Ocala Star-Banner readers share their opinion's on political cartoons, gun bans and the Republican part among other issues.

Poor taste
Kudos for the front page quotation of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “content of character”: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
Brickbats for the utterly tasteless and insulting cartoon on your editorial page on Jan. 21. You have slandered the office of the president of the United States. You have dishonored the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a leader for peace and brotherhood in our country. You have called into question the character of all African-Americans. With your “AA” in the background, you have trivialized an organization that has brought hope and recovery to millions of Americans.
On a day of celebration and the inauguration of our president, you have indulged yourself with tasteless humor that may not even be accepted in a backwoods redneck bar.
Your paper owes an apology to the community for the incredible lapse of judgment in running this cartoon.
Father Les Singleton
Church of the Mediator

Evil in our midst
In this national discourse of banning semi-automatic militarized weapons and magazines, what has been muted is the moral issue. Do we believe that the deaths of these innocents in Newtown are a worthy sacrifice, regardless of the temporary incarnation of evil, so we may have the pleasure of owning these weapons? Is it moral to minimize these deaths? And if not, why are we doing so?
We are made in the image of our Creator with the prowess of reason and creativity. We can distinguish good from evil. It is said that guns don’t kill people, evil kills people. It is the availability of these kinds of weapons that permit this evil-doing. Any argument for possession of these weapons accepts this slaughter.
They deny “a little creature, who can’t even understand what’s done to her, should beat her little aching heart with her tiny fist and weep to dear, kind God to protect her.” As we refuse to hear her cry and do nothing.
The proponents and merchants of these weapons care less of life and liberty and more of their political power and profit. There lies their rage. The rage of Herod and the slaughter of the innocent of Bethlehem as the families of Newtown prepare the bodies for the graves in the dead of winter. The Christmas story to them will forever not be the same.
It is time for all good moral men and women to abolish this evil from our land.
Joseph A. Vidal

Where’s the sanity?
After reading so many letters to the editor from angry people who think it’s their constitutional right to own any weapon of their choice and not understanding their thinking at all, it suddenly hit me today.
First, let me say that I’m sick and tired of people using the Constitution to justify just about anything their little hearts desire. That document was written over 200 years ago by well-meaning politicians of that time. But I don’t think any of us believe an AK-15 would have entered their minds, no matter how brilliant they were at the time.
The truth is, we have many laws that ban us from certain activities. Think about fireworks. In our state, the laws are very stringent. God forbid a child lose a finger or be burned due to a cherry bomb. But yet, those same people think it’s the right of any kook in their neighborhood to own a semi-automatic weapon capable of killing many people in one swoop.
What has happened to our sanity?
Patti Clark

The left and the truth
David Sirota’s column is about as laughable as any I have read. Military-style assault weapons? Really? A .22-caliber rifle is an assault weapon? It’s hard to pick out one point in his article that has a word of truth in it.
Opinions based on pure fabricated nonsense are of no value to anyone who reads your newspaper.
This is the big problem with the left. In order to get their way, they will say anything, true or not, as long as they believe it will convince the poorly informed.
Sirota is the poster boy for just that sort of tactic. Being dismissive of anyone who disagrees with him is a tactic employed by the left to demean, intimidate and distort opposing opinions.
Charles J. Piazza

Memory of an elephant
Alas, the poor Republicans! Their memories only revert to what happened 10 minutes ago.
Lest we forget, the debt crisis was created back in 2001 by a Republican president. Historians rate him in the bottom 10 percent of every president who ever served our great country.
Old Georgie II (I’m sure that Republicans won’t remember) was the genius who squandered all of Bill Clinton’s surplus by trying to be everyone’s friend, especially the rich, instead of saving for a rainy day.
He’s also the guy who started two wars that cost us trillions of dollars, not to mention our precious men and women who lost their lives over wars that were predicated on lies and deceit. One of these wars is still raging, and the money is still disappearing.
And, yes, Dubya also, if you could remember, had the debt limit raised by Congress 17 times, with no opposition.
If he had of taken care of our money instead of trying to impress his daddy and his other rich friends, we wouldn’t be in the dire situation that we are today.
But I forgot: Republicans only can remember what happened 10 minutes ago.
Thomas L. Hapner
Fort McCoy