Barbaric execution reflects on us all
In 1956, in Montgomery, Ala., the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said in his “Facing the Challenge of a New Age” speech, “We have before us the glorious opportunity to inject a new dimension of love into the veins of our civilization.” The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles chose otherwise last week with the lethal injection of poison into the veins of Kelly Gissendaner. In this act, we all lost something of our humanity, for it was done in our name by the state of Georgia. Barbarism reigns.
ELIZABETH SULLY, ATLANTA
Plenty of questions for APS leaders
Once again I read of the move by Atlanta Public Schools leadership to hire a consultant to cure its ills, also known as, “Let me borrow your watch and I will tell you what time it is.” Perhaps APS should blow the dust off a Georgia State University financial review and look in the mirror relative to its spending habits. Why does APS continue to spend well in excess of other, much larger districts on administrative overhead?
Why did APS leadership sacrifice student success to support the Beltline? Why does the city continue to resist resolution of property ownership issues which would benefit students by freeing assets belonging to the district? Why does APS give ethnicity a higher priority when hiring teachers than seeking the best and brightest? City and district leadership should place students at the head of the priorities list, as opposed to emphasizing personal political gain.
ROGER KUBLER, MADISON
Regarding ISIS, Putin is our ally
It is always easy for us to demonize a foreign leader like Russia’s Vladimir Putin and interpret everything he says as a threat or just propaganda, but occasionally he gets it right. President Obama’s obsession with removing President Assad, as the first priority in Syria, is misguided because Assad’s government is the only realistic means of defeating ISIS. There will be no victory over ISIS without Assad’s Syrian ground troops backed by coordinated air strikes from the allies.
The so-called Syrian “legitimate opposition” beloved by Obama is a myth and has neither the will nor the means to defeat ISIS. So let’s get over our angst with Putin and get on with the priority of defeating ISIS in Syria and beyond by cooperating with our allies, including Russia.
IAN SHAW, CUMMING
