LETTERS

Improperly influenced

Whether or not my letter will change any minds, this is what Hillary Clinton said about Benghazi after a long and arduous inquiry:

“With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead Americans. Was it because of a protest or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided that they’d go kill some Americans? What difference at this point does it make? It is our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again …”

The secretary of state, at that time, went on to express the need “to find them and bring them to justice.”

In an editorial last month, I found this quote attributed to Clinton: “What difference does it make …?” The editorial not only left out her full statement, but it being in quotation marks led one to assume that the quote was not only accurate, but verbatim.

I wrote to Paul Greenberg, and he posted a correction, but again did not print her quote in its entirety, therefore once again, I believe, misleading the readers as to her true meaning. Since that time, other writers have lambasted Ms. Clinton over what Mr. Greenberg printed. This illustrates how one can influence the opinion of others based on falsehoods.

The idea that an editorial by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette would depict Ms. Clinton as dismissing the incident as unworthy of her attention is offensive.

SHARON WILLIAMS

Little Rock

Time to clean house

I was appalled to read about the latest financial fiasco in Fayetteville. There are many people not doing their jobs in serving the state and contributors well.

I believe the chancellor, the Board of Trustees, the heads of departments and some individuals are responsible. It appears to me that only one was telling the truth, and he was fired for doing so.

Salaries that reach as high as some of the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans tell me that money was the gift horse. Government employees in harm’s way, such as our military, do not make half that salary.

Tuition costs go up, and fees are attached to all students, and more buildings rise in the skies. Sounds like fiscal irresponsibility to me.

I know about accounting, on smaller terms. It is an interest of mine as I have worked in positions with money responsibilities. It was a trust from those who hired me and those in their memberships.

I believe it is time for the governor to do a thorough housecleaning up there. It will take guts. Will it get done?

Arkansans work hard for their earnings and have to live wisely. So should state facilities.

ANITA C. GATZKE

Little Rock

Not minding business

A state university with a school of business that teaches business to our future business operators cannot operate a budget. Then, in an attempt to get the budget under control, it spends some more money hiring a budget watcher, even with a business department/school already in place.

And we wonder why we are always having problems.

LARRY LOWE

Jacksonville

Dysfunctional leaders

Tom Cotton’s staff should try to pass some of these concerns to Rep. Cotton since he wants to be our next senator.

Where is our moral mandate for a military imposition of democracy upon Iraq and Afghanistan when our government is broken?

Congress has become so dysfunctional that opposing parties would rather shut down the government than find compromise solutions to ideological differences. It’s so partisan that good men such as Cotton can be enticed with out-of-state money to run for another office right after their election. So now our congressmen are not elected to govern, but to cripple the government while running for another office in hopes of controlling Congress.

The last time Congress was so long divided, politicians talked good people into an immoral civil war. America does not need another polarized, dysfunctional Congress. Cotton should quit campaigning long enough to find peaceful compromises for a bipartisan government. Why risk our soldiers’ lives to make the world safe for democracy if America can’t make it work with our best-educated lawyers?

But what do I know? I’m just one more iggnerent hillbillie that Cotton wants to represent.

P.S. I wish Cotton would try to tell the NSA to quit spending our tax money to spy on my neighbors since the town gossips can already tell them what we’re doing before we know we’re gonna do it.

P.P.S. That’s hillbilly sarcasm. We know the NSA won’t listen to Congress.

JAMES JOHNSTON

St. Paul

End of an era for us

Well, the political season has already begun, and the year is still 2013. Basically, candidates have around eight months until early voting begins for the primary elections next spring. The Republicans who win those primaries will likely go on to form our state government.

In our federal delegation, there is only one Democrat left to weed out, and he is Sen. Mark Pryor. The November 2014 general election will probably be Pryor’s last.

It seems 2014 will be a bad year for Arkansas Democrats. There will be no presidential election, so the youths that admire President Barack Obama will be too busy at work or school to show up at the polls. Also, the Democratic base in Arkansas is shrinking, while the Republican base grows with Arkansas’ general population. More Arkansans today are placing corporate values above democratic values, and are ready to sacrifice their own democratic powers.

Arkansans apparently do not realize corporations do not govern. Corporations manipulate. Corporations are not in business to provide responsible government.

For many decades, Arkansas had a distinct political personality. Arkansas was like a sweet Southern belle that could be wooed by the fanciest man. Unfortunately, Arkansas’ personality has changed. Twelve years of war mentality have made Arkansas meaner and less reasonable.

I think 2014 will see the end of what Arkansas was, and a different Arkansas will emerge. The good old days are over.

GENE MASON

Jacksonville

Must work together

We need a new political party-a party called Together.

With the partisanship in Washington, we need to send a message to our elected officials that if they don’t work together to resolve the issues before us, we’ll elect people who will. What we have presently proves Margaret Mead’s teaching about prolonged adolescence.

Let’s form the Together Party!

DAVID B. WILSON

Hot Springs