LETTERS

Fine recruitment strategy

I’ve decided that I should give switching to the GOP another look.

After all, its members have said and done some impressive things lately.

In just the last year alone, we’ve heard Republicans in our own state say things that have impressed Americans from coast to coast. Who can forget Jon “Slavery was a blessing”Hubbard or John “Vile Fool” Payton?

I was blown away by Nate Bell’s shrewd use of the supposed “tragedy” in Boston to further the gun-proliferation movement.

Last, but certainly not least, we have Benton County Republican Chris Nogy boldly suggesting the assassination of Republicans in the Legislature who capitulated to the common good.

What courage, what leadership!

Even now, eight months later, I shed a tear when I think of how Todd Akin furthered the women’s movement by declaring that women’s bodies could undoubtedly stop a pregnancy from rape on their own. I break down sobbing with joy when I hear a good Christian man like Richard Mourdock from Indiana declare pregnancy from rape to be a blessing, as it undoubtedly is.

In short, I think it is but a pipe dream to expect such brilliant thinking to come from any Democrat.

GOP, to paraphrase the great Winston Churchill, this has truly been your finest hour.

I have only one question: Where do I sign up?

JUDSON HANSON Fayetteville Acted in own interests

As an Arkansas native, multiple gun owner, and retired Army Military Police officer with 40-plus years in law enforcement, I have for the last several weeks listened to the inaccurate radio ads of the right wing against Mark Pryor. The ads are for Pryorleftus.com, and they talk about his voting record.

I think the ad should be for “PryorlefttheUS.com.” I believe that, in an attempt to better his NRA grade, he voted against the universal background-check bill which 90 percent of Americans support. Pryor and other senators cowardly voted in their own re-election self-interests against a law that would in no way reduce the rights of legal gun ownership. They succumbed to the pressure of the NRA and its false scare tactics.

I have always been proud to vote for the Pryor name because I have for decades believed they had Arkansans’ best interests at heart. I will not cast a vote for Mark Pryor in 2014. I urge each voter to join me and look past the political rhetoric to what’s really good for the country.

TOM COPELAND Sherwood Getting to heart of it

Mickie Lewis espoused the thought that any gun owner who had a gun stolen should be equally guilty as the perpetrator of any crime committed with that gun, and that any such owner should be charged as an accessory to that crime.

If this is to be considered a suggestion to reduce individual death or injury,then this writer is being extremely small-minded.

To really make an impact in this regard, and as many more people are killed and injured by cars, knives, hammers, etc., than with firearms, I would make the following recommendation: Enact a law that states that “any item(s) stolen, or borrowed, from any individual and used in any crime makes the owner and perpetrator equally guilty of that law violation and both should be equally charged with that crime.”

Would that not get to the nub of the matter?

BOBBY BUZBEE Maumelle Embarrassing to kids

I am so tired of the AT&T commercials. Parents are exploiting their children and the AT&T guy is making them look stupid. For what? A little money in their pockets.

Don’t the parents realize this will embarrass their children later in their lives? Shame on them!

ROBBIE HORTON Mayflower Something’s off here

I read that a Chicago teenager was arrested, suspected of “attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization” for booking a flight to Turkey after doing online research about the Nusra Front, which is fighting Bashar Assad’s regime in Syria. Great; another dangerous young terrorist is in custody.

However, the same day that was announced, there was an announcement by Secretary of State John Kerry that the Obama administration was providing Syrian rebels another $123 million in aid in addition to the $502 million in rebel aid previously reported.

So … an 18-year-old kid was arrested for attempting to provide material support to one group of Syrian rebels while the Obama administration gave $625 million of our tax dollars in material support to another group of Syrian rebels. So who should really be arrested here?

I think that $625 million would be better spent reopening national parks, letting senior citizens have their meager cost-of-living increases instead of trying to slash it with chained CPI, and perhaps even resuming White House tours. It is our house after all, and the community (rebel?) organizer is just a temporary occupant.

PHILIP WARNER Garfield No hamburger helper

In his recent letter, Joe Whalen called for laws to ban assault weapons which he appeared to claim are machine guns that would turn deer into “instant hamburger.” I believe his statement exposes his ignorance concerning guns and gun legislation.

Currently proposed assault-weapons legislation has nothing to do with machine guns, which have been effectively banned since 1934. The weapons targeted by the proposed legislation are semiautomatic, one shot with one pull of the trigger. These firearms are not standard-issue military weapons. They cannot spray bullets.

The fact is that military-style semiautomatics, which function no differently from other semiautomatics, are used by millions of law-abiding hunters and competitive shooters.

In his future letters, Whalen should stick with subjects that he understands.

ELWIN GAMMEL HectorPatrons treated badly

I wholeheartedly agree with Gordon Swaim’s letter about poor customer service. Recently, an employeeat a fast-food place made an insulting remark about me to her co-workers as I walked up to the counter. I turned and walked out. As I left she said, “Iwas just kidding.”

I will not be going back.

I have also sent e-mails to the headquarters of a well-known franchise to complain about rude behavior.

A simple solution would be for managers to come out of their offices and see the way customers are treated.

BOBBIE MOORE Smackover Afraid of losing seats?

We are once again watching a debate on gun control, this time because of a massacre in Connecticut where someone with an assault rifle killed 20 schoolchildren less than seven years of age and their teachers. Somehow the fact that there had been at least 60 mass shootings in America since 1982 has been ignored.

We also apparently want to ignore that we are apart from other countries when it comes to murders by firearms. In Britain, firearm murders per 100,000 are fewer than 3 percent of the U.S. rate. Canada’s rate is about 5 percent of the U.S. rate. The Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery found that the 30,000 deaths annually in the U.S. amount to 80 percent of all gun-related deaths in the 23 richest countries.

After the massacre in Connecticut, the president called for a ban on assault rifles, elimination of large ammunition clips and universal background checks. There were not enough votes in Congress for the assault-weapons ban and the clip recommendation. The background check was said to be sure to pass. Not now.

Why? The NRA has many in Congress afraid of losing their jobs if they support gun-control legislation. The NRA actually grades congressmen from A to F. They spend $3 million annually on lobbying and $1.5 million in campaign contributions. Since 2005, they collected between $14.7 million and $38.9 million from dozens of gun-industry giants.

Face it, the slaughter here by guns is because the NRA is a front for gun manufacturers and our Congress will do nothing.

BOB WATERS Hot Springs Village Our dying generation

I am among the last of the real Americans.

I grew up over the last 70-plus years in a country that was called The United States of America and bears no resemblance to the same property and borders that my country had. Today, that property has unpayable debt, completely useless politicians, more broken homes than whole-family homes, and an abortion rate unthinkable 10 years ago.

It was a land inspired by its exceptionalism and its Christianity.

Today, we are spiritually bankrupt. Christ no longer exists as part of our lives. In addition, we are fiscally bankrupt, throwing money at things that will do nothing to enrich us, but satisfy our instant desires.

There is little chance that we will be saved, resulting in our being the last generation of true Americans.

We will die, waving our American flags as we did as children at parades that extolled the virtues of the best of us. Then, never to be seen again.

BARRETT A. METZLER BeardenFeedback Set a bad example

Re the recent incident concerning the two cops, Rex Frederick and Jeffrey Harris, who apparently got drunk and started waving their guns around: It was reported that no arrests were made because the pool hall was considered to be a restaurant.

What does that mean? Does that give a police officer the right to get drunk, bully people, pull a gun, then say, “neener, neener, I’m a cop and this is considered a restaurant, can’t touch me”? Also noted, it appears no action was taken against these two until the public spoke out about it.

Are there two sets of rules here? Very bad example here, boys.

DEL LAMPHEAR Decatur I must doff my cap

I believe John Jennings of Wilburn has hit on an excellent idea. I think limiting contributions to candidates from only residents in their area would not only stop the Koch brothers and the like, but also unions in which many members may not necessarily agree on the party or candidate where some of their union dues go.

My hat is off to Mr. Jennings. ED HENRY SR. Mount Ida

Editorial, Pages 17 on 05/01/2013

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