LETTERS

Enriches communities

I was very pleased to see that Tyson Foods has formed a farm animal well-being advisory panel as part of its commitment to the proper treatment of farm critters. I would not have known this had I not read the Business and Farm section in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

I appreciate the variety of articles in the newspaper and the vigilant journalism of the reporters.

I am writing letters to Tyson and wish them well in their endeavor. Good treatment for all animals enriches our community.

TONI CARTER

Rogers

No ideological filter

Thanks for the editorial about Bill Clinton and Joe Biden recommending shotguns for home defense, which made it clear that they have no interest in taking guns from law-abiding and mentally stable people.

However, the main point appeared to be that Clinton and Biden are loose cannons because they speak their minds on virtually any topic. Like men secure in their manhood who don’t need beer commercials to tell them how to act, they don’t need a Fox News or Rush Limbaugh for guidance.

It brought to mind Biden’s slam dunk-and-one in the vice presidential debate when Rep. Paul Ryan tried to defend Gov. Mitt Romney’s poor-folks are-irrelevant-to-me gaffe by teasing Biden about his own foot-in-mouth tendencies. Biden responded that he always says what he means and means what he says, and he was sure Romney did, too. It was just one example of “Whada-ya-know-Joe” in “Give-’Em-Hell Harry” Truman mode.

That day’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette with the Biden editorial would have been right at home with the press establishment that criticized almost everything President Truman said or did. Biographer David Mc-Cullough wrote that “a great roar of laughter arose from the land” when Truman won re-election in 1948.

Americans who appreciate plain speaking not filtered through ideology may have another good laugh if Joe decides to run in 2016.

HOWELL MEDDERS

Fayetteville

Tuition in perspective

To evaluate and put in context the recent increases in tuition and fees at Arkansas’ public colleges and universities, it’s useful to compare them to inflation in general. The consumer price index for all urban consumers (CPI-U) is the most widely used measure of inflation. From April 2012 to April 2013(the most recent year-to-year data available), the CPI-U increased by 1.06 percent. So even after the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees rolled back some of the requests from UA System campuses, the increases were still over 3 to almost 6 (at Arkansas Tech) times the rate of inflation.

But the UA trustees managed to reward system President Donald Bobbitt with a “vote of confidence” and over a 20 percent salary increase.

MIKE WATTS

Little Rock

Almost exactly perfect

I’ve noticed over the last year or so that I disagree, sometimes vociferously, with almost exactly half of what I read in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette editorial pages. Which means, of course, that the paper is almost exactly perfect, for me at least.

Half of what I read is a confirmation of what I got up thinking that day, and half of it challenges what I believe, forcing me to either defend or change my thinking. Thank you for that.

By the way, I often disagree with Paul Greenberg, but Lawd’a Mercy, the man can write!

CHALON RAGSDALE

Fayetteville

Future depends on it

Last Sunday I read these headlines in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette: “Suburbs of LR, across U.S see rise in poverty,” “Aging U.S. bridges in spotlight/Collapse on Interstate 5 draws focus to nation’s repair needs,” and finally, “Median pay for CEOs $9.7 million for 2012.”

Are we already seeing signs of what’s to come when the combination of lowering taxes on the super-rich and drastically cutting domestic programs across the board (called sequester) turns our nation into a Third World country?

I have been wondering what to tell my great-grandchildren, Josh and Lucy, as they grow up when they ask, “Why didn’t you spend the money to protect the things we all need for life-air, water and food? Why didn’t you see that every child got a good education? Why didn’t you pay for scientific research to develop cheaper, nonpolluting energy sources? Why did you let Pentagon lobbyists con you into thinking our nation’s security depended on spending billions on unnecessary and outdated weapons and upgrading useless and dangerous nuclear weapons? What were you thinking?”

Surely if we can cut sequestration to avoid long lines at the airport, we can repeal sequestration altogether. Cutting welfare for the wealthy and their giant corporations might repair a lot of bridges, feed a lot of hungry children and send them to good schools. Cutting the waste at the Pentagon could pay for protecting our air and water, pay for a lot of research on alternative fuels-and much, much more. Josh and Lucy’s future depends on it.

JEAN GORDON

Little Rock

Gougers everywhere

Austin Stewart seems to believe the oil companies make “vulgar profits.” Maybe so, but they aren’t alone.

Potatoes cost about 60 cents a pound and yet fast-food restaurants charge about $6 a pound for french fries. Fountain soft drinks containing about a dime’s worth of soda regularly sell for 10, 20, 30 times that much. There are many more examples that make the oil companies look like amateurs at the gouging game.

He also mentioned the “vulgar profits” of insurance companies. Also amateurs compared to the pharmaceutical industry. My prescriptions average $137 an ounce. Really, that’s $2,200 a pound. I hate to mention a girl I know who was sold a $1,500 car for $7,000 at 20 percent interest.

Gougers are everywhere. It has become the American way and will continue as long as we sheep are willing to cough up the money. Had oil prices stayed even with inflation for the last hundred years, my inflation calculator indicates oil would be $479 a barrel instead of the current price around $100.

Save your outrage for the next time you buy a large french fry and a big orange drink.

CHARLES GFELLER

Rogers