This is Viewpoints for Sunday, February 4, 2018

Maybe the jaywalkers are the issue

I totally agree with the person who wrote in about the use of turn signals. I am sure it is a ticket-able offense for not using them when turning or changing lanes, however, I have seen police and sheriff’s vehicles turn without signals. Another subject is pedestrian’s being killed in Macon and Warner Robins while crossing streets. Being retired, I drive a lot around Warner Robins and Macon and see people trying to cross busy streets in the middle of the block all the time. I have lived in cities that have a jaywalking law that states pedestrians must cross the street at an intersection with a crosswalk. I was at the corner of Watson Boulevard and Carl Vinson Parkway recently and observed a man crossing Carl Vinson toward Cracker Barrel not 20 feet from the crosswalk while dodging traffic. He would have been very safe in the controlled crosswalk. Warner Robins recently spent a lot of money creating safe crosswalks. Are there any jaywalking laws in Macon and Warner Robins? Shouldn’t law enforcement be enforcing them? Maybe enforcing them would save lives.

I have read with interest of how our learned(?) legislators are battling Delta Air Lines and the NRA over fuel taxes that Delta may or may not pay.

I am old enough to remember the days of the Wool Hat Boys in our Legislature.

May the Good Lord spare us from a replay of those times.

Disappointing defeat for women

HB731 eliminating state sales tax on feminine hygiene products did not make it beyond Crossover Day and is thus dead for the 2018 Georgia legislative session.

Sponsored by a statewide coalition of women’s groups, spearheaded by Georgia Women (And Those Who Stand With Us) and including the Junior Leagues of Georgia, this bill sought a remedy for an obvious inequity: women, who are already at an economic disadvantage in our state, are taxed on a product that is a necessity, not a choice, and for which there is no male equivalency. Feminine hygiene products are classified as medical devices by the FDA and our state legislature has given exemptions to similar items in the past.

In a year when we are giving big corporations and tobacco users tax reductions, why could this easy fix to an unfair tax on women not be made? At a time when gubernatorial candidates are calling for a sales tax holiday on guns and ammo, who is thinking about mothers and daughters in our state?

This bill enjoyed strong bipartisan support (four Republican and 3 Democrat original signers) and much appreciation is due to Rep. Debbie Buckner and Rep. Allen Peake for their leadership on this issue.

Our coalition will absolutely return to the Legislature next year.

Since the current leadership has indicated an inability to multitask on issues to fix to this simple oversight and obvious inequity, let’s send some more women to ATL in 2019! We know how to multitask!

Donald, the Super Hero

The Donald says he would have run into the high school in Florida, even unarmed. Really? Five deferment, bone-spur Donald! (Some would have called him a draft dodger.) Does he really expect people to believe that?

(“Err, Mr. President, you forgot your cape!)

The true blocking of the path

Columnist David G. Savage of the Tribune Washington Bureau opined: “Defeat for Trump as court extends relief for ‘Dreamers,’ and the local Telegraph used that piece as it’s newspaper headline on Feb. 27. Hogwash! President Trump earlier offered a pathway to citizenship for 1.8 million of these folk with the provision that Congress take action to secure our borders at the same time. The obstacle hindering a citizenship path for all “Dreamers” lies with congressional Democrats inaction and “fake” news reporting such as Savage’s column. We really need media to tell it like it is and stop playing politics.

No need to be insulting

Dear John (Reichert): “Oh, how I hate to write! But I must let you know tonight! That my love for all is there — though the world is in despair; so take heart my friend — I care —dear John!” I am a proponent of guns, self defense, a good world order and the NRA; and. ... I am not an idiot! I am orchestrated, regimented, retired military, a concerned minister of the Gospel — but not an idiot! I cry (literally) for the multitudes in pain — mentally, physically and ideologically. And they are not idiots because they choose a different logic. Labeling one an idiot changes nothing with them — change comes only to the author. You can agree to (vehemently) disagree — but attaching tacky titles is not the best way to go! It may even be part of the equation that results in weak ones losing “their cool!” Dear John: Give it some thought!

Lawmakers breaking laws?

Gordon Carver and I had a debate in opinion/comments concerning chaos occurring when laws are not obeyed. President Obama ignored immigration laws and made up one through executive order governing DACAs that entered the U.S. illegally. Well, now Oakland’s Mayor Libby Schaaf, whose city has doubled down on protecting undocumented residents, has warned ICE is looking for them, so to speak. However, she reminded the illegals that a state law prohibits business owners from helping ICE agents and bars federal agents from employee-only areas.

It seems the mayor thinks like Obama that she can pick and choose what laws she wants to obey and/or can make-up new ones. Has she not been informed that federal law overrides state laws when it comes to enforcing federal laws? Chaos occurs when our appointed or elected leaders think they are powerful enough to operate outside U.S. laws. So goes our cesspool.

This story was originally published March 4, 2018 at 9:00 AM with the headline "This is Viewpoints for Sunday, February 4, 2018."