LETTERS

— This time, guilt’s good

During this holiday season, we like to compile our list of reasons to be thankful. Certainly Arkansans can join with our neighbors to the south in being thankful for the recent admission of guilt and the agreement to pay $4.5 billion in fines and penalties on the part of BP, the British oil company.

BP pled guilty on criminal charges related to the rig explosion which caused the death of 11 people and an historic, environmentally damaging oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Still to be resolved, at a trial this February, are pollution fines under the Clean Water Act. Thanks to help from the many Arkansans who wrote supporting letters, and to our representatives in Congress, who unanimously voted for the Restore Act, the stage is set for funds from these payments to go where they are most needed. One hopeful sign is the recognition that significant efforts must go toward remediation efforts.

We can be thankful that for once,companies and individuals are being held responsible for their negligence.

Still, we need to remain vigilant to ensure that the criminal penalties and subsequent fines are spent to restore the Gulf as agreed upon.

JACK STEWART

Jasper

That doesn’t compute

Our 10-year-old personal computer was growing slower and slower and then was hit with a scary virus and/or scam. Like most folks, I am not savvy with such issues, so I took it to a local and well-established computer rehabilitator for repairs.

They apparently cleaned the virus from our computer, but it was still not working with the speed it once had. Most everyone I spoke with during this period said our computer was old, hence in need of junking for a newer model.

Then without effort from anyone, the computer miraculously cured itself. It now works like new. This lends itself to distrust and a feeling for future PC vulnerability.

I’m 66 and cynical.

JOE COWAN

Little Rock

Some common sense

Regarding the past election, Jim Laux says it’s too bad the regional common sense of the South can’t be transplanted into the Northern and coastal states.

Is that the same regional common sense the South showed 150 years ago?

Is it what allowed the region to flip rapidly from the Solid South (Democratic) to a region almost solidly Republican, because of a racist “Southern Strategy” coming out of California?

Maybe it’s the regional common sense that allows so many Southern states to receive more federal benefits than they pay in taxes. (Arkansas is an exception.)

Regional common sense means that eight out of the 10 bottom states in per capita income were part of the Confederacy. (Arkansas is 45th.)

I know-it’s the common sense displayed by other letter writers who believe that the fate of the nation, the world of 7 billion people, future generations, and Christianity itself rest on whether a tiny percentage of the adult population is permitted to enjoy the advantages of civil matrimony.

CORALIE KOONCE

Fayetteville

Our nation imperiled

I would wager that most citizens of these United States do not know a great deal more about the Civil War than what they were taught in high school.

Except for taking notice of monuments here and there and perhaps a visit to a Civil War battlefield, most probably do not pause often to think of this event in our history. A war that tore our nation apart for four years and killed hundreds of thousands of people on our own soil is simply a history lesson.

However, the idea of secession is once again being tossed about after this most recent presidential election. Although the idea of states seceding from the United States is rather difficult to fathom in this modern era, it is important to take a note from history. The political discontent that drove secession in 1861 did not happen overnight. It brewed for decades. As early as 1831 during the presidency of Andrew Jackson, the idea of secession was forming.

The secession petitions that have been recently circulated seem rather moot. However, these petitions are symbolic of the polarization of political thought in our nation. We have become divided among ourselves and some are ardently divided.

It would be wise for all of us, citizens and government leaders alike, to recognize that polarization weakens the stability of our nation and can lead to unintended and undesirable consequences.

Our country may never again engage in a civil war like the one of old, but even worse things can befall us.

ASHLEY POPE

Alexander

Job availability lacks

I am a social worker with 25 years experience and have been unemployed for 17 months. My advice for kids entering college is not to waste their money or their parents’ money on getting a bachelor’s degree in social work, psychology, sociology, etc .,without having your mind set to get your master’s degree. Please don’t waste your time or money.

I was laid off as a social worker after the nursing home I was working at got bought out. I have applied for over 800 jobs, 110 with the state. Each job I applied for, so did 100-plus other people.

It’s a major problem in Arkansas with job availability.

JAMES REED

Alexander

Our America is gone

It is too late to stop the impending disaster. Those things which, I believe, were obvious before the election that should have warned people not to vote for Barack Obama are even more obvious now.

Those who voted for Obama lacked logic in their decision. Reading his books would have opened their eyes.

Look at the things which have been revealed since November 6. The head of the CIA resigned, the story of Benghazi has changed, news of an attack on a U.S. drone by Iran withheld, and accusations that the EPA administrator is using a secret e-mail account are but a few of the bits of information.

There are two kinds of lies-those of commission and those of omission, but both are still not the truth. You can either believe there is a lack of truth coming from this administration, or you can continue to ignore the obvious. We are a republic, but there is a transformation under way, as Obama promised. It’s too late, he reminds us; he won, and it is obvious America lost.

DONALD DENNY

Rogers

Editorial, Pages 11 on 11/26/2012

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