<strong><span class="subhead">Government efficiency</span></strong></p><p>What is it with these right-wing, anti-government people who continuously lambaste the U.S. Postal Service, and the Social Security and Medicare programs as total disasters?</p><p> The postal service delivers more mail to more addresses in a larger geographic area than any other postal system in the world. In 2008, it processed 203 billion pieces of mail. That computes to 463,000 pieces of mail every minute and 28 million pieces per hour. Do the uninformed really think FedEx could do that?</p><p>The recent financial problems that the postal service has encountered is because Congress decided to privatize the postal system to obtain alleged &ldquo;market efficiencies.&rdquo; This required the postal service to immediately self-fund about $7 billion in retirement benefits.</p><p> Social Security handled claims and benefits on behalf of about 52 million Americans in 2008. </p><p>Similarly, Medicare processed hundreds of millions of claims on behalf of about 45 million individuals in 2008.</p><p> These programs are absolutely huge, but they are astonishingly quick, accurate and efficient. I am a recipient of benefits under both of these programs, and they have been godsends. Perhaps the uninformed and the ignorant would like to create their own competing programs. Good luck with that.</p><p><p align="right"><strong>Richard L. Warrick</strong></p> <p align="right"><em>Lawrence</em></p></p><p><strong><span class="subhead">Barking best in homes</span></strong></p><p>In response to Kathy Peterson&rsquo;s letter (10/29) on barking dogs deterring criminals, I want to say that I also live in Prairie Village. When the weather is nice I like to have my windows open. I have about five barking dogs that live near me, and they bark so much all day that they go hoarse.</p><p>If you want your dogs to protect you, put them in your house where they belong, and your house will be protected. Don&rsquo;t worry about your neighbors. We&rsquo;d rather not feel sorry for the poor and unhappy dogs who bark for your attention.</p><p><p align="right"><strong>Joanne McBride</strong></p></p><p><p align="right"><em>Prairie Village</em></p></p><p><strong><span class="subhead">Questionable numbers on stimulus jobs</span></strong></p><p>Please help me understand this: Why is it so hard to swallow President Obama&rsquo;s claim that his stimulus package has already created 650,000 new jobs?</p><p>This absurd claim comes at the same time that even fellow Democrats are admitting that the stimulus plan has fallen far short in creating jobs. This claim is during an era of continued skyrocketing unemployment. My own state of Alabama has joined the top 10 states with the highest number of unemployed.</p><p>If there is an ounce of credibility in the Obama administration&rsquo;s numbers, how could they have added 650,000 new jobs with the jobless rate continuing to climb to such high levels in the same period?</p><p><p align="right"><strong>James W.Anderson</strong></p></p><p><p align="right"><em>Talladega, Ala.</em></p></p><p><strong><span class="subhead">Commander in chief</span></strong></p><p>In his letter (10/31) G. Curtis Boswell quotes President Eisenhower as saying, &ldquo;God help the nation when it has a president who doesn&rsquo;t know as much about the military as I do.&rdquo; Mr. Boswell closes with, &ldquo;May God save our nation.&rdquo;</p><p>I am wondering, did Mr. Boswell also pray for God to save our nation when Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush and dozens of others were president? </p><p>All of them knew far less about the military than General Eisenhower did.</p><p>We are a country that, by design, has a civilian as the commander and chief of our military. Out of 19 presidents who have served in the 20th and 21st centuries, only Eisenhower has been a general. So, according to Mr. Boswell and President Eisenhower, we needed God to save us from all of them.