Letters, 11/4: Have journalistic integrity

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I take it that Journal Star editors are homophobic. Why else would they decide to not run a “Bizarro” cartoon merely because it uses the word “lesbian.” Or was it the witch part and you fear satanic influences.

Grow up, join the 21st century and have the journalistic integrity to put something in this paper that might be controversial to the public and take the consequences.

A newspaper, of all things, should never curb someone’s freedom of speech.

Lauren Bourke, Lincoln

Drop ‘Pearls’ comic, too

The comics editor finally agreed with many of us and chose not to run “Bizarro” on Oct. 31. Hooray!

Now if you would also drop “Pearls Before Swine” and return our former favorites.

Comics, I assume, are supposedly for children, and I doubt if they see any humor in a case of frozen zebra meat.

Gayle Eckman, Lincoln

Kudos to veterans officer

The Lincoln Journal Star Oct. 26 front-page story describing York County commissioners’ frustration with veterans service assistance officer Don Sandman is, to me, a story about everything that’s right — and wrong — with Nebraska public officials today.

The story describes how Don Sandman works overtime without pay to help vets outside of York County apply for federal disability benefits. As the story points out, any veteran living in Nebraska can seek help for federal assistance from any county veterans service office. They are excluded from helping vets outside their counties receive any state disability.

This is where the rubber meets the road and where the county commissioners should think twice before reprimanding Sandman for doing his job so well that outsiders seek his help. Maybe a bonus or at the very least a formal recognition of his passion for helping any vet is in order.

I can’t disagree with concerns for budgets as money is tight everywhere, but what good is government, local, state or federal, if it doesn’t help those who have served their country?

A strong case can be made that those vets receiving help from Sandman spend some time shopping or eating in York County and therefore help the local economy.

Kudos to Sandman for his passion and perseverance and doing his job so well that a neighboring county’s veterans assistance office seems jealous. Whatever York County is paying Sandman, it’s not enough.

Scott Svoboda, Lincoln

Farm aid article slanted

I was troubled to see the Journal Star publish a very slanted article (“Doctors link obesity with U.S. farm aid,” Oct. 28) about a very real issue.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) is far from a “physicians” group. Numerous media outlets, including Newsweek, have reported that fewer than 5 percent of PCRM’s members actually are physicians. 

For clarification, the beef industry does not receive any direct subsidies from the government. At best, some producers are eligible to receive cost-share dollars for conservation programs that help beef producers promote dual strategy land management — produce food (beef) and sustain natural resources (water, wildlife, etc.).

Actually, PCRM is a masquerading animal rights activist group with operational, financial and even foundational ties to the radicals at the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). PCRM’s true motive is to promote extreme diets that are based upon their animal rights agenda, not wisdom.

Hopefully your readers recognize it is best to seek nutrition advice from registered dietitians who truly are motivated by, and concerned for, individual nutrition needs. Credible organizations such as the American Medical Association and the American Dietetic Association emphasize the importance of exercise and recommend a diet with variety, including lean beef.

Michael Kelsey, Lincoln, executive vice president, Nebraska Cattlemen

Skimping on roads bad move

We are in a world of hurt. For the past seven years this country has gone on a spending rampage in some areas and on a skimping rampage in others.

We have spent literally hundreds of billions of dollars on a war in the Middle East that, in my opinion, has been a folly for the Bush administration and its cronies.

At the same time, we are skimping at home on the infrastructure of our country.

We see evidence of this almost every day in the news with bridges that have failed because of their useful lives being exceeded and towers that fail and fall.

The same thing is happening with our highway surfaces. We have gone into a phase of preservation instead of construction because of funding cuts both from the state and federal levels.

This is directly because of the failed policies of the Bush administration and our Republican governors that are in lock step with Bush. All of the politicians are afraid of doing the inevitable, which is raising taxes to cover the cost of fixing our aging and failing infrastructure. This is true for our educational system, our health care system and national parks, to name a few.

We can only put off paying for just so long, and then we will be in deep enough that there won’t be any choice but to spend the money on fixing and catching up with the neglect that has gone on for years. And when we finally do have to fix these problems, it will be at a greater cost than it would have been because of inflation. It just does not make any sense to continue down the road that we have been on since 2000.

I hope this bit of insight brings awareness to people and helps take us off of the road to destruction and put us back on the road to national pride that has been missing for so long.

Donald C. George, Lincoln

Fans should be ashamed

I read with disbelief that parents (I dare not call them adults) were harassing Coach Kevin Cosgrove at his son’s football game. 

I thought Nebraska fans were supposed to be the best fans in the country.  When things get tough, is the best way to handle it to disrupt a high school football game with childish behavior directed at one student’s father?

I can only hope that each parent realized after the fact what a horrible example they made of themselves in front of their children. I am embarrassed for everybody concerned but most of all for these inconsiderate people who think they need to make a public display of their frustrations.

Put it in perspective, people. I know Nebraska football is a cash cow for the state, but the sun does come up the next day after a loss.

Coach Cosgrove, please do not judge all Nebraskans by the actions of these idiots.

I would like to see each one of those parents admit to their children they were wrong and write Cosgrove a letter of apology.

Judy Keen, Lincoln