EDITOR,

Just a quick note…. I was just out there visiting my daughter, her husband, our grandsons and others. Well, all I can say is you are so lucky to live there. The people, the area and everything is great. When I retire I am coming back there to live and say goodbye to California. Be thankful for what you have.

Ron Butler

California

EDITOR,

It’s so much more than popcorn! The Blue Grass Council, Boy Scouts of America is launching its annual product sale and scouts will be out selling popcorn and batteries in our community. This is certainly an opportunity for scouts to earn money to support their scouting adventures; whether that is going to camp, completing community service projects or participating in educational field trips.

Seventy percent of all proceeds from the sale support local scouts. However, this is much more than a fundraiser. This is an opportunity for our scouts to learn critical skills and develop confidence that will serve them and our community for the rest of their lives. Goal setting, planning, budgeting, marketing, salesmanship and public speaking are all skill-sets the scouts will get real life experience with through this opportunity.

Your engagement with them is helping prepare our next generation for school, for careers, and for life. So when you see scouts selling popcorn, remember this is much more than a delicious snack. You can support their adventures and prepare young people for the future by purchasing popcorn and batteries. You’ll help us won’t you?

Phillip Blankenship

Council Popcorn Kernel Blue Grass Council, Boy Scouts of America

EDITOR,

The lead editorial in the Harlan Daily Enterprise on Sept.7 was proof that the hardest thing for a liberal to do is accept unpleasant truth. You failed in your efforts to distract voters from considering this question: “are you better off now than you were when Barack Obama took office?” The obvious answer for the American people is no.

Real yearly income for American families has fallen by $4,300 per household since January 2009. The unemployment rate has remained above eight percent for over 42 months. An estimated 23 million Americans cannot find jobs. The national debt has grown over $5 trillion under Obama. President Harry Truman was willing to take responsibility for his policies with his motto: “The buck stops here.” Please allow Obama to assume the same degree of responsibility.

The question for you to consider is quite legitimate: are you better off now that you were when Obama became president? If not, let`s make a change and give Mitt Romney a chance to fix our country’s problems. Thomas Payne wrote: “These are the times that try men’s souls.” I have lived under republican presidents from Eisenhower through George W. Bush. None of them harmed social security or any other needed benefit program. I can assure you, as a senior, I would not support someone who poses a danger to either Medicare or social security. Brethren, another four years under Obama will destroy our nation.

Mathias Williams

Evarts

EDITOR,

I know that all of you who know me can envision the smile on my face and the deep sense of pleasure that I have because of your being named one of the top 10 community colleges in the nation competing for the 2013 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence.

You all have reason to be filled with pride because of your outstanding intellects, planning, accountability measures and exemplary performance in the areas assessed by those making the decision: student learning outcomes, degree and college completion, labor market success, and minority/low-income student success.

This fall when those who make the decision on the college that will win the million-dollar prize visit Southeast and the communities you serve in Harlan, Bell and Letcher counties this fall, I hope that each person with whom the visitors speak demonstrates the tremendous pride so many of us have in the ways in which Southeast has changed the lives of thousands of students, former students and their families.

The Aspen College Excellence Program’s mission is to identify the ways in which colleges are improving the lives of those they serve, and the list will be long after the visit to Southeast. Dr. Bruce Ayers and his work with employees, students and community members to make this accolade possible is much appreciated.

Vivian B. Blevins,

Former Academic Dean and President, SKCTC

EDITOR,

In a recent column by Judith Hensley, she said that she was “flabbergasted” that a friend expressed the view that if Obama is not re-elected it would be because of his race. I, too, am dismayed that so many short-sighted people with misplaced guilt seem to hold this opinion. Of course, the liberal media and left-wing progressives are relentless in using the “race card” as a form of intimidation and manipulation in the hopes of shaming people into accepting the substandard presidency of Barack Obama. It has become commonplace for those on the left to call opponents of Obama nasty names and brand them with labels — whites are called “racists,” blacks are called “Uncle Toms” and “sellouts,” etc. To acknowledge that one may be a conservative risks further liberal wrath and attacks. By pursuing these tactics, the truth is that those on the left are displaying the worst form of bias and prejudice all the while claiming to be open minded.

Perhaps we should ask those who want to turn a vote against Obama into purely a racial issue whether they would accept the same poor administration, dubious performance and irresponsible lack of leadership from Obama if he should have been white. If Obama’s name was Bush would they think differently about this role as president? If it was anyone but a black man named Obama who piled one the greatest debt in the shortest time in American history; whose policies had failed to help the unemployment and economic crises of the this nation over the last four years; who systematically has blocked or ability to expand our energy independence by demonizing all but “green” fuels; whose actions have contributed to skyrocketing costs of basics like food, gas and utilities; who has spent more time playing golf than attending intelligence briefings, meeting with enemies while snubbing and insulting our allies; whose foreign policy has diminished our role in the world and caused a meltdown in the Middle East with loss of American lives and embassies; who produced a health care reform that will force us into a “one-size fits all” watered down medical system, etc.; would you still vote for this man? Is it not “more racist” to hold a person to lower standards simply because of his or her race — where is the equality in that?

Like Ms. Hensley, I too, am a registered Democrat with an open mid. In my 40 years as a Democrat, I have never been a mindless party robot. In the upcoming presidential election, this Democrat will be casting her vote for the Romney/Ryan ticket simply because I think they are the better choice.

Phyllis Adams

Harlan