Things to not forget
Re: "A sentient being", (PostBag, July 27) & "Why Bua Noi needs a sanctuary", (Opinion, July 17).
Maybe David Brown's recent observation about my obscure vocabulary might induce some people to source an old-fashioned dictionary from a bookshelf.
But no, silly me, electronic gadgetry will serve instead for the limited audience that remains interested in the discipline of etymology.
Actually, I still think "oubliette" is rather appropriate in Bua Noi's case and keeps the word alive. The horrific punishment probably still exists in this crazy world's darkest places and therefore should not be forgotten, so to speak.
Not voting for Harris
Re: "Harris holds talks with Bibi", (World, July 27).
Like most politicians, Kamala Harris talks out of both sides of her mouth. She says she cares about Palestinians being slaughtered yet libeled the pro-Palestinian demonstrators outside the White House as "antisemitic" (This despite the fact that many of the demonstrators were Jewish.)
Nowhere in her speech did she say she would cut off military support for Israel. Suppose I gave a known serial killer an assault rifle and then said:"Don't hurt anybody".
Would that be any more ridiculous than America telling Israel to stop committing atrocities and then giving them the military equipment to commit those atrocities? By withholding my support for Harris, I'm actually helping her. Because the only chance she has of defeating Donald Trump is by convincing the progressive wing of the Democrat Party that she has our backs.
If she loses in November don't blame me. Don't blame Green Party candidate Jill Stein. Blame the Biden administrator which made it morally impossible for me to vote for Harris.
Treat everyone equally
Re: "The irreconcilable Vance versions in 'Hillbilly Elegy'", (Opinion, July 20).
It seems that some in the land of the free are free to show prejudice against others that they see as different and usually as inferior even though everyone is equal by law.
Generally these prejudices are based on race, gender, religion or social status but it's possible US Vice President contender, JD Vance, has added one more category: "childless cat ladies". Not having children may be a deliberate choice or arise from a lack of opportunity or medical concerns but it doesn't make someone a bad person.
As to pets, including cats, it is clear they bring benefits to their owners in so many ways although I am not sure yet that my Jack Russell, Buddy, has made my life better. However, he's improving. Leaders, or potential leaders, should treat all people as equals in word, action and law.
'Naive British arrogance'
Re: "Cost of bearing arms", (PostBag, July 24) & "Guns on US streets", (PostBag, July 18).
Contributor KMAC thinks the second amendment to the US constitution confers "the right to bear arms in an organised militia," and interprets the meaning as "only in the context of an organised militia." The text reads, "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
In a definitive and exhaustively detailed Supreme Court ruling on the meaning of the second amendment, District of Columbia v Heller (2008), the court held self-defence was the central component of the amendment. That ruling is clearly representative of the majority of judges today and the US population as well.
KMAC imagines the "Letter from America of Alister (sic) Cooke (1993)" sheds a brighter light on the issue. All groom and bumble, an elderly media guy with no real world experience, Cooke's comment, "I do believe that an overwhelming majority of Americans both educated and illiterate simply do not know that the constitution does not proclaim any right to have a gun to protect your family, to shoot an intruder even to shoot a deer or a rabbit," epitomises naive British arrogance and an embarrassing elitism regarding the US constitution.
This is precisely why America has the Supreme Court and not wig wearing aristocrats interpreting the law of the nation.
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