LEO’s Afterlife
Regarding the Dec. 9 LEO Weekly: I last endured the indignity of having my car towed in the early 1990s. At least I knew it would be coming back. No such thing can be said of the experience of losing a loved one. Regarding where we go after we die, I don’t know, but I suspect it is to a special corner of the spiritual realm where we will spend an eternity pondering why LEO chose for its cover a story about the city’s towing policy over one on the afterlife.
George Morrison, Original Highlands
We’ll Be Back
Thank you, LEO, for such a well-written, fair and thought-provoking piece (“Death Becomes Us,” Dec. 9 issue). Religion has so much to do with world events recently, but no one in the media seems to know anything about it. Your publication seems to be changing that.
Christians believe in the resurrection of the dead. That is, we believe that our physical bodies will one day come back to life, just as Jesus’s did. Father Linebach hinted at this when he said, “We profess every Sunday that we believe in the resurrection of the body and life everlasting … basing our belief on what happened to Christ.” We believe that our resurrected bodies will be perfect, and will inhabit a perfect, newly created world. Therefore, when we die, that’s not the end of the story. We’re merely awaiting the final resurrection of the dead.
We also believe that God is redeeming this world. He is working on making things better, and he’s using Christians to do it. The little things we do here and now point to what this “new creation” will look like. In light of this understanding, Mr. Kagin’s statement that those who believe in the afterlife don’t see “this life as something precious” is completely misdirected. Christians’ actions in this life have ramifications both now and in the future. Forgiving one another, sacrificing finances and putting a high value on human life are merely signposts pointing on to bigger and better things to come.
Jason Fuchs, Germantown
Park Hill Balance
Regarding Phillip M. Bailey’s article on revitalization (LEO Weekly, Dec. 2): Hopefully, investment will take place in the Park Hill neighborhood to help balance growth in Metro Louisville. Parts of that area offer a beautiful view of our downtown skyline and have wide streets and sewers. Meanwhile, out in the suburbs, we are developing on substandard roads and approving and installing septic systems in karst areas. How antiquated is that? Investment in Park Hill would enable brownfields to get a makeover while preserving greenfields from getting an extreme makeover.
David Kaelin, East End
Let the Nasty Begin
Last week, Phillip M. Bailey boldly predicted that “there’s a good chance voters won’t remember all the bad press from the fall” about mayoral candidate Jim King when primary Election Day finally arrives next May. Maybe that would be true if this were a state judicial campaign subject to the judicial code of conduct. But partisan campaigns for other public offices are another matter.
Remember these two words: attack ads. The voters can surely count on King’s opponents to remind them of his bad press with blaring ads featuring choice quotes from television news and newspapers. They might even add a few testimonials from disgruntled customers. Just ask Bruce Lunsford what that’s like. King would quite naturally want to retaliate in kind with any dirt he can dig up on the others. That’s how political campaigns work in the age of Mitch McConnell. Pandora’s box has been opened wide this time. Let’s brace ourselves for a real nasty campaign.
Tom Louderback, Highlands
Unchanged and Outraged
This is not what I voted for. I did not vote to compromise with this 21st century form of conservatism. I did not vote to compromise with people who believe health care is a privilege and not a right. I did not vote to compromise with people who believe machine guns and rocket launchers are covered under the Second Amendment. I certainly did not vote to compromise with people who show outright bigotry toward African-Americans, Mexican immigrants and homosexuals. I did not vote to compromise with people who want government just small enough that it can fit in our bedrooms. I did not vote to compromise with people who believe climate change is a hoax or that the Earth is really only 6,000 years old. I did not vote to ignore the rule of law by not prosecuting those who have broken it. I thought I voted for a liberal. Whatever happened to “we are the change we have been waiting for”?
Nicholas Wohlleb, Highlands
Bypass the Beef
With last week’s opening of the International Climate Conference in Copenhagen, the world’s attention is focused on global warming and the resulting coastal flooding and extreme weather patterns.
An article in the respected World Watch magazine suggests that most man-made greenhouse gases responsible for global warming are emitted not from industrial smokestacks or car exhausts, but from meat and dairy production. This represents a substantial increase from the 18-percent contribution estimated by the 2006 U.N. report. (See www.biteglobalwarming.org.)
Chief greenhouse gas carbon dioxide is emitted by burning forests to create animal pastures and by combustion of fossil fuels to operate feed crop, factory farm and slaughterhouse machinery, trucks and refrigeration equipment. The much more damaging methane and nitrous oxide are discharged from digestive tracts of cattle and from animal waste cesspools, respectively.
Whatever the 190 nations’ representatives decide in Copenhagen, each of us can help reduce global warming three times a day. Our local supermarket stocks a rich variety of soy-based lunch “meats,” hotdogs, veggie burgers, dairy products and ready-to-eat frozen dinners, as well as a vast cornucopia of more traditional fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. Product lists and easy recipes are at www.tryveg.com.
Lyle Nitter, Downtown
Be Nice to Mice
In light of a recent report listing Louisville as one of the top 10 cities most likely to experience a rodent infestation, PETA urges homeowners to take these simple steps to keep mice and rats out of their homes humanely and permanently:
•Seal up cracks and holes in walls and foundations.
•Keep food and garbage in sealed, chew-proof containers.
•Catch any remaining rodents with a humane live trap (available at www.PETACatalog.com) and release them outdoors.
Killing rats and mice is cruel and ineffective. More rodents will simply move in to take the place of those killed. Of all lethal measures, glue traps are the worst. Panicked animals struggle against the adhesive, tearing flesh and breaking bones, only to die from shock, dehydration, asphyxiation or blood loss. Like poisons (which are also terribly cruel), glue traps pose a risk to anyone handling them, and this is why the Centers for Disease Control advises against their use.
Rodents may be small, but they feel pain and fear, and they deserve our compassion. To learn more, visit www.HelpingWildlife.com.
Jodi Minion, wildlife biologist, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Norfolk, Va.
