Just when were the good old days?

I, for one, am shocked at the level of anger at the recent health care reform town hall meetings.

Sure, older uneducated white conservatives have the same say in the matter as any Americans, but are we really going to base the repair of our nations’ sputtering health care system on the whims, prejudices, and, yes, gullibility of one very vocal and ill-mannered group?

When these folks are spouting nonsensical “death panel” and “socialized medicine” claims and emotionally pleading for the return of the “America they once knew,” surely they’re not referring to the disastrous Bush administration? Were the days of falling asleep at the wheel for 9/11, letting bin Laden get away while manipulating public opinion and invading the wrong country as revenge for 9/11, and tax breaks for the wealthy while the deficit soared towards today’s record levels really the good old days?

When do they imagine were the days before “big government” and numerous social welfare programs? Before social security in 1933? Before Medicare in 1964? During the Reagan administration when “government was the problem, not the solution” but continued growing anyway?

Perhaps they yearn for an America that never was and could never be.

Ed Edwards, Ashland



Ditty opposes expanded gambling

On Aug. 25, we will be voting to fill our state Senate seat. I took my son to Dr. Ditty and had a chance to meet and talk with him, while he saw my son. From this visit, he demonstrated his expertise as a physician and what a caring person he is.

We talked a little about tennis and the bubble he got built over the courts at Bellefonte Country Club. Everyone in the community can use these covered courts, not just the members.

He strikes me as a person interested in helping his community instead of seeking more power. Although I’ve never met Robin Webb, from her votes as a representative she clearly stands for gambling expansion in Kentucky. More gambling will bring corruption and more crime into our community.

Ms. Webb will vote for gambling in the Senate, just like she has in the House. We need an honest, well-educated person, like Dr. Ditty in the Senate. He’s been serving us here for years and he’ll be great in Frankfort.

A vote for Dr. Ditty is a vote against expanded gambling. Remember to vote on August 25.

Rodney Bruce, Greenup