For the next election
I will keep in mind the politicians Asa Hutchinson, Leslie Rutledge, John Boozman, Tom Cotton, French Hill, Steve Womack and Mike Huckabee, who want to defeat the Affordable Care Act, versus my poor friend who waited two years to get "Obamacare" to treat her rectal cancer.
This list will be useful in the next election.
HAMPTON ROY
Little Rock
On condoning Trump
The Republican Party of Arkansas has announced that Donald Trump will headline its annual Reagan-Rockefeller Dinner fundraiser. When Trump launched his presidential bid, he made vile, outrageous, and deeply offensive comments. In his announcement speech he said, "When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best ... They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists."
These comments should offend every American whose own ancestors once came to this country as immigrants, immigrants who were almost all at one time belittled and demeaned by the majority. I'm the son of Mexican immigrants who came to work hard and pursue the American Dream. Thousands of Mexican immigrants and their families call Arkansas home.
I highly doubt Mr. Trump really knows any people that Mexico "sent."
We call ourselves a nation of immigrants because that is who we are. Our country is strongest when we have hardworking immigrants contributing to our communities. We should welcome those who want to contribute to America. That requires enacting comprehensive immigration reform which Mr. Trump opposes.
Donald Trump is in the presidential race to express his own extreme views. Here's an honest question: Does the Republican Party of Arkansas agree with Trump's views on Mexican immigrants?
VICTOR J. ROJAS
De Queen
Payback on the way?
I wonder if "The Donald" found his bed short-sheeted this morning, or a strange new taste in his coffee?
I wonder if he ever saw The Help ...
JERRY BURCHFIELD
Little Rock
Attraction of violence
In a group of animals, be it cows or chickens, when one member of the group is attacked and cries out, the others usually run to the scene. Whether they can help or not, they are alarmed. Mr. Philip Martin says that we humans like violence. Surely this seems to be the case.
A Christian worldview has another take on the matter. Man is a fallen creature. Without redemption he is drawn to all kinds of evil, including violence. Does the alcoholic always like his shot of booze? Or the drug addict his fix? Or the compulsive gambler his wager?
Could it be that our attraction to scenes of great violence is alarm and a reminder of our fallenness and our mortality?
Mr. Martin states that we--society--could and would change things if we didn't like the violence and depravity. Can we change?
FRED SAWYER
Little Rock
Not fair to veterans
I spent 20 years of my life in the Air Force. I did the best I could at whatever assignments were given to me, and was rewarded accordingly. In less than 16 years, I earned the rank of chief master sergeant, which is the highest enlisted rank attainable in the Air Force.
I enlisted in the early years of the Korean War and served to near the end of the Vietnam War. I retired in 1971.
When I enlisted, I was told that I would be able to retire after serving 20 years or more of active duty. My retirement pay would be based on my rank at retirement and the number of years that I served.
During my service years, I was injured while on duty. Several years after I retired, I asked to be evaluated by the VA for physical disability based on the injuries that I had received while on active duty. I was awarded 30 percent service-connected disability pay by the VA.
As a result of this award, the Air Force took the exact dollar amount of my disability award out of my earned retirement pay and gave it to the VA, which in turn gave it to me. Any way you look at it, I pay every dollar of my disability pay from the retirement pay that I have already earned.
Is this our own government's definition of fairness? We as a country are able to spend billions of dollars on foreign countries and billions of dollars on unearned giveaway programs, but we are not fair to the people who keep this country free.
It seems like every year we have senators and representatives who submit bills to correct this inequity when they apparently know that their bill is going nowhere. The submissions are good veteran vote-getters and nothing more. This is a good example of how fair our government is to the veterans of this country.
MICKEY FINDLEY
Monticello
GOP on gay marriage
Now that the skirmishes and battles of the wars on Obamacare and gay marriage are over (see the latest Supreme Court rulings), perhaps the Republican Party should turn its attention more fully to supporting our country as a whole by addressing the really important issues like our banking system, sustaining industry and jobs for all Americans, ensuring a strong middle class (who pay the bulk of federal taxes being collected) and keeping our food/water sources, energy, and cyber communications safe.
The separate opinions released by each of the four dissenting Supreme Court justices on the gay-marriage ruling sounded much like the crying and angry name-calling of kindergarteners who didn't get their way.
So, Mike Huckabee's newly added snide verse to the GOP chorus regarding gay marriage describes President Barack Obama's stance change from opponent to proponent as either a lie or another revision of the Bible handed down directly from God to our president. Really, Mikey? For the educated minds engaged in lifelong learning, Obama's reconsideration of an important social issue is referred to as philosophical enlightenment. You should try it!
SUSANNE C. ASHBY
Cabot
Editorial on 07/03/2015