This is Viewpoints for Thursday, August 6, 2015 | Macon Telegraph

Mixed up morals

Our morals are somewhat amiss when a Minnesota dentist inspires national outrage for killing a lion but support while we provide taxpayer funds to kill millions of human babies, who, by the way, are created in God’s image.

-- Dawson Mims

Reynolds

Pipeline danger

What is nearly 36 inches in diameter, 900 miles long, contains explosive material and uses a community destroying six story compressor station to push the gas along? Well, I gave away the answer -- a methane gas pipeline. Does it benefit Georgia? No. The gas comes from Alabama and goes through hundreds of miles of Georgia wetlands, quail country, farmland and the most densely populated county in southwest Georgia.

The pipeline runs through the city of Albany and the compressor station displaces 50 families, lowers property values for 500-plus families, emits tons of poisonous gases and sits almost on top of one of our independent wells that produces 2,000 GPM. Our fate as a community lies with an out of control federal bureaucracy called the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

If you would like to help us, please call the governor’s office during business hours at 404-656-1776, email the FERC Secretary at kimberly.bose@ferc.gov, reference CP15-17-000, and email the Georgia EPD POC eric.cornwell@gadnr.org referenced Application No. 23350.

We have a coalition of elected officials, businesses, Sierra Club, Audubon Society, and other agencies that stand united against this unnecessary intrusion into our city, county and state. If Sabal Trail/Spectra wants to export Alabama gas, they should run their pipeline to the port of Mobile.

-- Roger Marietta

City Commissioner Ward 4

Albany

God haters?

Because fewer than 20 percent of Christians vote, God-haters govern our country. They enact laws God calls abominable. They teach our children to hate God and worship the earth. They murder the unborn and sell their body parts for profit. They keep borders open for terrorists and criminals. They free felons and handcuff police. They abandon allies and embrace enemies. They kill jobs and enslave the unemployed. They keep our economy on the verge of collapse. They exempt themselves from laws they pass and put politicians instead of judges on our Supreme Court.

Christians absolutely must get involved in the affairs of community, state and federal governments. If we don’t start voting, self-serving parties will continue to mobilize enough God-haters to win elections. Register today and get involved.

-- Stephen Blanton

Bluffton, South Carolina

No more party loyalty

The Republican Leadership successfully bamboozled voters to believe that a vote for Jim Marshall was an automatic vote for Nancy Pelosi. That was a lie. Also, they promised that a Republican Congress would resolve the problems in Washington. How has that worked out?

Deficit spending is at an all-time high. The debt continues to grow. The tax code has not been revised. There is no legislation to safeguard Social Security or Medicare. The VA continues its neglect of veterans. The IRS continues to be nonresponsive to taxpayers and does not try to collect back taxes. The TSA was only 4 percent successful in detecting infractions at airports. Our Southern border remains porous. What is Congress doing? They are contemplating increasing the budgets of these agencies to make them more efficient.

I believe it is the responsibility of Congress to oversee that government works. If an agency is not doing its job, then its leadership must be held responsible. All that we have now are endless congressional hearings where corruption and incompetence goes unpunished. Congress can hold unresponsive bureaucrats in contempt, or it can impeach ineffective directors, or it can withhold funding until an agency rectifies its problems.

Since the Republicans cannot blame Democrats for the inertia in Congress they are fighting amongst themselves. One senator claimed that the leader lied. A group in the House wants to replace Speaker John Boehner because he supports bipartisan legislation.

Based on his record I cannot vote for Rep. Austin Scott, R-Ga. It was a shame that he won his last election because he was unopposed. There has to be a candidate who will come forward to oppose him. I will vote for a candidate who acknowledges that party animosity and the constant bickering must end. That they will work with the other party to resolve the critically obvious problems that are destroying this nation.

I know some believe that party loyalty is important. But all it has done is led to gridlock. If our representatives are not doing their job, it is our responsibility to replace them.

-- Jim Costello

Perry

Animal cruelty

The ugly, nightmarish world of dogfighting is alive and well in Middle Georgia. We have seen a Macon deputy and her two sons arrested and maybe charged. I am sure they are all out and about their merry lives without any shame. There are enough animal-caring citizens of Macon to throw some weight around and up the ante of better laws being put on the books to make a dent in these monsters walking around abusing dogs in the most inhumane and horrific way. Prosecutors and judges should be watched carefully to insure that the highest penalty is charged and carried out against this evil family.

Until there is a great public uprising against animal abuse, these monsters will continue to prey upon those who have no voice. “Until we have the courage to recognize cruelty for what it is -- whether its victim is human or animal -- we cannot expect things to be much better in this world.”

-- Rachel Carson

-- Judy S. Veal Lawrence

Milledgeville

Yankee go home

It seems lately that we are having a problem with liberal Yankees moving south and trying to make all of us forget about our great Southern heritage. Frank Gabois can’t seem to figure out whether he’s English or Yankee. What the heck is he doing down South if he dislikes it so much. Let me tell you a true story. About a dozen years ago my employer transferred me from Robins Air Force Base to Pennsylvania to work on large federal projects up north. I was responsible for projects for the FBOP, U.S. Army and other federal agencies. When my then spouse and I moved our furniture from down South to up north the Ryder truck rental including all accessories and a car dolly cost me a grand total of $317.

After being up there in the constant terrible weather for three miserable years, I was finally was able to get a job down South. I contacted Ryder to get a great deal like I got before. They informed me that the same trip back was going to cost me $2,700 for the same equipment. When I questioned the huge increase in price, they informed me that “Nobody moves north. Everybody moves South. And that they have to price the northbound trucks cheap to get them up there to move the Yankees down here. While I was “up there” the people were wonderful, friendly, helpful and candid. My question is how the heck did we get all these radical liberals down here?

-- Al Jennings

Cochran