This is Viewpoints for Wednesday, March 4, 2018

The beauty nature has given us

Macon is looking very beautiful today, which is Good Friday. To go along with our beautiful pink cherry blossoms are many magnificently beautiful shocking pink azalea blossoms. I think yellow blossoms complement the pink blossoms as well as white and blue. Since Macon has its annual Cherry Blossom Festival, I think it would be appropriate to try to have as many other kinds of pink blossoms as possible, as well as other colors such as red, yellow, blue and white. Red maple trees have gorgeous red leaves. Crab apple trees also have beautiful pink blossoms. There is nothing as uplifting to the spirit than to see nature robed in its splendor of bright colors on the day that Jesus Christ was condemned to the cross.

Other religions deserve credit

I enjoyed reading the editorial in Sunday’s paper by Bill Cummings. It was a nice story written by a bright man. But, Bill, you almost made me cry with disappointment when, after crediting Christian, Jewish, Muslim and people of no religious affiliation with doing good works and thus being people of faith, you suddenly attribute all that behavior to Christianity. Why is it that when people do good works, it automatically makes them Christians? This is so selfish and so self-centered and has become, unfortunately, the norm in America.

Every faith strives for grace in their congregation. Every faith honors good works. Do you think the Jews and the Muslims and the Hindus sit around in their houses of worship and say, let’s all be good Christians this week? You are not looking at Christianity when you see goodness, you’re looking at goodness for goodness sake. If your good works have to be credited to Christianity aren’t you then looking for some reward in the afterlife? How about doing something selfless and expecting nothing in return? How great is it to see an atheist on the top of that Habitat roof?

Most people have a choice to accept or reject Christianity. It was a nice article, but, in the end, you robbed 69 percent of the world’s population of their right to choose not to be a Christian.

Acting like clowns

The three-ring circus of generations past is rarely seen locally these days unless you visit Bibb County government building where you can observe the clowns present their daredevil high wire act. They, of course, are not on the dangerous high wire, which is reserved for the county taxpayers.

Just when we think (hope) most of the unpleasant county financial news had been disclosed, we learn of projected SPLOST receipts shortfall. One can only assume that there was myopic oversight by our leaders to not attempt to validate ongoing receipts while continuing to consider and making spending decisions.

Their lack of financial acumen is approaching legendary proportions to the extent that you might think that they were in spring training for the “big time” majors of service in D.C. where there is a severe shortage of, you name it, except that of shame.

Yes, we in Bibb still have bad news to endure when the Dallemand era individuals indicted for shameful actions are validated and justice is rendered.

Making postal system work even better

President Trump let his animosity of Jeff Bezos, owner of The Washington Post, affect his understanding of the postal system. The postal system is an independent agency and does not use taxpayer money for its operations. It is self supporting. Congress establishes the rules governing how the postal system functions. The postal system has to pre-pay into a retirement fund and a health care fund each year. It has to have employees on standby duty each day until it is determined that their services are not required. There has been an extensive decline in first class letters and marketing mail due to the growing use of social media. Therefore, it cost more to deliver letters.

In fact, the Postal Service is experiencing a double-digit increase in revenue for delivering packages. If Congress would change the rules governing the postal system it would generate a profit. If Congress would concentrate on making government organizations more efficient instead of automatically increasing their budgets it would greatly reduce spending. Congress should also eliminate the duplication of government functions. Congress should stop funding programs that year in and year out have cost overruns and schedule delays. Bureaucrats whose agencies continuously have shortfalls should be eliminated. Government agencies should have to justify why they have to expand their budget.

You need to know war to cautious

President Donald Trump has just appointed a “chicken hawk” to be his National Security Adviser. John Bolton is a “chicken hawk.” What is a chicken hawk? Someone who never served in the military and has never seen combat yet wants to go to war almost as a first option. Bolton replaced three-star Gen. H.R. McMaster who knows the horrors of combat and thinks war should be the last and not the first option.

Bolton’s answer for the Korean nuclear situation is if diplomacy does not work then a preemptive strike, a limited attack, should be our next move. Kim Jong-un has already threatened that if we take out his nuclear facilities he will destroy Seoul and much of South Korea with conventional weapons. Our limited attack would almost certainly mean the deaths of hundreds of thousands and even millions of South Koreans.

Bolton is also one who does not like the Iranian nuclear agreement. He has advocated breaking it and bombing Iran. That would likely mean a major war in the Middle East as nations take sides.

Trump is also a chicken hawk who got five deferments and never served in the military. With Bolton as chief adviser, he is apt to shoot first and debate the issues later. These two are a dangerous pair.

Will we go to war with North Korea or Iran or both? Will Russia and China stay out? And if Donald Trump’s legal troubles get worse will he see war as a way to win the midterm elections? I can only pray that the Lord will not allow this nightmare scenario to happen.

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