Owe souls to the rich
Every Republican voting in the Senate voted "no" to equal pay for equal work.
Surprised? Why?
It seems they only vote for the rich ol' boys' club. They also said "no" to allowing refinancing of student loans, raising the minimum wage and against requiring companies with government contracts to stay in the United States. So they don't care about jobs here either?
It's obvious to me that Republicans don't like ordinary people; their prime directive is to deny affordable health care to millions of Americans. They want to get rid of Medicare and Social Security. They consistently vote "no" to protect our natural resources, and want to gut the EPA that is trying to keep the water drinkable and air breathable.
It seems they do want "tort reform," which would mean little or no protection by the courts from wrongful actions by big corporations; and they think Wall Street regulations should make it easier for the wealthy, too bad for the little guy. And they sure don't like taxpayers, at least not the working class: they vote for billions in tax breaks for the 1 percent, but won't even simplify the tax code for common folks.
I will not vote for any Republican. I believe they owe their souls to the super-rich and don't like me at all.
CATHERINE HARP
Sherwood
Same old socialism
Once again the marchers are in the street demanding something be done about "climate change" or "global warming" or whatever they are now calling it.
The Earth's temperature is cyclical, rising and falling in a fairly regular pattern. This has been happening for hundreds of thousands of years. It's been happening since long before humans were even here.
I believe there is yet to be any credible scientific evidence that man-made climate change is occurring.
I believe what the protesters want in the name of environmentalism is curbs on capitalism, taxes on the rich, and wealth transfer from industrialized countries to less developed ones. In other words, they're demanding the same old socialism.
FRANK LATIMER
Little Rock
Disrespectful salute
This, too, is my first letter to the Voices page. I'm writing in response to the two gentlemen who felt that there is nothing wrong with the president's sloppy salute. I disagree with the two men, but that's okay.
I am the wife of a retired Air Force man and mom to a retired Navy man. I have viewed many salutes in all those years.
However, after watching the president exit the Marine helicopter the other day with a cup of coffee in his right hand, his answer to the salute proffered by the young Marine was to salute the coffee cup.
That, I feel, was disrespectful and showed his total lack of understanding and respect for those in the military.
Any response?
R.A. MANNING
Oden
Double-standard seen
The Ray Rice incident has caused the double-standard monster to raise its ugly head again. When his fiancée hit him before he retaliated, the response from angry women and feckless men was immediate and deafening. When Jay Z's sister-in-law kicked and repeatedly punched him, where were the irate comments from men? Gender equity can never be realized as long as rules exist that give special privileges to one segment of society.
The long-held belief that you never hit a woman should be changed to: "You never hit anyone." And I think the "ladies first" practice is blatant favoritism.
I find myself wondering what happens in the maternity ward. When a little boy is born, I suspect he's smacked on the rear and told, "You're on your own." When a little girl is born she is smacked--gently, to avoid any abuse charges--on the rear and given a lovely pink blanket, a lifetime supply of "I'm entitled" pills, a tiara to remind her she's a princess, and a "victim" cap she can use when things don't go her way.
To set the record straight, my displeasure is not directed toward females. They are simply better manipulators. Eve didn't use violence to convince Adam to eat the apple.
Fellows, wake up and start communicating. There is a Susan G. Komen breast cancer race next month, but no parade for prostate cancer, even though September is Prostate Cancer Awareness month. Ironically, many of those much-maligned NFL players will be on the field in October wearing pink socks, shoes and gloves, with pink towels in their waistbands.
The moral of the story is: America is the most wonderful place in the world if you happen to be born a girl.
K.C. BYRD
North Little Rock
Responsibility is ours
Bradley Gitz has written a sober and thoughtful column on calling a Muslim a Muslim. When communities express rage, they do it in their cultural idiom, and the Middle Eastern idiom is Islam.
He might have gone further to explore the reason for their rage.
It would help contemporaries to reflect on the reasons Native Americans in the past rampaged against settler expansion into the West. American culture at the time portrayed them as savages who mindlessly resisted the inevitable expansion of civilization and explained the frontier's conquest as witness to the manifest destiny of God's chosen people.
Since the defeat of the Ottomans in World War I, Western nations have conquered, divided, ruled and exploited Muslim populations in the Middle East. The process is once again defined as the advancement of civilization and the rampage by Muslims against it as mindless resistance to the inevitable.
ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) is a genuine horror, but I think the West will fail to extinguish it (and its like) until it comes to grips with its own responsibility in creating that horror.
Thank God the American settlers didn't have drones and the Indians didn't have kalashnikovs.
DAVID SIXBEY
Flippin
Editorial on 09/29/2014