times. I actually listened to one brief interview recently and actually heard the word used at least 25 times in the span of about three minutes. Surely it is the top word for the year and appears to have actually knocked "you know" from its No. 1 position.

I don't know exactly what speakers are actually trying to say by using this word. It implies that the listener would otherwise dismiss a statement as a fabrication. We do know that lying is actually increasing, but has it gotten so bad that we have to preface all of our statements with an assurance that we are actually telling the truth?

Should your readers actually doubt my words, they need only listen to actual conversations. Actually, they will be amazed at how actually dominant the word "actually" has become in our spoken vocabulary, and that's no lie.

Lay off cigarettes; tax entertainment

Re: "Kaine proposes taking a scalpel to state budget," Dec. 18 news story:

Here we go again. The state needs money, so let's go after the smokers again. I, for one, am tired of having to pay for everything the state needs through cigarettes.

Therefore, I have a proposal for Gov. Tim Kaine and the boneheads in Richmond. I propose an entertainment tax: a 5 percent tax on video games, game players, computers, cellphones, CDs, DVDs (bought and rented), cable and satellite dishes, movies, concerts, newspapers and magazines. Anything that could be considered entertainment should be taxed.

I believe that the state would generate much more revenue from this tax than it ever could with cigarettes.

Lea should be free to pray in Jesus' name

Re: "Council prayer stokes e-mailer's ire," Dec. 31 news story:

The religion of political correctness has already gone too far.

I applaud Vice Mayor Sherman Lea's prayer. He chose to stay true to his God rather than please those antagonists who would rather humanize God or forsake him altogether rather than being "offensive" to other religions in Roanoke, of whom some might not be believers in our great God and may be embarrassed by the name of Jesus.

These same antagonists should read the book of Daniel and see what happens to those who try to remove the name of God. What gruesome ends they had. They, their wives and children.

Please, Lea, do not have your name removed, for we need you to keep praying. As another who dares to pray in the name of Jesus, I believe this country was established on Christian principles, and if the antagonists do not want to share the blessings that most of us who worship this God receive, then they are more than welcome to leave our country and worship whatever false god they choose -- but please, not in America.

Index tuition discount to state funding

I read with interest your editorial "Virginians at Virginia colleges" (Jan. 4), regarding Del. Clifford Athey's plan to introduce legislation that would set a quota for in-state admissions at state-supported universities. I agree with The Roanoke Times that such quotas are a bad idea.

You also rightly point out that state colleges already "reward" the residents of the state for their support by the sizable tuition discount they offer for in-state students.

I would advocate making this connection more explicit by specifically indexing the in-state tuition discount to the level of state funding received by the universities. In this manner, we could ensure that any future increases in state funding for higher education are adequately enjoyed by the residents of the state.

Don't blame consumers for lack of confidence

Current ads running on TV from certain business interests chastising consumers for not going out and spending border on the offensive. While their Economics 101 lesson is technically correct, they use a patronizing tone that seems to lay blame on consumers for the current situation.

Years of out-of-control spending at the expense of saving and investment helped get us into this mess well beyond the holiday shopping seasons.

Do businesses think citizens can turn their confidence on and off like a light switch? They forget that many people worry if they will even have a job from one day to the next, so their simplistic, implied quick fix to just buy more stuff rings hollow.

Wow, a professor who isn't liberal

Kudos to John Sappington ("You might be a liberal," Dec. 16 commentary). Isn't it refreshing to find one college professor who isn't a bleeding-heart liberal? Wish it were so with Roanoke Times writers and editors.