How did it get there?
Amid all the brouhaha over the letter written by Tom Cotton, I became aware of something. Just how did the letter get to the ayatollah?
I don't think we have an embassy there, so that manner is out. Did the signees use FedEx? Or the good old U.S. Postal Service? Did they email the message to ayatollah@axisofevil.com? Did they persuade some other country to deliver it, albeit surreptitiously? Was it printed in a U.S. newspaper for which the Iranians have a subscription? Was it in Farsi, or English only?
Maybe a reporter could actually ask Cotton or one of the other signees these questions. After all, inquiring minds want to know.
DAVID KELLEY
Fort Smith
Familiar sentiments
Just when I thought Tom "Koch Brothers" Cotton couldn't sink any lower after his "Let them rot in hell" statements, statements that Joe Stalin with his gulags and Adolf Hitler with his concentration camps would heartily endorse, he trumps that delivery with an intrusion into foreign policy that apparently was made solely to hamstring the president and to solidify his position on the extreme right of his own party.
Everyone should read The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. I find the parallels to our own political climate to be frightfully similar.
TED ZABEL
Cherokee Village
Not a vehicle for hate
I have a belief that my generation will be the one to end most of the racism, hatred, and discrimination that plagues many of our legislators right now. I believe House Bill 1228 is a clear example of hatred and discrimination, masked under the guise of religious freedom.
This is unacceptable, but this is nothing new in history. The same things were done by legislators and the KKK in the Jim Crow era, with the same exact justifications. If we forget our history, we are doomed to repeat it. We must stand against hatred and discrimination.
This bill, if it becomes law, will hurt our state economically because some businesses will leave, others will not come to our state, and tourism will drop. Apple and Wal-Mart, two key business leaders, have both come out in opposition of this bill. They are not alone. Indiana just passed a similar law and is already facing threats of losing businesses headquartered there.
I want the world to watch what these people are doing and never forget. They say our generation never had its great war. Our war is a war of conscience and basic human decency.
I challenge the interpretations of people who use the Bible as a vehicle for hate. God said to love one another. That was the greatest commandment. It isn't my place to judge. That is what religion is supposed to be about. The Bible is not meant to be a vehicle for hate, discrimination, or racism.
EDDIE RYAN ROBERTS
Hensley
Issues that divide us
Much ado has rightly been made about the potential for legalized discrimination against the LGBT community resulting from passage of the misbegotten and ill-named Religious Freedom Restoration Act. What's overlooked, however, is that this legislation is entirely open-ended, and therefore increases the possibility of all manner of hateful and divisive discrimination.
Think about all the religious issues that divide our country. How can anyone think that allowing discrimination based on religious beliefs will make our country better? Whose beliefs will be respected? There is no religious consensus about issues like alcohol use, divorce, abortion, meat or vegetarianism, pork or no pork, and racism itself. Will some children be taught science from the King James version of the Bible? Will a county clerk be able to deny a marriage license to a mixed-race couple? Would truckers and other transportation workers be free to decline shipments of materials they find to be offensive? Will police officers be able to decline enforcement of laws that conflict with their religious beliefs?
It took Christians about two thousand years to figure out that slavery is a bad idea--in spite of what the Bible says. It's taken the United States about two hundred years to figure out some forms of discrimination should be illegal. Let's hope our Arkansas legislators come to their senses.
DALE PEKAR
Little Rock
Yabba dabba doo time
I see it's now okay to discriminate against LBGTs. What's next, ban The Flintstones because they had a "gay ol' time"?
JOE SEAMAN
Lakeview
Shouldn't defend that
Dana Kelley defends the indefensible.
The Department of Justice report showed that, though the population of Ferguson, Mo., is 67 percent black, 85 percent of traffic stops and 90 percent of citations were of black drivers. Blacks were twice as likely to be randomly searched during vehicle stops though they were much less likely to have contraband, proving that racial profiling is not only immoral but bad police work and a waste of manpower and resources.
Mr. Kelley should know that in other parts of the country, if you get a ticket, you simply mail in your payment and you are not required to take time off from work to go to court. Guess what? Taking time from work is harder for those in positions of lower authority (lower income) than it is for those with greater authority (higher income). In other parts of the country, fines are not added to fines ad infinitum. This entire system that Mr. Kelley defends is designed to extort large sums from those who are least able to pay--the working poor. If Mr. Kelley had been unable to pay his ridiculous $400-plus fine, he would be in an endless loop of court appearances and additional fines and arrest warrants.
The abuses of the Ferguson Police Department were rampant; read the report. It is impossible to imagine this level of abuse in an upper-middle-class white community. The reason the Department of Justice finds their practices scandalous, and often illegal and unconstitutional, is because they are.
KATHY CURTIN
Fayetteville
Fighting culture war
Thinking idle thoughts, one wonders: Who was or is crazier, those 1950s Arkansas legislators, who were of course primarily Democrats, and their attempts to hold back the tide of racial changes versus today's Arkansas legislators, who are of course primarily Republican, and proudly oblivious to what they are doing that may further speed our economically troubled and backward state back into a national laughingstock?
Back in the 1950s, it doesn't seem like any other states were blazing the unfortunate path Arkansas was on, but instead followed our lead in their thinly disguised hatred.
Nowadays, thanks to the invention of social media, the Legislature cannot plead ignorance of the possible effects of their action, as we all could see what was going on in Indiana.
And just like the governor of long ago, the current governor faces the challenge of qualifying for a "profile in courage," but may also wish to continue to please his base and ride the tide, no matter where it might take him.
Whatever became of the Republican Party's high regard for the job creators and so on? It seems the lawmakers of today are more focused on fighting the culture war, no matter that its outcome is not likely to be of their choosing. Just think of all the potholes that could be fixed and the schools that could be repaired with the money that will be spent in the courts, fighting these useless battles.
As rock group The Who put it so well in their song, "Won't Get Fooled Again": "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss!"
JACK W. HILL
Bismarck
Editorial on 04/03/2015