This is Viewpoints for Saturday, April 9, 2016
New show?
President Trump will soon have the opportunity to birth a new reality show. After the necessary prosecutions, he should call it "Dancing Behind Bars." First pair of contestants: Hill and Huma. Next, Eric Holder and Lois Lerner (IRS) can take their well deserved turns. At least Hillary seems to believe she looks good in a bright orange Mao suit, so the change to an orange jail jumpsuit won't be too radical. Unfortunately, she will not be able to keep her Blackberry cell phone, which she demanded to use in secret State Department facilities and arrogantly used to send super secret information to her unsecured bathroom server. "Rules are for thee, not for me" said the Dowager Queen of Chappaqua.
The really exciting aspect of Hillary's pending prosecution is whether or not she will get to keep Secret Service agents in Leavenworth.
—John brogden
Warner Robins
No, not one
The estimated U.S. population is between 320 million and 330 million legal citizens. How can it be that there is not one decent candidate among them willing to represent us as our president? Things are looking very bad for the future of our republic.
—Tommy Parker
Macon
Signing off
April 7 marked an anniversary of the Rwandan genocide. The reasons and causes for Rwandans slaughtering approximately one million fellow Rwandans from April 7 to mid-July 1994 are complex. A student visited me in my office and asked why I was reading about the memorial events over lunch and why I should care. I carefully thought a moment and provided him with a response.
There is a balance between respecting authority and questioning authority needed in society. When one questions authority, they should be provided with an answer beyond being told "because someone signed off on it." I heard someone use that phrase this week and I remembered when I was a graduate student and was having lunch with a high school German teacher in Chile. My friend's father was an admiral in the Chilean navy and was summoned by Augusto Pinochet. Gen. Augusto Pinochet repressed Chileans from 1973 to 1990. More than 200 prisoners could not be accounted for on a ship. The admiral pointed this discrepancy out and Pinochet ordered him to "sign off" on the paperwork.
Providing the "I have authority to sign off" response may start with glossing over a drink on someone's tab for a business lunch. However, the same "I have authority to sign off" phrase has also sent people to mass graves. Questioning what appears to be unjust authority locally, statewide and nationally, is an essential step toward stopping leaders from ever having the power to "sign off" on the control over life and death.
—Melanie L. DeVore
Milledgeville
Vote for CLUCK
It is still against the law to own a hen in Warner Robins. If we allow hens, what else will we allow? Where do we draw the line? We have already drawn the line. We have meticulously codified nuisance ordinances. We allow dogs, cats, pigs (yes really), ferrets, large parrots, doves, rabbits, guinea pigs, lizards, snakes, and the list goes on. The risk that three large dogs are likely to cause (or not cause) is the line that we have drawn. Warner Robins CLUCK folks want the same opportunity. We believe that if we are not hurting anyone that what we do on our property is our own business. And if we create a nuisance, fine us. Responsible hen owners already walk among you.
Let's vote on chickens. You may think that we already have, that Warner Robins citizens have spoken through their elected officials. Three sitting council Members have supported backyard hens: Councilman Chuck Shaheen, Councilman Lauritsen, and Councilman Tim Thomas. That is half of our legislative municipal body. Councilman Lauritsen voted in favor of the first draft of the backyard hen ordinance (thank you). Councilmen Shaheen and Thomas have supported different versions of a hen ordinance (also thank you). A lack of consensus on how the law ought to look is not a vote against hens.
Why not allow Warner Robins citizens to decide the matter directly through a referendum at the next presidential election (if possible)?
What are ya, chicken?
—Elijah Lewis
Warner Robins
This story was originally published April 8, 2016 at 8:40 PM with the headline "This is Viewpoints for Saturday, April 9, 2016 ."