The Tri-City Herald article about workers at Hanford facing a six week layoff generated a lot of online comments, most of which blamed Obama and the Democrats. And while I don't entirely disagree, I'm always amazed how so many people in the Tri-Cities still support this new Republican Party.

Don't they realize that their party has been taken over by a bunch of anarchists who have absolutely no interest in cleaning up Hanford. These Tea Party people think the only thing the federal government should do is get out of the way. And if it were left up to them, cleaning up Hanford would be one of the first programs they would cut.

I know that our two-party system is broken. But why would anybody in their right mind welcome the loss of tens of thousands of jobs, a collapse in our housing market, and the prospect of irrevocable radiological contamination of the Columbia River?

JACK EDWARDS, Richland