POLITICS
In defending Obama,
media ignores truth
It is not surprising that the always-sophomoric Mike Luckovich would join his colleagues in piling on Bob Woodward (Opinion, March 1).
After all, when it comes to President Obama, the truth is simply off-limits, as far as the mainstream media is concerned.
LEN CAYCE, SUWANEE
GOP shows contempt
for American people
Mike Luckovich’s Feb. 28 cartoon was very insightful (Opinion): the GOP as the short-term memory loss party.
They first charged two wars to the future, and when the bill came due, they pretended it was a shock and blamed President Obama. Now they’ve lost the election, but claim it was somehow an endorsement to continue the disastrous trickle-down economics that have failed in every country, including ours.
Mike Luckovich correctly details the constant attempts by a minority to extort the American people by merely “rebranding.” It shows the contempt the national GOP has for the rest of us.
PATRICK EDMONDSON, ATLANTA
MOBILE PHONES
Cell structures needn’t
be towering eyesores
Proposed legislation aims to limit local controls on new cell towers in Georgia. The bill’s sponsor and others argue the need for these towers, yet even they would agree that the towers are eyesores.
But why must they be eyesores? What if sculptors were commissioned to build major works of art — not “Ponderosa pines” or other disguises, but actual monumental art — as cell towers? No one brags that they live in the shadow of a cell tower, but living near a sculpture would be a neighborhood asset.
Let’s require a “percent for art” rule for these ugly, increasingly omnipotent structures, and dot the landscape with beauty instead of disfigurement.
JOHN MORSE, ATLANTA
DEER BREEDING
Inhumane practice
brings disease threat
White-tailed deer breeding proponents have thankfully faced failure again in trying to push legislation that would support the unsporting and inhumane captive hunting industry (“Panel blocks ‘breeder’ deer bill in Georgia,” ajc.com, Feb. 28).
Deer breeding operations provide hand-raised (sometimes even bottle-fed) trophy bucks to captive hunts, where shooters can pay a fee based on the size of the animal’s genetically enhanced antlers. Captive hunts bear no resemblance to traditional hunting.
The commercialization of live wildlife species flies in the face of scientific wildlife management principles. These deer-breeding farms can spread deadly diseases such as chronic wasting disease to native wildlife. This disease can cost taxpayers millions of dollars in response and prevention efforts, and new cases are reported every year.
We’re grateful that lawmakers have rejected this misguided legislation, and will (hopefully) continue to protect Georgia’s wildlife.
LAURA BEVAN, SOUTHERN REGIONAL DIRECTOR, HUMANE SOCIETY OF THE UNITED STATES
