Come on, Kentucky
In a red state like Kentucky, polls are showing that Mitch McConnell is vulnerable; this is a sure sign that moderate Republicans are moving away from the most extreme members of their party to regain the compromising spirit like during the Dole and Clinton years. Those years, ideas were moved around on the table, and the best ones pushed the country forward. Unfortunately, today the extremists seem to be under the notion that only they know where the direction of the country should go. This type of attitude ignores the will of the majority. Americans who are tired of stagnation in our government, and fed up with leaders who are only looking out for the interest of the wealthy while making the middle class and poor vulnerable, can solve this dilemma in the midterm elections. At this moment, Republicans and Democrats can join together to purge those who are standing in the way and log-jamming Congress. Real progress can be made in a mending economy if the legislative branch of the government worked with the executive branch rather than hope for its failure.
Alfred Waddell, West Dennis, Mass.
Team Snowden
Ed Snowden has become this iconic visage of intrigue for everyone. Some envision him as the voice of freedom, where the others make him the whipping boy of the establishment. All he really is is the teaspoon that put the crack in the cosmic egg — letting loose the flood of information to start an informed conversation. He is the drop of solvent that dissolved the paper-thin veneer of legitimacy surrounding our government in its current, craven state. What he has done (while putting himself at enormous risk) is shake us out of our stupor.
What is it about the secrets he holds in his laptops that inspires so much fear and rage on both sides of the aisle? The fact that we’re being watched at an alarming rate is not news to the informed populace. Is it something more sinister? Are there ugly secrets being held over the heads of elected officials in order to coerce them to legislate our freedoms away? Or is it the fear that the sedated masses will finally awaken and loudly demand their humanity and sovereignty be restored?
Something has the “Powers That Be” spooked, that’s for sure. Personally, I hope he is blessed and kept — preferably in a safe and beautiful place.
Trudi Kubik, Highlands
Racism is Still Alive
The ultra-conservative media of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Fox News and The Washington Times recently suggested that a not-guilty verdict in the George Zimmerman trial might cause riots in Florida. By their suggestions, I get the feeling the aforementioned representatives of the right-wing media want riots to occur. They are so anti-President Obama. Any kind of racial chaos during his time in office would please them, even though Obama would not be the cause of the riots.
The Republican Party and its compliant media rarely, if ever, acknowledge that racism is a problem in America. They hurt our country and the GOP by using a potential outcome of the Zimmerman trial to covertly promote racial division and confusion. Citizens of goodwill hoped that justice would be done in the Sanford, Fla., trial. Now that a not-guilty verdict was rendered, it is pretty evident racism is still alive in America. In our everyday lives, outside of the courtroom, we must step up our efforts of working for racial justice.
Paul L. Whiteley Sr., St. Matthews
Consent to Kill
To those who support a woman’s right to choose: I agree when you say that a woman should give consent before sex and that marriage does not mean consent every time a man wants sex. I think sex should be mutually consensual.
I agree when you say that a woman should be able to take precautions to try to prevent pregnancy if she chooses. A man and a woman should agree on this before they have sex. But when you say that my mother had a right to have a doctor kill me anytime after I was conceived and before I was born, I respectfully reject that notion. And I wonder if you think your mother had a right to kill you.
Rich Mills, Shawnee
