LETTERS

LITTLE ROCK — Two deserve a hand

Kudos to Ben Pickard and kudos to Joe White, the lottery commissioners who voted for “Big Ernie” Passailaigue’s resignation.

A note to the governor and Legislature: The commission chairman did not know about 15 weeks of time off for the lottery director and his two vice presidents until she read about it [in a state review of the agency’s personnel policies]. She is the chairman of the commission that oversees the lottery.

And then there’s the scholarship mix-up. Is that a great commission or what?

ROBERT HESS Little Rock

Who was in charge?

Re National Guard training: This paper reported that check-in time was Saturday.

Reportedly, the sniper school has a 10 p.m. curfew and a no-alcohol mandate. Why was Elzie Cain out at 4 a.m.? Who was in charge of the 10 p.m. bed check? How many others were out with Cain? How many missed bed check on Saturday night? Those in charge should be held accountable.

If Cain had been at Camp Robinson as required, this would not have happened. Our taxpayer money was paying for this training, not for him to be [out after curfew] from his training post.

RICHARD HARRINGTON Lonoke

Freedoms under fire

Like it or not, call it what you will, but we are in a struggle for our very freedoms from those who adhere to the tenets of Islam.

Terrorist acts by Muslims against citizens of the U.S. are not, as our president suggests, an overseas contingency operation or a legally actionable civil disorder here. It is a war against us and individuals or groups of Muslims who are encouraged and/ or financed by the governments of Muslim-controlled nations.

It is the apparent aim of those Muslims to establish the Koran as the universal religion with sharia as the law on a worldwide basis, either through violent or non-violent means.

In World War II, we were not attacked by the people of Germany or Japan. We were attacked by the Nazis in Germany and the military leaders led by Hideki Tojo in Japan. So while it could be said now that we were not attacked by Islam, we were and continue to be attacked by groups who are financed and encouraged by certain state-supported leaders in the Islamic faith.

Those who ignore this and attempt to rationalize past and present acts of terrorism, both overt and covert, against our citizens are effectively consigning themselves and us all to a path of national suicide.

If we don’t soon recognize this, our children and grandchildren will pay the price.

BOBBY BUZBEE Maumelle

Rights can be abused

Having the right to do something does not make it the right thing to do. Burning Korans is wrong. I don’t believe in the Koran, I believe in the Bible. I’m 61 and have seen some history, but I still believe in America.

Would that act of bigotry and destruction convert one Muslim? What is the purpose? Sow the wind and you’ll reap the whirlwind.

Whatever happened as a result would be on that pastor’s head. Americans abroad, including missionaries, would be at grave risk because of that man’s willful and prideful act.

Terry Jones said that they are praying about it, but he also said that “we have firmly made up our mind.” I suppose they mean they decided what they wanted to do and are asking God’s blessing on it.

The Koran-burning is un-American and unchristian. My God is the God of love and peace. My country still offers freedom of choice, even to people like Jones. Freedom requires responsibility to survive. Jones is not using his freedom well and it does not glorify God to incite hate.

NOEL ELIZABETH THOMAS Batesville

It’s a mixed-up world

I don’t understand it all. When I was a young boy back during the Depression, I would sit at the dining room table and eat my breakfast, dinner and supper. There was a picture on the wall of Jesus and the Disciples called “The Last Supper.”

Today we eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. What the heck happened to supper? Another world that is being buried.

When we speak of people who are overly pleasingly plump, that is obesity. What’s the matter with fat? When I went into the Army in 1943, there were 160 in the company with ages ranging from 18 to 23, and not one fat person. We were lean and mean.

But now as I am much older there are a lot of wireless items that I do not know. I have no problems with a calculator and television. Then came computers. I don’t do computers. They say you get a mouse with one.

Cell phones could be a useful item, but they are driving with them and walk through the department stores talking. I sometimes wonder how some of these people ever existed before cell phones.

Now we have smartphones, Blackberries, iPhones, androids, and the list goes on. I don’t think I’ll worry a whole lot about all this wireless technology. I’m going to blame it all onGeorge. I’ll sit on my front porch and wave at my neighbors and let this old world slip on by.

JOHN FREY Berryville

Silence is deafening

Bradley Gitz’ recent column, “It’s not up to us,” hits the nail on the head; i.e., that if Islam is ever to be accepted as a peaceful religion, the vast majority of peaceful Muslims must speak out in mass against the those militant Muslim extremists who have perverted their religion.

He makes the point that most of the world’s good Muslims have been cowed into silence out of fear of militant Muslim reprisals and that it is not America’s place to condemn them, but theirs.

His is a well-written op-ed on this threat to the world’s peaceful religions and the secular world as well. I would like to add that the Koran itself must encourage violence for so many believers to react so violently to minor offenses, requiring followers to kill the “infidels” as just one example, but that Jesus of the Bible says to forgive and to love your enemies.

Which would you choose as a guide to a peaceful life, one that requires you to kill your enemies simply because they are not of the same faith or the Bible, which requires you tolove your enemies? Are the Muslim extremists so insecure in their faith that they must kill all those of a different or no faith?

The God of Christians does not want to force us into accepting Christianity because it would not be from the heart and therefore insincere, but rather that we would use our own freewill in choosing our profession of faith.

ROBERT McDUELL

Rogers Others deserving, too

Arkansas Game and Fish commissioner Ronald Pierce says of the fact that the commission has more vehicles than employees that it’s “something that’s [been] done for ages and ages. It gets accepted. It’s taxpayer dollars.”

He is right about that, but he is dead wrong when he says it’s accepted. We get used to it because nothing ever gets done about it, but we taxpayers never accept it.

If taxpayers owe state workers transportation, why don’t doctors, nurses and teachers drive stateowned cars? They serve the people, too. A great way to control our country’s budget is to cut all spending from the very top down.

EARLENE GALBRAITH Newport