Letters

Speaking of ridiculous . . .

The title, "Bordering on the ridiculous," was catchy enough to draw me to a recent editorial, but the text--squishy and prolix--didn't fulfill the promise. It nearly did so with the acknowledgement that the Republican response to the plight of the Central American children at the Texas border could make the GOP look mean and anti-Hispanic. Otherwise, just more of the same old tired snideness. No meat on the bone. No serious suggestions for improvement.

Still looking for the promised ridiculous, my eye drifted to the Charles Krauthammer column. There was the ridiculous! A column in desperate need of a psychiatrist, titled "The vacant presidency."

Ridiculous? Yes, in its attempts to goad the president into a declaration of war against Russia. The country is still suffering from the effects of having rushed into wars against Afghanistan and Iraq, based on deluded reasons.

Krauthammer wanders on, vacillating between urging the arming of Ukraine, drawing a childish chalkline on a sidewalk, daring a testosterone-laden Putin to step over, and affirming that history documents the inevitable downfall of dictators and aggressors. His uncertainty as to the choice between short-term warfare and long-term wait-and-win is nothing short of schizophrenic.

The arc of history does bend toward justice, and is not hastened by unnecessary sacrifice. The world is again facing increasing and dangerous instability. Is this the time when lines in the sand should replace careful marshalling of diplomatic forces, or the time for more headlong rushing into armed conflict to shoulder aside a more principled, less hawkish approach?

DENNIS A. BERRY

Bryant

Keep heroes the same

Re comic books that deal with homosexuality and sexism: I think that it would be better for DC and Marvel to stick with the classic gender identity of their heroes. If they would like to include different races, sexes and ideas, I think it would be better if they create new heroes instead of changing the classic hero.

I have several favorite characters. The Flash is my favorite. It would be considerably harder for me to relate to him if they changed him to a homosexual or even a different race. I don't think turning one group of fans away from a character to gain a different group of fans is a smart idea. If they were to create new heroes, they would keep the fans they have and gain new fans with the new characters.

JOEY WHITLEDGE

Jacksonville

Get off my television

Well, as usual, another week, another day when you guess who is crying the blues again and ruining my TV watching.

Being old and retired, there are few things that I enjoy any more and one of them is watching certain game shows, of which one privileged person takes up that time crying about what he can't do or get done, a benefit enjoyed as president and a few others of that class that enjoy this privilege. I guess picture-in-picture doesn't work during his time, but they do deduct the paying for the service of watching from my bill, one of only a few things that I can still afford on my Social Security check that I am privileged to receive each month.

Mr. President, call TV and newspapers and let the reporters report it in their media. Then we all win. God bless the press.

JOHN P. BAUMAN JR.

Sherwood

Corrupt government

Re R.A. Redd's letter about my recent letter about government and our schools: My letter was not about parents. Yes, I believe parents do need to teach their children about respect, politics and Christian values. They also need to have them in church at least every Sunday morning and encourage them to take an active role in their church.

My letter was about what I believe to be our corrupt national government and how it undoes what the children learn at home and in church. When I was in public school, we had prayer read, a passage from the Bible, and we said the pledge of allegiance. We learned respect for all mankind and good citizenship as well as religion and politics.

I am a 1964 graduate from Southeast Arkansas, and our school worked with parents to teach children good values that were also taught at home and in church. Today our country is in sad shape and it is frightening to think what children are learning today.

Read my letter again, Ms. Redd, and if you need a copy, I'll be glad to mail you one.

As for Mr. Obama, respect must be earned. I don't think he has earned respect.

JOYCE HOOVER

Sherwood

Would not help at all

Many believe that if the Ten Commandments were permitted to grace the walls of every school and courthouse, all would be well with this nation.

Before we attempt to validate that notion, it would behoove us to pay particular attention to the Sixth Commandment and brush up on our Judeo-Christian history, a history built on blind faith that I believe proved to be a bloody farce. In its wake is a trail of death and destruction, despite the ever-present Ten Commandments. It's been estimated that, since the time of Constantine, over 200 million people have died because of Christian wars and oppression.

These commandments have been passionately defended as the one great binding force for good, but it's obvious to me that they would do nothing to stop unstable children from killing their classmates. There are numbers of causes that could be factored into that tragedy: Unwanted and unloved children with parents either too stupid or lazy to have put some forethought into parenting them to begin with, or their careers are more important than nurturing their children or teaching them to respect others. Then there are the undisciplined bullies (both boys and girls) who act like fools for 15 minutes of fame at someone else's expense.

Respect for others is not taught in many homes or in the marketplace. Society reaps what it sows. I believe school shootings have nothing to do with the absence of the Ten Commandments, supposedly written by an arbitrary god who could not keep half of them himself.

AL CASE

Enola

Safety is first concern

In the 1970s, I remember the Little Rock Police Department "scrambled" some sensitive police radio traffic/dispatches. This did create some degree of discomfort to the media who monitored the police scanners.

However, the news outlets paid to have a dedicated telephone "hot line" placed in the public information officer's office to advise the media of what the dispatch entailed. This worked for a number of years during my tenure as the agency PIO.

Police officer safety should be of paramount concern. The public may have a need to know, but only after the safety of the responding officers first and foremost.

ED ETHERIDGE

Little Rock

Let’s take a gamble

I had to laugh at the news about powers-that-be in Hot Springs wanting to invest money in downtown to refurbish in hopes to bring in more people/tourists. They just don’t get it in Hot Springs. I think until you change the whole dynamics of downtown, meaning casinos, that money will go into a black hole.

Yes, there are tourists in Hot Springs every year, but not the big-spending types Hot Springs used to bring in because of the gambling and entertainment. Shops downtown are struggling to make ends meet, much less make a profit. I think the Majestic Hotel says it all about downtown Hot Springs. Once a classy, elegant hotel, now in ruins and decay.

I know all of the evils of gambling. But by not having it available for the residents of Arkansas, they will just go wherever it is. I know Oaklawn has gambling but it is a poor excuse for a casino. Which brings me to another topic. Why have our politicians allowed two entities to basically control gambling in Arkansas, neither of which are from Arkansas? Arkansas has been missing a big opportunity to bring in large tax revenue over the years which would help reduce our ridiculous state income tax.

In my youth, we used to vacation in Hot Springs because my dad liked to gamble. He would give mom some money to go shopping and any other things she wished to do. Shops were open until 10 to 11 p.m. on weekends because there were lots of people still walking the streets and spending money. Those were fun days until Rockefeller came along and ruined it.

But it may not be too late. I think if gambling ever returns to downtown Hot Springs, the restoration of the Majestic Hotel would begin immediately, along with the rest of downtown.

JIM G. DAVIS

Camden

Update construction

I travel Interstate 40 on a regular basis, and it is time that someone address the long delays from West Memphis to Little Rock and around Russellville. I had to travel on I-40 from Memphis to Little Rock this weekend and it was terrible as to the delays.

Why does the highway department continue to use the old ways of managing construction? It seems you never see people working on weekends and late afternoons. You also see more people standing around than working any time you go by the site.

Suggestions: 1. Go to a 24/7 operation to decrease the time spent on construction. They would likely say cost, but if scheduled correctly, I am not sure the long-term cost would be greater; I am a manufacturing person and we used that schedule and we were more efficient. I could identify those but I do not have enough space to do so. 2. Why don’t they start the long spans from both ends and meet somewhere in the middle? Surely our engineers could design a program to make that happen, again a reduction in cost due to timing.

It is time we demand of our highway department that it devise new thinking in construction. As to cost, how about all the gas and diesel wasted sitting in line? If we want to improve on emissions, it would appear this would be a positive.

CHARLIE HART

Little Rock

Feedback

Accent on positive

Just had to tell you how much I loved your editorial on Southern accents—I could relate to it and being born and raised in Arkansas, always proud of my accent.

I had a professor in linguistics class at Lyon College (Arkansas College back then in 1975) who was from Minnesota. He was wonderful and taught me that all accents are beautiful and people say things different, which is what makes our world wonderful. He would ask me to pronounce words like “pine” and “cake” because he just couldn’t do it and loved to hear the vowels drawn out.

I am mailing the editorial to my son in South Dakota. People up there love to hear him talk, and when we visit, they always want us to talk. Thank you so much for writing it. Bless your heart!

VICKI DOOLIN

Mountain View

Real shame is his

Irene Gray of Searcy says shame on Mark Pryor, all because of the Hobby Lobby business and Obamacare. I think the real shame should be on Tom Cotton. He has turned his back on Arkansas. Likewise he has spent millions with the Koch brothers. Cotton voted five times against disaster relief. Yes, Irene, my facts are straight. I believe Mark Pryor has proven to be a great senator, just like his dear old dad.

DONALD L. PUTMAN

El Dorado

Editorial on 08/07/2014

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