Guys with guns; trade deal; Clinton favors; fracking; Rebel mascot
Guys with guns
A reader recently accused us unarmed Texans of overreacting in our objection to open-carry legislation.
But he didn’t explain how, if we’re walking down the street, dining in a restaurant or picking up a six-pack in a convenience store, we will be able to tell the good heat-packing guys from the bad heat-packing guys.
Will they be wearing signs?
— Bill Youngblood,
North Richland Hills
It’s time to realize that guns do not make communities safer.
There is no security in living in an armed camp where neighbors distrust their neighbors.
The best way to reduce gun violence is to build strong communities where respect and tolerance are the norm and neighbors know and trust one another.
You cannot build trust with a Glock.
— Karen Myers, Fort Worth
Trade deal
Considering all the buzz about the trans-Pacific trade deal, the most interesting thing is that staunch conservatives in Congress are lining up to give President Obama more power.
The explanation for this new power — the dread of which was the groundwork for most of the conservatives’ campaigns last fall — can be found, I expect, in the people who most benefit from the deal and who were the most generous benefactors of these politicians.
— Patrick Crowley, Arlington
Clinton favors?
The Clinton Foundation is open for business. Apparently, for quite some time.
These two career politicians know how the system works.
The favors you seek can easily be obtained via money to a feel-good middleman — our foundation.
The Gates Foundation, for example, has no other business than contributing to worthy causes and charities. Nothing is expected in return, with the possible exception of a tax deduction.
Expectations for favors from the Clintons, once in the White House, are quite high for contributors, as they were when Hillary Clinton was secretary of state.
We have the worst Congress money can buy, just like this foundation.
It makes me sick to watch cold cash direct the business of our nation. The career politicians strike again!
— Bill Hodges, Colleyville
Fracking
As a U.S. Navy veteran, father, husband and a Texan, I am sick to only recently discover what it means to “drill here, drill now” and then see the earth beneath our feet hydraulically fractured (fracked).
Does this mean jobs for Texans? Sure. But it also means destroying the natural resource that is our land.
Why then do we allow “Big Oil and Gas” to line the pockets of our publicly elected lawmakers to put in place laws that prohibit local bans on these operations that damage our land?
It’s very unfortunate that so many locals are uninformed and under-educated about this industry.
Certainly we and the industry itself could devote our capital to research and development of better ways to go about hydraulic fracturing.
— Joshua Davis, Azle
Letters
Letters should be no longer than 200 words and must have a full name, home street address, city of residence and both a home and daytime telephone number for verification.
E-mail (preferred): letters@star-telegram.com; Fax: 817-390-7688
Regular mail: Letters to the Editor, Box 1870, Fort Worth TX 76101
This story was originally published June 25, 2015 at 5:49 PM with the headline "Guys with guns; trade deal; Clinton favors; fracking; Rebel mascot."