Daytime parking rates at night result in imbalance

On Sept. 8, the three city-operated Asheville parking decks (Rankin Avenue, Civic Center and Wall Street) will begin to charge daytime rates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with a maximum of $8 per 24-hour period.

The first hour will be free. This change will not affect those who drive into town during the day (Monday through Friday), park in one of the decks, and then leave before 7 p.m., whether you pay “a la carte” or have a monthly parking pass.

Except during the day Saturday, for the rest of the week it will cost more to park in a city parking deck than on the street, for the meter rates remain the same and only apply from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday
For those whose downtown businesses depend on evening and weekend parking in the city decks, I recommend you pester our City Council members to restore a balance between deck parking rates and on-street parking rates. It should always be cheaper to park in the decks! Traffic suffers otherwise.

GEORGE E. KELLER
Asheville

Citizen-Times catches flak over Cherokee bears’ issue

For many years, local animal advocates tried to raise awareness about the inhumane bear exhibits in Cherokee.
Their efforts attracted virtually no attention from the Asheville Citizen-Times. Then, Bob Barker and PETA came to town to shine a spotlight on this issue and the AC-T gave their visit extensive coverage.

Then, in subsequent opinion pieces, “Barker, PETA right, but their aim could have been better,” and “Column: Barker and PETA arrogant, tone-deaf — and correct,” AC-T writers had the nerve to wonder why advocates resort to using national celebrities to help spread the word about important topics.

The writers seemed determined to focus on PETA’s and Barker’s arguably poor choic of words and neglected to mention that Cherokee officials have consistently ignored complaints from tourists and others about the exhibits.

If the writers had done their homework, they would’ve discovered that before going public, PETA representatives tried to work privately with Cherokee officials, but were snubbed.

The writers did get one thing correct. The bear pits are horrendously cruel and do not allow these intelligent and sensitive animals to act out any of their natural behaviors. Instead, they are frustrated and stressed, walking in endless circles, whimpering and crying.

Please do not support these atrocious exhibits, and ask tribal officials to closed them down and send the bears to a sanctuary.

ALAN BERGER
Asheville

AC-T’s health-care editorial termed less-than-truthful

In a recent Asheville Citizen-Times editorial on the health care reform bill in Congress, (“Clearing up health debate confusion,” Aug 11, 2009), the editor states that single-payer, as he puts it, “is not on the table.”

The truth is that single-payer is indeed “on the table” so long as the public option is on the table. The “public option” is a one-way ticket to single-payer, government-run health care. It is designed to squeeze out private insurance providers and push insurance consumers into the government plan, leading to single-payer.

The president claims that the public option will keep private insurers honest. What it will in fact do is keep private insurers at a permanent disadvantage, leading to their extinction.

Single-payer means a government bureaucracy interfering in the private relationships between doctors and their patients. It is a subversion of the right to contract. A subversion of the right to use one’s judgment to act in one’s own best interest without interference. It is a subversion of the right of doctors, nurses and insurers to offer products and services to satisfied health care consumers for mutual benefit.

The healh care central planners understand full well that single-payer is not only on the table, it is their goal.

TIM PECK
Asheville

Reform health care in stages to get best result, critic says

When passing legislation, it is better to pass nothing than to pass complex legal policy that requires dozens of lawyers to explain health care reform?

Yes. Change for the sake of change?

No. We need to take the time to do it right.

First should be “tort reform,” which is not even addressed. Then efficiencies such as electronic recordkeeping with the appropriate safeguards. Both result in significant savings.

Next, things such as the most effective procedures so that recommendations can be put to doctors. We also need to put in place a system to encourage doctors to enter general practice.

The contentious issues like rationing care, reducing Medicare benefits, end of life counseling, coverage for all, including illegal immigrants, taxing private health insurance, etc., can be tackled one or two at a time, based on their individual merit.

The first two items could be accomplished this year and then we could address cost. Where do we get $2 trillion to subsidize health care for all and total government control, which this is all about?

We should not pass anything without full disclosure, regarding how much we will be affected and how we will pay for it.

ALLYN M. ALDRICH
Asheville

Where was Rep. Shuler at Aug. 22 recess rally?

What if they threw a party, and the owner of the House didn’t come?

House seat, that is.

What do you like to do on Saturday (or just on your day off, if Saturday is not it)?  I generally like to spend time with my family. I think that is important. Particularly as our still-at-home children get older, our schedules during the week rarely coincide, so Saturday and Sunday are usually the best days for us all to be together.

Sometimes I work around the house on Saturday. I think that is important, too. If you are a homeowner, you know there is always something that needs fixing or maintaining or improving.     

I did not do either of these typical things this past Saturday (Aug. 22). But what I did do was just as important, probably even more important. This Saturday I joined approximately 150 other Western North Carolinians who love their country, and have an opinion on its current political direction, and I attended a rally at Congressman Heath Shuler’s office in Asheville.    

I met some really neat people. All kinds of people, all kinds of backgrounds and professions. Shuler’s district covers quite a bit of geography, so there were lots of people there who had traveled an hour or more to be there. People like me I suspect, who care enough about their country to forfeit what they would really like to do on a Saturday, and place their voice and their body in a place to hopefully be heard and seen.

Several people had the courage to take the podium and pose a question for the congressman. Several others added statements about how they believe the current political direction of our country is not wise, or sustainable.   

One individual who took the podium expressed views which were 180 degrees in opposition to most or all of the others there.  I wish he had been as informed, as he was passionate. wI admired his courage for being willing to come to the event, and I think expected to  be treated with the same stereotypical attitudes that he was espousing.  He was treated with dignity, in spite of the poorly informed basis of his verbal combativeness. 

There is one thing though that might have made this event at Congressman Heath Shuler’s office even better than it was:  Heath Shuler’s presence. The congressman chose not to attend, even though Congress is in recess, even though Asheville is the largest population base in his district, and even though he was given several weeks notice of the event.  Does something about his absence not seem right to you, too?  Does it seem right to you that Mr. Shuler held zero town hall meetings during the current recess?  What value courage, Mr. Shuler?  What value the will of the people?  What value the influence of out of market campaign contributions?

The event was sponsored by Asheville Tea Party. A year ago, a tea party in Asheville would have involved, well, tea, not political issues. A year ago, I had never attended a political rally. Since April 15th, I’ve attended three, and I plan to be in Washington DC with my 15 year old son, at our expense, for the National Tax March on September 12. Why this change in behavior for me and literally hundreds of thousands of other Americans?  Simply and idealistically put, for me, its because I love my country, I recognize arrogant, politically reckless behavior when I see it, and I do not want to have to answer to my children when they ask what did I do when our economic freedoms and life liberties were in the balance.

JERRELL DEAVER JR.
Rutherfordton

•
EDITOR’S NOTE: Deaver lives in Rutherfordton, but he works in Asheville, which is his hometown.

Ditch political parties, take different tack, voters urged

You know I cannot resist stepping up on my soapbox for a moment to comment when I receive e-mails like the one I received today called “Our Social Security Eye Opener,” which suggests that various economic evils America continues to face originated only in Democratic leadership.

Yes, I’m mostly certain the data regarding the Social Security system fiasco being attributed to the Democratic Party is largely true. However, the SS system is not the only ill-conceived, ill-administered and constitutionally illegal government Ponzi scheme enacted over the last century or so.

But let me get the point of the e-mail straight... So, all I have to do is vote “Republican” from now on and the federal, state and local governments will stop transgressing the unalienable rights of the individual, the Constitution (law of the land) and actually allow for a free market to exist and liberty to thrive?  really?!?  ;-)

Let me see... Who was president when the first “income tax” was passed (Revenue Act of 1861) — perhaps the most unethical and immoral tax known to man which deprives the individual of his unalienable right to privacy?

... Oh, it was Abraham Lincoln, a REPUBLICAN!  8-)

And who was president when the 16th Amendment was ratified on Feb 3, 1913, locking in place this evil new tax system which would grow over the Century into a 9 million-plus word tax code of deception?

0.. Oh, it was William Taft, a REPUBLICAN!  8-)

And shall we mention the myriad of Constitutional transgressions of another more recent corrupt REPUBLICAN presidential administration, known to many as just “W?”

Let’s face the TRUTH: authoritarian tyrants really don’t care which partisan letter, “D” or “R,” resides next to their names.  authoritarian tyrants merely desire power and wealth.

The large majority of Americans since the American Revolution are continuously deceived into continuing down the same old path of destruction, over and over again. We the People continue to elect the same types of people who belong to secret societies, and hob knob with a gang of elitist globalist who only benefit socialist and/or fascist agendas.

If you haven’t yet done so, first watch “I.O.U.S.A.” (the movie), and then if you dare, watch “The Obama Deception”, by Alex Jones (horrible and inaccurate title, but great eye opening movie).

If We the People really want to do something to turn the tide of the tyrannical War on Liberty, besides dispensing with partisan politics and advancing liberty minded candidates, we need to stop looking toward a political party to fix America.

It would be most savvy to continue educating oneself in regards to the philosophy of liberty and encouraging others to do likewise.

The liberty activism groups I currently believe are most paramount to the never ending fight for liberty are: We The People and Oath Keepers, both of which are taking a different tack than the typical partisan political approach.