LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

War on Terror is in the hands of the homeland

In World War II, day after day, year after year, our troops faced periods of harsh resistance that resulted in loss of life. Our troops never gave up the fight, and our troops today will never give up the fight against terrorism, but will persist, using varying tactics until the resistance is overcome. This is what our troops are sworn and trained to do.

During WWII, the homeland was equally persistent, never giving up the fight. Since that war, there have been conflicts in which the "minds" of the homeland became the target. Despite our troops' brave and determined persistence at war abroad, our homeland lost the "battle of the minds," and thus the war.

Will the homeland measure up today?

We are fighting World War III. There is no "going home" from here. We either fight the battle overseas, or we fight it at home, and before it's over, it'll probably be fought worldwide.

The terrorists learned well from Korea, Somalia, Beirut and Vietnam that it requires very little weaponry and no need to physically occupy land as in WWII to win a war against the United States; it only requires capturing the minds of the U.S. citizenry, a proven lesser foe than the U.S. military. The enemy is successfully employing this "war for the minds" tactic, making strong psychological advances.

Unfortunately, for our citizenry on the homeland to become a formidable foe, we may have to come closer to the conflict that our troops have held at bay from afar since 9/11. Sadly, to bring this fact home, it may take a series of 9/11 attacks on the homeland on a scale 1,000 times over.

As a member of the U.S. citizenry, I would gladly accept this onslaught - if it would awaken and prompt the understanding of our passive citizenry as to the dire nature and intention of the enemy and incite a resolve to defeat it before it will surely defeat us.

Fellow citizens, the ball is in our court... and this time, the "Exit" gate to the arena is welded shut.

ARMOND 'SI' SIMMONS
Pell City, Ala.

The train is now leaving 'conservative station'

In a letter to the editor included in your April 8 edition, a writer asked if "liberals" are more active now because they feel that things are "slipping away" from them. I'd like to answer.

No, they don't. Just the opposite. It's the "conservatives" who are slipping. Folks are starting to realize there's nothing truly conservative about this administration or the Congress it largely controls. Those "conservatives" want to further restrict liberties. They've sunk us in debts that will take generations to pay. They've involved us in wars that will sap us for a decade and more, and with no real plan for ending them. And then they try to distract us by pretending the real threats to our future are "liberals," while letting the police officers the writer would protect hold bake sales for the equipment they need for homeland protection.

The Republican Party has become the party of "tax and spend," with the only difference from the past being that the taxation is hidden away in the future while the spending is done now. The worst thing isn't the money this will cost our children; it's the degraded culture they'll have to live in if things don't change.

Restrictions on weapons aren't restrictions on police power; they're restrictions on individuals who happen to be police. Abortion rights aren't "progressive" in the way the writer pretends; they're rights well-established in law. If there are major players in "liberal politics" who favor gay marriage over civil unions, I'd like to know their names. If you don't like the power the speaker of the House holds, change the Mississippi Constitution.

These letters and calls aren't from folks slipping away from liberalism. They're from folks climbing onto a train now leaving "conservative station."

Welcome aboard, y'all.

HARRY FERGUSON
Long Beach

This liberal feels the whole country slipping away

Liberals do think things are "slipping away" (April 8 letter, "Liberal Democrats must feel things 'slipping away'

"). The middle class has slipped since Ronald Reagan started transferring the tax burden from wealth to work. Both parents must work, paddling as fast as they can, to keep up with skyrocketing prices. Under similar conditions, the Gilded Age collapsed into the Great Depression.

Regulations and the social safety net prevent recessions from crashing into depressions today. But our safety net is unraveling. The Social Security surplus, which Clinton used to pay down the debt, is being drained for tax cuts. Medicare dollars are subsidizing insurance policies called Heath Savings Accounts for younger and healthier workers.

Small businesses slip away with every Republican recession (look it up). Americans subsidize corporations by paying for courts, ports, law enforcement, the monetary-banking system, etc. Corporations pay almost no taxes. Free trade isn't free. Corporations owe us living wages, not layoffs and outsourcing. Except for military paychecks, every dime spent in Iraq passes through a corporation. Investigate the billions they're wasting instead of the millions on welfare that benefit people and the economy.

Our prosperous democracy is drowning in debt and trade deficits. Our "World's Only Superpower" title slips away as we reveal our weaknesses and squander our military resources in Iraq. Criminalizing drugs, abortion and homosexuality won't eliminate them.

Bill Clinton funded 100,000 cops. Billy McCoy stands alone defending education in this bottom-dwelling state.

Thanks. The country I love is slipping away.

JO ANN SLADE
Gulfport

How many DHS dollars actually help the children?

Re: your editorial of April 6, "Children's Rights picks wrong target for its recent lawsuit":

PEER Report No. 462 to the Mississippi Legislature cited the Department of Human Services for mismanagement and not following state laws. However, the report lacks information on how much money the DHS spends each year and on what. How many dollars of taxpayers' money buy perks that do not help our children? Have you ever been to Jackson and seen their building and furnishings? The best money can buy. Your tax dollars at work.

From the data that was provided, they use some kind of new math to come up with the total amount of child support collected for 335,598 cases. How much of this came from people who pay their support every month without DHS getting involved? How many cases had to be taken to court? They spent $4 million to collect "unpaid support," but how much did they collect? Some states spend $100 for every dollar collected. How many of the people not paying child support even had a job? Or could afford to pay? Sure, there are few who could pay, but these are the exceptions. There are less expensive ways to make them pay, including taking away their licenses - driver's and professional - as required by law, but not enforced by the DHS.

DHS Child Support Division is a waste. They take on cases for the rich, who could afford their own lawyers. They push judges to jail people who do not have the money to pay - as if they are going to find money in jail.

The state is not the only one using new math. The federal government claims there are billions of dollars in unpaid support, based on the average income of the person owing being $65,000. But in most studies, the average income is closer to $15,000.

How much money is being wasted by the DHS? I do not think anybody really knows. This $4 million could have been used to help protect children. How many more social workers could have been hired? How many more children's shelters funded?

No wonder the state is being sued to force the DHS to follow simple rules on protecting our children.

ELERIDGE McCRACKING
Biloxi