Respecting Isaacs
One of my favorite activities involving the LEO print edition is defacing the picture of whoever is gracing the cover. While I’ve never used the services of Isaacs & Isaacs, I’ve always enjoyed Darryl Isaacs’ commercials; he seems like a swell guy. For the first time, I had a conflict of conscience about my small-scale vandalism. For Mr. Isaacs, there will be no gapped teeth, monocle, lizard tongue, or other embellishments, as it wouldn’t be appropriate for my preferred promoter of personal injury representation.
M. Bottom, Corydon, Ind.
Money Grubbers
That satirical “reply” of April 18 to my previous letter about congressional civil war gave me plenty of good laughs. Of course, those who read my letter remember that it compared the old defenders of slave plantation economics with contemporary apologists for corporate political power. It obviously did not equate slave plantations with modern corporations, as parodied by that fictional “reply.” It was really about money-grubbing politicians, then and now. You know the names.
Hardly anyone doubts that we need the private capital of corporations at work in our economy today. We do not need the corporations to take over our elections and buy our public officials, though.
Tom Louderback, Highlands
Response to a Response
Regarding Wini M. Moyen’s April 11 Inbox letter: Yes, having a small percentage of toll revenue designated to subsidize TARC would result in more frequent buses (15-minute intervals, not a utopian 10 minutes) during peak hours, and more TARC routes, vanpools and carpools.
Yes, a “night-owl” cross-river bus service would need a subsidy. Just for the record, I have talked with Barry Barker of TARC and others at TARC about the cross-river bus routes. The issue is having designated HOV (High Occupancy Vehicle) lanes on the bridges.
I received the impression that Barker, who makes a nice salary, was under pressure not to rock the boat on the bridges issue and his request for HOV Lanes.
I also responded to the Rep. Jim Wayne op-ed in the C-J (March 30) titled “Tolls and Trolls; Prevent injustice on bridges.”
Perhaps had LEO opted for a title to my letter such as “Toll for TARC,” rather than “No Toll for TARC,” Ms. Moyen would have been less confused.
Those who insist on driving single occupant only on the bridges need to know that they may eventually have to pay a premium for doing so.
David Eugene Blank, Highlands
Repent and Forgive
In LEO’s April 4 Inbox, letter writer Steven Haynes said, “the Bible says to forgive one another.”
1a) A person can’t forgive someone who doesn’t repent. An example of this would be Richard Allen Davis, who kidnapped, raped, tortured and murdered Polly Klaas in 1993. Apparently he didn’t repent, especially when he gave a middle finger toward a camera while he sat in a courtroom.
1b) Author David Decker says: “In Luke 17:3-4, Jesus taught his disciples, ‘Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.’ Clearly, Jesus taught that forgiveness MUST be preceded by the offender’s repentance. Without it, there can be no forgiveness (Luke 13:3; 2 Peter 3:9).”
2) Forgiveness doesn’t mean not holding a person accountable for their actions, dismissing or ignoring their actions, or forgetting what they did.
3) You can’t forgive someone else who hasn’t committed the transgression against you. For instance, it is impossible for me to forgive Chris Brown for beating up Rihanna, despite whether Brown repents for his actions to her or not. And you must have heard before, “Well, if I have forgiven so-and-so, then why can’t you?” But that is a false argument because the speaker tries to interject himself into a situation that doesn’t apply to him/her.
Robert Veith, Brandenburg, Ky.
