It is my firm belief that people enjoy paying $4-5 or more for a gallon of gas, because they are doing nothing to let our representatives in Washington know if they are displeased.

In fact, people should be outraged and in the streets rioting because nothing is being done to alleviate the problem. The problem is our having to depend on others for our oil.

Did you know China is drilling for oil 65 miles off the coast of the United States in the Gulf of Mexico? Why aren't we drilling for oil in the Gulf?

Did you know the Arabs decided not to increase production of oil because they said our dollars are becoming worthless? By the way, what if the Arabs, Chavez in Venezuela and others who produce oil decide to bring us to our knees by not selling us oil? Sounds like fun, doesn't it?

Now let's discuss the question of why we can't drill for oil on our own soil. For years, bills in Congress that would allow us to drill for oil or build nuclear power plants to make us energy self-sufficient have been defeated by the Democrats.

For rational-thinking people, it seems what the Democrats have done does not make sense. You are right; the environmentalists, who control the Democrats, are not rational, which makes the Democrats irrational.

Democrats say ethanol is the answer. Ethanol is produced from corn. Corn has been used mainly for food and has been relatively cheap. Now we are using ethanol to make fuel. Therefore, since corn is now being used for both gas and food, the demand for corn has risen and prices have gone out of sight.

Have you checked food prices lately? Yep, they have risen along with inflation, which hurts the working man and woman, and is devastating to families. That doesn't say much for the Democrats being for the working man.

Environmentalists and Democrats are now saying we should not burn coal. What do these folks think we are going to do for energy? I am for alternative ways to produce energy, but it takes time, and we need oil now.

Let's solve the problem of our not drilling for oil in our own country. Start a campaign in you neighborhood to call, write and harass your representatives in Washington. That includes harassing your federal senators, congressmen and state representatives. With the help of millions of people saying they will not take it anymore, these representatives will act so that we will become energy self-sufficient and not have to depend on others to buy our oil.

Folks, let's be honest. Most of the representatives in Washington, both Democrats and Republicans, are rich and they do not give a flip about you until it is time to vote.

You need to get mad. Our forefathers got mad and defeated a country. Let's get mad and save our country from the irrationality of our representatives in Washington!

Jim Threlkeld
Clarkesville

Fed chairman doing more harm than good
Before he totally ruins our economy, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke needs to go.
If he stays the present course by maintaining and even lowering future interest rates in an effort to place two related industries - housing and mortgage finance - on a soft landing, he will not only preclude those industries from recovering, but he will also put the rest of our economy into ruins in the process.

By continuing to lower interest rates, Bernanke is totally missing the point. Interest rates are not the problem. Regardless of the interest rates, except to folks who don't need the loans, banks do not want to lend money.

In a reaction to the mortgage industry's poor management over the last few years, mortgage finance institutions have swung completely the opposite way. Because they are scared, they are not interested in making reasonable loans. In doing so, the mortgage banking industry is fulfilling its own horrific destiny. Because they refuse to make reasonable loans to good people, but people who might not have completely spotless credit and equity to pledge, banks are devaluing the very real estate they are designed to finance.

That is a bad thing for our economy and for the banks. And it is a self-fulfilling prophecy of disaster for the mortgage banking industry.

And here's the result. While Bernanke misses the point regarding interest rates by continuing to lower them, he devalues the American dollar to the point that our major import, oil, records record high prices daily. That is the double whammy on our economy. Because no one wants to buy dollars that pay so little interest, as a consequence it takes more dollars to buy imports, specifically oil. Because relative to other values, oil costs so much more than it is really worth, this dynamic only causes items that depend on energy to produce and transport to increase in price, which is inflation.

This scenario is not a good one. It is called stagflation-stagnant or deflating values of investments, and increasing costs of production of goods and services. During stagflation, the supply and demand curves shift so that only folks who are well to do and who also have highly inflexible demand for goods and services, relative to others, will be able or motivated to purchase them.

This is not good and much of it can be placed in the lap of our current Fed chairman. This man is obviously oblivious to what is going on in our economy. He is out of touch at the grass-roots level.
Looking at his face during congressional hearings, one sees only the deer in the headlights in his eyes. He has no idea. He does not convey confidence. He can't; he has no confidence.

Honestly, this man needs to go. We need to get him out of there. He is severely out of his class. He needs to be teaching, not doing.

Hank Sullivan
Cumming

Radio host was abusive to youngster from Lula
On March 7, Atlanta talk show host Neal Boortz committed an act so disgraceful and mean-spirited that it deserves the strongest condemnation.

Beginning at 10:30 a.m. and lasting for more than an hour, Boortz repeatedly played an audio tape of a 9-year old from Lula and mocked and ridiculed the boy's speech patterns. The child speaks with a country accent.

Boortz also ridiculed the accent of the boy's father, demeaned the family business (a tire shop) and accused the father of child abuse based solely on the boy's speech patterns. The unrepentant Boortz subsequently conducted a poll on his Web site asking, "Is Neal being too hard on a 10-year-old boy from North Georgia with a thick accent?"

Mocking any child that young goes well beyond being "too hard." Why a grown man would sink so low is beyond me. Are ratings and dollars worth it?

Boortz's employers should at the very least require an on-air apology. I believe a suspension is also in order. Don Imus was fired for saying something mild in comparison.

Dr. Preston Coleman
Watkinsville