Respect religious beliefs of all

My state representative for District 89 is Republican Candy Noble, and she is running for re-election. I do not know Noble personally, nor do I know yet for whom I will vote in the primary election.

Delivered to my mailbox recently were two flyers from the Texas Family Project stating that Noble “voted to make the 88th Texas Legislature the most pro-Muslim session in Texas history” and asked “Why is Candy Noble voting to celebrate Texas Muslims?”

This example of religious bigotry must be a result of Noble supporting a resolution to recognize March 23, 2023, as Texas Muslim Day, as did many other House members from both political parties. But I suspect it has more to do with the fact that Noble voted to impeach Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, and now she faces Paxton’s wrath.

I wonder if the Texas Family Project would insert Jewish, Hindu or Buddhist instead of Muslim if it helped them elect their chosen candidate. By the way, I am not Muslim, just a concerned citizen asking all of us to please respect others’ religious beliefs.

Jim Thomas, Allen

Censured for negotiating

Between newspapers, television and internet news, information is coming at us at a pace like we’ve never seen before. It is inevitable that some news items will slip by the average person. I’d like to offer a public service by highlighting a recent story that you may have missed. Apparently, stories such as this are deemed either too hot to handle or just not important to the mainstream media. But each week, you can find at least one item that makes you slap yourself in the forehead and scream, “Are you kidding me?”

Last week’s gem was given to us courtesy of the Oklahoma Republican Party. They “censured and condemned” U.S. Sen. James Lankford. Was he caught accepting bribes or guilty of inappropriate behavior? No. His “crime” was negotiating with Democrats on a bill to improve border security.

Lankford was dumbfounded by the move and remarked that he negotiated to give the Republicans what they asked for, but their response was, ” We don’t want a change in law because of the presidential election year.”

Slap! Are you kidding me?

John R. Dorgan, Flower Mound

Arlington, anyone?

Re: “What’s in a stadium’s name? Jokes, criticisms fly as new moniker favors Dallas over Arlington,” Tuesday news story.

Why are folks losing their minds over a name change for the soccer games? If Arlington is so incensed over the Dallas name, why don’t we call the Cowboys the Arlington Cowboys? Doesn’t that have a certain ring to it? After all, the Cowboys haven’t played in Dallas since 1971 or Dallas County since 2008. Better yet the Tarrant Cowboys.

If I were Dallas, I would sue Jerry Jones and Arlington for perpetuating a fraud with that name and demand payment annually for using the name Dallas Cowboys.

Gaylard French, Waxahachie

Try DFW Stadium

The stadium for the World Cup final has two names. Possibly we could call the one in our area Dallas Arlington or maybe DFW Stadium to represent the entire area.

Don DePuy, Richardson

Can’t blame liberals for gas bill

Re: “$361 gas bill for 63 degrees,” by Anton Skell, Monday Letters.

I share Skell’s frustration over soaring natural gas bills. Last month we paid more for natural gas than electricity at our home! I was right there with him until the last line of his letter, “Please vote for fiscal conservatives before we all go broke.”

No, our crazy utility bills are the result of 30 years of electing overwhelmingly right-wing lawmakers to every level of state government. In that three-decade run they have done what they always do — coddle and cuddle with the energy and utility industry, whose lobbyists have kept a torrent of campaign money flowing to Austin.

The result: — Texas taxpayers get to cover the industry’s losses from the February 2021 deep freeze. Plus, we’ll pay to beef up the grid, which the industry was supposed to be doing all along. It will cost us billions over the next 30 years. As a 2022 Dallas Morning News op-ed stated, “We are being cleverly asked to foot the bill for years of incompetence in Austin.”

We have given the far right in the Texas government more than enough time to prove they care about Texans. This is what we get. Are we not ready to try something else?

Andy Shaw, Dallas/Lake Highlands

Stop waving separatist flag

Re: “Texas is acting like California,” by Abby McCloskey, Jan. 21 Opinion.

I just want to applaud McCloskey’s comments about Texas’ winning attributes as a business magnet. I, too, want Austin politicians to realize that improving education will draw more business to our state than talking about the right to bear arms and red attitudes. Stop waving a Lone Star separatist flag and recognize that millions of middle-of-the-road good people live and work here.

Texans are a divergent and caring lot — whether families or singles. Politicians tend to see citizens through red- or blue-colored glasses, but we all (Texans and Californians alike) have health, educational and family needs. Don’t confuse that with your personal state power plays. We are a welcoming part of this nation’s future growth.

Elisa Berger, Carrollton

Who’ll stop the rain?

Another example of President Joe Biden’s incompetence. He has known for over a week of this impending storm coming to wreak havoc in California, yet did nothing to stop it. How much longer must we deal with this?

Jim Cargile, Plano

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