This is Viewpoints for Saturday, Nov. 14, 2015

Unreasonable arguments

Terry Thompson's response to my letter (Time to talk — 11/5) provides, despite the author's stated intention, support for my prior stated assertions as to the unreasonable arguments of those who wish to restrict gun ownership.

First, I (and many others) find that seeking government "permission" to exercise a right we naturally hold is a highly unreasonable stance. The government governs at the consent of the governed, not as our rulers.

Second, the statement that "The United States has more gun violence than any other country on the planet combined" is both confusing and incorrect. The Crime Prevention Research Center disputes this irrational and emotion-led charge in a thorough and objective study at http://crimeresearch.org/2014/03/comparing-murder-rates-across-countries/. This study exposes the fallacious arguments used by many gun-control advocates and the misleading truth behind the numbers. The study does show that the ways countries report both gun ownership and gun homicides varies so much that it is nearly impossible to draw accurate comparisons. A more reliable indicator is the high level of gun violence, within the U.S. in cities which have restrictive gun ownership laws, as compared to those cities which are more liberal in their gun policies.

Finally, Thompson uses an overworked and anecdotal ploy — "the children." After recounting two horrific stories of gun deaths he resorts to hyperbole, "Every day The Telegraph reports more shootings." Emotionally charged and factually inaccurate. Yes, that is unreasonable.

— Mitchell Clark

Macon

A lush Greenland

I have seen many news shows state definitively that 2014 was the warmest year ever recorded (except in Macon where in 2014 never rose above 98). If you check Greenland on Wikipedia on the Internet, you will read that Greenland was lush with forests some 100,000 years ago, which meant the world was much warmer back then and must have been warmed by evil mankind with automobiles and factory smoke stacks that were all swallowed up when the earth cracked and caused all the cars and factories to melt at the earth's core.

The smoke billowing from the earth's cracks due to the burning cars and factories in the earth's core caused the earth to cloud up with smoke, and thus the earth cooled, causing Greenland to turn to mostly ice.

Now, with the earth warming, it is merely returning Greenland back to the luscious green forests that it once knew. But, climate fanatics want to stop the earth from returning to luscious greenery. Let the climate be. Let Greenland live again.

— Charles Sanferrare

Byron

Different outcomes

A federal jury in Peoria, Ill., has awarded $240,000 to two Somalian-American Muslims who were fired from their jobs as truck drivers at an over-the-road trucking company, when they refused to transport alcohol because it violated their religious beliefs, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. By contrast, the Christian baker, owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa, were forced by government mandate to cater a gay wedding regardless of their religious beliefs, and ordered to pay $135,000 to a lesbian couple based on an order from the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries.

In President Obama's fundamentally transformed America hypocrisy has no bounds. Not only is religious freedom being infringed today but so is equal treatment under the law. Only in an Obamanation can a man and wife be sued into oblivion over their refusal to go against their religion to make a homosexual cake but Muslims get paid to refuse service for the exact same reason.

It's way past time to reverse this national trend to kowtow to one religion while punishing another.

— John Brogden

Warner Robins

They knew

Union of Concerned Scientists reports that as early as 1977 scientists working for Exxon knew that burning fossil fuels was causing climate change. Exxon's response was to start a disinformation campaign casting doubt on these findings. Climate scientists report that climate change may cause massive death.

— Sam Marshall

Milledgeville

Check out the VP

If Hillary Clinton has not been arrested for crimes against the United States before the Democratic National Convention in July and becomes the nominee for president of the United States, I suggest we evaluate Clinton's selection for vice president very carefully because the FBI has enough information now to put Clinton in prison. I'm hopeful the FBI will arrest her long before the convention.

— Mike Smith

Warner Robins

Education first?

I have been a sports fan all my life. I played basketball in school and adult softball well into my 40s. It really saddens me, however, we have definitely taken sports too far when it interferes with our educational process. We claim every year about the education of our children, its cost to taxpayers, drop-outs and salaries of teachers for which coaches and staff receive far more pay than teachers with some justification due to after school activities and night and/or week-end competition with other schools. Can you imagine the additional teachers we could hire with the salaries of all the athletic activities?

A very good picture how it has really interfered with our colleges and universities education, the University of Missouri has an undergraduate 2015-2016 enrollment of 27,654 students with 7 percent of the student body being black. Of the 99 football players and 28 football coaching staff, 60 players are black. That equals 61 percent of the team. Due to 7 percent of black enrollment complaining that 93 percent of the student body picks on them in relations to race, they have 30 black players of the 60 saying they will not play and the president and chancellor were forced out of office.

I have no idea how many of the black players are on scholarship or free grants, however, we have 7 percent of the student body speaking for 27,654 students.

I say colleges are taking sport too far and if we were really set on educating our children, we would put a stop to having any college's athletic departments running a college must less any race. I know some mentioned major donors would pull their funds. So now we have donors, running colleges.

I enjoy college and professional sports. I also think all college students of all colors should be able to handle any kind of remarks made by their fellow students because when you leave college, you have a professional working arena consisting of people of all colors. Surely college students are adult enough and educated enough to handle the inside as well as the outside world of college life. I say to the 30 football players who refused to play ball, replace them, there are others who would be glad for the opportunity.

— Faye W. Tanner

Macon

This story was originally published November 13, 2015 at 10:05 PM with the headline "This is Viewpoints for Saturday, Nov. 14, 2015 ."