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Another way to look at FairTax unfairness

There's nothing fair about the FairTax. Look at it this way.

Suppose someone earned a million dollars a year. That person could support his family with steak dinners every night, buy a luxury car, an expensive bass boat, take a vacation to Australia, and still spend less than $100,000 -- 10 percent of his yearly income.

A family earning $30,000 a year will probably spend closer to 75 percent of their income, just making ends meet.

Heaven help them if they have to trade cars. They might end up paying taxes on 80 or 90 percent of their earnings. Even the most frugal low-income family would probably pay taxes on close to 50 percent of their earnings.

What is fair about having a rich man pay taxes on 10 percent of his earnings, while the average man, earning far less, pays on 70 to 90 percent of his?

By all means, throw your support to the FairTax advocates if you have a lot of money.

If you're like most of us, however, I'd think twice before I'd call the FairTax fair. I'd call it shameless -- and several other things.

Fitzpatrick could try to restore his reputation

I wonder if it would be easier for Bev Fitzpatrick to rebuild his reputation from what some people think he's done or to stay on that cross that Kathi Renick (Dec. 27 commentary, "Fitzpatrick puts the Roanoke Valley first") thinks he is on.

Through life, I've learned that who you know means more in some instances than what you know. Being awarded contracts without competitive bidding and contracts going to companies that you have personal ties with all seem to have more to do with who you know.

In Renick's commentary, there were references made to the Bible and Christ.

Christ took from a few and fed many. He didn't take from many to feed a few.

To quote Oliver Wendell Holmes, "Most people are willing to take the Sermon on the Mount as a flag to sail under, but few will use it as a rudder by which to steer."

Regional airport would suffer under merger

I read that US Airways has made an unsolicited proposal to take over Delta Air Lines (Dec. 20 Business section article, "Delta files reorganization plan"). While mergers happen with some frequency, particularly in the airline industry, this deal could have a devastating impact on air travel for our region.

US Airways and Delta share a number of routes at airports around the nation, but the overlap is most pronounced in the Southeast and right here in Virginia.

The merger would eliminate a major carrier for the Roanoke Regional Airport and would allow the newly merged US Airways to effectively dominate the market. In that case, competition would diminish, with prices and service choices adversely affected.

Increases in airfare, fewer flight options and reliability questions combine to make this proposed merger a poor deal for our community and our commonwealth.

We should strive to create an environment where competition is robust, while this merger would allow competition at the Roanoke airport to simply wither.

It is my hope that our congressional delegation will actively oppose this ill-advised merger and protect our regional airport.

Tears of grief turn to anger

Am I the only person whose eyes welled up with tears reading your front-page article reporting Saddam's death (Dec. 30, "Saddam dies on gallows")?

While all the news outlets report what will most likely go down in history as the biggest story of 2006, rest assured my tears are not for the passing of Saddam.

They are for the article under his pictures that we have lost 3,000 of our finest, with 60 percent of those being under the tender age of 25.

The tears quickly turned to anger and disgust as the television in the background showed the young Iraqi men in Dearborn, Mich., celebrating his death while waving "their country's" flag.

Why are they not waving the American flag? If they are so proud of their country, why are they not over there fighting and dying instead of our fine young men and women?

Because they want to be free and live, they come to our country where we have paid the price of freedom with the blood of all those who have died in all of the wars we have ever fought.

Where is their appreciation and gratitude for living in our free country that has given so much to make their country free?

Pray for more like Goode

Many Americans are being fooled by the façade that the Muslim community puts forth. I believe that Rep. Virgil Goode is aware of this fake peace attitude that is proclaimed by these people.

I read the Dec. 27 article in your newspaper from the Detroit Free Press, "Congress' 1st Muslim rallies the faithful." I quote Rep.-elect Keith Ellison, "How do you know that Allah did not bring you here so that you could understand how to teach people what tolerance was, what justice was? ... How do you know that you're not here to teach this country?" This sounds like sedition to me.

We know that in every country controlled by the Muslims it is forbidden to be a Christian and, in some cases, it will bring imprisonment or even death. Is this the tolerance or justice that Ellison is talking about?

All of these politically correct Neville Chamberlains best pray to the God that we know that we have more people and representatives like Goode.

Don't allow the U.S. to become Islamic

Nice going, Rep. Virgil Goode. It's about time someone told the truth.

Remember during the Clinton administration all these visas were given to those coming from the Middle East.

Europe is well on its way to becoming an Islamic state, and the same thing can happen here if we don't wake up and stop selling this country and our values for political power.

Cartoonist is right on target

Jim Morin's (The Miami Herald) cartoon on your Jan. 2 Opinion page wonderfully captures the problem of global warming and our ostrich-head-in-the-sand (pardon the mixed geographical metaphors) reaction to this crisis.

Please continue to feature his work.

Doctors remain in Darfur

While security conditions in Darfur, Sudan, have deteriorated significantly of late, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has not pulled out of the region, as stated in Susan D. Blanding's Dec. 22 commentary "How do we allow Darfur to continue?"

Since 2003, MSF, an independent international medical humanitarian organization, has been providing life-saving medical care and other humanitarian assistance to people suffering in several locations throughout Darfur.

To be sure, security conditions can at times restrict movements of MSF teams, and on some occasions MSF aid workers have had to temporarily evacuate for their safety.

But MSF remains very much on the ground, with more than 2,000 staff providing basic medical care, treating victims of sexual violence, tending to maternal health needs, conducting surgery, supporting hospitals, carrying out mobile medical clinics, and distributing food and water to those most in need.

Press officer

Doctors Without Borders/

Médecins Sans Frontières