Dear Editor:
A big thank you to Kylie for her column about rain; it was just right for our tired land and our hearts. And now to have it in abundance in the midst of the drought is a miracle.
Also thank you to our plumbers, electricians, police, and fire people.
Thank you to the folks who have been repairing all the water leaks in town and indeed all those who keep our needs met. All are taking good care of the business of our real lives. I was rattled when whomever twice took down the electric/phone poles recently, and most reassured by the CDEC folks who worked night and day to restore them. I trust the police will find and bring to justice the perpetrators.
I believe most of us want our leaders to get on with the job of keeping our county safe, dean, and functioning smoothly with the addition of improvements to its infrastructure, schools, and hospitals. This takes clear-headed and civil discourse among our leaders and as well, the rest of us.
We have enough stressors in life without the added one of speech that causes anger, hate, and fear, so I hope a rain of good spirit will come to our minds as well.
Joan Sheski
Fetishizing Firearms
To the Editor,
I guess I need to respond to Mr. Guns, Etc. Loeffler's letter. He is exercising his right to promote his viewpoint and, of course, his business. It's “funny” how when mass shootings happen the NRA enthusiasts immediately go into defensive mode and strain the threads of logic to try to protect their “God-given” rights to weapon up while tossing off a couple of grunts about thoughts and prayers. It is constitutionally crucial (apparently) to maintain well-armed militias that try to overthrow the government and trample on the rights of the majority of voters and persecute already marginalized citizens. The Proud Boys (not a mature, grown man among them) are, after all, presumably well-organized (as the special committee is revealing) and, one would assume, regulated to some extent within their ranks. Who are gun apologists/promoters really protecting with their second amendment fetishizing? The thing is, once guns are designed, manufactured and marketed, they are out there—often not even in the hands of the original purchasers. Guns are out there and they fuel international wars, street wars and domestic grudges, but from what I can tell, there is barely even an acknowledgment that there is a gun violence problem. We do have a point of agreement though: guns are inanimate objects; therefore, guns can't kill people. Just like SUVs can't kill people on their own. My only problem with that line of thinking is that SUVs are not designed to kill as many people as possible in the shortest amount of time in the way that assault weapons are. That's the realm of gun manufacturers and their peddlers. Nevertheless, I will agree with Mr. Etc. in this regard. Guns don't kill people. Men kill people. That's a conversation worth having. From what I can tell, the new logic seems to be something like “as long as I have my guns and as long as Force (T)rumps democracy, I don't have to try and understand this dangerous and toxic masculinity or its effects on me, my family or the world. I don't have to examine myself because the problem is everyone else.” Remember, men are doing more than the lion's share of the killing everywhere, which means they perpetrate all the other crimes that come before actual murder: kidnapping, trafficking, enslavement? So, what do we do? Probably don't ever even want to think about that one, huh?
Brian Johnson
360-393-0039