Taxed enough already
Along with the other recent letters about taxing Internet purchases, I want to add another viewpoint.
I'm retired. I'm 71 years old and living solely on Social Security. I worked for 43 years nonstop. I am not eligible for food stamps or any sort of welfare.
I spend a considerable amount of my small income for taxes. I do not have a TV, but I do maintain an Internet account. Therefore, I try to order as much as I possibly can online in order to avoid the horrendous sales taxes in Benton County. Even groceries are taxed! How did that ever get past the voters, I wonder?
I just found out that I have to pay almost $300 in personal property taxes because I leased a vehicle last year (can't afford to purchase one). Where in the world am I going to find an extra $300 to pay this tax?
If Arkansas taxes Internet purchases in addition to groceries and personal property taxes, what else are they going to tax? I won't be able to make it very much longer.
Perhaps some consideration should be given to those of us over 70 or 65 or some age who no longer clog the rush-hour drives, or use the roads the way we did during our working commutes.
Give us a pass for some of these taxes. We still need groceries, household goods, and to pay the utilities. Oh, by the way, my rent is going up in September.
Don't tax Internet purchases.
KATHLEEN HENSLEY
Rogers
Take it as compliment
I find it interesting that Terry Green of North Little Rock believes "girly" is an insult.
When I think of girls, I think of activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai. I also think of Kakenya Ntaiya, who survived genital mutilation at the age of 14, eventually earned her doctorate in education, and now works to make conditions better for girls in her home country of Kenya.
I think of Alyssa Ferguson, an American teenager battling brain cancer who used her "Make-a-Wish" to have a well built in a village in Zimbabwe so its citizens could have safe access to clean water.
And I think of my own daughters, who have a level of compassion for others that often inspires and humbles me.
Jimmy Fallon is "girly?" He should take that as a compliment.
DEANA NALL
Bryant
Getting a bit cramped
It seems to be a Barnum & Bailey world for the Republican Party.
How many more clowns can they get in that little car? Send in the clowns.
BOB MASSERY
Little Rock
In own little worlds
American anthropologist Clifford Geertz wrote: "Man is an animal suspended in webs of significance he himself has spun."
Unhappily, this country has webs spun by conservatives, liberals, nationalists, regionalists, ethnics and a host of religions.
If you wonder why the country is ungovernable, think of a football team in which each player acts according to a different set of plays.
DAVID SIXBEY
Flippin
It's for our protection
I took an elderly friend to Houston so she could enjoy a symphony with her son. On the way home I ran out of gas near Katy, Texas, so we coasted to a stop on an access road which happened to face a gas station about 200 feet away. I couldn't tell if it was open or not, and just as I was going to get out, a truck pulling a long flatbed trailer drove in for gas. One got out of the truck so I figured the station was open. Still I felt uneasy. I always listen to my intuition, so I got my gun out of the glove compartment and put it in my purse. As I walked toward the station, the second man got out of the truck. As I entered the station driveway I realized the men were just standing, one on either side of the truck, doing nothing except watching me.
So I put my hand on the gun in the purse and started to back away, not daring to turn around. I kept the gun in my purse. When I backed across the street a red truck pulled up to the intersection and the passenger asked if I needed help. She said to get in the truck, but there wasn't room for my elderly friend, so I couldn't. She told me their vehicle had just been broken into while they were eating dinner in a restaurant. The couple left to get gas for me and in a few minutes the men left, only to swing into the circular driveway behind the station. I think my friend and I survived because the couple showed up, but if not, we had a chance because I had a gun.
I think it's folly to think criminals won't continue to buy guns. The rest of should have the right to feel safe in our cars when traveling and in our homes because there will always be some people with severe personal problems, agendas and those participating in criminal behavior.
ELIZABETH CHRISTIE
Fayetteville
Insensitive remarks
Presidential contender Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, reportedly suggested in January that a lot of slackers are on Social Security disability. According to a news story, Paul "joked that half the people getting benefits are either anxious or their back hurts."
This statement is outrageous and cruel. Senator Paul obviously lacks understanding of disabling conditions.
Many people are disabled due to persistent serious mental illnesses, for example, and I can assure you that disability criteria involve much more than being anxious. Many have had their hopes and dreams crushed due to these diseases and never imagined that they would end up drawing disability rather than working a full-time job and having a well-rounded life.
I urge Senator Paul to educate himself about disabling conditions so that he will never make such an inexcusable, stereotypical statement again.
Senator Paul owes an apology to the disabled segment of America. They are human beings just like him and I happen to know several who also vote.
DORIS E. HUTCHINS
Conway
Editorial on 07/28/2015