LETTERS

LITTLE ROCK — Citizens deserve honesty

On a recent conference call held by U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor, I was disappointed he didn’t open the discussion to the most pressing matters facing our nation: the deficit and the national debt. Topics addressed on the call included the farm bill, Obamacare, increases in Social Security, education funding, etc. Most callers asked, essentially, what the government was going to do for them next. Pryor answered that the government had all these issues under consideration.

My question: Where is Congress going to get the money to pay for all these issues “under consideration?”

Why not tell the truth that the United States owes over $15 trillion plus interest with no way to meet that obligation? The country is broke and politicians tell us that the government is going to do more and more for the citizens. I realize politicians believe that if they tell U.S. citizens the truth, they won’t be re-elected. They are dead wrong. America wants to know the truth and what they can do to help.

Pryor should step up and tell his countrymen that they are going to have to give up something instead of getting more from the federal government. Be honest and help us save our economy and our country. Remember a guy named Kennedy: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”

Pryor should tell his constituents exactly what his positions are on our current federal government deficit and the national debt.

DARRYL CALVERT

Fayetteville

Where difference lies

I don’t think Austin Stewart told the whole story about effects of choice. Heterosexuality is defined in the dictionary as sexual desire or behavior directed toward a person of the opposite sex.

In other words, it is simply sexual desire.

Also, society pretty much has come to accept heterosexuality as normal because it is not a conscious choice but is simply innate in some people.

Herein the difference lies-pedophilia may very well be innate in some people. However, a child does not have the ability to consent to sex with an adult.

Therefore, it is just like a man raping a woman. It is abusive and criminal. That is the reason laws have been passed to severely punish both rapists and pedophiles.

On the other hand, homosexuality or heterosexuality between consenting adults are both legal behaviors, and that is why we do not have laws to punish either of them.

It is called freedom in this country.

There are people who consider all sexual behavior abhorrent. Would Stewart be willing to stop or change his sexual desire to please them?

SALLY MAYS

Roland

Patience will not last

Perhaps we’re going through a more bitter culture war than necessary because we’re failing to sort out political questions and religious ones. Redefining “household” in order to benefit more people is a political decision. Maybe it’s a good idea, maybe not.

In contrast, I believe that redefining “marriage” is a religious matter. God has stated that marriage is between one man and one woman, so there’s no such thing as “gay marriage.” It’s as simple as that.

If you’re heading for your keyboard to cite biblical examples of polygamy, etc., please save your poor arthritic fingers. Scripture states plainly that God tolerates a lot of things that he doesn’t want. The Bible also states with equal clarity that God’s patience doesn’t last forever.

CARI KING

Pocahontas

Falling through cracks

Re Isabelle Barbour’s letter: I cannot agree with her more. School is not a baby sitter to get a kid out of his parents’ hair so they can make a career for themselves.

I am a teacher myself, and I see so many children fall through the cracks. One such area is English: So many kids get as far as the eighth grade, apparently without a foundation in English. Some school systems, like that in Monroe, La., have linked on their websites to helpful online resources, such as Big Dog’s Grammar, to help kids with grammar problems.

I believe schools should use revenue and resources to help kids grasp the basics early on.

Kids need to be taught manners and respect at home when they are young. This would eliminate bullying and other things done to annoy others. Kids who steal, bully and taunt others should be automatically suspended. I also feel teachers should be teaching because they like to, not as a secondary thing because they could not make it in business.

I feel the nine-month calendar has served us well. As my late grandmother used to say, “if something isn’t broke, don’t fix it.”

LESLIE PUTMAN

El Dorado

Truth beyond words

Although I have a master’s degree in literature, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette has better inspired me to read for subtext and hidden meanings than my professors ever did.

My professors managed to ruin the classics, insisting we listen for the voice of the voiceless. Now, like it or not, I curse Jane Eyre’s Mr. Rochester for hiding his ethnically contaminated wife and am deeply suspicious of whether she was actually crazy before he entombed her in the attic.

The newspaper’s editors don’t bother with dusty old books but appear to focus on the voiceless of the here and now, namely the Christian Arabs. The latest graduate seminar could be labeled: The Agony and Ecstasy of the Arab Spring-Encountering Christian Bodies among Islamic Blooms.

The reader of the paper’s news articles must rely on extra-textual clues, like photographs, captions and reporters’ names, in order to piece together the unspoken reality. In one recent wire-service article about the brave new Egypt by Kareem Fahim and Mayy El Sheikh of the New York Times, there is a brief comment that there has been “renewed sectarian violence between Coptic Christians and Muslims,” which sounds, to me, like both groups are equally at fault.

The accompanying photo and caption tell another story: A lone man sifts through the debris of an obliterated Christian factory located in an Egyptian village from which most Christians have fled.

VICTORIA HOWERTON

Harrison

Voters’ choice is clear

Paul Ryan can be an Ayn Rand fan-someone who believes in the right of the individual to pursue his own wealth at the expense of the weak-or he can be a Christian. But he can’t be both.

So which is it? Going to follow the teachings of Jesus or the philosophy of Ayn Rand?

Do you believe in the strong having the right to get stronger by climbing on top of the weak? Or do you believe that we’re in this together, here to “love ye one another,” which means, in part, that we should be helping one another share the bounty. Is God’s bounty for us all to share like family or should we go at one another like snarling dogs, pushing the weak aside to become even weaker?

The choice is quite clear with this election. Do you follow the teachings of Jesus or not? Remember the commandment: Love ye one another.

MARIANNE BEASLEY

Fayetteville

Political reality check

A married couple are behind on house payments and all their credit cards are maxed out. The husband promises the wife a diamond ring if she will approve his purchase of a new truck. Sound stupid? Well, that is the way Congress does business every day.

Barack Obama wants to raise taxes on the rich to balance the budget. Reality check. Everyone who pays any taxes would have to pay significantly more to balance the budget. Everyone, not just the “rich.”

I’ll be happy to pay a little more in taxes just as soon as the federal government begins to watch its spending of tax dollars in the same fashion the rest of us must watch our money.

The Democrats want Mitt Romney to show his last 10 years of tax returns. Here’s an idea. How about trading Romney tax returns for Obama’s college records or his college thesis?

I just learned that, apparently, if you oppose Obama, you are a racist. I also oppose Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. Does that mean I’m prejudiced against old white people, too? Could it be that I’m a racist against me?

For 30 years I’ve been hearing that our immigration system is broken, but no one ever identifies the broken part. Here is a simple solution. Let’s just adopt the immigration policy of Mexico. Just try slipping into Mexico and going to work and you’ll quickly learn its system seems to work pretty well.

CHARLES GFELLER

Rogers

Climate a hot potato

I’d been watching to see if Paul Greenberg would comment on this oppressive heat, and sure enough, at the beginning of the month he shared with us 50 tips for beating the heat.

I’d like to suggest two more: First, investigate for yourself if in fact there is cause for concern. To be honest, I think there is a valid case to be made that things are changing. I truly, truly hope that I’m wrong. But if I’m right, what kind of world will the next generation inherit?

The climate-change deniers better have good evidence that in fact there is no reason for worry. I’ll bet most of the folks who say that climate change is a hoax also bought into attacking Iraq because they were convinced that that sorely afflicted nation was an imminent threat to us. I wonder if their estimation on that has changed. A war that, in my opinion, has done no one any good except for Halliburton, Blackwater and others of that sort.

Second, let our elected representatives know what we think. Congress is now on its five-week vacation. When not hosting fundraisers, most likely they’ll have some town-hall meetings. We need to attend and make our priorities known.

Time for action!

DONALD W. AUSTIN

Fayetteville

Second that emotion

A great big amen to Jean Blomquist for wanting to cancel the television commercial for the fat-loss center. Surely they can find something better to use as an advertisement.

BARBARA BRAGG

Camden

Feedback

Time to forgo wars

I’m in agreement with a recent letter by Charles McNutt-the conduct of hopeless wars have resulted in the death of thousands of humans and loss of respect for the United States at a cost of billions of dollars.

Bringing home our military forces at a savings of $200 billion per year could result in savings of $1 trillion over five years. Further, a focus on crime at home could make the United States a safer place to live.

Jesus did not condone war to settle conflicts.

DAVID GAYLOR

Eureka Springs

Well within rights

I agree totally with David Cranford with regard to reasons to support Chick-fil-A and freedom of speech.

My support had nothing to do with homosexuality or the definition of marriage, but Dan Cathy, courtesy of the First Amendment, has every right to state his definition of marriage.

BARBARA LEE PHILLIPS

Bella Vista