Letters on Confederate flag, same-sex marriage, Obamacare, Boston bomber

Don’t include a flag of sedition

An article on the Confederate battle flag being among 13 flags at a pavilion at Wichita’s Veterans Memorial Park mentioned two opposing viewpoints (June 24 Eagle). One is that the flag symbolizes our country’s shameful stigma of slavery. The other is that it represents Southern white heritage. But there are two additional and extremely important issues.

The first is that it has only been fairly recently that the flags have flown on capitol domes and grounds of states formerly a part of the Confederacy. In each instance, they were displayed as protest to the civil rights movement of the 1950s and ’60s when “segregation now, segregation forever” was the prevailing sentiment.

The second and more important issue is that the citizens of the 11 states that chose secession committed high treason. In fact, President Lincoln called them rebels, not confederates, because they were fighting to dissolve the Union.

Given these two truths, one wonders why the flag in question became part of the Wichita memorial in the first place. The other 12 flags symbolize heroism and honor, and we do the honorable heroes who fought and died to defend them a disservice when a flag of sedition flies in their midst.

Flag furor

Two weeks ago, 90 percent of those now railing against the Confederate flag didn’t give it a thought. When asked to draw it, they probably couldn’t. Now those crying for the removal, if not outright banning, of the flag have goaded the mindless masses into thinking they have to feel the same way. When did the citizens of this great country quit thinking for themselves?

Does the Confederate flag represent racism or evoke memories of slavery to some? Undoubtedly. But as many others have pointed out recently, the Stars and Stripes flew over a “slave nation” far, far longer than the Stars and Bars or the Confederate battle flag did. Will our beloved symbol of freedom be next on the list when some group decides it must go?

The wide-eyed, righteous fury that some of these Confederate flag opponents display is reminiscent of the hate groups they say they oppose. In these people’s minds there is no room for tolerance, nor for allowing a diverse society to accept that what may be one man’s heritage is another man’s hate.

We know that right now this is a hot topic, but give it three to six months and the furor will die down, as these things always do. Now is not the time for knee-jerk overreaction.

Impeach justices

The U.S. Supreme Court made a faulty, disastrous decision in ruling that bans against homosexual marriages are unconstitutional. God our creator made the institution of marriage (Genesis 2:24, Mark 10:9). God abhors homosexual practices (Leviticus 20:13, 26:15,16).

Homosexuals need our love and compassion to help guide them out of an unfulfilling, sad, unhealthy lifestyle to the way God made them to be.

The Supreme Court ruling is a step toward destroying marriage. It fulfills some liberals’ agenda in wanting the state rather than the family to raise the children. The state will teach the children humanism and atheism instead of loving and serving God by caring for one another.

The Supreme Court cannot rule on marriage, because marriage is not even mentioned in the Constitution. Article 10 of the Constitution states: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

I call for action by our House of Representatives for impeachment of those justices who supported this ruling, and for the Senate to conduct a trial so that they will be removed from office for their bad behavior in decisions that will destroy our country.

No U.S. apology

Some of the survivors of the Boston Marathon bombing commented on the courtroom behavior of the young man who said that he and his brother planted the bombs (“Bomber breaks his silence with apology,” June 25 Eagle). He was then sentenced to death. He also said he was sorry about the deaths he had caused.

Some survivors said they forgave him; others said he had not apologized for “terrorism,” nor had he condemned “terrorism” in general. Two survivors were angry that he had called on his god and mentioned his religion, which they thought was inappropriate.

So far I have not heard any Americans in authority apologize to the people of Afghanistan, Waziristan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Palestine and so on for the deaths of hundreds of people from U.S. bombs, some delivered by drones, or military aid. Now the United States is sending tanks for NATO to put on the borders of Russia. Do you think that might make Russia angry? Anyone remember 1961?

We are so lucky that American exceptionalism allows us to do anything we please.

Speedy justice?

The article about the death penalty conviction of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev for the Boston bombing included the statement: “It could take years or even decades for his appeals to work their way through the courts” (June 25 Eagle). This, after he admitted guilt, seems incredible. What kind of “justice” is this?

This story was originally published July 1, 2015 at 7:03 PM with the headline "Letters on Confederate flag, same-sex marriage, Obamacare, Boston bomber."