Oval Office petulance
Let me get this straight. So for two years Trump has had the Senate and House in his favor, where they had presumably been "in favor" of his wall. We have had at least two budgets or more where the subject of "Trump's wall" has been considered and then rejected for funding and Trump has smilingly signed off on the budgets. This is the Republican House and Senate. Now the Democrats, who also do not wish to fund his wall, have control of the House and suddenly it is the Democrats' fault for the closure of the government.
We all agree that addressing illegal immigration is important, but a wall? No. Right now, Trump is doing more damage to this country than any illegal immigrant to even think about. He needs to go. Let's hope in 2020 that either the Democrats have a candidate that can get him out or the Republicans wake up and have a candidate to challenge this petulant child that has no business ineptly "in charge" of the United States of America.
SUSAN TURTON WEEKS
Sherwood
Defending the faith
Your guest writer Ron West submitted the best thought-provoking opinion titled "A price too high/Trump evangelical support vexing" in Friday's paper. One would hope it will resonate with readers who are so enamored with the president and seemingly have their heads in the sand when it comes to the truth about his un-Christian-like ways.
Also, was so surprised with a Facebook post from Franklin Graham stating that "No president in my lifetime has defended the Christian faith like Donald Trump."
Likely the only reason that President Jimmy Carter is not recognized as the most Christian-like by Mr. Graham and Republicans is that Carter is a Democrat. So sad.
KARON PENN
Benton
Fix nursing shortage
An entire year has elapsed since you read in this paper about the plight of our DACA students who successfully completed all hurdles to be eligible to write the R.N. exam in preparation for R.N. status. Yet no one in the last year with authority has shown the interest to move forward and create a pathway for these truly eligible nurses to practice here. Not Arkansas Nurses Association, not ASBN, not one legislator. Pathetic.
Continent-wide there is a well-documented severe shortage of nurses, and no one that can help change that is even trying. Won't some citizens at least let their elected ones know how dissatisfied they are with this inertia? Or is this a state of complacent citizenry?
Yup, guess so.
CYNTHIA B. SKINNER
Jacksonville
St. Peter has the key
Even heaven has a gate.
JAMES STOWE
Fayetteville
About lane courtesy
Kudos to Dane Buxbaum for driving a Prius. True conservatism calls us to be good stewards of Earth's resources, which he is doing.
The Prius, however, is not the reason Billy Joe Ray Bob hates him. It is his lack of lane courtesy that is irritating him. He states he is driving 10 mph or so above the speed limit in the left lane when one of the behemoths he decries comes up behind him, closing to within a car-length of his rear bumper. His refusal to yield to faster traffic is why they are crowding him; he is impeding the flow of traffic. Standard North American practice is to drive on the right, pass on the left, and move over for faster traffic, slower traffic staying to the right.
This practice is not only courteous driving, but also required by Arkansas law. Section 27-51-301(b) states, "Motor vehicles shall not be operated continuously in the left lane of a multi-lane roadway whenever it impedes the flow of other traffic." This requires a driver to move over for faster traffic coming up behind him, regardless of speed. The fact that he is already 10 mph over the speed limit is irrelevant for this law.
By following this simple concept, and using the left lane for passing, and not as a driving lane, Mr. Buxbaum will find he spends a lot less time looking at the grille of Billy Joe's F-150 in his rearview. He will also do his part to make traffic flow more smoothly, which will help conserve fuel.
THOMAS BECKETT
Siloam Springs
Peril to government
Those who composed our Constitution purposefully designed a system in which the legislature was the strongest of the three branches--legislative, executive, and judicial. Of the legislative branch, the House, which most nearly represents the people at any given time, was given the power of the purse. The framers were leery of a strong executive for reasons which were made so clear in the last century in Russia, Italy, Germany, and North Korea.
The brouhaha over the iron curtain proposed to separate Mexico and the United States and the subsequent cutoff of government salaries is not so much a struggle over a barrier or a difference between Republicans and Democrats as it is a constitutional struggle for power of the executive branch over the legislative branch of our government.
Yielding to the demands of Mr. Trump will give the executive branch a new and powerful weapon (cutting off government funding) that may in the future be exercised for more heinous purposes.
I presume that Mr. Trump has exercised a pocket veto of the original funding bill. The only way out of this situation which is respectful of the Constitution is for the legislative branch to override this veto. Democrat or Republican, legislators must recognize the danger to constitutional government and act together on this.
OTTO HENRY ZINKE
Fayetteville
Editorial on 01/15/2019