The politicians go to the border and see the immigration issues there. Then, they look for the first TV camera so they can give their opinion of the situation. They say it is not a crisis, that it's all made up.
I wish that they would go to California or New York and many other cities where they could see homelessness. Maybe, if they cannot see a crisis, they could bend over and smell the sidewalk. Homelessness smells.
More than 600,000 homeless in this country. Politicians should look in the mirror and maybe they can see what a selfish, self-righteous, pompous person looks like.
What they see with their eyes never travels to the heart. It is not "how can I help this country" but "what can I say to become president."
Ruth Cote, Hixson
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How can we right wrong on Forrest?
Chattanooga has its own "Council Against Hate" while Bill Lee, the current governor of Tennessee, honors the most hate-filled, KKK leader (Nathan Bedford Forrest) this state has produced? There is even a bust of this vile purveyor of hate in the capitol in Nashville.
How many of our representatives were at the local meeting and protested the Tennessee legislators that allowed this outrage? Call your local legislator and ask what he or she did to try to rectify this wrong. If you find they did nothing, no wonder Tennessee is at the bottom of the barrel.
SueCarol Elvin
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BID would improve visits downtown
Experience is everything, and perception is reality. If you're trying to lease a property you own, decide on a vacation spot or pick a place for dinner, experience and perception matter.
Representing Urban Story Ventures, a commercial property owner in the proposed downtown Business Improvement District (BID), we are in full support of a BID. Owning and leasing space downtown, we are fortunate to work with many businesses, small and large, who support a BID. If locals, tourists and downtown workers feel like their surroundings are safe and beautiful, it makes sense they would want to spend more time and money there. Or start a business there. Or move there.
In the full swing of summer, downtown lacks colorful planters. The sidewalks look neglected. Graffiti and stickers mark many surfaces. If you've been to another city with brimming planters and impeccably clean sidewalks, that's probably accomplished by a BID. Those cities can garner an experience and perception that's better than ours.
To remain competitive and attract top tenants and talent, Urban Story Ventures asks the city council to pass the upcoming BID ordinance and allow downtown property owners to invest more in our city.
Jill Allen, COO, Urban Story Ventures
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Morals, decency fall on deaf ears
In his "Nichomachean Ethics," Aristotle explains relative virtues like bravery, temperance and friendship in terms of a "Golden Mean." A person may show degrees of these, striving for balance. However, absolute virtues like honesty, truthfulness and chastity have no "Golden Mean." A person behaves as honest or dishonest, truthful or deceitful, chaste or pure. One strives not to balance a little lying with a lot. Instead, one strives for unsullied honesty, truthfulness and chastity.
Unfortunately, many Americans now embrace abortion, disrespect of law (e.g. illegal aliens), racism (e.g. anti-white, anti-Semitism) and the like. Does Aristotle's idea of moral virtue apply to these? Is there a middle ground for pro- and anti-abortion folks who would agree to kill only a relative number of unborn? Is the middle ground of racism and disrespect of law a matter of quantifying an acceptable number of racist remarks and ignored laws?
Some have said "Let's find common ground" in the political debate. Is that possible when the opposing sides do not share a common understanding of right and wrong, good and evil, absolutes and relativism? Sadly, both biblical morality and Aristotelian rationalism are falling on deaf ears. This does not bode well.
Bob Miller, Signal Mountain
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Claims on climate not climate facts
There is an old saying that the amount of energy needed to refute "bs" is an order of magnitude greater than that needed to promulgate it. Unfortunately, letters to the editor are limited to 200 words so there is no way to rigorously counter The Chattanooga Times editor as she continues to parrot the wildest claims of the climate change liberals (July 15 editorial).
However, no, sea level change is not accelerating. In fact, sea ice melting does not affect sea level as any cursory check of the facts would show. No, hurricanes are not increasing in frequency or intensity. No, drought is not the new normal for California or Texas. No, mega wildfires are not more common or severe on a global scale than in the past. Not one of Al Gore's predictions of doom have come anywhere close to happening.
The editor extols the fact that three times as many people are working in "clean energy" as in fossil fuels. She fails to mention that they are producing less than 5% as much energy. Carbon dioxide is not a pollutant but essential to life.
Terence Knee, Hixson
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Change our energy habits, or else ...
Pam Sohn's recent editorial touched on climate change/global warming, but the situation is much worse. Scientific studies illustrate there is a 100% certainty the planet will experience catastrophic disasters if we continue to use carbon-based fuels at our current rate.
Clean coal, carbon credits, geo-engineering, adaptation and continuous economic growth are fatal fantasies. Trillions of organisms and a million species face extermination and extinction. This is a major crime against nature itself and must be averted at all costs.
Fortunately, there is ample solar and wind power available which, along with some hydro, geothermal and a small bit of carbon fuels, can supply our needs. The real challenge is to develop long-distance transmission and storage of basically free and pollutionless energy sources.
Humans lived for thousands of years without carbon fuels. With modern technologies, we can live comfortably and happily with only a fraction of our current usage. The world's current ecology cannot last if we perpetually seek for everything to be bigger, faster, plusher, more powerful and profitable.
We have a choice: change our methods voluntarily or be forced to change them but with massive migration, starvation, poverty, violence and genocide!
Dennis O'Hare, Gray, Tennessee
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Abortion human, not gender issue
In response to a July 7 letter:
In rare cases when pregnancy is the result of rape, consider who's to blame. It's difficult when an innocent woman has to take on childbearing, but this isn't the child's fault; the innocent child doesn't deserve to die for the father's crime. An unborn baby with a severe diagnosis is also difficult, but doctors' diagnoses can be wrong. Women sometimes choose life and deliver healthy babies after being advised to "terminate the pregnancy."
The fundamental issue is that a preborn baby is human. Compassion for the mother is extremely important, but is never served through destroying the innocent. Research shows less than 3% of abortions are for exception cases (rape, incest, deformity, life of mother). Even if you disagree a child conceived in rape or with a deformity deserves to live, it does not justify legal abortion for the majority of cases, which are matters of convenience.
Lastly, to say a man has no say in abortion is nonsensical. Should those who have not been slaves not have a say-so on slavery? Should war debates be limited to the military?
Abortion is a human issue, not a gender issue.
Candy Clepper, Kimball, Tennessee