LETTERS

LITTLE ROCK — Take time to remember

Memorial Day is not about Memorial Day specials, a day off from work, backyard barbecues, watermelons and fun at the beach. It is about remembering. On May 5, 1868, General John Logan, National Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, issued General Order #11 proclaiming May 30 as a day to decorate the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers buried in Arlington National Cemetery who had died in the Civil War. Later it was expanded to include those who have died in all wars.

From the bitter cold of Valley Forge, the Bunker Hills, Bull Runs, Shiloh, Argonne Forest, Guadalcanal, Bougainville: from the steaming jungles of the Solomons and Vietnam, the burning sands of North Africa, the volcanic ash of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, the frozen fields and streets of Bastogne, the bloody beaches of Normandy, cities and desert of Iraq, the rugged mountain peaks of Afghanistan; they fought, they bled, suffered and died.

Why not take time for a somber stroll through a national cemetery or a simple, out-of-the-way rural cemetery. Explain to your child-in those grave sites rest the bodies of our honored dead who gave their last full measure of devotion preserving and protecting our right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Take a moment to pray that God will hasten the day when there are no more battles, no more bloody beaches, no more broken hearts. And remember, “the nation who forgets its defenders, will itself be forgotten.” LOGAN HUTSON Cabot A new order imposed

Technology, no longer a means of action in the modern age, has become a form of civic order. The social significance of technology demands that everyone share the same relationship to the same technology. Employees must have their own means of transportation regardless of the efficiency of mass transit, while the level of car traffic prevents cyclists from moving safely even when the weather permits. The technological order thus recalls industrial Taylorism, but with exactly opposite results. Cars are far less efficient than buses or bicycles as a means of organizing human behavior; however, the automobile enforces a regimentation worthy of the Third Reich.

This technological order is the principal cause of global warming. Technology integrates people into a coherent society in the absence of any community, common values or emotional ties. The need for social structure overrules the most efficient use of the most efficient means of action. The excessive energy use of the developed world reflects the needs of a coherent social structure, not the requirements of the most efficient means of action. The social problem causes the physical problem. Any attempt to reduce energy use thus constitutes a challenge to the entire system.

We do not use technology as an efficient means of action, we use it as a form of civic order, a use unique in world history. Our environmentalists would serve us better were they more familiar with this line of criticism.

MIKE MAZZANTI Little Rock Electorate is clueless

The latest Gallup tracking poll has Obama’s approval rating at 53 percent. If this poll is correct, we have the dumbest electorate in the world.

While Obama is strutting aroundEurope on his ego trip, our economy is on life support. Our unemployment rate is around 17 percent when we figure in laid off workers with part time, unskilled jobs and those whohave given up looking for a job.

Our national debt is at $14 trillion and increasing at a rate of $4 billion a day. The cost of gasoline is near four dollars a gallon, and Obama says no to drilling in the Gulf, no to drilling off shore or in Alaska. Inflation is rising rapidly, and the value of the dollar is shrinking.

Obama goes to El Paso, Tex., and tells those people the border is secure and the fence has been completed. That is only one of a hundred falsehoods this president has told since taking office.

Next he asks our only real ally in the Middle East, Israel, to commit suicide by withdrawing to the 1967 border lines.

A new president and a new Congress can repair the damage and get this country back on the right track again, but how do you get the American public back on the right track when a majority of them seem satisfied with the most corrupt, clueless and incompetent administration this world has ever seen?

GARY W. LEMON Cabot Best gift is free to all

The great Christian poet Dante wrote that he regularly visited down under and was escorted by what he called shades. On one of his visits he saw a man he knew was still living on earth. When he inquired of the shade he was told that the man was so vile on earth his soul was sent there early and an evil spirit had taken over his earthly body.

God, through his son Jesus Christ, offers us a free gift just for the asking. It’s called salvation. When we ask and receive the gift we have a euphoric feeling of peace and realize nothing else matters but him. Plus, we have the promise of a euphoric heaven. We are called conservatives. Many so-called Christians and preachers never had this experience and have formed pseudo-churches that are nothing more than community centers.

To all the liberals, atheists and socialist Communists, what can you offer to top that experience? You’ve made a world heaping full of vile filth and degradation. You want us to believe if we are tolerant with people whose only intent is to kill Christians and Jews, thereby removing God from the earth, everything will be hunkydory. What inflated egos you have to believe you can change what was predicted 2,000 years ago. And you call us foolish. These are wars of good and evil and cannot be stopped with peace talks, treaties or negotiations.

What would Jesus do? He gave us Glenn Beck.

LINDA GREENWOOD HamburgThe old-timers know

We old-timers, veterans and senior citizens realize the trouble our nation faces. No borders will eventually lead to a loss of our flag. The illegals, estimated now at 50 million, will fly what they like.

Communist Red China will infiltrate your money and your electronics and will own much of that new flag.

The present, so-called bunch of leaders will bring them in by the millions, a group of thugs who would sell their own mama’s grave marker.

All these young smart leaders should bring our military home and quit meddling in the Muslim world. Put our military on the borders with Mexico.

The Muslim world will fill this country with mosques. Then you can kiss Christianity and democracy goodbye.

NORMAN HARVEY Cherokee Village Bill bad for industry

The recent legislative session saw the creation of several new laws including those that would cut taxes and reform prisons. Thankfully, our lawmakers saw fit to focus on the more important issues rather than an issue thrown into the mix by labor interests that would potentially have had a dramatic effect on thousands of workers and countless small businesses.

I’m talking about a bill by Representative Jim Nickels who targeted the construction industry and threatened our right to hire independent contractors. As a member of the Arkansas Home Builders Association, I was offended by this move. It seems that Nickels assumed that companiesin the construction industry don’t pay unemployment taxes or insurance on the people they hire to work as independent contractors.

Don’t get me wrong. I believe that companies should play by the rules and pay all taxes appropriately, but to demonize the entire industry because of a few bad apples who aren’t doing things by the book is simply unfair.

The construction industry is affected by a wide array of economic variables, from natural disasters to the stock market. Allowing us to hire independent contractors on an as-needed basis is simply the best option for us to cope with the wide fluctuations in our industry. Taking away our right to hire self-employed workers at a time when home builders are still recovering from the fallout in the housing market is unreasonable and just plain wrong.

NICOLE GOOD Hot Springs Village Rhetoric helps no one

I wish to explain to letter writer Nancy Miller Saunders what I was referring to in my previous letter. Rep. Paul Ryan has a budget proposal that takes care of the problems she is concerned about. His proposal affects no one over the age of 54 who is or will be on Medicare or Social Security.

He proposes “means testing” so that people like Bill Gates, Donald Trump and other wealthy people will not receive any or as many benefits as the average person. They can afford to pay for their own needs. There are other proposals included, but none of them affect people over 54. Without some revisions both programs will be bankrupt.

I do not know what the Democratswill propose except that Obamacare cuts Medicare by $500 billion. They know and say something must be done, but so far the only thing they are doing is using scare tactics to confuse people. Listen to and make both parties explain their positions without the wild rhetoric we now have. Neither party has all the right answers, but they need to forget reelection politics and do the right thing for the nation.

BOBBY THOMPSON Greers Ferry No need to fear dark

I can only imagine the pain and frustration of Stephen Hawking, who has a beautiful and brilliant mind trapped inside a body that will not work. Paul had just such a thorn in his flesh, but instead of anger he embraced his weakness, placing his trust in God and in that weakness found his strength. Can Hawking imagine that, should he live just another 11 years, that little muscle in his chest will have beaten about 3 billion times? Is there no room in that great mind of his for the possibility that someone greater than man caused that to occur beyond random chance or an accident?

Lastly, if Hawking is right and my faith is a fairy tale, whom have I hurt living my life as Christ has called me to live, tender-hearted and forgiving? When I love God and neighbor, I am just as angry and hurt when people in his name do horrible, hurtful things, but I still trust in his grace. I embrace it and with his love I am forgiven and from his strength I am able to carry my cross with the certainty of my hope of the life to come.

THOM LAKSO RussellvilleFeedback Cartoon a reminder

Political cartoons can tell it all. I liked the one with the tombstones in a recent Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. For some reason it reminded me of Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s tent prisons in Arizona.

Would it be smart for us to try for prisons that are not a step up for inmates who destroy property and especially those who do harm to other people?

Surely we could make prisons less attractive and less expensive, yet not below humane levels (à la federal judges’ expectations).

Too, we need to treat those not yet convicted in a manner befitting.

Another emphasis might be put on laws that are against drug use as opposed to pushing.

Thank you for the cartoons.

STAN REED Batesville Motivation dubious

Several aspirants for public offices around the U.S. have announced they have made a mistake and they take full responsibility for it.

Does this mean that with an admission of guilt, they are expecting a less harsh reaction from the voters? Or, does it mean that they are setting the stage for future mistakes? Or do they assume that by admitting guilt publicly that they now have a clean slate for the future?

BILLY N. ELLEDGE Fayetteville