VIEWPOINTS
JULY 14, 2016 • COMMUNITY RECORDER • 9A
COMMUNITY Editor: Nancy Daly, ndaly@communitypress.com, 578-1059
EDITORIALS | LETTERS | COLUMNS | CH@TROOM
CH@TROOM THIS WEEK’S QUESTION Kings Island is hinting that it may build a new roller coaster in the park’s Rivertown area. What is your favorite roller coaster, at Kings Island or another park? What types of rides would you like Kings Island to add? Every week we ask readers a question they can reply to via email. Send your answers to ndaly@communitypress.com with Ch@troom in the subject line.
Last week’s question What book have you read or what movie have you seen this summer that you would recommend to others? Why?
“Just in time for the Summer Olympics, James Patterson has released ‘The Games,’ an exciting fictional look at upcoming Rio. And having been there in February, a lot of the details were pretty much spot on. #gladIwentwhenIdid”
Pamela Robinson Porter
“I just read ‘The Fireman’ by Joe Hill. He’s Stephen King’s son. I like his books better than his dad’s. This was not scary on a horror level, more of a psychological one, a little bit like ‘The Stand.’ Easy read, easy to follow and very good.”
Cindy Long Neuhaus
“I would recommend the book ‘Sunny’s Nights: Lost and Found at a Bar on the Edge of the World’ by Tim Sultan. “It is a true story of a small bar in Red Hook, Brooklyn, its eccentric owner and the friendship that develops with the book’s author. “It is told in a series of vignettes centering around the bar and it bridges the American past with the present, but creates a place that seems timeless. “Sunny, the bars proprietor, passed this past year, but his talents, stories and generous spirit live on in this book.”
C.S.
“I recently watched a five-part made-for-TV movie concerning the 1995 OJ Simpson trial. While I paid some attention to that trial this movie gave me a lot more detail and refreshed my memory on many points. OJ certainly had the best ‘dream legal team’ money could buy and they got him off. The prosecution made several key mistakes that played into the dream team’s traps. However OJ was found guilty in the follow on civil trial where he had to testify. He was charged with paying $33 million to the injured parties. Years later he was sentenced to 33 years in prison due to an armed robbery attempt in Las Vegas.”
T.D.T.
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Cincinnati.com/northernkentucky
Libraries are for the birds I love my book club. It’s been going about five years now and has drawn a great group of people. We call it Real Men Read, but there’s an equal number of women there at most meetings. You’re welcome to join us. We focus, to be honest, on books that I like: adventure stories, biographies and the occasional historical ficJ.C. Morgan tion novel. One of my COMMUNITY RECORDER GUEST book club COLUMNIST members, Tom, and I went to breakfast a month or so back. He is interested in birdwatching and I wanted to ask him questions. Tom had several bird identification books, each with a unique way of presenting information. Everyone doesn’t learn the same way. I checked out a pile of them from the library to see what worked for me. We’ve got bunches of books about birds in the library, some for kids and some for adults. Some are focused on Kentucky, some the Midwest, and even some on Arctic birds. As I say, everyone learns a different way so having a wide selection to consider was very cool. For instance, “The Crossley ID Guide: Eastern Birds” (Richard Crossley) has wonderful photographs. He incorporates different views of birds, even as seen from various distances, on a background similar to their natural environment. It
was a new approach to bird identification guides when published but reviews told me that it might be better as a shelf reference than a field guide. They were right: it’s a heavy book. Tom had recommended the “Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America” (Kenn Kaufman). Kaufman also uses actual photographs in his guide, but he digitally enhances them to bring out the most prevalent identification marks. It’s very portable and compact, but I was not satisfied. The “New Stokes Field Guide to Birds” (Donald Stokes) was better for me, it’s less compact but still with actual pictures of birds in their environments. The information on each bird is a bit abbreviated but, as a field guide, I liked it. Now I own my own copy. One more book stood out after I’d looked at the library’s copies: “The Sibley Guide to Birds, 2nd Edition.” Sibley illustrates his books and focuses on the best identification marks. He draws numerous views of each bird: juveniles, males, female, spring/summer colors, and winter colors. It’s really a fantastic reference. I bought a copy of that as well. I don’t buy books often. I work in a library, remember. Still, having a library with so many options for me to review and consider is incredible. Give it a try when you start your next hobby. J.C. Morgan has been a librarian for 18 years and director of THANKS TO ALFRED A. KNOPF & PANTHEON BOOKS the Campbell County Public “The Sibley Guide to Birds, 2nd Edition” offers numerous illustrations of each Library since 2003. bird: juveniles, males, female, spring/summer colors, and winter colors.
Hillary Clinton should not be above the law It is said – and most of us have spent our lives believing – that we are a nation of laws. If the FBI’s decision to not prosecute Hillary Clinton is accepted, we will have become a nation of two sets of laws: one for the Clintons, and one for everyone else. On July 5, FBI Director James Comey held an astonishing press conference in which he delivered a scathing rundown on Clinton’s wrongdoings in handling classified information and national security during her tenure as Secretary of State. The FBI showed clearly that Clinton violated classified procedures and carelessly, recklessly endangered national security – and did so repeatedly, over 100 times. The FBI then announced she would face no charges. This is an outrage, and the rule of law has been shattered. Any career civil servant or
military offer who had been so “careless” with national security and classified information would have had his or her Rand Paul security clearCOMMUNITY RECORDER GUEST ance stripped COLUMNIST at a minimum, possibly been fired, and certainly have been open to criminal charges. In fact, when one ambassador chose to use his own email server to send his traffic, in violation of a multitude of laws and procedures, the State Department cited it as one of the main reasons for his ouster. The Secretary of State at that time? Hillary Clinton. The Justice Department prosecuted NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake with charges that could have led to 35 years in prison.
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General David Petraeus was charged and pleaded guilty to similar classified breaches; he faced two years probation and a $100,000 fine. There are plainly written laws about this – Title 18 USC Sections 793 and 798, among others. The FBI director singlehandedly changed the meaning of the law July 5 when he decided that if the intent to harm was not present, then there is no violation. That’s clearly wrong both by plain reading of the law and by practice of previous prosecutions. Gross negligence is the standard, not intentional harm. The top law enforcement officers in our country should know this. But the rules and laws are apparently for the other people, not for Clinton. It’s disgusting, and it should preclude Clinton from ever holding high office again. How can we trust someone to be Commandeer in Chief who would not even qualify for a security clearance if her name weren’t Clinton? And how do we tell the people who have faced the consequences that though they received punishment, Hillary gets off with nothing? We shouldn’t have to. The FBI should be better than this. The Justice Department should be better than this. How did this all come about? Well, we don’t know for sure, but it sure smells funny. Last weekend, we learned former President Clinton met
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This is a loss for the rule of law and further degrades Americans’ faith in the justice system. with Attorney General Loretta Lynch – and the FBI director’s boss – in private. Three days later the FBI director announces no charges are being brought against Hillary Clinton. The appearance is terrible. The decision is astounding. People have gone to jail for far less severe breaches of classified information and national security. Director Comey and the Obama Administration Department of Justice made it clear to the American people, and all those being unfairly prosecuted by the DOJ, that there is no accountability and no justice. Today, they made it clear that the Clintons are allowed to live by a different set of rules. This is a loss for the rule of law and further degrades Americans’ faith in the justice system. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is a member of the U.S. Senate.
Community Recorder Editor Nancy Daly ndaly@communitypress.com, 578-1059 Office hours: 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday See page A2 for additional contact information.