LETTERS

Where can waste go?

I present this problem as a retired nurse with firsthand information on this subject. I have a son who is a diabetic and takes a shot twice a day. I also have a grandson who takes a shot three times a week, and there is nowhere to dispose of contaminated waste except to put it in our trash bin at our door. How many steps do the haulers make before the waste reaches its final destination?

Arkansas Children’s Hospital and the UAMS clinic area permitted us to place the contaminated needles in their contaminated waste for a while, but recently said that we could not do this any more. So now there is nowhere to put them.

We may as well hand them to the first drug user that we meet because when we place them in the dumpster, they are available to anyone who finds them. There is no use in trying to stop drug abuse if we must place this material in their hands.

The people who provide my grandson’s medication tell me it is against the law to put this sort of stuff in our trash. So what is a person to do? Please advise; I’m sure there are others with this same problem.

LAURA AARON

Little Rock

Net neutrality’s perils

The issue of net neutrality is a good proxy for political ideology. We have the Internet, a network of connected nodes. Any node may pass on information as its owner pleases, so long as it is in a recognizable format. Perfect anarchy, each node making its own decisions about what packets to pass on and when, each node acting freely according to its own choices. You can see how libertarians would like this.

But proponents of planned order, the authoritarians of the Internet, want to order each node to prioritize packets by their favored criteria-first come, first served. These people want to set rules, enforceable by violence, for what they claim is “the public good.” You can see how statists would like this.

Disclaimer: I like to watch Netflix and YouTube. Thus, net neutrality would screw me over big time. No one who watches streaming video likes to see glitches and stoppages in the middle of a show. Proposed “net neutrality” mandates would prohibit video-streaming services from buying priority channels from nodes. It forces time-sensitive packets like streaming video to wait for email, web-page data, and even file downloads. This is analogous to a trucking neutrality law that prohibits prioritizing perishable foods over dry goods, or a mail neutrality law that outlaws priority mail. It’s not only a violation of rights, but has perverse consequences.

In short, in general statists favor “net neutrality” mandates, while libertarians oppose them. I think this is a perfect example of libertarian support for emergent “spontaneous” order versus statist support for planned imposed order-cosmos versus taxis.

BILL ORTON

Fayetteville

Seems such a fun life

Hey, guys. Having fun? Smoking pot, having babies out of wedlock, eschewing Christmas. Who needs church? I want to go skiing, fishing or sleep in. Yes, life has definitely become more fun, more “with it” and more unhealthy and sad. Look around you and think for a change.

CLARA FISHER FIELDS

Bentonville

Must protect identity

Target. Neiman Marcus. Now other reports of customer accounts being hacked and identities stolen. How is this happening?

A recent investigative article in the New York Times made it clear. Of some 80 countries which regulate the issuance of credit cards, the United States is the only one where the magnetic strip on the card is permitted. Other countries require a microchip to make hacking far more difficult. The result is that hackers are attacking the United States because it is so easy to do so.

The other result is that Americans abroad often find it impossible to use their credit/debit cards in other countries.

Why do our regulators not require the chip? It is because banks and credit-card issuers have spent their money to thwart efforts to do so, claiming increased expenses to the issuers. To avoid damage to their financial balance sheets, these corporate entities have fought, and still fight, the implementation of this extra security.

To protect your identity, contact your elected representative. Let that person know of your concern. Ask that he or she support the regulation for additional security. Think about it: Should not the possible theft of some 110 million-plus American identities be on our minds at least as much as changes to our health-care system?

SAM HIGHSMITH

Little Rock

As the clouds roll by

Loved hearing about Searcy’s Mary Ford and her experience with her Walt Disney application.

My aunt Jane actually worked at the Disney Studios in the late 1930-40 period and, you guessed it, did nothing but paint clouds and more clouds in background cels-she and a dozen other “girls” in smocks as mandated by Uncle Walt. She eventually got tired of that and bugged out, reporting in later years that Disney ran a sweatshop and paid the cloud-painters virtually zilch. There were, of course, no unions in those days.

I remember going to see Fantasia with her as a kid and she would dig me in the ribs with her elbow and say, “Hey … lookit! There’s one of my clouds!” Wow.

ELIZABETH K. HARRIS

Evening Shade

Roots for home team

My indigenousness to the Batesville, Ark., area influences me to root for successful natives of this county seat town. If Batesville native Mark Martin drives, I pull for him.

I now add Charlie Strong, head football coach and Batesville native to the list. I’ll pull for his Texas team to win every game-excluding a Texas-Arkansas match up, of course.

WILLIAM C. KRAMER

North Little Rock