Opinion articles provide independent perspectives on key community issues, separate from our newsroom reporting.

Sound Off

Sound Off for May 10

Then-third-grader Logan Gibson receives help from a classmate while learning the cursive alphabet at White Lick Elementary School in Brownsburg, Ind., on April 22, 2011. The reading and writing of cursive has become less common to a growing number of young people as many school districts are spending far less time teaching it. Lawmakers in Washington state are considering a bill that would make the instruction of cursive writing mandatory in all schools.
Then-third-grader Logan Gibson receives help from a classmate while learning the cursive alphabet at White Lick Elementary School in Brownsburg, Ind., on April 22, 2011. The reading and writing of cursive has become less common to a growing number of young people as many school districts are spending far less time teaching it. Lawmakers in Washington state are considering a bill that would make the instruction of cursive writing mandatory in all schools. Peter Stevenson New York Times File Photo
Can't be taught

Common sense is a basic ability to perceive, understand and judge things in a logical manner. I don't think it can be taught. You either have it or you don't. And unfortunately, there are a lot of people out there that don't.

Turn out the lights

Will the last person to leave the Republican Party please turn off the lights?

Use your heads

Comparing no shirt, no shoes, no service to the discriminatory HB1523 law is ridiculous. No shirt, no shoes in a restaurant is a health hazard. Being a member of the LGBTQ poses no health hazard to the other patrons of a restaurant. Come on, people, let's use our heads a little better.

Enable job creators

Net job growth (gains minus losses) has been negative under Obama. A lot of the job gains have been in government employment, which adds little to economic growth. With a reform of taxes, regulations and monetary policy, job growth could be so much higher. Unreasonable taxes, regulations and monetary policy keep entrepreneurs and investors from putting their money to work instead of sending it to Washington. Reasonable taxes, regulations and monetary policy translate to higher capital investment in labor, equipment and facilities, all of which means putting more people to work.

What?

Recently my sister gave her 12-year-old granddaughter a gift that she bought on a trip. Her granddaughter looked at the label of the item and said that she couldn't read it, because "it was in cursive." My jaw dropped. What is wrong with our school system that they don't teach a kid how to write? Do they not realize what they are doing? Put a copy of the Declaration of Independence in front of one and what happens? They can't even read the very document on which our country was founded. The most prominent signature in our nation's history can't be read by present-day students. John Hancock is rolling over in his grave.

Proposed protocol

It is clear that a person's sex can be altered for all practical purposes, and no reasonable person would deny a completely transformed individual the right to live as fully as possible as a member of their new gender. The problem is those in transition and determining who is sincere and who is putting on. So, why not establish a formal process of changing a person's gender once all of the body parts have been changed (i.e., doctor's certificate/legal documents)? Prior to that, the person lives as his or her birth gender and uses the public facilities for that gender.

This story was originally published May 9, 2016 at 7:23 PM with the headline "Sound Off for May 10 ."

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