LETTERS

An answer to the question

If I may be so bold as to offer an answer to your recent editorial’s questioning headline, “What just happened?”: Well, in simple terms, it was democracy in action.

The people spoke-at least those who cared to-and the Republican controlled Arkansas Legislature elected not to change the laws governing school-board elections.

It seems simple enough, elected officials legislating and concerned citizens voting. I am not sure from where your confusion originated. But I will venture to guess that it has everything to do with your, I believe, false but often repeated fear mongering about the superpowers of teachers unions in Arkansas.

Apparently our state’s largest newspaper believes that Arkansas’ feeble teachers unions (rated as one of the five weakest and number 48 in the country by the Fordham Institute and Education Reform Now in 2012) have the political clout to turn every elected official into their public puppets-even your Republican Tea Party compatriots.

How can Arkansans sleep at night knowing that some semblance of collective bargaining can be found in any of our state’s 200-plus school districts? Oh, the inhumanity!

I believe this paper’s demagoguery concerning the power of teachers unions in Arkansas is not only inaccurate but it is a real impediment to any meaningful discussions of solutions to the complicated problems facing our public schools. It is as useful as insisting to replace the spokes on a flat tire.

You can do better.

KEN GRAVES JR.

Benton

The privilege of few

Something most folks seem to have missed on the recent Charlie Rose-Bashar Assad interview, which I’m condensing and paraphrasing here:

Rose: So why don’t you meet with the opposition?

Assad: Well, they must first lay down their arms.

Rose: Well, rebels don’t usually lay down their arms when they negotiate …

Assad: Well, all those arms are illegal. Only the government has legal weapons.

And there you have it. In one sentence, the apparent essence of the Dianne Feinstein/Michael Bloomberg/ Chuck Schumer/Hillary Clinton inter alios school of governance: “Only the government has legal weapons.”

So how might a meaningful two way dialogue between a heavily armed bully and an aggrieved defenseless party go? Read about Wounded Knee, the Sandy Creek Massacre, or simply what I believe to be the largest U.S. example of ethnic cleansing-the removal of the Cherokee from Northern Georgia and elsewhere, aka the Trail of Tears-for examples involving the U.S. government in circumstances similar to what Assad apparently thinks is appropriate.

L.H. GARLINGHOUSE

Heber Springs

Take care of U.S. first

I believe President Barack Obama should not get involved with Syria and the use of their chemical weapons; this will only hurt our nation and bring a world war into place. Considering that Iran, a nation hostile to us, is Assad’s ally, it will only make it worse.

I care about this issue because polls show that most of the U.S. is against going to war. I believe that, yes, we should take support in gathering and destroying chemical weapons. However, this will be risky and lose lives as well. Most countries did in the past make a promise to never use chemical weapons and yes, Syria only recently agreed to it. We as a nation cannot resolve someone else’s civil war through force.

I do agree on Obama waiting until Congress votes; however, war with Syria shouldn’t even be a subject. I understand that Syria has used chemical weapons, and I feel that we should do something about it, just not bomb them.

Obama should really think hard about protecting the nation that he runs first before anything else.

ELISE WOODS

Conway

The yellow-brick road

Like the Cowardly Lion who finally found his courage, untucked his tail from between his legs, and started roaring instead of shivering and whimpering, the Republicans and even some Democrats have finally found theirs, and not a minute too soon. I believe their courageous vote to fund everything in our budget except Obamacare represented the will of the majority and apparently their own convictions. John Boehner was right; we don’t want the government shut down, but more than that, we don’t want Obamacare. Hopefully, Barack Obama and Harry Reid will wise up too, since not paying our bills and shutting down the government will now be their call.

Fighting for what they know is right is not only good for us, but, from the confidence and satisfaction our representatives exude, good for them. I just don’t understand why it has taken them so long. We should never forget that this country was not founded by cowardly lions or pacifists, and nobody’s freedom has ever been won or sustained by either. Conservatives in Washington have been both for so long that they have allowed our country to become a laughingstock.

Win, lose or draw, our representatives must keep up the good fight, and hang on to their courage because I believe Obamacare opens too many doors that will put us on the same threshold to losing our freedom as we were on in 1776 with Britain. They must stay on the yellow-brick road no matter how scary, and accept that, like the Cowardly Lion and his friends, they are going to have to fight wicked witches and monkeys all the way to Oz.

SUE RICHARDSON

Bella Vista

The approaching end

President Barack Obama has lectured the world on the atrocities of President/Dictator Bashar Assad of Syria on the chemical gassing of his own people. Hypocritical? Has not our own president gassed his own people, at least 51 percent of the voting public? Indeed.

I believe the gas he has employed is a special one formulated to put many in a state of malaise; his deceptive ways and policies and manipulation of the Constitution have led to massive confusion for many. Thus, the gas has a designated chemical symbol of Dc (denoting deceit and confusion), which is appropriate for the resident location of the one administering it to the American public. It is colorless, odorless, and appears harmless as it will not kill the body like the nerve gas used in Syria. Nevertheless, the gas used is one that targets the mind, specifically and inconspicuously the cerebral cortex area that controls the thought processes of reasoning and understanding.

In all fairness, I believe other presidents have done similar acts, albeit not to the degree of this current president. Because of these properties, Obama can distribute this gas in a manner that spreads quickly and innocuously around the nation without regard to consequences. He appears to be above the law, acting recklessly and with impunity.

Can anything be done to save this nation at this late stage? Probably not, but as Christians we are expected to uphold the commandments of God and do good every day as the kingdom of God is fast approaching.

REEVES HUIE

Benton

Think name will stick

Letter-writer George Schroeder referred to Barack Obama as our super-slick Teflon president. I think the name has a very good chance of sticking, just like Slick Willie stuck to Bill Clinton, only I think this president (Obama) is slicker.

DONNA DAUGHERTY

Gravel Ridge

A biased point of view

I have long suspected John Brummett to be an unabashed shill for the left, and his Sunday column removed all doubts for me.

I think his defense of President Barack Obama’s fix for congressional staff is laughably false-Rep. Tom Cotton is correct. Seems to me the Affordable Care Act is deliberately designed to encourage large companies to dump their people into the public health-care exchanges. As I understand it, once no longer covered by employer programs, the common man would receive no money from his job to supplement care and the money spent toward health-care coverage would no longer be pre-tax dollars.

I think to say that the federal government paying thousands of dollars to supplement its employees in the public exchanges is in any way the same thing is … well, it’s stupid. Good intentions don’t necessarily make good policy. If this monstrosity is allowed to remain in place, I believe American health care will be well down the road that’s paved with those good intentions.

Repeal and replace!

STEVEN W. BLEVINS

Fayetteville

New pandering afoot

Legislators, after losing much of their conservative support for creating the “private option,” apparently have now found new constituents to pander to-the education community. I say education community because this issue is not about the teachers who are feeling the brunt of bad policy. It is about bad policy, bad administration and bad legislators kicking the can down the road hoping someone else will pick up the tab for those bad decisions.

The leader of the pack, Sen. Jason Rapert, wasted no time making this issue a political hot potato that has been cooking for over a decade. Now the apparent solution from the Legislature is to take money from the people, for the people and give it to “special” people suffering from the same rate increases and financial hardships as every hardworking Arkansan. Now they are talking about a special session to resolve this.

Any action resulting in spending additional taxpayer funding should be off the table and the only solutions should come from the districts and the teachers they employ. The projected increase for typical health-care insurance is expected to be as much as 116 percent, according to United-Health Group, the largest health insurance company in the U.S.

So, considering the changes to the teacher health-insurance plan, which expects to increase its rates by nearly 50 percent, it doesn’t seem much different than the rest of us.

GLENN GALLAS

Hot Springs

Uhh … Obamacare?

A riddle: What is it?

You have to pass it to find out what’s in it, you have to buy it to find out how much it costs, and you have to try to use it to see how/if it works.

VERNA WELLS

Malvern

Feedback

Seems like agenda

In a recent article about a request for funds for a park, the reporter seemed to be attacking some Republican legislators for being supportive of a public park for children with special needs.

Makes me wonder if attacking Republicans has become so much of an objective of this paper that even when they try to do something good for those least able to help themselves that they must be criticized. Or does this reporter/paper have some issue with helping our citizens with special needs?

JOHN HERN

Hensley

Fulfilling a quota

In a recent column, Paul Greenberg contended that the raw material of letters to the editor “can include not just the occasional revelation but a full quota of factual inaccuracies, unsubstantiated speculation, assorted defamations …”

Hmm. Is this not characteristic of writing on the editorial page, too?

BETTY IRENE McSWAIN

Fort Smith