Views from readers: Nancy Pelosi + Tate Reeves + the new flag
Bad choice?
I was so excited to see that Gov. Tate Reeves signed the bill to change our state flag.
We will now be united and not divided, he said.
Then I read on. The state flag “must” contain the words “In God We Trust.”
My heart sank.
We have now traded racial division for religious division. Thanks a lot.
Julie A. Nelson
Kiln
Dangerous shopping
Shopping has become very dangerous for us old folks lately.
Hardly anyone wears a mask and no one practices social distancing.
I am not agile anymore so it is a challenge to keep a safe distance from other shoppers - especially the young folks.
I have started eating a big bowl of 15 bean soup with brown rice garlic and green onions about an hour before I get to the store.
Social distancing now takes care of its self now.
Cecil Craft
Carriere
Movie parallels
I recently rewatched the movie classic “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
When it debuted in 1968, people were speculating about the significance of the mysterious monolith. The smooth, black, rectangular slab appears out of nowhere. In fear and wonder, a band of ape-like hominids (pre-humans) gather in its shadow.
As the Strauss overture builds dramatically to crescendo, the sun begins rising over the top of the mysterious structure.
I remember wondering: What did director Stanley Kubrick intend to impart here? Finally it dawned on me: The sun rising above the slab symbolizes the dawning of human intelligence.
Later, one of the hominids realizes that swinging a large animal bone against bones on the ground creates violent effects. Others notice. It dawns on them. It is a seminal moment.
The group had been driven from their water hole by a competing band of hominids. The newly enlightened band, wielding their weapons, banish the interlopers and reclaim their water rights.
Which calls to mind a seminal moment in the current era: Will it dawn on voters to banish the Fox-fueled White House interloper in time to reclaim our democracy rights?
Richard Harkness
Ocean Springs
Decision backfired
Nancy Pelosi’s attempt to help in a popular cause backfired.
Scott Martelle’s excellent June 21st op-ed in the LA Times was spot on.
Speaker Pelosi overreached when she ordered the removal of four former Speakers of the House associated with the Confederacy. While I support removal of Confederate generals and politicians from the U.S. Capital building, as a student of history, I feel the speaker’s action was wrong in this case. The portraits removed were those of former speakers that served in Washington before and after the Civil War.
Madame speaker alienated many moderate and independent voters that would normally support the placing of paintings and statues of key Confederates in museums and military parks. But, in their current effort to gain public approval, elected officials should not attempt to white wash the past.
Louis Skrmetta
Biloxi