Watching Queen’s funeral, we saw how grownups behave. Could U.S. have done as well?

Model behavior

While watching the solemn coverage of the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II on the BBC via KET-TV, I was struck by the feeling that, after almost 250 years of our American experiment in democracy, the British are still the grownups between our two peoples.

How so? As the funeral proceedings unfolded, many thousands of British people of all ranks and backgrounds gathered as one to bid farewell to a revered monarch. As they did so, not a single incident of disruption was reported. Instead, people stood politely for hours in “queues,” reflecting their late queen’s own demeanor of dignity, respect, honor, duty, restraint, and, when the situation demands it, gravity.

Do American leaders in politics, business and the media set an honorable, mature and restrained example like the queen’s for their own citizens? Would grownup behaviors prevail in a similar occasion on this side of the Atlantic? Or would we be more likely to witness the common and juvenile behaviors of heckling, jeering, short tempers, protest, conflict and even violence?

Arthur T. LaBar, Richmond

Paying respects

On the news on Sept. 18, I watched the lines of mourners passing Queen Elizabeth’s body. Thousands upon thousands of people were paying their last respects. After a commercial, the news shifted to the videos taken in Ukraine where workers meticulously unearthing hundreds of innocent civilians murdered by the Russians in Izyum.

“What a world,” I mumbled to myself. Not that I thought the Queen should have been hastily buried and forgotten in the mud like the Ukrainians had been, but rather that each of the Ukrainians should have been buried and remembered like she was.

John Clark, Keene

Big “Thanks”

A HUGE Thank You to the Owner - Chris - and all his Staff at Gold Star in Bellevue, KY. They allowed us to have a fundraising night where they donated a portion of proceeds and even put in extra money to help Eastern Kentucky Flood Victims out.

Today they presented us with $400.00!!!!!

That is enough money to buy a load of items to fill up the cargo van to take the Eastern Kentucky! We have already donated over 20,000 pounds of goods and products to the flood victims of Eastern Kentucky and with the Bellevue Gold Star’s help we will have another load to take down! Praise God!

Thank you for all that came out that night and participated and a very, very big thank you to the owner and all his staff. We appreciate all your help!

Reverend Robert Ashley Beagle, Wilder

Medical misinformation

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has a campaign ad out wherein he claims his superior ethics. This is an astonishingly hypocritical statement. This is a licensed physician who openly flaunted his disdain for medical science during the COVID pandemic. His blatantly inaccurate statements and stunning display of ignorance regarding viruses and vaccines undoubtedly endangered and possibly injured innumerable Americans.

The Kentucky Board of Licensure says they can do nothing since he is a Senator. Bull! He’s a quack, pure and simple and when he’s discussing medical issues he is speaking as a doctor — a licensed doctor.

Stay after the Board fellow Kentuckians. This is an embarrassment we shouldn’t tolerate.

John Vance, Versailles

Church separation

How does one separate Church and State?

If you are Baptist, Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, Protestant, Catholic or any other religion, it is part of your being and therefore impossible to achieve. The only hope for the democratic republic experiment is to start with the premise that our God gave us free will to believe the Truth as we see it. We should make every attempt to pass no law that infringes on every human beings’ right to that free will.

Laws that govern traffic rules of the road or laws that govern our actions, or our ability to hurt one another, criminally or civilly , do not infringe on free will. They give us guardrails to set up a free society. Laws that limit our free will, such as the recent supreme court decision on abortion rights, breaks down the separation of Church and State. It infringes on our right of free will.

Any person’s religious belief on what constitutes “life” is their opinion and should never be the basis of the “Law of the Land.” “Life” is a mystery that Man can never solve, so one religious belief does not deserve to be a universal law in a democratic society.

Tom Sweeney, Lexington

Responsible voting

It is time those who have watched and been silent these last six years to rise up to their responsibilities by voting this fall. In voting, we can empower those individuals of good character that promote good behavior. We need individuals who will have integrity, courage, loyalty to the country over party and, above all, honesty.

I am drained from the lies and ‘alternative facts’ of the previous administration that turned in to four years of over 19,000 lies. The denial of the Covid virus promoted a disease that accounted for over a million deaths in our country. The denial of climate change set us back four years and postponed alternative green energy to turn back CO2 levels. The strategy to divide our country by creating a cult movement of MAGA followers and the plan to overthrow our Electoral College vote has failed.

Unfortunately, we have numerous elected officials in Kentucky who have fallen under this cult following. They believe the “Big Lie” is true even though numerous court cases have shown otherwise. We need to vote out these politicians who follow fanatical ideology and bring back democracy and personal freedom to our nation. Just vote for the sake of our country!

K. Michael Newton, Frankfort

St. Cheney

U.S. Sen. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) could be the St. Joan of the Republican Party, defying power grabs by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Cal.) and saving the nation from lies and treachery against the Republic. Voters need to listen to Cheney’s fears about the Congress she knows: Harms awaiting our nation if GOP election deniers win local, state and Federal offices. They will become cruel, political bullies turning blind eyes to the antics of judges and the Supreme Court, ultimately declaring a New Constitution and Rules of Law written for them by them.

Liz Cheney swore her oath to God and Country before her party voting “NO” against them. Voters of both parties, and Independents, need to vote her courageous “NO” vote too this time. Americans love their country and understand their duty. On November 8th, remember Jan.6th, the violent vote stealers and the Capital deaths. The Rule of Law is ours - not theirs.

There will also be global sighs of relief. Winston Churchill, 70 decades ago, told a young Queen Elizabeth, “America saved herself again.”

We will save American again and again, so help us God.

Judy Rembacki, Georgetown

Book banning

It’s sad to read about book censorship or banning or whatever anyone wants to call it. Some of those who are banning books about race or personal identity are, no doubt, some of those who promote religious liberty. Do we really want these people choosing what anyone, adult or minor, can read? Religious liberty and sincerely held religious beliefs include female genital mutilation, and animal and human sacrifice. After all, religious liberty isn’t just for self-styled Christians.

If a parent doesn’t want their child to read a particular book, it is up to them to prevent it. It is not the business of the public to decide what someone else can read. Before a parent decides to ban a book, they should read it. People who can’t distinguish fact from fiction, or reality from fantasy, shouldn’t be allowed to have a say in other people’s choices.

Glenna Brouse, Lexington