A wee bit hypocritical
Mike Masterson has on many occasions written about the pig farm in Northwest Arkansas, trying to get it regulated out of business, but in a recent column he ridiculed the very government that would pass such regulation. You can’t have it both ways, Mike. Or do you think that you are only one who knows what should or should not be regulated?
BEN NOVAK
Monticello
Got his point across
A recent letter on the Voices page made me smile as I remembered a particularly demanding professor of creative writing from my college days.
As he tore our homework and submissions to pieces, I can still hear him saying “Be clear and concise—never use more words than absolutely necessary to get your point across and, where possible, include a pertinent illustration to support and reinforce whatever you’re trying to say. Never write anything over which the reader has to labor in order to instantly grasp your meaning or intent.”
He would have loved the letter written by Jerry Collins of Gurdon. Ol’ Jer would have aced my college course with no problem.
Best letter this year by far.
DONALD G. REED
Bella Vista
Save them from chaos
Regarding Mr. Thomas Atwater’s letter about the conundrum of adoption and abortion, maybe the lack of people getting involved with fostering and adopting in the state is because doing so exposes one to the absolute ugly side of society here in Arkansas. It’s the ugliness most people in the middle/upper-middle socioeconomic class don’t know and don’t want to think about.
The kids in the Department of Human Services system are children born into the chaos of drugs, physical/sexual/emotional abuse, violence, poverty and hunger where learning to survive takes on a new meaning. These children experience more trauma and war-zone-type uncertainty by the age of 5 than the average person will experience in a lifetime. By the age of 6, this cycle of chaos and trauma becomes such a part of the child’s fiber that it can be nearly impossible to undo. When siblings are involved, the oldest one becomes the parentoften “parenting the parent” also.
Why not take the money spent fighting abortion and spend it to help end the nightmares? Help break the cycle—require young tweens/teens to take not only sex education, but also a class that teaches what having a baby is really like (use a doll).
Why not take the time invested in opposing abortion and spend it to help a child out of the nightmare? Become a volunteer for the courts (the CASA system), or a Big Brother/Big Sister. Become a foster family—become a therapeutic foster family.
Or, make the big commitment and adopt.
CHERYL V. BARNARD
Perryville
Thinks he’s a big dog
This is to all the Trump puppies out there: We’ve all seen the type. They’re easily found. They build themselves up by tearing another down.
We’ve all heard the hype. It’s a boastful sound, like a yapping little pup trying to be a grown-up hound.
D.G. WEST
England
Cheapens its meaning
As a Jewish citizen of this state with relatives who died in the Holocaust, I am extremely offended by the cynical invocation of this horrific time by non-Jewish politicians who seek to advance their political agendas.
This time, it is Mr. Mike Huckabee, who is against the agreement with Iran; other times, it is members of the Arkansas Legislature, who are vocal about their evangelical Christianity, and who somehow believe this gives them license to invoke all the Jews killed in the Holocaust to support their anti-abortion agenda. It is all the more offensive because a large percentageprobably a majority of Jews—believe in a woman’s right to choose.
By using the Holocaust in this way, you cheapen its tragic meaning.
BETTINA BROWNSTEIN
Little Rock
If you believe that …
I doubt that Mr. Barack Obama would agree with Vernon McDaniel’s recent letter stating, “Trump and Huckabee know how to work the crowds, but I believe it takes more than that to be president.”
BRUCE F. MITCHELL
Hot Springs National Park
It’s unconstitutional
Way back in 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional for the states to impose sales tax on any mail-order company that did not operate within their borders. In the case National Bellas Hess
v. Department of Revenue, the court ruled that states charging sales tax on out-of-state businesses violated the Interstate Commerce Clause and the 14th Amendment.
Can someone explain to me how mail order is different from Internet order, legally? Both involve me ordering from companies that are out-of-state, both involve interstate transport, both include me making my order from my house. So why do the states think they can tax Internet sales when the Supreme Court has already said it is unconstitutional to tax mail-order sales?
Do we really need to spend the time and money for the court to say that forcing companies that are in a different state to pay sales tax in Arkansas is unconstitutional? Or can our elected officials look at the previous ruling and realize that taxing the Internet is unconstitutional?
JASON LAMBERT
Cabot
Barbaric philosophy
Many pro-choice advocates, including Hillary Clinton, have called the recent Planned Parenthood videos “disturbing.”
Really? Why? If you are one who embraces abortion (by the way, have you seen one?), what’s the big deal? Seems to me this is simply the inevitable “next step” of your barbaric philosophy of dehumanizing the unborn.
Now, how much for that liver?
ROBERT LEWIS
Little Rock