An article in the Asheville-Citizen Times states that the reason the Post Office is in financial trouble is due to a Congressional law, that requires the P.O. to pre-fund health insurance for its employees. They are expected to fund 75 years of costs in a 10-year period. This seem like an impossible task, insuring only that these expenses will cut dramatically into any profits the P.O. could possibly make.

I am curious as to why this was done and under what rationalle it was promulgated?

Certainly the P.O. or the P.O. Union can encourage some senator or representative to counter this unfair law. We cannot have the P.O. cut back on small offices around the country that serve so many senior citizens who no longer drive or are otherwise isolated from family, friends and businesses. Many older folks do not have computers to handle bill-paying and shopping and rely completely on the postal service.

In preparing for the upcoming Christmas and Valentine mail collections, Friends of Our Troops would like to extend special thanks to American Legion Auxiliary Unit 108 in Franklin, which participated in the most recent campaign.

Led by Debra McGill, they were the number one group in North Carolina as well as number two American Legion Auxiliary and in the top half-dozen among all groups nationally. Two of their members, Mary Louise Womack and Wilma McCall were the number two and number five individuals nationwide.

Family Eyecare, which participated with the Auxiliary, was the top business/employee group in the nation.

Though a much smaller number of house representatives cannot possibly represent the American public view, unfortunately, it is always possible to distract attention from real issues in a far off land such as in Sri Lanka.

The Sri Lankan current administration is said to be spending millions of dollors on private PR firms around the world in its attempt to sanitize its role in the alleged war crimes and brutality against the minority civilians during the ended conflict. It is also reported that the representatives of a PR firm accompanied the Congressmen during their recent visit to Sri Lanka. Some media reported that the local members from the Sri Lankan community contributed to the Congressmen campaign fund. Sri Lankan administration has also, in the past, sought immunity for its military officials by deploying them in the diplomatic positions worldwide.

I’ve read about, and seen on TV, demonstrators occupying Asheville, New York, Oakland, and other cities.

They seem uncertain as to what their real goals are other than to destroy our system of government and capitalism. They are seeking additional “handouts” from the government, and have a “Share the Wealth” mentality. Many carry signs demanding that we change to a Communist or Socialistic government.

The Asheville Citizen-Times published an Associated Press article on Nov. 6, 2011, page F-2, that pretty well countered the demonstrators’ philosophy. The article stated that Cuba’s Communist-Socialist government employs over 80 percent of the workers there, and that they are paid $20 per month in return for free education, health care, nearly free housing, transportation, and basic foods.