Liberal cartoonist is bipartisan in offense
Mike Luckovich’s April 24 cartoon depicting Republicans in female bathing suits is offensive. These men have served or are serving their country. The cartoon should be offensive to Republicans, Democrats and every other American citizen. It was disgusting!
BOBBY ANDERSON, FORSYTH COUNTY
A self-absorbed society in trouble
I’d wager that Ms. Monica Richardson (“When home hits headlines,” Opinion, April 19) has never had to arrest a drunk young man outside a bar who’s obstructing justice. That aside, I agree that cameras are exposing the seamier side of our society whether in Charlottesville or elsewhere. In my opinion, our young people have too much exposure to the alcohol- and dope-infused antics by the Hollywood types offered on a daily and relentless basis by the media; especially that which reaches young and old by simply looking at some new handheld device. In public, I never see any discourse, I see people looking down at their newfound escape from reality hoping to avoid human contact. Charlottesville is in trouble and so are the rest of us.
JACK FRANKLIN, CONYERS
Teacher cheating not hard to foresee
“Nobody thought in a million years that teachers would falsify grades to get a raise.” That quote’s by our senior U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson. Shows how out of touch our representatives in Washington really are, doesn’t it? Johnny, here’s a news flash: Teachers in many cases were forced to change test grades in order to placate administrators who wanted to keep their school off the dreaded “failing school” list. Just like in corporate America, it’s the administrators that would benefit both financially and appearance-wise by high test scores, not the worker bees. Those bees were forced to change grades or risk getting bad performance reviews by those administrators or be fired for insubordination. You helped foist a bad law (No Child Left Behind) on America and now you’re working to get it renewed even though your own state opted out of it. Why? Not because the bar was set too high, but because it was ultimately unattainable. Despite this, you say the law “had a positive impact.” Johnny, if you’re that out of touch with how things are actually working in Georgia/America, maybe you should immediately resign your Senate seat and come back for a long, long look.
Those who can, teach. Those who can’t pass laws about teaching.
BRUCE BURNAMAN, WOODSTOCK
Comments about APS judge off-base
After reading Lawrence Schall’s (“Be Outraged at Failing Schools Not Educators,” Editorial, April 19) it seems as though his outrage was at the trial judge for being honest, transparent and empathetic in arriving at sentences that imposed appropriate consequences for those whose actions, inactions or conscious disregard for their professional duties led them to their day of reckoning. To take the trial judge to task for giving the defendants fair warning and more than ample time to consider taking a plea deal even after a lengthy trial and conviction (and now yet another chance with a resentencing hearing) is an opinion that I might expect from a career educator but certainly not one from a “former trial attorney.”
Dr. Schall no doubt has done great things as president of Oglethorpe, but according to his bio on Oglethorpe’s website, he hasn’t practiced law in over 25 years. Such being the case, Dr. Schall would likely never be qualified in court as an expert to render an opinion as to judicial professionalism and trial practice. Of course, the qualifications required to publish an expert opinion in the AJC is much lower than that required in court as is evidenced by the AJC publishing Dr.Schall’s piece and, some might argue, this letter.
JOHN F. PENDERGAST, ATLANTA
