Why should Confederate statues exist?
The 13 colonies were able to defeat the British, and to establish the U.S. of A. The Confederacy made an attempt to take over the U.S., but were defeated. Would anyone care to tell me if there are any statutes of George Washington in Great Britain, yet the South expects statutes of Lee and/or other generals to remain standing. There are no statutes of any British general that fought the colonies standing anywhere in the U.S.
DAVID CLARKE, BUFORD
Reporters’ work shine light on legislators
Thank you for singing the praises of reporters James Salzer and Aaron Gould Sheinin who exposed an attempted scam by Georgia Rep. John Meadows. Reporters like them are my unsung heroes and have been so since I used to read about the “muckrakers” in high school. I can see why people of Meadows’ ilk don’t like them, though. They have gotten in the way of his little scheme to line his pockets at public expense. He used his power as chairman of the House Rules Committee to try and ram through a bill that would assure a commission for insurance agents when they sold health coverage. And Meadows himself is an insurance agent. Meadows is a disgrace to his position as a public servant and should step down from his office or be voted out in the next election.
ISABELLE WERBER, ATLANTA
Why don’t columnists discuss Clinton?
As an avid reader of the AJC Opinion page, I’m awestruck over the Trump vs. Clinton coverage. The “right side” is pretty clear in their denunciations of Donald Trump, exposing him for the opportunist and megalomaniac that he is. The “left side” has also been excellent at pointing out the dangers of his popularity and candidacy. But my question to “left side” is this: Where is your integrity in not pointing out Hillary Clinton’s faults? Here is a career politician whose net worth now rivals Mitt Romney’s, but she’s been a public servant for the last 20-plus years. How about her ongoing investigation by the FBI? Wow, that’s a biggie. What about understating the income of her foundation by millions? The Clinton Foundation took in $132 million in 2014 and they can’t afford a competent accountant? These are facts that are not being addressed by your “left” side. Why?
GREG BONOMI, NEWNAN
Kissing up to NFL, Hollywood shameful
The South is commonly referred to as the Bible Belt. As such, the South has always carried the banner and led the nation in pointing to a moral compass for human beings based on ancient teachings. At the center of this directional guidepost is the church. Georgia has over 10,000 churches (a church for every 1,000 people). Teaching family values and providing community outreach for the downtrodden as well as the spiritually needy are standard practices for these important institutions in our culture.
When national sports organizations threaten to pull their sporting events from the state if these 10,000 church pastors don’t agree to conduct gay marriages, the repercussions are felt from Ringgold to Valdosta. When the Hollywood film crowd wants to stop producing films in this state if these 10,000 pastors refuse to rent or allow their facilities to be used for events they find objectionable, millions of law-abiding church goers and everyday citizens begin to feel that centuries-old foundations and teachings are under assault. Who are the bad guys here?
The people at the state capitol are merely reflecting their constituency when they try to develop protections for this specific, non-profit bedrock group.
JOEL SMITH, STOCKBRIDGE
