Let Hawks’ Ferry return to team
The Bible says a Christian should forgive 70 times seven every day. It is time to forgive Danny Ferry. Ferry singlehandedly built the Hawks into the team they have become, including hiring the coach. Ferry was charged with a form of racism for repeating what someone was saying to him. Frankly, in my opinion, the uproar about Ferry’s comments was much ado about nothing. The uproar was an example of politically correct overreaction. The bottom line is Ferry has served his leave of absence. It is time to bring Danny Ferry back to the Hawks. He is the reason for the Hawks’ current success.
KEITH WATKINS, BROOKHAVEN
Getting tough on radical Islam
Say what you will about the Old Testament, but it was clear on one thing. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. When you are dealing with organizations like ISIS/ISIL that are clearly barbaric, you have to fight fire with fire. Negotiations with deranged people and groups simply do not work. Jordan is one of the only Islamic nations that really supports the USA. We owe them our support in return. By the way, forget Turkey and its Islamic party, which is now in control and which prevents Turkish Kurds from stopping ISIL’s advance in Northern Iraq. And forget the Saudis who are the primary source of funding for the radical Wahhabi fundamentalist branch of Islam, which is the philosophical basis in Islam for Sharia law. A recent commentator estimated this support as $100 billion over the years.
If America really wants to stop terrorism, we need to start by becoming energy independent (drilling, wind, solar, nuclear); ending our backing of fundamentalist regimes; and financially supporting the re-emergence of moderate Islam.
JACK BERNARD, MONTICELLO
Pay the social cost of gas
The editorial “Choose the vehicle you want; the planet will be OK” (Opinion Feb. 3) makes good points but comes to the wrong conclusion. Certainly consumer choice is good and government mandates produce unintended consequences. Certainly it’s a problem if emission savings from fuel efficient cars are negated by emissions from their manufacture. It’s another example of the economic inefficiency of government mandates and rules. But fossil fuels do inflict costs on society that are not incorporated in the price we pay, including health effects from air and water pollution, the economic and political vulnerability from being the world’s largest oil importer, and the risk of catastrophic climate change. Instead of government mandates we should price carbon. Then SUV buyers can in good conscience make an economic decision knowing they will pay their fair share of the social cost of gas. That’s what we should do to save the planet.
BRAD ROUSE, HIAWASSEE
President Barack Obama’s new policy toward Cuba has brought out both supporters and opponents. Rep. David Scott cites many advantages of this policy in his recent guest column (“Charting a course with Cuba”, Opinion Feb 5). President Obama answered critics of his more positive policy toward Cuba by saying, “If you’ve done something for 50 years and it hasn’t worked, it’s time to try something new”. Domestically, the president should apply the same standard to the failed “War on Poverty.” Many programs are still in place after 50 years, having spent trillions of taxpayers’ dollars and done little or nothing to improve America’s internal situation regarding dependency and culture and, arguably, have made it worse.
EDWARD A. WATKINS, LILBURN
