LETTERS

LITTLE ROCK — More on those CFL bulbs

Allan Walker’s letter about new bulbs being better than old was very interesting. However, there are some things that should be considered. The amount of mercury is not much at all.

We have had compact fluorescent light bulbs, or CFLs, for many years and didn’t even know it. The tubularbulbs used in many bedroom closet ceiling lights are CFLs. The package for the tubular bulbs says that they are rated for 10,000 hours and the package on the new single CFLbulbs also says 10,000 hours.

One of the problems with the new CFL individual bulbs is where you dispose of those that have burned out. Right now the only place in the Village is the store/postal station on Callela Avenue. They are asking for a contribution of a quarter for each dead bulb to cover the cost of going to the site to dispose of them. Don’t know where that is.

When the old tubular bulbs burned out, I will venture that most people just put them in the garbage can and broke them up. That put mercury into the atmosphere. I have not seen any container in the county recycle station for any CFL bulbs. I would venture that most of the people today just throw the burned-out bulbs in the garbage.

The instructions on both the tubular bulbs and the regular CFL screwin bulbs say to dispose of according to governmental rules. What are those rules?

LLOYD HENNING Hot Springs VillageNo tax money given

The opinion of Craig Knight that reducing postal service would be a savings to taxpayers shows a general misconception that is held by many people. Let me set the facts straight.

The U.S. Postal Service does not receive one dime from taxpayer revenues or from the federal government in the form of operating subsidies. It must pay for all operating expenses solely from operating revenues.

In addition, for the first two months of its fiscal year, the U.S. Postal Service, despite a weak economy and a sharp drop in first-class mail volume, made an operating profit of a half-billion dollars. That is, until Congress took its cut in the form of prepayment to the retirement health care trust fund. Thanks to the “reform” law that Congress enacted in 2006, the USPS will once again have to turn over its profits to the U.S. Treasury, to which it already owes $917 million.

The bottom line is a net loss for November of almost a half-billion dollars.

RICHARD B. SCHREIBMAN FayettevilleGood advice ignored

After major strikes, riots and disorder, Spain’s socialist government struck a deal with its major trade unions to raise the retirement age from 65 to 67. France encountered similar results when it implemented a law raising the retirement age from 60 to 62 to rein in massive deficits.

In May 2010, the Los Angeles Times had a headline that read: “Rioting in Greece over debt-could it happen here?” The article explained that government workers were rioting to protest cuts in their salaries, benefits and pensions. The “could it happen here?” was a rhetorical question, but it is no longer.

We have a similar debt crisis in our cities, counties, states and at the federal level. President Obama, in true academic fashion, appointed a commission to solve the problem. It was headed by a Democrat and a Republican. Recommendations were delivered in time to allow the president to incorporate some into his 2012 budget. The budget ignores all the recommendations.

Wisconsin has a long history of budget shortfalls. They elected a spunky governor who pledged to balance the budget without a tax increase. When he began to fulfill his campaign promise and correct the $3.3 billion deficit he inherited, labor unions anddemocratic operatives from around the nation flocked to join the protest. Obama, who has demonstrated no budget balancing skills, has spoken out opposing the governor’s action.

PHIL PHILLIPS Fayetteville Where’s the support?

It has been determined that, with America’s educational system, we receive less return from our invested educational dollars than other countries throughout the world, so let’s look at how President Obama plans to “fix it.”

He wants to invest more of our tax dollars (billions) in the same failed system of education. Did he and his czars dream-up this fix-it decision all by themselves or is this another payback for contributions he received from some power-hungry, self-serving union leaders who are getting filthy rich off the backs of union members?

Why haven’t we heard the media screaming for the president to support the governors of Arizona and Wisconsin and, like them, become fiscally responsible? These governors are trying to solve the financial problems in their respective states.

Shouldn’t the headlines across our great nation be denouncing the spendthrift, foolish and ill-advised federal government actions that have produced more federal tax-funded jobs and more national debts?

ROBERT C. SOWELL Hot SpringsMake attackers pay

I completely disagree with Polly Munkberg’s letter attacking state Sen. Cecile Bledsoe on her bill to stand behind Amendment 68 and our state Constitution and opt out of funding of abortions via Obamacare.

Cruelty is making me pay for the killing of innocent, defenseless boys and girls. Bledsoe is fulfilling her oath of office and the express wishes of our citizens who voted for no abortion funding.

Yes, pregnancies from rape and incest, though rare, are extremely difficult. But don’t attack a legislator who doesn’t want to bring all Arkansans into the act of creating another victim of violence resulting in death.

I commend Bledsoe for standing up for life. Munkberg should petition her legislators to pass strict restitution laws requiring the convicted thug to pay.

RICHARD McKEEHAN RogersFeedback Rant was off base

Your editorial rant regarding “anchor babies” requires this moderate response. Usually, your editorials are quite intelligent, well-researched and thoughtful. This one was none of that, but rather simply a thick porridge of clichés, bad law, bad journalism and wishful thinking about how things might oughta be in your obviously utopian mind.

There are contrary views on this issue with motivations quite different from those attributed to, for example, the three (naturally, your writer notes) Republican congressmen from Arkansas. A place to start to examine these views might be “The Heritage Guide to the Constitution” (mine is the 2005 edition), published by the Heritage Foundation, Washington, D.C.

In there, you would learn that there are interpretations of the phrase “and subject to the jurisdiction thereof” that probably should be considered in any objective essay on the issue. More important, you would learn that the Supreme Court has not ruled on the meaning of that phrase and it remains open to litigation as well as legislation by the Congress under Section 5 of the 14th Amendment. Which is just what our three Republican congressmen have in mind, doing their job.

JAMES McCAFFERTY Hot Springs