LETTERS

What to spend it on …

Well, the time has come for the big 1.5 percent raise for all Social Security recipients, but I have a headache from trying to figure out whether to buy a yacht or jet plane with my raise.

I am afraid that if I don’t decide soon I will have to spend it on groceries and insurance payments, as they are both going up in price about 10 percent to 20 percent a year.

I worry about how long will it take my actual cost of living to take my Social Security cost-of-living raises to the point that I can’t even pay my taxes and the state evicts me from my home for not paying my taxes.

I will have to live under a tree and the landowner will probably want me to pay rent to live there.

I think the way to solve the whole problem is that when a person reaches the age of 80 years old and is retired or disabled and their annual income is $50,000 or less, they will be issued a card to show that they are exempt from all federal, state and local taxes for the rest of their lives. That way they won’t need a big raise of 1 percent or 2 percent a year.

D.E. HUNTER Benton

Consequences exist

I have read of and seen the Democrat with his Bible, and I am reminded of several scriptures. The first thing I believe that is important to know is that Jesus said in the New Testament that we were either for him or against him. There is no gray area in his life or his words.

When I think about the Democratic platform for pro-choice concerning abortion, I think about what I have read in the Old Testament, for it says we were known by God before we were formed in the womb. Pretty clear the baby in the womb is just that,a baby and not a fetus to be murdered.

We know the Democratic platform is for gay rights. The Old and New Testaments give clear instructions on what will happen to the homosexual/ lesbian person who practices their sexuality.

Since the Democratic platform stands for abortion and gay rights, how could any say he is a Christian? It is evident to me that a Democrat who confesses to be a Christian either knows very little about the Bible when it concerns the two subjects mentioned above, or they are hypocrites and are knowingly opposed to what God says.

We all have choices to make that lead us in one direction or another. Heaven and hell are real places and it’s not only Christianity that believes this.

Yes, I have friends who are homosexual, as well as a relative, and friends and a relative who have had an abortion. My love for them is not altered because of their choices. Repenting and receiving Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior is a choice one can make since Jesus stands at the door and knocks with the desire to enter into our heart. I pray he has entered yours. BOB McATEE Little Rock

A stunning connection

So Paul Greenberg apparently seriously tried to blame Barack Obama and Democrats for the watering down of Glass-Steagall-like restrictions on the financial industry? Stunning. A nod and a wink to the Republicans the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette unerringly endorses.

Now, explain to me again why Benghazi was a scandal. And Democrats were just as much to blame as Republicans in shutting down the government, right? Inquiring minds want to know.

ROBERT C. MARTIN Midway

Pay back prison costs

If the governor and legislative leaders really want to cut down on the number of cons who just go back to prison after violating their parole, then the prison system has to do a better job of providing in-class and on-the-job-training for inmates in things they can do in self-employment and fields that don’t require a background check.

There’s no reason prisoners can’t be trained and work under the supervision of state-employed master plumbers, electricians, auto mechanics, carpenters, construction equipment workers, gardeners, forest firefighters, and even Web designers and in computer maintenance and wiring.

Prisoners could act just like the Civilian Conservation Corps and Works Progress Administration workers did, building and fixing things for the government and society in general.

Jacksonville’s Dupree Park floods every time we get a good rain because Bayou Meto overflows. A couple of deep overfill lakes up and down the creek channel to contain and delay most of the water would prevent flooding and provide recreational opportunities, plus water for cattle.

Prisoners with electronic ankle monitors could be bused to schools in the evening and do maintenance and grounds work for just the cost of a couple of guards patrolling inside and outside the school that they are working on. In the summertime, they could work on building additions, improving playgrounds, painting classrooms and halls, and fixing everything from A to Z.

I think prisoners need job training and should pay society back for the cost of their imprisonment.

KEITH WEBER Jacksonville

Cartoon in bad taste

I was extremely disappointed in the political cartoon you chose to publish on the Voices page in your Christmas day edition.

While I recognize and applaud freedom of speech and press laws, in my opinion the last line of the caption went beyond being a cheap shot. Whether or not we agree with the president’s handling of the Affordable Care Act, a certain amount of courtesy should be afforded to our president.

I understand that the paper did not draw this cartoon, but you did choose to publish it on Christmas day. I believe our president and readers are owed an apology for this display of poor taste.

DAVID BLACKFORD Holiday Island

Gosh, they do count!

The 6.1 percent turnout for the $73.5 million bond issue to renovate Robinson Center resulted in 5,183 votes supporting the project. In effect, each vote for the project supported the issuance of over $14,000 in bonds.

And citizens think that their votes don’t count!

MIKE WATTS Little Rock Possible way to solve

They cut unemployment. People are worried about being homeless. Why don’t they cut the space program? MARION LIMPERIS Prairie Grove