Of clichéd platitudes
So all the Republican presidential hopefuls will "put America back to work" with jobs, jobs, and more jobs.
Great! Question: Who in the current entitled society will actually fill those jobs? All those who dropped out of the work force and went on food stamps, rent assistance, welfare, etc.? The people who want $15 minimum wage are going to drop their bennies for work?
C'mon, you have a better chance winning the mega-lotto than moving folks out of the entitled state to a job.
That's the real question and challenge anybody running for office needs to address with something other than clichéd platitudes. Good luck with that.
RON HILL
Hot Springs Village
Pinning hopes on air
Barack Obama said it was up to the U.S. to adopt tough standards so countries such as China would feel compelled to take similar steps. What a naïve approach.
China has a population at least three to four times that of the United States. So we need to wreck the economy of this country even further in the hope that China and other nations will change their ways and become enviro wackos?
Is this more of the Hope and Change foreign policy that has made the U.S. a third-world powerhouse in the eyes of our friends and enemies?
DON SHELLABARGER
Little Rock
Keeping all of us safe
I am a resident at a Fayetteville retirement community which recently faced smoke and a small fire resulting from a broken air-conditioning line. I'd like to thank the men of the Fayetteville Fire Department for their quick response. They quickly eliminated what could have been a large, destructive fire, plus it only took about 15 minutes for them to answer our call. Further praise goes to the Resident Care nursing staff, Morrison's dining room staff, security, and our CEO, Quentin Trammell, for notifying all residents to evacuate.
Hugs, kisses and thanks to all of you for keeping us safe.
DIXIE ANN COLE
Fayetteville
The battlefield in war
A tiny girl is all cozy in her mother's womb. She knows nothing about the war on women. Wait! Something hurts ...
The real war against women is occurring in the womb.
B.E. SPURGEON
North Little Rock
Aid the working class
United we stand, divided we fall. Or, as more eloquently put by Benjamin Franklin, "we must indeed all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately." I believe the Republican Party represents the wealthy and big business only. The seemingly endless tax cuts benefit them infinitely more than the working man. What benefits the working class gets are more than offset by higher fees on government services.
What will the interest be on the loans needed to repair the roads? Capital gains tax used to be about 40 percent, and our economy was booming. Now, at 15 percent, if a worker can find a job, the pay and benefits package is often inadequate to provide for a family. The myths that tax cuts create jobs are readily disproved by perusing the contents of Wal-Mart's shelves. Mostly Chinese-made products there.
The wars that deplete our resources benefit the stockholders of the armament industry (thanks, Dubya). The tax burden on the wealthy is greatly decreased by defunding public education, health care and infrastructure, while seriously degrading the quality of life for the rest of us.
Why can't the working class, 99 percent of the population, throw out those corporate representatives? Emotion-laden wedge issues such as guns, abortion, sexism and racism, which, because of an oversized amygdala, sway the gullible into cutting their own throats. The Koch brothers will spend nearly $1 billion on the 2016 election. Which of those self-aggrandizing clowns are they going to buy?
Now that the Supreme Court has ruled that political money reigns supreme, our democratic form of government is nearing collapse. I hereby volunteer myself as king, in a new, monarchic form of government. You laugh?
FAYE WIEKER
Hot Springs Village
Pose the email query
As secretary of state, Hillary Clinton must have communicated with others concerning many classified and confidential matters. If Hillary didn't send classified, top-secret information using her private email server, then what secure email did she use for such communication?
She's never mentioned any other method such as the secure one supplied by the government. If there was no other secure email she used, then she must have sent classified, top-secret emails on her non-secure email server.
Someone needs to ask her this simple question.
JACK STERNBERG
Hot Springs
Publish what will sell
In a letter on a recent Voices page, a lady from Fayetteville took another shot at Fox News. It may have been her first, but many people like to take shots at them. It's not really any consequence to me as I rarely watch cable-news networks.
I'd like to call to their attention a Mr. Dan Rather. who was a news anchor for CBS, that is until he "inaccurately" reported on President George W. Bush's military record.
Also a Mr. Brian Williams who got a little exuberant about his helicopter rides in Iraq while a news anchor for NBC, for which he is no longer anchor.
My point is, and it's my belief, that the news media will publish what it believes will sell. I believe very little of what I read or hear and I believe about half of what I see on film because film is easily edited. What media outlet it is doesn't matter even one hill of beans.
DAVID L. WEAVER
Sherwood
Auditioning for role
The political show has started for the 2016 election year. What our country desperately needs in these troubled times is a statesman, not a showman.
I hope we all keep that in mind as we learn about each candidate and make our choice to lead this country of ours.
BESSIE COCKRELL
White Hall
Editorial on 08/08/2015