Letters: Readers discuss Michael Vick, horse slaughter and war in Afghanistan
Unacceptable
Michael Vick does not belong in Kansas City. (July 28, 14A, “Michael Vick as a Chiefs coach: No and no”) He never did anything that wasn’t court ordered or driven by PR. He has no remorse and couldn’t care less about the animals he tortured and killed.
He has lost his right to have any part in the NFL, and the NFL needs to stand up and demand higher standards from all participants. There are enough good athletes of higher moral standards to fill these positions, which influence others.
We have different levels of crime and punishment for a reason, and those who commit high crimes should not be allowed to hold positions where children idolize and look up to them.
Those dogs were living, breathing, feeling, sentient beings. There is no limit to what Vick may be capable of, and some see him as a hero. It certainly speaks volumes for how sick our society has become.
Chris Koonce
Kansas City
No slaughter
As a responsible horse owner, I was troubled to read a July 24 letter urging horse owners to consider slaughter as “sometimes … the kindest way” to end a life. (8A)
The horse slaughter industry is a predatory, inhumane enterprise. Horses are difficult to stun appropriately and often endure multiple blows to the head in attempts to render them unconscious. When horse slaughter plants previously operated in the United States, the USDA documented horrific injuries to horses in the slaughter pipeline, even before they got to the plant.
Horse slaughter cannot be humane because of the unique biology of horses, which are skittish by nature — making accurate stunning difficult and death far from humane.
The only way to end horse slaughter and the export of American horses for slaughter is for Congress to pass the Safeguard American Food Exports Act. If this federal law is enacted, horses would be protected from opportunistic criminals seeking to profit from the predatory slaughter industry and from owners who abandon responsibility and send their horses to painful deaths.
Horses are not pets, but they are not food animals either. They deserve to have their lives end in a less horrific manner.
Robin Bales
Tonganoxie
No courage
For the seven years since Obamacare was rammed through without a single Republican vote, nearly every Republican in the House and Senate has vowed to repeal and replace the monstrosity. Numerous show votes were taken that repealed it, knowing that President Barack Obama would veto. And Republicans raised tens of millions of dollars on the promise of repeal and replace.
Now that President Donald Trump is in office, though, the cowardly and dishonest true colors of a number of Republicans have been exposed. The House, led by the Freedom Caucus, did get a repeal-and-replace bill passed. Though flawed, it eliminated the tyrannical individual mandates, the medical device tax and other oppressive regulations and taxes.
The Senate failed to pass even a much watered-down version that eliminated the mandates, though.
In 2015, all but one Republican senator voted for a repeal of Obamacare, but now seven voted against that repeal when it meant something. And Sens. John McCain, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins, who all campaigned on getting rid of Obamacare, voted against the new bill, thus killing it and no doubt covering for other senators.
This is yet another pitiful example of career politicians concerned only about perceived job preservation, even if it means going against their word.
Mark S. Robertson
Independence
Learn a lesson
The Vietnam War cost nearly 60,000 American lives and tons of dollars to fight. We lost, but there is a silver lining in our defeat. We no longer have troops in Vietnam. It isn’t costing us anything, and Americans are vacationing on its beaches.
If there had been a call for a winning strategy in 1967 for the Vietnam War, the correct answer would have been complete and unilateral withdrawal.
That would have been wise in Vietnam in 1967, and it would be wise in 2017 in Afghanistan.
John Chapman
Kansas City
How times change
Candidate Donald Trump: “We’re going to win. We’re going to win so much. We’re going to win so much, you’re going to be so sick and tired of the winning.”
President Donald Trump (revised to reflect reality): “We’re going to whine. We’re going to whine so much. We’re going to whine so much, you’re going to be so sick and tired of the whining.”
Peter Sloan
Kansas City
This story was originally published August 6, 2017 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Letters: Readers discuss Michael Vick, horse slaughter and war in Afghanistan."