LETTERS

LITTLE ROCK — Don’t let door hit you

I would like to bid a fond adieu to those Neanderthals who said they would leave the country if President Barack Obama was re-elected.

Your personal attacks, innuendoes and even outright lies about a democratically elected president have no place in this country with many challenges facing it.

I was taught when growing up to respect the president, regardless of political affiliation, and this respect was strengthened as a career government employee.

In my many overseas travels, I learned just how much our country is admired and respected, and to think that there are lowbrows in this country who want to weaken our leader with their gutter politics is totally abhorrent in a society where most of us walk upright. Our country is better off without you.

Moderation and compromise is as foreign to your makeup as a 47-percenter is at a Mitt Romney fundraiser.

The pendulum of our history gently swings back and forth from moderate conservatism to moderate liberalism, but over the long haul, the country tends toward the middle and rejects extremism of any ilk. Thankfully, we remain the same moderate and practical country we have always been.

Thanks again for improving our country by leaving it, and don’t forget your tea bags that have become too bitter for most Americans.

I hope you find comfortable caves to live in because winter will soon be here.

Arrivederci.

MARSHALL WADE

Bella Vista

It’s what truly matters

With all the day-to-day depressing news about the economy, the Middle East, the state of the world in general, once in a while you see something that warms an old man’s heart.

Rick McFarland’s recent picture in the Arkansas section of the little girl looking adoringly at her Granny, Me Me, Nana or whatever she may call her brings home what really matters.

JOHN HALPIN

Hot Springs

Our future in danger

I just read Boomerang by Michael Lewis, and learned how easy it is for a city, state or nation to run amok financially.

Greece, Italy and England are hamstrung with inflated salaries of government employees, active and retired. San Jose, Calif., was in the same fix. It could no longer pay both retired and actively employed city workers, so hundreds were laid off. Californians refused to approve austerity measures, so the state is in a financial mess. Is that who we Americans are?

Lewis says all Germans save their money, so elected officials take this frugal code of conduct to work with them, which keeps their nation financially sound.

Do we hold ourselves accountable for what we do with our own money? Are our elected officials acting responsibly with our tax dollars? (I should not say dollars when we are trillions in debt.) Do we want unions to continue to run amok, demanding salaries that often bankrupt companies, send others overseas, and now bankrupt cities, and possibly our nation at a future date?

I hope no one showed up to vote just because someone told them to. I hope no one dictated who you voted for. I hope every voter arrived with well-thought-out opinions regarding every issue and every candidate. If you doubt how important your vote is, read Boomerang, as it is beautifully written and extremely informative.

ELIZABETH CHRISTIE

Fayetteville

Where’s our rescue?

With all the news of the big storm along the East Coast, I’ve not seen one mention of any country coming to our aid.

It seems the U.S. always has time and money to help the less fortunate who have been hit by earthquakes, fires, floods, etc. So, how about some favors in return?

NORMA BUTLER

Hot Springs Village

Arkansas is not D.C.

The recently published Who Stole the American Dream? by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Hedrick Smith documents the history of the financial decline of the American middle class, and blames this decline on greed.

Smith points his finger at a number of causes: Big business’ resistance to government regulation, and to selfregulation that led to the crash of the mortgage and banking industries; the excessive salaries and benefits of CEOs while workers’ pay and benefits are decreasing; a growing number of lobbyists in Congress and state legislatures, most of whom work for business interests; the super-PACs that provide unlimited campaign funds to their pick of political candidates.

Close to home in Northwest Arkansas, we have state Rep. Charlie Collins, who just won re-election to our Legislature. He has taken a donation from at least one super-PAC with ties to the out-of-state, superrich Koch brothers. Collins signed the Grover Norquist pledge, swearing that he will not vote for new or increased taxes. That sounds good, doesn’t it? No one likes paying taxes, but it’s how we keep our state running and take care of our citizens.

We need legislators who represent Arkansas, not big business and the super-rich who don’t have our best interests in mind. We don’t want Little Rock to reflect the bickering and deadlock of Washington.

It could happen. There are more Charlie Collinses out there.

HEATHER A. DANIEL

Fayetteville

Thanks well-deserved

Recently, we (as guardians) were part of the Honor Flight Network taking World War II veterans to the National Mall. With very early arrivals at the Little Rock airport, the veterans were honored with greetings of thanks, patriotic flags plus commemorative hats and shirts. Water cannons arching over the two packed commercial jets honored these men and women as they taxied to the runway for departure to the nation’s capital. In D.C., we were met by water cannons and a large group celebrating the veterans before a tour of war memorial sites and the downtown.

Once back at Reagan National Airport, USO entertainers treated the men as the heroes they are. Everyone was invited to dance to the music of 1945. Each man boarded the plane with evidence of a loving kiss gently placed on his cheek. Returning to Little Rock, the heroes were greeted by perhaps a thousand well-wishers who waved American flags, shook hands, patted backs, hugged and sang to these living legends from the Greatest Generation.

The Arkansas Honor Flight Network has done an amazing job in the organization and planning for this and previous events. Wal-Mart, Tyson and the Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas pay the veterans’ expenses. KARK’s team traveled with us. They and the citizens of Arkansas welcomed home these heroes in superb form.

Thank you all. And, thank a veteran before it’s too late.

MIKE and PATTI SAUCIER Conway

Have a Koch, a smile

Golly, gosh and gee whiz, John Brummett. Lighten up. The Democratic Party is descending and the Republican Party is ascending. Accept it and be at peace with it because the Koch brothers are going to keep on piling up millions because that is the reward of our free-enterprise system. For Brummett’s consolation, the IRS annually has a feast chopping those brothers’ billions down to size.

In the 1950s, I did advertising for a group of stores in West Texas and the Panhandle. I lived in the little town of Quanah and used the local newspaper to print tabloids for the stores. The Koch family owned and ran the newspaper. Charles and David’s grandfather, Harry Koch, came to the U.S. in the 1880s from Holland, a printer by trade. In a few years he bought a paper in Quanah, which he later merged with another. He married and had two sons. Son Fred was sent to college, first at Rice, and then at MIT, and got a degree in chemical engineering, after which he got a job in the oil business. Three of Fred’s four sons followed in his footsteps; Charles and David remain with the company, with annual estimated revenue of $100 billion.

The majority of common folk look at success and instead of saying hooray for America say they are making too much money. Sorry, but private industry can create jobs, run businesses and schools much better than government. As a famous man said, “The business of America is business.”

W. PAGE HILL

Springdale

Cost rise is too much

I recently received my notice of a rate increase on my subscription, which I have had for 25+ years. I feel that my subscription going from $16 to $25.25 per month is unacceptable.

In a published letter to readers, a comparison was made to the Dallas Morning News’ and the San Francisco Chronicle’s costs. However, one must consider the quality of journalism as well as the content of the daily publication. I basically read it for the Arkansas page and the business section. I can get this same reporting online.

I will not be renewing my subscription. I hate it for my delivery person, who has it on my doorstep most every morning by 5, but my computer is on 24/7.

TOMMY ODLE

Little Rock

Health-care solution

Our system of government can best be described as an ineptocracy. That is, those least capable of producing value to society elect those least capable of leadership. Then the least productive are rewarded for their vote with goods and services paid for by confiscating an increasing amount of the earnings from a diminishing number of productive people.

Can you say Europe?

Here’s a simple solution to America’s health-care needs. Using a means test, divide the 12 million truly needy among all health insurance companies based on proportionate market value. (Forget the 42 million propaganda number from the White House.) Offer all insurance providers a 10-year guaranteed declining government subsidy to assist with this influx of newly insured. Let the free market find a profitable way to insure all Americans who need a leg up from their fellow workers.

The means test would point the freeloaders toward work. All citizens are insured. Problem solved, at much lower cost than the pending disaster now looming over us.

BOB L. WARNER

Hot Springs Village

Seeing red on change

I don’t know why red and white are no longer primary colors for University of Arkansas at Fayetteville athletes. I was a physical education graduate in 1950, so I had classes with and knew some of the boys. I really can’t imagine them in anything but red and white. What’s next, pink and blue?

Go Hogs.

SARAH LANGSTON MOORE

Blytheville

Feedback

One final memory

About 80 years ago, I was enrolled at Peabody Grammar School at 700 Capitol Ave. Among the teachers were Nell Brunner in arithmetic, Blanche Herrin in English and Mrs. Owen and Mrs. Blanche Toland in music appreciation. H.W. Means was principal.

We did not lack for equipment and were pupils with a desire to learn. Time-tested methods of education were used, such as the Studebaker drills in Nell Brunner’s class, which introduced us to fractions and multiplication tables.

The Peabody School is no longer in existence, having been replaced on Capitol Avenue by the Federal Building.

RICHARD B. DIXON

Little Rock

Legacy will survive

I would like to express my thanks to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for publishing the photograph and short article from The Associated Press about the beautiful Frank Lloyd Wright home in Phoenix that was in danger of being demolished by a development company. I am thankful that a wealthy anonymous buyer will preserve it.

Frank Lloyd Wright was one of the greatest architects of all time who designed more than 500 structures in harmony with the environment, and influenced even more. Let’s never ignore his legacy.

HELOISA SA MOREIRA

Maumelle