LETTERS

A little unsolicited advice

My only qualification for giving political advice is this: A tiny photo of a very young me is hanging in the state Capitol, having served as a Senate page in 1965 when the likes of Bell, Pugh, Fletcher, Hendrix, Howell, Jones, Ingram, Steel and Nelson were in the midst of long Senate careers. So, other than a few years spent not paying attention to anything, I’ve been observing the Arkansas political landscape for a good while.

Thus, my unsolicited advice:

To the Democrats: Go ahead and cede the 2014 gubernatorial election to Asa Hutchinson until this anti-Obama Republican wave has run its course in the state, which it eventually will. But don’t think we will ever go back to business the way it was done before. Those days are over.

To the Republicans: When Gov. Mike Beebe tries to tell you something, you should probably listen. He is a smart man and remember, his photo is on the Capitol walls more times than will be possible in the future.

To the managers of the Buffalo River National Park and other public employees and officials: Read the legal notices in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. There are things in there that you might need to know about.

To all adults in the state who can read on a junior-high level or above: Read the editorial pages of the Democrat-Gazette faithfully.

Paul Greenberg and his staff and guests serve up a daily dose of excellent writing that will make you a more productive citizen, or at least one who will understand why I felt the need to write this letter.

KENT HENDRIX

Hope

To take responsibility

I am tired of hearing the criticism of Sen. Jason Rapert, Rep. Andy Mayberry, and the others who wrote legislation to restrict abortion. They were speaking for the thousands of us who asked them to stop the killing of babies.

The claim that a man should not be telling a woman what she can do is ridiculous. I, a woman, and thousands of other women are behind this legislation. I know that there are exceptions, but we believe that abortion has become just another method of contraception. Women need to take responsibility.

What has happened to the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? First there is life.

BOBBIE WILSON

Hot Springs Village

Treatment deplorable

It goes without saying that the late Hugo Chavez has detractors in Venezuela and the rest of the Hispanic world. However, on none of those broadcasts I watched did anyone rejoice over his death or mock him, unlike the crass spectacle in your paper. The editorial seemed to imply you hoped other Latin American heads of state, who are also champions of the poor, would soon die too. Really, you folks could shame a Nazi. The Hugo Chavez pilloried in your paper scarcely resembles the one discussed on TV Espana or HITN. I think the comparison of Chavez with Stalin is ridiculously absurd and your description of him as a dictator in the making is equally ludicrous.

Another reprehensible aspect on the page that day was the condescending treatment of the Venezuelan people. The Dallas Morning News piece on the same page said, “Chavez fooled Venezuelans into believing he would improve their lives.” The truth is, Chavez reduced poverty through programs he had enacted. No wonder so many Venezuelans love him.

The Dallas Morning News would have readers believe that he fooled them, like they have minds like small children. Fortunately, we have wise white men on editorial staffs to point out to us just how dumb those Venezuelans are for liking Hugo Chavez.

It seems the rich people who run this country hate Chavez and those others who want to eradicate poverty because, who knows, in a world without poor people there might not be any rich people, either.

ROBERT SWEET

Mabelvale

Tyrannical intentions

It is customary for newly elected presidents to have a honeymoon period when they think that their approval gives them the opportunity to push their agenda aggressively, and that is apparently what President Barack Obama has been doing.

He promised in 2008 to fundamentally transform American, but few understood what that meant. It appears that he is consciously trying to bankrupt the nation with continuing deficit spending. When one is deep in red ink, a prudent individual would not push for a new, extremely expensive program, but his signature program, Obamacare, is going to prove far more costly than advertised.

Never wanting a good crisis to go to waste, in response to another deranged coward murdering defenseless victims (in a gun-free zone) his politically motivated response to crisis is to propose gun control on steroids. He continues to thumb his nose at the separation of powers by mandating with a stroke of a pen actions that he could not get through Congress.

As another slap in the face of those Americans who value traditional values and the Judeo-Christian ethic, he has mandated acceptance of homosexuals in the military. Then there’s a declaration that allegedly improves the status of women, or at least affords “career advancement” for some women. We see the specter of young women subjected to the horrors of the front-line battlefield.

I believe Obama is clearly harming America and is in violation of the oath he took to uphold the Constitution. Tyranny is too weak a word.

GEORGE SCHROEDER

Little Rock

Don’t do our thinking

It seems this paper has gone out of its way to put the blame for everything, but especially the sequester, squarely on the president’s head: editorials, editorial cartoons, opinion pieces, letters to the editor, you name it. What facts presented to support these opinions are few, and by no means represent the entire situation.

Has the idea of “fair and balanced,” of telling the entire story, of presenting the whole picture, gone completely out the window? Seldom is one person, or one party, or one anything to blame for it all.

How about telling the story with all the facts and letting your readers make an informed decision?

ROBERT L. McGEHEE

Paris

For their own agendas

I am disappointed with the Republican state legislators and some of those in the U.S. Senate and House. It seems to me that they forgot women voted for them, too. They act like male chauvinists, using their bully pulpits for their own issues. They swore to uphold the Constitution. Did they forget the vow they took when they were sworn into office?

Respect for the current laws, the governor and women are fine attributes of gentlemen. They have wasted time and money on their own agendas. When are they going to pass the law to drop the sales tax on food?

I suggest they visit the Easter Seals facility or Our House in Little Rock. Inquire about the costs to provide support and help to those greatly in need. What have they contributed to the homeless, unwed mothers and orphans?

More women and men with compassion are needed in every facet of life in Arkansas. We are showing the country we are still in the dark ages. Put the clubs away and carry flowers to the persons who raised you.

ANITA GATZKE

Little Rock

You scratch my back

Since 2011 the Arkansas Department of Higher Education has been led by an interim director, Shane Broadway, appointed less than two months after he was named deputy director of the department shortly after losing the election for lieutenant governor in 2010.

I dare anyone to find a more unqualified public employee in the entire state. By statute, the director should be “an experienced educator in the field of higher education who demonstrates competence in the field of institutional management and finance.” In addition, the director and “key staff” must have relevant experience on a campus of higher education. I think any reasonable person reviewing Broadway’s background would conclude that he has no business serving anywhere near the top of this department. I’m sorry, but president of the student body at Arkansas State does not count as relevant experience.

Gov. Mike Beebe was quickly rebuffed when he tried to convince us that Broadway’s service as interim director provided the requisite experience to make him the permanent director. Yet Broadway remains in a position that pays him nearly $130,000 per year. Does the governor really expect us to believe that after two years he is unable to find a competent and qualified individual to fill this position? He has apparently made the decision to let his political buddy keep receiving a fat government paycheck.

I believe this entire episode is a cynical example of political patronage that this voter, and I hope other voters, will not soon forget.

THOMAS G. MAY

North Little Rock

The culture of violence

I believe it is time to address the issues surrounding violence in our society. However, I don’t think simply requiring background checks and banning assault rifles and large magazines is the answer. The problem lies in the culture of violence growing in our country.

Solutions need to be broader, and I think it is imperative that any legislation to reduce access to firearms should similarly address opportunities to reduce exposure to violence in entertainment media, a balanced approach that will challenge just how serious the anti-gun proponents and other citizens are to truly addressing the root issue.

Media likely will see this as an attempt to limit free speech, but is that any different than infringing on the Second Amendment for additional gun control? The plea we hear over and over is that we should accept restrictions on firearms if it will save the life of one child. Shouldn’t the same be said about violence in movies, television, music and video games?

So here is my thought: Let’s amend any gun-control legislation to include the application of the same restrictions on all media. If assault weapons are not allowed for sale, then they should not be allowed in the media (including games) unless in use by military or law enforcement characters in the normal course of their duties. If nothing else, such an amendment will shift the debate from passing ineffective gun controls to the real question: What can we do to mitigate the culture of violence growing in America?

JOHN BRAYMAN

Little Rock

Feedback

Where is concern?

Re the editorial “Just one small point”: Does “the inalienable dignity of human life” extend only to abortion? What about the death penalty, which is basically premeditated revenge murder? What about sending young people to war specifically to kill other people and knowing that many of those sent will also be killed? Where is your concern about the dignity of life in those situations?

Society has already established that killing is okay and people are disposable. If it’s okay to kill the “born,” then you have no argument against the killing of the “unborn.”

KAREN SCHWEIZER

Flippin

For a noble cause

Re the recent editorial “Just one small point”: To Paul Greenberg . . . the honorable Paul Greenberg-just the greatest editorial piece, advocating a noble cause, I believe anyone will ever read.

Surely the governor has read it. One can only pray it will change his heart, and thousands of others.

JOE HEWGLEY

Rogers

Editorial, Pages 17 on 03/22/2013

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