LETTERS

— We’ve made the rope

I’m leery of war-crazy Republicans, and Mitt Romney strikes me as someone who’d let Israel use all our young ones for ammunition for war with Iran. But Romney’s five sons will undoubtedly be put where his offshore money is if the military draft came around again.

I certainly don’t give what is under a rat’s tail about Israel and its war that is older than dirt. We left that crazy side of the world many centuries ago to come over here and create a new world where religion is supposed to be separate from our laws and policies. This enabled us to vastly advance and our people to get along better than the crazy and primitive side of the world where religion rules.

Yet under Barack Obama’s reign, I’m seeing people under 40 retiring on government aid and growing wishbones instead of backbones. All these freebies that Obama seems to be giving away for votes are coming from money we are borrowing from China, which can easily take us over, especially if we keep letting Republicans stupidly waste all our military might on wars that make no sense.

Due to strong foreboding feelings that we are making the rope to hang ourselves with, I’m not voting this year so I won’t be responsible for whoever gets elected.

GARY McLEHANEY

Benton

Wish won’t make it so

I think this new little booklet that the Obama campaign is passing out is no more than a wish list, just like his last four years. Truly a work of fiction.

DONNA DAUGHERTY

Gravel Ridge

Money we don’t have

When we Americans overextend our finances, there are one or two methods to recover from debt. The first is to request help from our parents to bail us out. This may never happen because the parents are living on Social Security.

If you lose your car and home, the only solution left is to file for bankruptcy. There is no way to cut back when you have no credit and have maybe lost your job.

Every day you read about our government giving money to foreign countries, for example, the recent vow of $45 million to aid Syrian rebels.

Republican Rep. Kay Granger of Texas has blocked the State Department’s plan to transfer $450 million in already-appropriated cash to the new government of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi. There are a lot more countries on our charity list.

It is said that charity begins at home. Surely the statement that the U.S. is $16 trillion in debt must be incorrect. If it’s true, our government can correct this problem by printing more paper money. This could make our dollar of today worth 25 cents tomorrow.

CHARLES C. McNUTT

Little Rock

Blind to any suffering

The Bible tells us that we are given every green herb for food. The concept of food as medicine is well understood by many religious people.

The herb cannabis (marijuana) was given by God to be used wisely. Likewise, the opium poppy, exceedingly more addictive and dangerous. Yet no one denies morphine to the suffering because heroin is widely abused.

A great force on Earth delights in fomenting pain, suffering and death. Never is it more effective than when costumed with the veil of holiness.

The Christian mask seems particularly to blind the wearer. Jesus must surely weep.

DAN VEGA

Fayetteville

Help for chronic pain

Chronic pain diseases are misunderstood, dismissed by some as hypochondria or a ruse, very difficult to treat and extremely frustrating for the patient and the doctors. They dominate the lives of the sufferers and all who care for them. Some of the diseases once thought to be imaginary, such as fibromyalgia and lupus, are now diagnosable, and medical science is making some progress in determining the causes. Meanwhile, these patients suffer.

Traditional pain medications may provide little to no relief. Newer discoveries such as Lyrica have helped some but have their own limitations, and some have powerful side effects such as hallucinations, sleepwalking and behavioral problems. Powerful pain medication, including narcotics, serve generally just to put the patient to sleep and render him entirely dysfunctional. They provide only a temporary escape, and if misused, are seriously addictive. These narcotics are legal when prescribed by a doctor, but marijuana is not.

Medical marijuana could be a very useful tool in chronic pain management. It has been widely used illegally for decades and its effects are wellunderstood. If doctors are allowed to prescribe drugs like morphine, to not allow them to prescribe marijuana makes absolutely no sense. We owe it to those who suffer pain to make every reasonable effort to help them. Medical marijuana makes sense. Concerning its availability to young people, it already is. Making some of its uses legal will not change that.

JAMES L. MAXWELL

Fairfield Bay

Lacks the knowledge

First thoughts about the presidential debate moments after its culmination:

I agreed with the president 10 times during the 11/2-hour debate. Gov. Mitt Romney was woefully mistaken regarding the need for more ships at this time and his knowledge of Iran, Syria and Israel.

Romney’s point of view has constantly evolved over the past six years. On occasion, he’s far right. Other times he’s far left and all shades in between.

Romney said it was an enormous mistake to take all troops out of Iraq. He still thinks Russia is a major enemy even though the Cold War has been over for 20 years. Romney says he will spend $7 trillion on defense and other matters with no way to repay, showing no intrinsic knowledge of defense matters.

Getting rich is one matter. Being president of the U.S. constitutes another. Romney has no meaningful knowledge of foreign policy, a position espoused by most knowledgeable Republicans.

ROBERT E. HYMER

Little Rock

Editorial, Pages 17 on 10/27/2012

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