LETTERS

LITTLE ROCK — All just hunks of meat

During this last campaign and election, I noticed how America was sliced and diced into demographic groups, as if we were cuts of meat. We were severed into Hispanic, white, black, Asian and Muslim as if we were hunks of pork.

Next we were cubed into genders, homosexuals, straight, young, middle class, seniors and any other spare pieces of flesh that could be found on the American carcass. Our nation became as bloody as any Chicago slaughterhouse ever was.

Prior to the slaughter, we were fed promises, freebies, and all manner of goods and favors, mixed into the feed of entitlements, to fatten us up. Now, here we stand in the holding pens, wading knee-deep in the fouled filth and wondering how we got here. Why have we been herded out of our sweet pastureland, and what happened to the ranchers and herders who tended us with care until our time came? Andwhy, when we were all once united into one America sharing the same farm, have we been separated into pigs, goats, fowl, cows and sheep? Maybe because it is easier to control us? Just wondering.

United we stand, divided we fall.

LINDA FERGUSON Greenbrier Cartoonist a real howl

Hats off to Dusty Higgins for his sports-page cartoons.

We have so enjoyed looking for the Red Wolf this fall in his Saturday morning cartoon on the front page of the sports section.

Being fans of Arkansas State, it was surprising the first time we saw the Red Wolf in the cartoon, then after that we look forward to finding him each week.

Dusty, thanks for being a brave soul!

CAROLYN CLARK KINCADE MaumelleGive thanks for them

My mom and dad started life as sharecroppers. They had five kids, just like the Romneys.

We always had a pan of gravy for a dog. And an inside bed for the dog to sleep in. Never ever would my parents have put a dog in a crate on top of a car. And if one of us kids had harmed an animal, we would have met the hot end of a strap on our backside.

There is just no way that my father ever would have built a fortune for himself or his family by taking another man or woman’s job. My parents were both proud to be taxpaying wage-earners.

I never heard them run down blacks or homosexuals or another person’s religion. Nope, they didn’t run down “illegals” either.

They just wanted a fair wage, good schools for their kids, health care, a chance to buy their own home, which they finally did. The house they bought is where I am now living. Been in the same house for almost 50 years.

I despise everything the Romneys stand for. I would gladly kiss the ground where my beloved parents once stood.

What am I thankful for? That Allen and Rachel Beasley gave birth to me, not Mitt and Ann Romney.

MARIANNE BEASLEY Fayetteville How did this happen?

University of Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long is receiving a contract extension and a raise. Most interesting to me, what did he do to deserve this largesse? Raise ticket prices, raise concession prices, and put a noncompetitive football team on the field.

Perhaps David Gearhart can enlighten us as to the accomplishments we cannot see which merit these wonderful gifts.

JOHN LEONARD Fayetteville Salute bravery instead

The inevitable bleating of the sheeple has begun: Dooon’t shooot theee thuuugs!

Tom Kennedy, in his letter, sarcastically criticized the man he has dubbed Scrub Man for having the courage to come to the assistance of a man who was being viciously attacked by a testicularly deficient thug. The coward, apparently for fun, shot the man who was lying injured on the ground. Scrub Man audaciously, in this ageand society of encouraged passivity, came to the man’s aid.

He assessed the situation, saw that there were no bystanders who might be struck and took a shot at the thug with a pistol. Predictably, he missed. Predictably, because most folks, even police officers, do miss when they shoot a handgun.

It’s darn hard to hit anything with a pistol.

It could’ve been my child lying shot and bleeding out. The thug’s next shot could have been to the brain or he might have crushed the man with his car. Thank you, Scrub Man, for having the courage to step up and take a huge risk financially and legally.

Mr. Critic, would you have dialed 911, hidden behind the nearest tree, or, as seems to be the almost universal response these days, videoed with your cell phone?

Kennedy should be ashamed. He has made plain to all of us that if we come to the aid of someone being attacked we will have to endure Monday morning quarterbacking by people who undoubtedly would have remained safely uninvolved.

JEFFREY M. GRAHAM Little Rock How about humility?

Re the letter from Scott Cook of Bearden: Yes, Scott’s right, we beat Kansas State in the Cotton Bowl in January, and the Razorbacks and all of the faithful Razorback Nation have had a tough time since Bobby Petrino was fired.

Here’s where classy, loyal Razorback fans and Scott (hopefully not all Kansas State fans) differ. If the roles in the Cotton Bowl and the circumstances of the following year were reversed, we wouldn’t be thumping our chests and walking around with them puffed out like a little banty rooster.

After last Saturday’s game, Scott, y’all can go back to your boring little town out of the glare of the national championship spotlight, because after the good old-fashioned whooping y’all got, it shows you were just a flash in the spotlight pan anyway. As for Collin Klein winning the Heisman, better luck next year.

Yes, I am an Arkansas Razorback fan, and we will be back, have no doubt. Kansas State . . . good luck with that.

Sounds to me like Scott’s a little bitter about the Cotton Bowl, but let me ask him this: After waking up Sunday morning and seeing those national championship and Heisman hopes in the gutter . . . how’s that working out for you?

GARY MUTH Benton