LETTERS

LITTLE ROCK — Appeal to poor questioned

This will probably be the angriest letter I’ve ever written, and there are plenty of government folks giving us plenty to be angry about, but I cannot go another minute without getting this off my chest.

The recent news story, “Lottery to sell its cheapest tickets,” reports that the Arkansas lottery is creating a newer and cheaper game “within reach of even the very poor.” Is this reporter Michael R. Wickline’s opinion or an unfortunate choice of words, or is this the sentiment and intent expressed by the lottery folks, specifically director Ernie Passailaigue? And did the Lottery Commission members sign off on this? Were they even advised?

Lotteries are still very appealing for many different reasons, not least of which is the hope expressed by desperate folks at the end of their ropes willing to play their last dollar in the vain hope of better days. Now one needs only a couple of quarters because our Lottery Commission, or whomever is ultimately responsible, wants “even the very poor” to have equal access to this abyss.

Have we lost our collective mind? Is our government so money-hungry that it cares not who it feeds on as long as the lottery gets more money for “college”?

Be careful, Arkansas. Be very, very careful.

MICHAEL P. DANIEL Magnolia

Insurance has a cost

Re Forrest Tracy’s letter about free medical care: Tracy earned free medical care for himself and his family because of the years he served in the military. That is good; taxpayers should pay for medical care for the military and their families. However, he seems to think, like so many others, that universal health insurance will be given free to so many and that that cheapens his earned free health insurance in the military.

Did Tracy overlook the word “insurance”? Insurance means you buy it, you pay a premium, so it’s not free. The difference between government-provided health insurance and that provided by private, for-profit providers is the phrase “for profit.” Those companies must make profits to satisfy their investors and to pay their top-level people grand salaries and bonuses. They get that money from the premiums they charge-very high.

The public option, as well as universal health insurance provided by the government, would only need to cover its overhead, about 3 percent; therefore, much lower premiums. Lower premiums, not for free.

Tracy’s suggestion to join the military to get free health insurance is just fine if you are young and fit enough. Many of the uninsured are not. By the way, does Tracy think that Medicare is free? Check it out, Mr. Tracy. It is not.

VIVIAN MICHAELS Bella Vista

Ethics shortchanged

Where is the anger at the lack of any sense of ethics in the way this White House, the Senate and the House have handled the heath care debacle, allowing senators and representatives like Ben Nelson of Nebraska to make deals that have his state winning favorable treatment to not have to pay any part of his state’s Medicaid program?

For a president to say there will be open, bipartisan meetings and discussions and then meet with only Democratic senators and representatives and take no input from the Republicans at all is totally arrogant. To me, this is a period to the end of a long sentence put upon this nation by Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and the Democratic Party.

The Democrats scoff at the polls showing that a majority of Americans don’t think this is the proper way to address this so-called problem. While the Democrats might think that we voters have a short memory and will forget by November 2010 and November 2012, it’s a shame they are only betting their jobs.

Once again we will be made to provide something to a minority of people at the cost and detriment of the majority. If this is the case, I would request that the federal government give me a tax credit to make this easier for me to swallow. It makes a person think that civil unrest should be contemplated against our so-called government.

DAVID M. WILKINS North Little Rock

Principles should rule

Within our pluralistic society, we as a people are confronted with numerous contemporary moral issues. Abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment, economic justice, environmental issues and world hunger are just a few.

When we as a people examine each contemporary moral issue, we must base our decisions upon sound, ethical principles through a consideration of the ideals of justice and human dignity. All moral issues must be analyzed upon rational, ethical principles that maintain a justified political order.

BILL BOATRIGHT Huntsville

Cartoons were cruel

I thought the recent cartoons about Mike Huckabee [regarding gubernatorial commutations] were unnecessarily cruel.

It is time for the news media to leave Huckabee alone. All he is guilty of is believing that a young man deserved a second chance. It is sad that the young man did not appreciate it.

According to authorities in Washington, one man alone was guilty of that horrible, horrible, heart-breaking crime [in which four police officers were killed]. I suggest that if there is anyone-and I say if-to share in the guilt, maybe it is the people who have insisted on removing the Ten Commandments from all public places.

INEZ ROSSI Little Rock

Display inadequate

I’ve had an opportunity to see firsthand the Winter Solstice display constructed by Arkansas Freethinkers. One analogy could be made. Perhaps those who erected it are as cold, hollow and empty as the box.

Does it celebrate the Winter Solstice? My opinion is that it does not. Where was the celebration? The cycle of seasons have been honored by man since before recorded history. I saw no such reverence in this display, only the propaganda of man.

THOMAS R. BLACK Saint Charles

There they go again

Barack Obama is trying to get banks to lend money. Then we taxpayers will have to bail them out.

The same old merry-go-round-rob Peter to pay Paul. We do have about $2 trillion invested in Social Security, but it has been spent.

JAMES BAKER Trumann

Good reason to fret

What is it about the Freethinkers’ display at the state Capitol that has Jerry Cox and his Family Council so angry and scared?

Hearing his comments on TV and reading his blog show him to be genuinely frightened by our display. Could it be that in the back of his fundamentalist mind he knows that people without religion are happy and enjoying their lives? Could it be he knows that people are increasingly using reason, logic and the scientific method to form their world view instead of the magic and mysticism he promotes?

Could it be that he has seen billboards put up by Freethinkers allover the country that read, “Can you be good without God? Millions are.” Could it be that he has seen the new American Religious Identification Survey that shows most religious denominations losing membership with the non-believer segment increasing rapidly? At 15 percent of the U.S. population, non-believers now outnumber the Baptists.

Yes, Cox and his Family Council have a good reason to worry.

KIRK DIXON Little Rock

Stance merits kudos

Hats off to state Rep. John Lowrey. You go, boy. It’s about time that Christians stand up for what they believe and defend the Lord that we serve.

I believe that all citizens have the right to their own beliefs, but the American Civil Liberties Union tries to impose its beliefs (or nonbeliefs) on everyone while Christians peacefully go about their lives doing what the Lord instructed them to do and that is to share the Gospel.

The Nativity scene is thousands of years old and should not have to share the same ground with the insulting display put up by the Freethinkers. Free thinking is why our country is in the state of moral decay it is in.

KARON LASSITER Bald Knob

State officer was right

Secretary of State Charlie Daniels did the right thing. That federal judge should be drawn and quartered and run out of Arkansas on a coupling pole. She came in here on a turnip wagon. What is a “Freethinker,” an idiot? A communist? A fool?

W.H. MITCHELL Guy

Let the voters decide

To borrow a phrase from the eminent American historian Edmund Morgan in his writing about delusional political fictions, “our own favorite fiction, the sovereignty of the people, the fiction that people are masters of their governors,” has never been more apparent than in the debate over health care.

The debate is a delusion. There are pro form a protests from the Republicans and hand-wringing from all sides of the aisles, but in the end does the will of the people actually play a part in the decision? Who wins and who loses in the debate is more a matter of scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours. It is not the benefit to the people that seems to matter. In the end, it is how much can I profit from selling my vote. It is merely a form of political prostitution.

The rush to send the bill to the president is indicative of the shallow thinking ruling the legislative branch. What is the rush if the benefits don’t even kick in for years down the road? Can they be worried because the tide of American thought (and approval ratings ) appears to be turning against this mad rush? Why not table the debate and let the people vote on the options, clearly stated options free of the give and take of politicians?

In Switzerland, that is exactly what they did. I don’t know that we need to adopt their health system, but I love the fact that it came from the vote of a free people.

R.J. MARTIN Emmet

Feedback Scam is suspected

Anybody watching the debate in Congress about the so-called health care reform bill could clearly see who helped pay for the elections of the honorable members of the House and Senate. They have been saying that Americans are too incompetent to run a real health care system.

All the other industrial nations’ health care systems cost less than half than the U.S. spends on health care. Does that mean they are more able and intelligent than Americans? I do not think so. Those health care systems can be easily judged by comparing the longevity of the different populations; the U.S. ranks pretty low.

Listening to all those speeches by our elected officials, I suspect we are being “Madoffed” again. The misdeeds of the big financial firms and Wall Street are being paid for by their victims, the American taxpayers, enabling those firms to pay big bonuses again. Nothing will change until we vote all those people in Washington out of office.

What about the “false statement statute,” Title 18, Section 1001?

OTTO MUELLER Mena

What did we get?

Democratic Sens. Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and others sold their votes for millions. Do you think our senators, Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor, will tell us how many millions they are bringing to Arkansas? Surely they didn’t give their votes away.

R.G. GILLSON Fort Smith