No reason to continue
I believe that Thursday night Razorback game (scheduled purposefully against a basically high school team) sounded the death knell for the UofA to play at War Memorial, even if not officially. In case rabid Razorback fans haven't noticed, in the post-Broyles era, Jeff Long and the current administration have had a disdain for Little Rock games for some time and, with current TV contracts and SEC revenue, look down their noses from The Hill at pretty much the rest of the state.
Diehard fans will still watch on television, waste 15 bucks a year on a Hog hat, then $30 on a sweatshirt, another $50 on assorted apparel for the family, and watch and cheer for a mediocre team from the comfort of their trailer. Long knows this.
Let's be honest, though: Little Rock hasn't given them much of a reason to continue. Who wants to go there for any reason? Mark Stodola, I believe your chief of police Kenton Buckner and the rest of the city government have completely lost control of crime. It seems you're on pace to break the '93 homicide rate.
Good riddance, Long and the Razorbacks.
ANTHONY LLOYD
Hot Springs
For diverse opinions
On the Voices page on Sept. 2, Tim and Sandy Malcolm expressed their disapproval of "liberal trash" and "rubbish" that has appeared on the opinion pages of the Democrat-Gazette. They say they are going to end their subscription to this paper and subscribe to the Wall Street Journal instead.
I am disheartened to find that Tim and Sandy, and several other letter-writers in recent years, expect the opinion pages to reflect only their personal, intolerant, regressive attitudes. I believe their willful ignorance and disrespect for diverse opinions are loathsome and unpatriotic in a free, open, and diverse society.
They can go bury their small minds in the sand. I will not miss them.
JEFF BARNES
West Fork
Climate and economy
Will the cost of moving away from fossil fuels really be millions of jobs and trillions of dollars? "No," says Jeanne Merrill, who cites California as an example. Merrill is the policy director for the California Climate and Agriculture Network. Ms. Merrill reports the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 in California helped fuel the state's recovery from the Great Recession. Since passing the country's most comprehensive climate change laws, California's "GDP growth has significantly outpaced the national average."
California, the sixth-largest economy in the world, has generated 13 percent job growth, and added 1.8 million jobs, billions in clean-tech venture capital and investment, as well as a GDP growth rate that doubled the national rate in both 2015 and 2016. All this was accomplished while dropping gas emissions 9.4 percent in the decade ending in 2014.
The carbon fee and dividend policy proposed by the Citizens' Climate Lobby will drive a transition to a domestic energy economy, stimulate investment in alternative-energy technologies, and give business powerful incentives to remain competitive by increasing energy efficiency and reducing their carbon footprints.
Information on the carbon fee and dividend policy can be found at citizensclimatelobby.org.
ROBERT PEKEL
Rogers
Jell-O and concrete
What similarities do Jell-O and concrete have? Jell-O is the food we have often been fed after an operation, an illness or hospital stay. It promises the beginning of something new and the first step to better days ahead.
But what promises did Jell-O really hold? The chemicals and dyes in it have caused its desirability and market share to continue dropping. All those alluring colors were really maybe not healing, but harmful. The person hired to push the product is inundated with lawsuits alleging sexual misdeeds.
So how does the story of Jell-O relate to concrete?
Concrete has been been a symbol of progress and better days ahead also. More miles of roads, transmission lines and buildings and infrastructure--even if smothering sensitive erstwhile mangroves and wetlands--signals prosperity. Concrete offers us the means to put up tall buildings, petroleum and chemical factories and pack in homes for middle-class families to reside in who will work in these buildings and factories.
Who are the people promoting concrete and grand infrastructure visions and now will be promoting the concreting over of the concrete that was destroyed in floods? Do we trust them with our sweat and tax dollars? Do we feel comforted by phrases like, "We stand by you and we will rebuild like the good days before the storm"? Do we trust them when they say what once was called a 100-year flood is now a 1,000-year flood and quite soon will be called a 2,000-year flood?
Please be mindful of what we see and hear. The tale might just be a bowl of slimy and wobbly words of mass deception that even the speakers' own lack of insight is preventing them to see clearly through the murky colors of avarice.
SUSAN PANG
Garfield
Expect representation
President Trump working with the progressives is one thing, but trusting a rattlesnake will get you bit fatally.
Conservatives got you elected, sir, and people expect you to represent them. I respect and desire a president who has a heart, but to cross the ones who voted for you to serve those who will take you out any way they can isn't heart. It's pure baffling to me that at election time politicians try to be conservative then govern progressive.
To swim in an alligator-filled swamp isn't draining it. To believe in polls and fake news wasn't what got you elected in 2016, and to do so will take you out. Look at Alabama's Senate race; that's what will happen in 2018.
People want to believe their elected officials, not be crossed by them.
FLOYD HOPSON
Hazen
Editorial on 09/13/2017