Something in water?
I am left breathless by the letter of Ashton Miller (the third, no less!). He apparently would like to reserve attendance at the University of Arkansas for the wealthy "generational family students who can afford U of A without handouts."
What do they put in the drinking water in Hot Springs Village? I read the Voices page regularly, and I find there is a regular stream of insulting diatribes issuing forth from that part of the world.
JEFFREY BARNES
West Fork
Under a vicious attack
Under vicious, seemingly coordinated attack from Barack Obama, Democrats, the liberal media and the gutless GOP establishment, major hypocrite John McCain and a few other wimps cave on the letter. No surprise here, considering that the assault mob is the usual self-absorbed, ruling-class, Washington elite jerks who revel in destroying good people.
Of course, Sen. Tom Cotton is the primary target and he's holding firm. I believe this is just the first of what will be many efforts to destroy Cotton by Democrats and the GOP because he's what they are not, a true common-sense conservative and patriot who serves the American people rather than himself.
This is not to minimize what I believe to be the main motivation for the hate being spewed at Senator Cotton by the left. He, like the great Benjamin Netanyahu, has the temerity to confront the left's false prophet and pretend president, Barack Obama, and expose the deceit and extreme danger to America and Israel over Obama's "deal" with the mullahs to allow Iran's nuclear weapon production.
I believe there can be no question that Obama wants Iran to have the bomb and will use his maniacal leftist minions to try to destroy anyone who stands in his way. At the moment, that is the prime minister of Israel and a great senator of the people from Arkansas.
QUINCY JACKSON
Rogers
Integrate the nation
Everyone is all up in the air about the holidays of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and General Robert E. Lee being on the same day. So what's the problem? Isn't it time we get over our racism and integrate this nation? What better way to do that than celebrate two heroes of different positions on the same day?
Some people are black, some are white, some have brown skin. Whoopee! It's all only skin-deep; everyone get over it. "One nation, under God, indivisible."
DAVID WEAVER
Sherwood
Taking a greyhound
It has been well-documented how monies from the casino at Oaklawn in Hot Springs have helped increase purses and improved the quality of the horse racing there.
However, I haven't seen anything about how the casino at Southland in West Memphis has affected the quality of the dog racing at that establishment. Is there a greyhound equivalent of Smarty Jones on the horizon?
BARRY THOMAS
Fayetteville
Good for both of them
Kudos to "America's mayor" Rudy Giuliani and Arkansas' Sen. Tom Cotton for abjuring political correctness and publicly speaking truth to power against an "imperial" president.
Giuliani had the audacity to express an honest opinion that he has doubts as to whether President Barack Obama loves America. His doubts resonate with many Americans who question why the president apparently seeks to fundamentally change America if he is indeed a patriot who loves his country.
Sen. Cotton led a senatorial faction of 47 members who wrote a letter to Iran informing the ruling ayatollah that any international treaty between Iran and the U.S. would require the consent of the U.S. Senate to be constitutionally valid. Lacking Senate approval, any agreement signed by Obama would be invalid at the end of the president's term. Many, including this writer, interpreted and supported the letter as, primarily, a cautionary signal to Obama not to overstep his constitutional authority.
Not surprisingly, it seems the liberal national media blew their head gaskets over these anti-Obama actions and demeaned the character of Giuliani and Cotton along with the Republican Party generally. Sadly, it appears that the Voices section of this newspaper has become a part of that national cabal. A recent Voices page included seven anti-Cotton letters versus none in support. This is entirely unrepresentative of the opinions of Arkansas voters. If you disagree, go back and review the 2014 election results.
DENNIS LEGGETT
Batesville
A university's legacy
As both a student and member of staff at the University of Arkansas, I was jaw-dropped and appalled by Ashton Miller III's letter. I think I speak for the entire university community when I say that such rhetoric isn't even remotely reflective of the feelings of our alumni, students, faculty and staff. The hateful, elitist and flat-out racist commentary from Mr. Miller should in and of itself invalidate anything he wrote. However, allow me to humor myself and make it clear that his opinions have zero basis in fact.
The reality is that since Dr. David Gearhart began leading UA several years ago, our attendance has indeed flourished and our student body has grown exponentially more diverse. It is long established fact that diverse groups are more productive in both education and professional settings. Of course, Mr. Miller needs to look no further than to our own rankings. As we have grown to be more diverse, the level of education students receive has only increased. And this is not my opinion; the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching elevated the university to its highest classification in 2011. This is a classification shared by only 107 other universities out of 4,633.
In the end, the only thing that could possibly "water down" the recent successes at the university are people who think like Mr. Miller. If he and "the families who built this institution" want to spew baseless supremacy and elitist attitudes toward the very students and faculty who are on the precipice of making UA a top 50 research institution, I can assure him that we want no part of their supposed legacy.
JD DiLORETO
Fayetteville
Editorial on 03/24/2015