Pope’s death penalty decree is wrong
As a lifelong Catholic, I found it troubling the Pope Francis decree on the death penalty covers “all cases,” which I believe is false mercy. Also, his duty can’t change the teaching of a 2,000-year-old church. He’s saying for all those years that teaching was wrong; if that’s wrong, what else can he change? His duty is to uphold church teachings, not change them. He is causing the laity mass confusion. Our bishops must act to stop this.
The pope claims this is an “attack” on human dignity. What about an 8-year-old girl who was kidnapped, tortured and raped for three days by a monster who buried her alive, and when caught said if freed he’d do it again. Where’s her human dignity? Or let’s say if WWII mass murderer Adolf Hitler were captured alive, by this pope’s false reasoning he could not pay any price but to go to prison because of his “human dignity,” pushing aside the human dignity of his millions of victims. The church has long held that in order to protect society, a slight few should pay the ultimate price for their evil. This action is wrong.
Peter Comaskey
Justice fails in Georgia case
I was once again left wondering what is going on in this world as I read the Aug. 11 story about Mark and Diana Parkinson. Mark died as a result of a false 911 call, which led police to arrive at a location expecting a possible dangerous situation where there was none.
Judge Billy Mullinax of Walker County dismissed charges against the caller. When asked about it, he and State Court Solicitor Pat Clements said they didn’t know about Mark’s death. I’m as dumbfounded as Diana’s attorney, Jason Thompson, that these two men say they don’t recall the details of this case. Which I think is at best ridiculous, at worst criminal.
Sam Lewallen Jr.
Sale Creek
We didn’t vote for high gas, dirty air
We’re in what could be the most expensive summer for driving in years, as gas prices have climbed 60 cents per gallon since Trump’s inauguration, which equates to families spending hundreds more in dollars per year for gas.
Yet, instead of protecting hard-working Americans pocketbooks, the Trump administration proposed to slam the brakes on Clean Car standards, which have saved drivers money by boosting fuel efficiency.
But the savings didn’t stop there. With cleaner cars, we are saving the air we breathe from pollution. This makes for healthier children. In this way, cutting back on gasoline is improving lives and stretching dollars. As a mother of two children, I think this is a winning combination.
And I’m not alone. A recent poll shows that 74 percent of Tennesseans support boosting fuel efficiency. Yet, despite the support and common sense behind our standards, the Trump administration and his deputies are again doing the bidding of the fossil fuel industry.
No one voted for more pollution and dirtier air, or to spend more money at the gas pump, but that’s exactly what we’ll get if President Trump, Andrew Wheeler and Heidi King succeed in reversing the Clean Car standards.
Kaitti Johnson