This is Viewpoints for Friday, December 1, 2017

Congressional cesspool

Someone leaked Buzzfeed, a news site, documents that showed U.S. Rep. John Conyers paid what appeared to be a sex harassment settlement. And exposed an entity, which masquerades as a venerated legislative body, Congress.

Conyers recoiled at the blow back and resigned his leadership position on the Judiciary Committee. He’s denied any wrongdoing and laments his inability to vindicate himself and his family. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said, “Congress should act to put an end to the days of secret payments paid for by taxpayers. You think so?

Consider, in 2005, Congress grilled Major League baseball players suspected of using steroids. MLB fined and suspended steroid cheats. Whereas, Congress passed a 1995 law, a subterranean ploy, involved doling out hush money, and subjected colleagues and staffers to sexual harassment. It incentivized and insulated predators from punishment or penalty, and piled agony upon victims.

The rules forced victims to trudge through a maze, climb obstacles, then if they forged a resolution, they were muzzled forever.

Taxpayers foot the bill for this protection scam, more sordid than gangs paying cops to look the other way. Who initiated this legislation? Who voted for it? They should explain how and why they advanced a law which aids and abets sexual harassment.

Love thy neighbor?

Travis Middleton’s Tuesday letter left me scratching my head. I think he might be mistaken. If you missed this on TV, here it is: “Let me tell you,” Trump voter Mark Lee continued, “If Jesus Christ gets down off the cross and told me Trump is with Russia, I would tell him, hold on a second, I need to check with the president if it is true. That is how confident I feel in the president.”

It would seem Middleton has President Trump confused with the Democratic Party. In reality, we should all keep our religions in the forefront while discussing politics. Love thy neighbor goes a long way in establishing a worthwhile conversation.

Offer

I really enjoyed Ned Dominick’s letter to the editors in Wednesday’s Telegraph (Nov 29). I totally agree that the editorial pages of The Telegraph and the numerous facilities of local schools and churches could be better utilized to further improve the lives of Middle Georgians. To that end, I make this offer to my fellow contributors to the editorial pages: If the radical left-wingers will quit spouting their progressive, un-American nonsense, I will quit pointing out the error of their ways.

Accentuate the positive

The coverage of high school sports in the newspaper is not being given proper recognition for the time and effort of the players and coaches of Middle Georgia. Just last weekend there were a number of teams playing of which three advanced to the semi-finals in football. However there were no results or stats from any of the games played.

This paper used to cover all the games with outstanding coverage. All the state scores during regular season and playoffs were posted the next day. But not anymore. What is the problem? Another example of poor coverage was the game between the No. 1 ranked AAAAA Warner Robins and No. 5 Ranked AAA Westside, Macon. I realize the high school basketball season has just started, but how can a game of this magnitude be overlooked? No excuses. Please start reporting the positives these young people and their coaches are doing instead of all the negative going on with crime in this area. Reward the good not the bad.

Store closings

I was saddened to read of K-Mart and other stores closing in Macon. I hope new businesses will quickly fill their spaces. My letter is to ask that our city officials not allow businesses that close to become an eyesore. For a long time, the business at the corner of Northside Drive and Tom Hill Boulevard was awful looking until someone finally cut the grass. You can ride around all areas of our town and see vacant buildings/stores in this condition. We are spending millions of dollars of SPLOST money on blight because owners of houses and businesses are not held accountable for their property. If an owner vacates or gives up its lease on a site, it should be law that they are to keep the grounds and buildings up and not let them become overgrown or dilapidated.

Our government officials should have more pride in our city than to allow this to happen. I hope attention will be given to this concern as I am not the only person who cares about this. I read a letter last week expressing the same concern.

Tackling climate change

The article, “The Latest: Indonesia says 100,000 should leave the volcano zone” was unsettling to read at best. The numbers of evacuees is quite large and foreshadows a possible devastation to the Bali area of Indonesia. Nonetheless, this piece is very important because it highlights Georgians need for an immediate reaction to climate change.

The hard truth is that erupting volcanoes impact climate change very little and hardly contribute anything to the recent climate disasters present throughout Georgia. However, they help bring about important discussions regarding the environment and its sustainability. The eruption of volcanoes are simply unavoidable, there is nothing that humans can do to stop them. What we can do is control the amount of carbon dioxide released in the air by fossil fuels and industrial processes.

This long but worthwhile process must start with the voices of Georgia, our congressmen. They must be held responsible for building positive bi-partisan relationships within Congress. This must be done in order to resolve climate issues and protect funding for the Environmental Protection Agency. An agency that is set into place to protect the environment and the overall health of individuals. If you, too, believe in the need to prevent environmental disasters within Georgia and around the globe, please reach out to Sen. Johnny Isakson at 770-661-0999 and Sen. David Perdue at 440-865-0087 to express your concerns.

This story was originally published November 30, 2017 at 9:00 PM with the headline "This is Viewpoints for Friday, December 1, 2017."