Express your opinion on any subject you wish. Not all comments are published. Call 304-357-4451 or email readersvo...@wvgazette.com.

Patriot Coal is trying to screw miners out of their pensions. Where are the Friends of Coal, Sen. Manchin, Rep. Rahall and Gov. Tomblin on this matter? Their silence is deafening. Oh, that's right, I forgot: They are just "friends of coal mine owners and operators."

If holding an out-of-control government accountable and forcing it to have a fixed yearly budget and operating within that budget is treasonous, then I say so be it. I plead guilty. What is really treasonous is the current out-of-control spending and borrowing of money that the future generations will have no way of ever paying back.

I would very much like to know the election results in the states that required voter ID in the last election. As an independent with no ties to anyone, I believe in establishing voter ID, which absolutely makes common sense. Further, I will challenge the Gazette to determine and print this information, despite the recent editorial about voter ID.

I would like to thank my newspaper customers in Marmet and Hernshaw for their thoughts and generosity at Christmastime. It was greatly appreciated.

Why is it so hard for liberals to comprehend that the government needs to live within a strict budget? If we can't afford something, then we either do without or cut something else. All they seem to know is spend, spend, spend and then borrow and raise taxes on the working middle class. That is the Democrats' way. Tax and spend. Doesn't work. Never has.

I want to know how California and New York can cry, "Oh, protect us against guns," and they slaughter how many millions of babies every year? Yeah. Answer that.

"Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" was the best movie they ever made. What we need today is someone like this movie that can stand up to Obama and tell him to protect our Constitution and quit going around the Constitution to get his way. We need men to stand up against him. God help us.

The suggestion to display a picture of Obama in any church is lame. You have obviously got a one-track mind with a name: Double trouble.

The senators should not complain about being left out of the gun legislation. They've had 200 years to do something.

Obama is better than the Second Coming of Christ. He can feed 47 million on a half a loaf of bread and two fishes, but it takes the taxpayers to pay for it.

Let's pray that one day in the future that the letters "NRA" will stand for No Rifles in America.

I guess it's the number killed before any action will be taken. Remember the Amish school where the children were killed? Nobody did anything after that.

I saw the comment about the reader not having the morals to be a real Democrat. Funny, based upon what they support, I didn't think Democrats had any morals. I have morals, that is why I chose to drop the Democratic Party years ago. I don't need any party telling me what is right or wrong or what issues to support.

Three groups I will never understand: dog people, gun people and religious people.

Maybe all the mouth-breathers rushing out to arm up are doing the rest of the U.S. a favor by what will inevitably result in them culling their own herd.

Doesn't Congress understand that by their inaction on important matters they abdicate more power to the president? It's been than way for many years now, with no change in sight. Every war we have fought since World War II has been an illegal war, since the Constitution specifies that war can only be declared by an act of Congress.

I suggest Obama utilize the Patriot Act to monitor and investigate all NRA members to see who has assault weapons and then do something about them. After all, many of these people are lunatics who are waiting for some reason to snap and start blasting innocents. Get 'em before they hurt someone. Watch "Doomsday Preppers" so you can see the mentality of these crazies.

I wonder how much it will cost the city of Charleston to clean the muck and mud from the swelled Kanawha River off of that hideous stage on the levee.

I really admire Colin Powell, especially after he called out his own party, the GOP, regarding their racist attitude. This has been obvious for some time now, and he should be commended for speaking the truth.

So the NRA wants to put armed guards in every school in America and wants us, the taxpayers, to pay for it. Think of it: These paranoid cowards want us to pay for their right to hide behind an assault weapon! Police don't even carry assault weapons. I'm a hunter and a gun owner, but controlling assault weapons is plain common sense.

I'll be more than happy to tell you why you should help pay for President Obama's vacation when you tell me why I should help pay for George W. Bush's illegal invasion and war in Iraq.

People with guns with high-capacity magazines protect the anti-gun President Obama and the anti-gun Mayor Bloomberg and their families. They seem to feel that our lives are worth less than theirs.

Pete Thaw doesn't want the smallest percentage of the Kanawha County Board of Education budget to go to the Kanawha County Public Library (which relies on that funding for 40 percent of its operational costs) because his family can afford to buy books and he begrudges the underprivileged who rely on the public library for all, or nearly all, of their reading material. That's what the dispute is really all about.

The president laid it out pretty plain for Congress with his sensible suggestions for curbing gun violence. But they will do nothing. Remember: The next time our children are gunned down in a mass shooting, ignore the statements of sorrow and the alligator tears from politicians.

If you want Sen. Joe Manchin to shut his mouth, just ask him about the firing of Fred Armstrong.

Kudos to our President Obama, who has the guts to stand up to the bullying, deep-pocketed NRA. Hopefully he'll follow through until there is some sort of repeal of the ancient, outdated Second Amendment.

I see it's OK for the GOP-backed corporations having it both ways. They can make a contract and have you work like a dog for 40 years, then just when you're ready to collect, take it all away by stealing your pension. It's being done to the Baby Boomers with the blessing of the GOP courts. Peons go to jail for stealing 5 bucks.

It's stupid for politicians to say they support the Second Amendment or any other amendment. Makes no difference whether they support it or not. It exists, as do the other amendments, whether one likes it or not.