Religious inspiration; dangerous ‘goo’; a look at headlines

Religious inspiration

Hats off to letter writer Sajeel Malik for condemning the murderers at Charlie Hebdo and the hypocrisy of Saudi Arabia. I understand it is risky to do so.

According to scholars, immediately after gaining power, Muhammad ordered two of his critics executed for having ridiculed him in satire and song.

Today’s cutthroats are following.

On the other hand, the satirical cartoons of Charlie Hebdo and the massive French anti-Islamic response is not what Jesus would do.

Charlie Hebdo’s provoking violence, even war, is strictly contrary to the gospel of Christ.

I am not aware that Jesus ever ridiculed anyone.

— Al McCann,

Colleyville

Dangerous ‘goo’

I thought the report on bird “goo” in San Francisco (“Officials begin testing mystery goo as bird death toll rises,” Wednesday) was very interesting.

It raises several questions about the effects of our actions on the environment.

It’s nothing new seeing coastal birds coated with oil that has spilled, but this is something different.

The fact that we don’t know what the birds are covered in, the “goo,” is concerning.

It shows how pollution can really hurt the environment.

It is also very costly.

As the article stated, it costs $10,000 a day to help clean the birds and even then there is not a high rate of survival.

I’m glad you decided to cover this story and it helps raise awareness.

— Garrett Basham,Fort Worth

A look at headlines

Sunday’s headlines included “In Austin, a $4 million Texas party”; “Perry veto put an end to inquiry into no-bid contracts”; “Obama to call for more taxes on the wealthy”, and “51 percent of public school students are poor.”

The report covered Gov. Rick Perry’s evisceration of the Travis County Public Integrity Unit’s investigation into public corruption of the governor and his appointed commissioner’s no-bid contracts for more than $40 million.

However, the report failed to mention the $300 million in economic development funds Perry gave to companies that didn’t even apply.

Not surprisingly, our former attorney general, Gov. Greg Abbott, failed to investigate this sham process and prosecute the officials.

Again not surprisingly, the same big-business enterprises getting taxes reduced, and benefiting from no-bid contracts and grants, also paid for this $4 million celebration.

The rich get richer and the poor get poorer, while 51 percent of our student population in public schools are in poverty.

Wonder why?

— Michael S. Tomasic,

Burleson

This story was originally published January 23, 2015 at 6:50 PM with the headline "Religious inspiration; dangerous ‘goo’; a look at headlines."