LETTERS

LITTLE ROCK — Man behind curtain

The Arkansas Legislature is surely in the business of first amending our basic documents, it seems, perhaps because it is easier than dealing with budgetary matters.

Supporting conceal and carry in two different bills is just so much easier:

1.) On college campuses. Modestly regulated vigilantes, being necessary to the security and serenity of college campuses, the right of students and faculty to conceal and bear arms shall not be infringed.

They may, however, opt out if they so choose.

2.) On guns in church. Thou may kill if it is in defense of thyself or others.

Thou shalt not, however, show thy hand ahead of time, lest thou darken the atmosphere in the church.

Face it, working on gun and abortion-type legislation does not trouble legislators.

Working on finance legislation bothers legislators.

GARY SCHMEDEMANN

Russellville

Set up a Twinkie train

If Occupy Little Rock still has a pulse, it could perform a public service by organizing a couple of weeks of rallies at the Capitol to encourage approval of Medicaid expansion for the working poor.

A few buses, along with convoys, could shuttle people to and from so they don’t lose their jobs. We could try to deliver a Dixie cup of sweet tea every hour on the hour to Tea Party legislators along with a losing lottery ticket and a Twinkie.

They might eventually make the connection with the “Let them eat cake” posture of the 2 percent (that’s a guess) in France that led to the revolution there. A giant inflatable guillotine with “VOTE” emblazoned on the blade would be a nice contribution from someone with deep pockets and a social conscience.

Put me down for a carload, a cooler of tea and a couple dozen Twinkies.

HOWELL MEDDERS

Fayetteville

Apocalypse? It’ll wait

Where is Congress? Sequester will kick in March 1st with automatic spending cuts that will hurt national security, the working people, and even the economy as a whole.

There is a great need for a deficit-reducing balanced budget before March 30th.

So, what is the House of Representatives doing about these two things? Well, nothing.

It has been on a recess.

DON S. MANES

Little Rock

It’s just a sip of water

How silly people can be over Marco Rubio drinking water during his speech after the State of the Union address. Even Pat Buchanan and others on The McLaughlin Group made comments on it.

Rubio had dry mouth. It wouldn’t bother me to see him reach over to take a sip.

Don’t you think we are getting too tied up in what’s becoming or not becoming? Is there a policy in Emily Post about drinking water during speeches?

We live too much in a formal society. I have seen people turn away when they cough or sneeze.

Give Rubio a break. Lighten up; he maybe our next president.

DONALD L. PUTMAN

El Dorado

Cats not quite villains

I read Charles Lane’s recent editorial-page column on cats with great interest. As a child, I yearned for a puppy, but was never allowed to have one. Basically, the cosmic will sends me only one thing: cats.

Animal rescuers rescue everything. But when creatures outside my destiny come to me, I locate the appropriate rescuer. The Bird People, of course, despise the Cat People. I am saddened when my own cats-who are, luckily, poor hunters-bring down the occasional bird or southern short tailed shrew. I would prefer that they be house cats, but a lack of manners makes this impossible for several.

Sadly, up to 1 billion birds a year are killed by flying into windows; yet I do not hear many people vowing to give up their windows.

It is untrue that all feral cats have miserable lives. I am a caretaker of feral colonies, and managed cats have been spayed or neutered, receive basic shots, and are fed and supervised on a regular basis. There is no weather so severe that it will keep me from bringing my homeless charges food and water, even for a day.

Feral cats are not pets. If you turn them over to animal control, they will be killed. Trap-Neuter-Release is a humane, intelligent solution to feral cat populations, which can then stabilize and diminish over time; catch and kill simply creates a vacancy which other unsterilized homeless cats will then fill.

Dislike cats if you must, but that is a poor reason to condemn them to death.

ANN LINK

Little Rock

Fools are playing us

The newly empowered GOP crackpots in the state Legislature are making the news these days.

They say carrying loaded guns to church is a good idea; they also are pushing through a constitutionally suspect bill to ban most abortions in Arkansas. I can already hear the lawyers getting their papers ready to file against this legislation. Here’s hoping they relieve the state treasury of some of its contents for lawyers’ fees as payback to this rolling disaster that is known as the 2013 General Assembly.

A group of Arkansas millionaires apparently is attempting to dismantle public education in this state and create a caste-like system in which the well-to-do have one set of rules, and everyone else is left stranded on the side of the road.

Now comes word that the Legislature is rushing to shroud the state’s concealed-handgun licensee list in total secrecy, and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette is up in arms about it. Many of these people calling themselves representatives and senators that are running the show now in Little Rock were supported wholeheartedly by this publication. This newspaper’s editorial page made its bed with these fools; it’s time now to sleep in it.

RICHARD MOORE

Camden

Taken in by a feeling

After reading Paul Greenberg’s column on Valentine’s Day, I think he has become an old Manti Te’o.

AL JANSSEN

Little Rock