Letters to the editor for Sept. 19

Recognizing North Korea as nuclear power gives them less power

In 1982, I attended a Conference of Health Care Providers in Dallas. The guest speaker was Dr. Henry Heimlich. It was a big name then because of his fame due to the Heimlich maneuver. I am sure they expected him to talk about it. He did not; he talked about macroeconomics and the solution to the Cold War.

He gave a wonderful and clear speech about how the U.S. could gain a lot from free trade. He saw it as a way to introduce the American way of life to the common people of Russia. He suggested that if we could flood the country with consumer goods the people would demand them, and the central government controls would weaken. It worked.

Do you see that it was not Ronald Reagan’s idea that brought down the Berlin Wall but good advice from a medical doctor? It would work on North Korea as well. We need to stop wringing our hands over not calling them a nuclear power. They are. But so is Pakistan, a Muslim country, and we are still here. Recognition would not give him more power, but less. And the planet would be saved again.

First Amendment wasn’t created just for like-minded thought

On Saturday, Aug. 12, in Charlottesville, Virginia, racist white supremacists, neo-Nazis and Ku Klux Klan members came to protest the taking down of Confederate Civil War monuments. They got a permit, assisted by the American Civil Liberties Union in acquiring, because of their First Amendment freedoms.

The Civil War was about slavery. The monuments in question were erected long after the Civil War. As abhorrent slavery is and what white supremacists, neo-Nazis and the KKK represent, and as distasteful as those monuments may be to many Americans, they do not physically harm any individual. As such, they could be considered a form of freedom of expression. The First Amendment wasn’t created just for like-minded thought but to allow the right of other thoughts to be freely expressed, no matter how repugnant they may be.

I agree with Cheryl Chumley of The Washington Times, that rather than tearing down monuments, more should be built, ones that reflect the other side of history. Next to Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, have one of William H. Carney, of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment – the first African-American to receive the Medal of Honor. Next to Robert E. Lee, have a monument for Frederick Douglass.

What happened in Charlottesville wasn’t these racists fighting among themselves; there were those who opposed their views, along with the black masked antifa, with their clubs and pepper spray. One racist is responsible for one death and injuring 19 others.

In the aftermath, the ACLU was asking ‘Where were the police?’

MidAmerica Airport is a one-trick pony

MidAmerica Airport has stepped out briskly toward cashing in on their growing parking capability. Evidently it’s not like at a Cards game where you just pay a lot attendant $20 and saunter into Busch Stadium.

Their engineering consultant will cost taxpayers $140,000 just for a plan, not to actually do the work. MAA has their eye on a parking plaza design which costs $650,000.

Roman playwright Titus Maccias Plautus declared in 205 BC, “You have to spend money to make money.” Following Plautus’ advice the county has excelled at spending other people’s money to spur the local economy with little success at making any.

Rather than consultants, why not solicit bids to privatize the construction, operation, and maintenance of parking? Then someone else would have skin in the game and the financial burden would be off taxpayers.

Reality check! No contractor in their right fiscal mind would want a piece of MAA’s action. The airport is basically a one-trick pony. The county has disregarded Plautus’ other words of wisdom, “A mouse does not rely on just one hole.”

Unlike baseball stars like Albert Pujols, there are no guaranteed long-term contracts in the airline business. MAA has bet our farm on the future solvency of its sole flight provider, Allegiant Air.

If Allegiant should cut flights or pull out all together, the parking lot would immediately become a candidate for Guinness World Record’s largest outdoor blacktop roller skating rink. There are always skate rentals.

Space exploration boosts the economy

Space exploration provides our economy with a boost due to its capacity for technological innovation.

The commercial space sector has grown in importance with $314 billion added to the world economy, but the militarization of space presents problems for this sector. In the years since the end of the Cold War — when space activities between the United States and Soviet Russia were confrontational — the struggles of world geopolitics have projected themselves into space. Vladimir Putin’s Russia and China are seeking to challenge U.S. superiority in space. Destroying a satellite, which costs billions, can be accomplished by blowing it up. However, they can also be destroyed by something as small as a pebble.

Two years ago the United Nations discussed a European Union drafted plan establishing laws for spacefaring nations, but the efforts failed due to opposition from various countries – including China and Russia. Each and every satellite is at risk because not all members of the growing club of military space powers play by the same rules because there are no rules.

Arms control expert Michael Krepon feels space should be considered a part of the commons, a part of our economy that cannot or should not be reduced to private property. The benefits of the commons strengthen our economy. We might miss the potential of this segment of the commons until rules are established.

Apparently my views really grate on some

You again found it necessary to publish anther Leon Anderson screed totally devoted to my un-American liberal views. Anderson firmly believes that of the “thousands” of military officers he has known from his work as a civilian at Scott AFB that only a “handful” were of the “liberal” persuasion. As if they should all be Alt-Rights or they are un-American. Anderson early on reverts to the cop out of those who cannot destroy actual points of their adversary by employing an all-encompassing statement such as “there is no point in listing the numerous gaffs etc. etc.,” when in fact his argument requires he point out what he disagrees with and why.

Anderson then goes on to accuse me of not listening to “lower ranking people, military and civilian, because they did not agree with the colonel’s opinions”. It is not possible for Anderson to make that statement, as I had no contact with him during the two years we overlapped at Scott, and to my knowledge our staffs did not, in the normal course of work, have any contact. Also, as I retired 35 years ago, his memory would have to be exceptional for him to be able to recall any such deficiencies of mine from that long ago. My “liberal” views apparently really grate on him as he finds it necessary to label my previous letter contributions as “odious,” which is defined as “exciting repugnance.” Now I find that a bit strong for merely expressing the almost universal opinion that Donald Trump is a clown and a buffoon.

This story was originally published September 18, 2017 at 12:00 PM with the headline "Letters to the editor for Sept. 19."