Not a real problem
Flag-burning. Let's stop it. What? Flag-burning is not No. 1 on my list to get fixed. I've seen photos in newspapers and news reports on television. But I've never seen a real, live flag-burning in my 76 years except at the American Legion doing proper flag disposal.
Also, I have never burned a flag. At times, I have celebrated when someone else did. They had the courage to fight for an idea they believed. I just wasn't brave enough to face the possible outrage and shunning of my family, friends and neighbors. So the biggest deterrent to flag-burning is what people feel about the flag-burner.
Steve Womack, the U.S. representative from the 3rd District, must disagree. He wants to pass a constitutional amendment to ban flag-burning. He's trying to fix a problem that doesn't hurt anyone when we have real problems that regular people face daily.
Recently, my hair stylist told me she couldn't call an ambulance for her husband because she couldn't afford the ambulance fee. She had to drive him to the hospital herself. This spring, I had to pay $330 for an ambulance ride even though I have a Medicare Advantage Plan. Next time, I might just drive myself to the hospital.
Womack is probably adding to our problems. We know how well Congress has treated us. So remember this when you read his proposed amendment: "The Congress shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States."
Think about the real winners. Arresting a flag-burner creates so much more business for lawyers, the police, prosecuting attorneys, and judges. It creates so much more income for private prison owners. We'll need bigger jails, prisons and courthouses. Who are the losers? We are. We pay the taxes.
So Womack gets praise for fixing something we don't need fixed.
Let's keep the current law enforced in every community--fear of facing family, friends and neighbors. It's very effective and costs taxpayers nothing.
ANDRA ATTEBERRY
Bella Vista
Immigration solved
Folks, we are being sold a "snow job" and it's time we admitted it. The immigrant problem can be controlled, as can asylum. Find and admit the causes first, then consider solutions.
The folks who employ them are the ones attracting them. Users of dope attract the dope-sellers. Find and fine them severely for each illegal alien they hire. Get serious with a $50,000 fine per hire. Solved.
Asylum-seekers? Quit the supplanting of the governments they choose with what we think best. What may work well here is not necessarily best for them there. Then put the tax money we're spending on asylum-seekers into efforts to help them there. Require that our Congress do its job properly, part of which is control and oversight of that walking aberration in the Oval Office. Do not tolerate his dictatorial and narcissistic actions and conduct as our representation to our allies and the rest of the world.
Be aware that our present governor, attorney general, constitutional officers, representatives, senators and a big majority of those elected here either support his chaotic administering or are too blooming spineless to stand up to him, and stand up for us instead. This state turned Republican majority when a black man was twice elected president. They'd been majority Democrat for decades with white Democrat control. What changed? His superior intellect didn't matter to them. Obama was an "uppity" one who got out of the place they wanted him to remain in. So, instant Republicans so we'll never have another one of them again as president.
Time to admit the obvious and deal with it accordingly--or watch our nation go down the dumper. Your personal religion and social preferences are nit, and must not be made the law of the land for the rest of us!
KARL HANSEN
Hensley
Too much is charged
Concerning the new tax on online items: The rate is 8 cents on the dollar for the tax.
The bad part is that not only is the item taxed, any shipping charge on the item is also taxed, which drives the price of the item even higher.
BILL RAWLINGS
Little Rock
An apocalypse now
It's a comforting illusion to imagine that civilizations evolve forever according to some divine or natural law. Yet one generation lives through maybe a single move on the chessboard of history, indifferent to future moves. Failure to act on climate change is leading to ecological implosion of the planet and catastrophic social collapse in the century ahead. Others have faced the threat of extinction, and part of the solution is to reset the moral compass.
Judeo-Christian tradition produced apocalyptic faith promising divine intervention to save the truly righteous from Greek and Roman tyranny in a spiritualized kingdom on Earth, if not in heaven. Elsewhere, after two and a half centuries of warring states in ancient China, the ethos of Confucianism evolved, which held that individuals of every class, race and gender are essential cells in the body politic, to be respected, honored and rewarded in this world. Human relations became moral rituals. Not trusting religious imagination, Confucianism relied on sages to promote an ethos that survived for two millennia.
Today's apocalypse is self-inflicted and threatens life on the planet. The challenge is to save ourselves from ourselves. Current moral compasses serve those who claim to be a unique "chosen people": wealthy elites, religious sectarians, nationalists, racists, etc. The chances of survival might improve with a compass of the contrite who acknowledge the kinship and sanctity of all living things on Earth. Sadly, apocalyptic resurrections occur only with the death of the failed world order we inhabit.
DAVID SIXBEY
Flippin
Vehicles for military
The wheeled vehicles our combat troops are using in Afghanistan are obsolete, worn out, and undependable. When the troops go out on patrol, they hope they don't have a breakdown, and if they do, they pray they are not fired upon while getting the vehicle hooked up, turned around, and towed back to base.
A contract was approved and replacement vehicles were being shipped to Afghanistan. These new vehicles are better, safer, and have all the current controls and accessories. Then the procurement budget was cut in half and the new equipment is only trickling in and not fast enough to replace the inoperable dead-lined vehicles, so the mechanics are having to cannibalize those on dead-line to keep the others running.
So I wonder how many new critically needed replacement vehicles the multimillion dollars spent on the Trump ego-stroking, feel-good parade could have purchased. Oh well, these are the times we are in, and apparently, lots of people like it.
Has anyone asked the grunts on the ground? Just wondering.
GEORGE W. GATLIFF
Little Rock
Editorial on 07/15/2019