Don’t cede your most intimate decisions to elected politicians

Personal choices

I’m a retired neonatologist who spent most of my career in private practice in Lexington.

I’m no “pro-abortion” supporter. Abortion for convenience is abominable, I don’t care what gestation. Abortion for challenging/disabling but manageable conditions is equaling unacceptable. However, sometimes there are situations that are beyond reasonable expectations of even short-term survival.

I’ve been in the prenatal “anomaly” conferences where medical details and expectations were discussed. I’ve participated in prenatal counseling when those same details and expectations were provided to the parents-to-be. I’ve been in the delivery rooms when extreme conditions presented and I had to make decisions and subsequent recommendations to the family. It’s an emotional situation beyond description.

Unless you’ve undergone the experience, unless you’ve been there, you can’t know what it’s like. For anyone, much less a politician, to claim moral superiority and proclaim absolute control of the decisions of others is unacceptable.

This is an agonizing state of affairs that should be suffered privately. Don’t cede your most intimate decision to anyone else who isn’t all in with you.

John Vance, Versailles

Supporting democracy

Voltaire wrote, “those who can make you believe absurdities; can make you commit atrocities.” That’s certainly true of supporters of former President Donald Trump storming the US capital, attacking capital police, and chanting “Hang Mike Pence.” It’s also reflected in numerous threats to public figures berated by Trump (Dr. Anthony Fauci, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Arizona State Rep. Rusty Bowers, and the FBI). Trump predicts more violence if indicted for any crimes.

Trump’s influence wouldn’t exist without elected officials who’ve enabled him. They’ve excused his behavior and dishonesty, and capitulated to his demands. In so doing, they’ve handed him an undeserved right to claim political persecution to any charge. Trump has responded by continuing to espouse absurdities while goading his followers to assault those he dislikes.

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul and U.S. Rep. Andy Barr (both Kentucky Republicans) failed to call Trump out for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection. They voted against a Commission to investigate the U.S. Capital assault and against a Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act. Barr also voted against the Presidential Election Reform Act and every Jan. 6 Congressional Committee subpoena issued for individuals with knowledge about events surrounding Jan. 6. Both men place party politics above our democracy.

If you believe in democracy, don’t re-elect those who’ve sabotaged ours.

Peter J. Wedlund, Lexington

Republican turn-abouts

Remember what the Republican super majority is doing to Kentuckians? They will shout about record levels of education funding but cut essential programs (again) instead. Or about increasing teachers’ pay but simply add a few dollars for districts to decide whether to pay for desperate needs or give a pittance to teachers instead. Or about fairer representation in voting districts but simply pick their voters through redistricting instead. Or about “protecting folks from malicious witch hunts” but pass the “hide the evidence” bill instead.

Kentucky Rep. Dan Fister (R-56) voted for that bill (HB 312) – twice. Once when it was rammed through both chambers, and then again after Gov. Andy Beshear vetoed it. The Republican supermajority decided it was better to let politicians decide what open records the public cannot see instead of our courts. Do we really want a supermajority dominating the process so much they shield themselves from voters, and act like we aren’t smart enough or aware enough to care?

We need balance in Frankfort, so please chose your politicians carefully instead of pulling a straight ticket. You might end up getting things you didn’t intend that were in the fine print they don’t want you to see.

Joe Graviss, Versailles

Slavery shame

Shame on the Herald-Leader and Aaron Mudd for being caught up in the “Old Kentucky Home” myth of happy, passive slaves being either skilled craftsmen or women doing traditional housework. Those who did the heavy agricultural labor of clearing land, working the labor intensive crops of hemp and tobacco, are just ignored. It is embarrassing and completely unnecessary that in order to promote the sale of an historical building (Helm Place), the paper finds it necessary to once again bring out that old myth of the “Happy Passive Kentucky slave.”

How did the Helms treat their slaves? It doesn’t matter because owning another human being is morally wrong. Period. Nor does it matter whether a Kentuckian owned 5, 50 or 500 people. The 1850 federal census blows away the myth that so few owned slaves. In fact 28 percent of white Kentuckians owned slaves. This Helm Place article is in contrast to the recent story about successful efforts to publicize the role of the Cheapside slave market .The only way to explain this embarrassing Helm Place article is to properly label it as a real estate advertisement.

Shame on the paper for sneaking it in as “journalism.”

Sally Wasielewski, Lexington

Inflation information

Some folks intend to vote for Republican candidates to express their frustration with inflation. Before you cast your vote, however, you might want to ask yourself how that worked for you last time.

Remember when U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell blamed our environmental regulations for our losses of coal jobs? Many took McConnell’s spin to mean that he had a plan. He won that election, but nothing changed. When asked what he intended to do to restore jobs, McConnell replied that there was nothing for him do. It’s entirely up the industry leaders to save jobs, he added. Voters found out there was no plan after the election.

Here are a couple things we know about inflation today. For one, our federal laws have granted the means for fighting inflation to the Federal Reserve Board. The current chairman is a Republican appointee. Another thing we know is that the whole world is struggling with inflation.

What the president and Congress might do is reduce our pain by use of public assistance initiatives. Republicans usually refuse such initiatives. So, a vote for Republicans would mean that we want a government that will watch your family go it alone.

Tom Louderback, Louisville

Defining terrorism

So Russian President Vladimir Putin says damaging a concrete, steel, and aluminum-constructed bridge is “terrorism.” No Vladimir, damaging that bridge - which by the way is already open again - is not terrorism.

Terrorism is attacking a country that did nothing to deserve it, torturing and killing thousands of civilians, and destroying their homes, schools, churches, hospitals, and railway stations. Terrorism is bombing people in their homes in the middle of the night. Terrorism is killing people for no reason other than they are Ukrainians. For the top Russian leader to compare the damaging of an inanimate object to the war crimes they are perpetrating daily in Ukraine is as bad as what the Republicans are now saying about the Democrats - that they are killing Republicans; that they are only interested in achieving power; that they are baby-killers; and that they are election stealers.

Come to think of it the Russians and the Republicans are very much alike aren’t they?

Jim Porter, Danville

Against Kentuckians

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul has two priorities — to retain his Senate seat giving him national recognition for future presidential elections and to promote Libertarian beliefs. His policy positions and Senate votes are driven by the latter. They do not reflect the needs of citizens or this state. Our economy relies upon significant federal funding for institutions and direct payments to citizens.

He supports draconian federal government cuts in size and spending including tax cuts. This threatens the elimination of or the drastic cuts to all social safety net programs benefiting millions of Kentuckians and communities. He has also called for the elimination of the Earned Income Tax Credit, and Child Tax Credit, as well as proposed increasing the retirement age, and benefit cuts for upper middle class earners.

Sen. Paul is obsessed with federal balanced budgets and deficits. He voted against four COVID funding bills. Two other COVID bills was by voice vote and he was not available to vote based on a personal COVID issue. He voted against “burn pits” legislation providing medical services to veterans serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the September 11 Victims Compensation Fund Act. He often votes against Kentucky interests based on budget and deficit beliefs.

Danny Shearer, Lexington

Forest damages

Twenty-five years ago, I hiked the Sheltowee Trace through the Daniel Boone National Forest. In areas that had been logged or overrun by ATVs, the woods were wrecked, and I got lost. I wanted intact beautiful woods that gave me energy and inspiration, but too often I entered the devastation caused by a timber sale where I felt bad for the forest and for myself.

For too long, U.S. Forest Service logging has expended the health of the forest. The newest timber sale proposed for the Redbird District will do damage on a grand scale: it will endanger the world’s largest red hickory, newly discovered in Kentucky; it will cause landslides and flooding by destabilizing the headwaters of the Kentucky River; it will remove precious mature trees critical to climate change mitigation; it will give invasive species disturbed land to overrun; and it will jeopardize endangered species.

Forest Service logging sales have done terrible harm for too long. We want undisturbed, mature forests not the erosion, and damage that logging causes.

Trina Peiffer, Frankfort

Opioid settlement

The Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission met in Hazard, Ky. this month to discuss the distribution of the Commonwealth’s portion of the $478 million opioid settlement. I have been in a program of recovery for over 20 years. I’ve lost countless friends and family to substance use disorder-related deaths. On a personal level, I have amends to make and hope to help others in their recovery journey.

Young People In Recovery (YPR) has helped Kentucky by building chapters and implementing programs using the same individuals that once needed help in their recovery. Although much progress has been made there is still much that needs to be done. We can and do continue to make changes. With help, we could expedite these and reach more people that could benefit from our harm reduction programs, our workshops, and our recovery support systems. If the cycle is not interrupted our community will continue to experience the same problems - homelessness, juveniles in the justice system and/or foster care, broken family relationships, and death. Today with substances such as fentanyl, the danger of death is more significant than ever. No one deserves to die because they have a disease.

Lynn Bradford, Hazard

Abolish the left... lane

Dear Lexington. It’s over... finished. The end has come. I think it’s time we stopped living a lie. Let’s stop deluding ourselves and just abolish left lanes on multilane roads. It’s clear none of you know how to use them.

What joy you must experience, what trance-like rapture in your vile heart, as you dawdle along New Circle Road, cars accumulating behind you. Passing lane? Never heard of it. Courtesy? Safety? Bosh! Those are nothing compared to the feeling of total accomplishment that fills you as you see that line of cars stretching back over the horizon in your rearview mirror.

I’m given to wonder what must go through your mind as you notice that cars are passing you on the right. Surely your eyes see. But why does the information not reach your brain? And, if it does reach your brain, why do you not react appropriately and GET OVER IN THE RIGHT LANE!

I’m tired of living this fiction. It wearies and enrages me, and it shames and demeans us all. Let us come together and accept our reality: close all left lanes.

And turn off your high-beams when there are other cars, you awful, awful monsters.

Aaron Miller, Lexington