LETTERS

Just talk about issues!

It has been a cold winter and we all would like a nice spring breeze. Well, the same is true in politics.

Would not it be refreshing if those running for political offices would state their positions on the issues and not be running down someone else? Running others down does not make us look better, but it just might make them look like they do not know anything about the issues.

Frankly, I am not interested in what one candidate thinks about the other, but I would like to know their positions on the issues.

If ministers preached as negatively and teachers taught in the same fashion, we would not like it. So to those seeking public office: Tell us what your stands are on the issues and how to improve our government.

FREDDY BOEN

Fordyce

Retailers missing out

February 6, and my car thermometer shows the temperature at 6 degrees. Brrrr … and that is where this story begins.

I went to a large wholesale club to buy a humidifier to aid with the effects of being inside during this cold winter (dry sinus, static electricity, etc.). I wandered around looking for humidifiers and couldn’t find one anywhere. What I did find was grills, gardening supplies and swimsuits.

I asked an associate and was told, “We had to make shelf space for spring.”

Not sure how many folks are interested in gardening or swimming today, but that is apparently the reality of in-store retail. I’m getting used to Christmas displays before Halloween, so I suppose this is no different, but it sure makes me think that retailers really are jumping ahead of consumer needs. I resorted to shopping online, and instead of using my new humidifier that day, I would have to start using it several days later. (That is, if the delivery service makes its commitment, but that’s another story.)

I suppose there are a lot of good reasons retailers fill the shelves with things I need two months from now, but when I need something, I would like to be able go to a store and purchase that item. Stores need to realize that they are losing sales to online shoppers due to the unavailability of what consumers need when they need it.

DONALD EDMONSON

Rogers

Analogy ill-conceived

In reference to Bernard Frazer’s letter: If I were on a raging battlefield seeking cover, I might indeed prefer to share a foxhole with Tom Cotton rather than John Brummett, or any number of other people with whose views I often agree.

After all, Cotton has made it clear more than once that he is a warrior, willing and able to protect and serve, whereas, to my knowledge, Brummett has never been in a shooting war.

However, I would also prefer that the Senate not be a battlefield, and that the words and tactics used in that body not be used as weapons, but as tools to provide better government for us all. For this reason, I think Mr. Frazer’s analogy is ill-conceived.

RENEE HUNTER

Conway

Not what word means

Paul Greenberg, editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s editorial page, often writes eloquently, and rightly, about the merits of the slashing honest truths that writers of an earlier generation-George Orwell, H.L. Mencken-presented to their readers. Greenberg takes Orwell and Mencken as his ideals.

Greenberg also denounces President Barack Obama’s initiatives at every turn. Sure, thoughtful critiques of Obama are welcome. Where I believe Greenberg goes beyond the pale, where he abandons any claim to Orwell’s and Mencken’s heritage, is when he attacks Obama’s statement that when Congress balks, Obama will issue executive orders to attain public goals. Greenberg’s assessment of this statement is that Obama “plays fascist.”

That, Mr. Greenberg, is an abuse of the English language, an abuse I believe George Orwell would never have countenanced. Orwell knew what fascism was. Executive orders are not fascism. They are a standard, routine tool of presidents, a tool that President George W. Bush and other presidents used more frequently during their terms than President Obama has used during his. Most are used when Congress or the Constitution has already given authority to federal agencies to take the action at issue. Others simply fill gaps when a gridlocked Congress fails to act.

Possibly some executive orders go beyond the law, impinging on human rights. Mr. Greenberg, what’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. Where was your denunciation of President George W. Bush’s executive order authorizing “enhanced interrogation techniques”? Would Orwell have found fascist overtones there?

ROBERT B. LEFLAR

Fayetteville

Politicians not perfect

I read Voices in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette every day, and I’m amazed at the ignorance I see written in these comments.

Do these people really think that their political parties are perfect? Do they think the liberals or conservatives are always right?

Politicians are not perfect; they have personal issues just like everyone else.

It is like looking in a mirror-you do not see yourself as you really are. Stop and think about what you are saying; you may not see yourself as you really are, but other people do.

PAUL BOLNER

Springdale

Paltry prognostication

I believe there is a better chance that I can predict a perfect bracket in the NCAA tournament than these so-called weathermen predicting the forecast. This is turning into a joke.

SCOTT COOK

Bearden

Editorial, Pages 15 on 02/13/2014

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