LETTERS

His face rings a bell …

I kept thinking that Pastor Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty resembled someone I had seen before. Yes, the Ayatollah Khomeini, that mean-faced holy man who established a theocracy in his country.

Come to think of it, I think all the Duck Dynasty men look like ayatollahs or Taliban. And their program is way popular? I guess we lost the war on hateful, scapegoating religion and no one ever told us.

Just look at that face. Not a trace of love therein, just like Khomeini.

GARY BRODNAX Fayetteville

How it is interpreted

The Duck Dynasty homophobic thing has struck me as much ado about nothing.

I don’t agree with what the old guy said, but I think he was speaking from his heart, as honestly as he knows how. I respect that. There are a lot of people who feel the same way but who are too intimidated to say it. Whatever they and A&E do about it is their business. I don’t watch the show.

The part that caught my attention was the family statement that the old guy is a “Godly” man.

I more think he is a religious man. It seems the simplistic way in which he interprets the teachings of the Bible was taught to him. His is a handed down, unevaluated belief. I believe most religion is. It is kind of like the kindergarten of Godliness. When you get to the upper grades, you learn that one and one does not always equal the same thing as two. But it works okay at first.

The message that other spiritual minds get from the Bible is that we are all, each of us, better off to learn how to love rather than judge one another. Godly love does not require someone to be less than you.

Love is interpreted in many ways, of course, but I think most would agree that what we would most like Godly love to be, toward ourselves, anyway: forgiving and accepting.

You can find that in the Bible, too. God allows choice.

MICHAEL WERTZ Springdale

Why we cannot trust

The public should be able to trust elected officials.

I believe one of the most important attributes for any public official is being honest in all cases. Their honesty and truthfulness should be above everything. Every elected official initially holds a position of trust. Once they violate that trust and lie to the people who voted for them, they have proven they can never be trusted again with any action or duty.

Most intelligent people (other than the dedicated party voters) vote for someone based on what they have been told by the candidate they trusted to do what they said they would do. Anyone who lies to the people who trusted them and voted for them has lost all credibility (except with the party voters) and can never be trusted again. I think any person holding an elected position who lies about anything should be removed from office;in addition, those who are planning to run for office who have been proven to have lied about anything should be forbidden to hold office. This holds true from the lowest elected person all the way to the president.

It’s no wonder nobody has any trust in the government; try and find one elected person who always tells the truth. When someone lies to Congress, he can get up to five years in prison. Should it be any different or less for an elected official lying to the public?

Let’s put some teeth in the judicial system and start prosecuting violators, all of them.

ROBERT L. MAYNARD Hot Springs Village

Love is unconditional

Thank God for nice people like Mr. Aaron Stratman.

Three years ago, a momma feral cat came to our home. It was hot and she had three little kittens. She was so afraid. I started feeding her, and to make a long story short, I still have Momma Kitty and one of her babies, a beautiful black and white cat, Piano. Two of the kittens did not survive.

You can tame these precious animals with love and caring.

God recently sent me a beautiful gray male cat; he was so tiny, and we took him into our home. His name is George Jones “Possum” Hightower. All of our animals have been neutered.

Thank God for loving people that care about these precious animals. They give all the love you can possibly know back to you!

JOYCE HIGHTOWER Tumbling Shoals

In defense of ideology

I had the privilege of listening to our Gov. Mike Beebe’s address to the membership of the Arkansas Farm Bureau at its recent annual meeting. I have to admit it sounded pretty good.

He talked about his limited agriculture roots and was very complimentary of agriculture and its producers, but his main theme seemed to be to give recommendations on whom to vote for in political elections. He, like many politicians, warned the electorate about voting for the ideologues, but recommended instead that the electorate vote for the person who looks at every issue at its face value.

This sounds very good, but I wonder if what he is saying isn’t very similar to what the British loyalists and more of the business-as-usual politicians were saying prior to the American Revolution.

Where would we be today if our forefathers had followed the business-as-usual crowd instead of taking the hard path and following the ideologues? It was the ideologues who started this great nation and made us what we are today, and I believe it is the ideologues who have the only chance to save this country from the business-as-usual crowd running the country today.

I strongly disagree with the honorable governor and will stake my vote on the ideologues who are fighting to save my freedom and liberty.

DANNY NAEGLE Little Rock

Unsinkable? Why,yes

I think if the Titanic had been built by far-left Democrats, Paul Krugman would have stood on the deck even as the water was washing over the bow, reassuring everyone that the ship wasn’t really sinking and would indeed reach New York in record time. FRANK LATIMER Little Rock