This is Viewpoints for Monday, Oct. 12, 2015
No speedy resolution
Back in September while walking along Feagin Mill Road in Warner Robins, I noticed the county had installed some new traffic signs. I also realized that the crew that installed the yield sign at the corner of Feagin Mill and Bonanza Drive installed it with the sign facing the wrong direction. I was not sure who was responsible for this so I called the Warner Robins Police Department and talked with a Houston County deputy and even sent a Facebook message to WRPD to see who would need to fix this issue. Guess what. It is now over three weeks and still the sign remains. I suppose my expectations of a speedy resolution for a simple problem were unrealistic.
— Kent Kurtz
Warner Robins
Mind-blowing revelation
As expected we’ve seen nonstop gun “debates” since the Oregon shootings. I put debate in scare quotes because the argument has been settled for a while. Those who wish to limit gun ownership in the U.S. only have two tactics left to them: distort facts or appeal to emotion. The first is hard to do anymore with the Internet at our fingertips. The second, a favorite of children and politicians, is a well-known logical fallacy used by people with no other argument.
So you can imagine my surprise when I read Catherine Meeks’ column “The right to bear arms,” because she came up with a brand new argument for gun control. The column is the usual appeal to emotional nonsense until the fifth paragraph. Then bam, the mind-blowing revelation. It’s so subtly brilliant, so intellectually deft, so groundbreaking, and so philosophically powerful she’ll probably be nominated for a Nobel Prize. Ivy League schools will be lining up to give her honorary Ph.Ds. World leaders will want to take pictures with her and seek her council.
I don’t want to ruin it for you so here’s the direct quote, “Of course guns don’t walk out of houses and shoot people, but in the case of many who have access to guns their ability to control the use of them almost amounts to the gun having the capacity to make decisions.”
That’s right folks, guns don’t kill people. It’s worse than that. Guns have mind control and they make people with access to them kill people. Mind. Blown.
— Matt Dykes
Macon
Who got here first?
In relation to Thomas Spence’s “Faith” letter, “Does God exist? There is no way of knowing.” First to establish one’s faith in God, one should answer some simple questions about life existence. Do you believe God appeared and created man, or do you believe man appeared and invented God? Once I ask someone if God created man, who created God? They were lost for words. There is only one answer since man is the only living creature that could possible believe in God. So did God come before man or did man come before God?
Now for facts. There was a creation. We cannot prove there will be an end to existence, but we can prove there was a beginning because here we are. I suppose it is up to each person to believe how we got here. As much as I love people, this beautiful massive creation of existence reaches far beyond the comprehension much less the ability of man.
— Faye W. Tanner
Macon
Another opinion
I realize James Haught who wrote about “The Enlightenment” may never read this, but regardless, it needs to be said. When I read his haughty claims against conservatism, I noticed that he overlooked some results of conservatism which would have refuted his opinions. When he said conservatism has failed, was he referring to the conservative President Ronald Reagan’s demand that the Berlin Wall be torn down, which turned out to be one of the catalysts for the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union?
Was he neglecting conservative, biblically based policies practiced by business owners such as Truett Cathy, founder of Chick-fil-A? Cathy was mocked for closing his restaurants on Sundays and scoffers predicted failure. Instead, 69 years later, Cathy’s restaurants, still closing on Sundays, are flourishing and expanding to other parts of the country. Additionally, Chick-fil-A is known for humane working conditions.
Maybe he overlooked conservative groups like the Southern Baptist churches in Georgia, who provide free facilities for English classes for refugees from war-torn countries? Perhaps he forgot about conservative individuals such as capitalist Andrew Carnegie, who founded many libraries across the U.S., opening up the world of reading to those who couldn’t afford to buy their own books. He used much of his profits to promote education and literacy. Sounds successful to me.
It’s unfortunate that Haught didn’t realize there are good and bad aspects of both conservatism and liberalism. When one paints with a broad brush as Haught did, nothing positive is accomplished.
— Janice P. Moser
Flovilla
Inspirational map?
Want to see something ridiculously absurd? Check out the Warner Robins city voting map. A third-grader with map pencils and an iPhone could do a better job creating a user-friendly map. It’s unclear, scanned sideways and the legend doesn’t even show which color goes with which post.
It’s a perfect way to make voters confused and apathetic, thus allowing incumbents to stay in power. http://www.wrga.gov/DocumentCenter/View/1788.
— Tammy Bushnell
Warner Robins
Watch them squirm
I see they finally got around to deleting that phony job they gave to Ed Tucker. So he only received four months pay for “administrative leave?” What a deal, for him. As usual Cameron Andrews and Jon Nichols both supported their aborted idea to “buddy system” Tucker into a do nothing job.
Does anyone else question why all the major decisions for Centerville are made in closed session? I guess it’s because that group knows what they are doing is wrong. Oh yes, the campaign people out in front of City Hall last night were cute. Why are the city of Centerville Council stories always hidden in a hard to find spot? With all the silliness going on there you’d think the editors would have fun putting it on the front page. Just to watch hizzoner and henchmen squirm.
— Bill Ayers
Centerville
This story was originally published October 11, 2015 at 5:12 PM with the headline "This is Viewpoints for Monday, Oct. 12, 2015 ."