Well, I guess it was only a matter of time. Having lost three Kerry-Edwards yard signs during the last presidential campaign, I figured I was bound to lose my Obama-Biden sign during this one.

I feel fortunate that it lasted a week. I guess I shouldn't have displayed it so prominently and close to the road. I haven't checked the other Obama-Biden sign in my neighborhood, but I believe it may be missing as well.

Fortunately, my yard sign is the only thing missing from my yard. I was hoping that this year would be different, and that the sign would last straight through to Nov. 4, and then on Nov. 5 I would remove it either in joy or in sorrow. Perhaps I'll replace it and hope that I may have the privilege of removing it myself on the fifth of November.

I realize that the sign is a trivial material possession and not worth very much and therefore hardly bears the effort to follow up on the criminal aspect of this theft. So, I sit here pondering the values of the thief.
In this community, I doubt that the thief's parents neglected to instill in them a sense of right and wrong. Somewhere along the line, this person learned that it is acceptable to steal from someone that doesn't share your beliefs.

I believe this could be a symptom of the type of politics we practice in America and the passionate and often intimidating way that some proponents of an ideology speak of and promote their beliefs.

When John McCain and Barack Obama became their party's nominees, I believed and truly hoped that this campaign would be civil, due to the values and mettle of both McCain and Obama, and that the campaign would be based more on issues and less on personal attacks. Unfortunately, that is not the case and we are smack dab in the midst of another "freak show" of a campaign. That's reality and here we are. What are you gonna do?

I suppose wherever my yard sign thief learned it is OK to steal from others may be the same dark place the phrases "He's a terrorist kill him!" "Bomb Obama!" and "Off with his head!" are born.

This presidential election is not only about ideas, but also about ideals. Good old American ideals, where hard work is honored with decent pay, where people can disagree and still be respectful to one another.

I hope this election is a referendum on the Rovian politics of divisiveness and that collectively we can pull the tone of politics up out of the gutter.

This election is also about the type of world we want to live in. The world I want to live in is one in which people's property and beliefs are respected. Perhaps if we all work together, we can get back there some day soon.

Tim Pendleton
Gainesville 

Chambliss shows why he's not worthy of vote
Sen. Saxby Chambliss must be defeated! Chambliss is doing the bidding of the big international bankers and corporations while letting Georgians pay for it.

Saxby voted to bail out the big banks. The worst part is allowing the banking cartel known as The Federal Reserve Bank to destroy our currency in order to fund the bailout.

The FSB is itself a banking cartel composed of private banks and federal government. The hundreds of billions of dollars provided to the banks by the FSB is being created out of nothing; it does not exist as real money, but rather as accounting entries that allow banks to loan out the money that does not exit.

The dishonest giant banks and their political allies like Chambliss will force U.S. citizens to pay for this bailout through hidden inflation of the money supply, causing your money to become much less valuable. This will result in dramatic increases in the price of everything you purchase with less-valuable dollars. Dishonest politicians like Saxby will then point to those greedy retailers, oil people, etc., as the bad guys.

In 1802, Thomas Jefferson stated: "Banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grown up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."

Saxby led the effort to give amnesty to 12 million illegal aliens, saying that our businesses needed them as laborers. Big corporations who support Saxby are paying these illegal workers bottom wages, forcing Georgians out of the job market. Saxby has led the amnesty effort, ignoring the fact that the Georgia Department of Labor reported in September that 310,683 Georgians are out of work. Nationally, the U.S. Department of Labor reported the number of people drawing jobless benefits in mid-September was 3.54 million.

Saxby voted for the Peru Free Trade Agreement, which sent jobs offshore just as NAFTA has done. Worse, these "free trade agreements" have taken management of many regulatory functions out of the hands of Congress and the Georgia legislataure and placed them in the hands of international tribunals, thus reducing our nation's sovereignty.

Our nation cannot withstand the sort of damage being done by the likes of Chambliss, and survive for another six years. I don't know about Saxby's opponent, but if he doesn't do right, we can also defeat him six years from now.

Joe Inglis
Clarkesville

Hall taxpayers should question tax board
Why have we not seen outrage by Hall County citizens over the accusations concerning the three tax assessors padding their time sheets to the tune of several thousands of dollars, and having their health insurance paid for, for years?

Do other county tax assessors in Georgia have this privilege? Could this money have been better spent on school supplies or recreation equipment for your children?

Are the records of the three men public information for any citizen of Hall County who wants access to those records to find out for himself or herself if these accusations are true or not?

Besides being accused of padding their timesheets, what else has been going on in the tax office in Gainesville since these men have been in this position?

Is the Times article of April 12 true that the Hall County Commission has hired a lawyer with approximately $10,000 of your tax money being paid to a local law firm to defend tax assessor Emory Martin, who was not even an employee of the Hall County tax office and who has since resigned?

Is Bobby Banks the only commissioner who has asked for the resignation of these three men and has asked them to pay back the monies they have been accused of illegally taking from the taxpayers of this county? William Vaughan and Terrell Gaines refused on both counts.

County commissioners appoint these men to this position so why has only one commissioner asked for their resignation?

Do other commissioners approve of these men defrauding the taxpayers, and that is the reason they have done nothing about this problem? Or do they simply not care?

Are the taxpayers of this county not interested enough to want to find out the truth of the matter? I am!

Paul S. Barnes
Flowery Branch