Making the transition
Ever wondered what people did when they transitioned from:
The candlestick-type telephone to the hand-held receiver (now freeing up one hand to ...).
From a manual shift to an automatic shift (using the left foot mistakenly stomping the floorboard where the clutch used to be ...).
From hand/arm signals to turn signals (again freeing up one hand/arm ...).
The kick-starter on motorcycles to electric start (freeing up a leg to ...).
In the future from thumb-typing text messages to verbalizing (freeing up your opposable thumb for important things such as hitch-hiking).
These are only a few things we have transitioned. We won't even discuss transition to the wheel by our ancestors.
DAVE STUFF
Little Rock
Prison's no easy ride
Re Brandi Tucker's letter about how the elderly should just go to jail, as it's better in jail than retirement homes in her view: She must have never been to jail or prison.
I'm currently an inmate at the McPherson Unit in Newport and have a different opinion. Although we receive three meals a day, that doesn't mean they are hot or edible. There are cameras around every corner, but some don't work and are not constantly monitored.
We do not have mandatory recreation time. According to the major, we are to get five hours offered to us in a seven-day period, and it's usually in a hot gym where so many inmates pack in for the chance to talk to a friend. Any sport or exercise is out of the question. Outside rec time is rare.
Then there's medical treatment. I've seen turtles move faster than these nurses on most cases when an emergency is called in, and whoever told her our medical care and medicine is free was sadly mistaken. Every time I drop a request to go to medical, it costs me $3 and that's to see a nurse. Good luck trying to actually see the doctor. Sometimes you wait weeks.
Now to her last comment about how inmates should be caged: What if it were your mother, father or child? Should they be caged?
We are humans too. We just got caught making a mistake and you haven't yet.
STACY STRACENER
Newport
Where real men go
First of all, the NFL and the MLB are probably good places to hang out if you're not good enough to serve your country. A person can keep on playing a boy's game instead of stepping up and doing a man's work.
Second, I notice some guys get riled up if you suggest that they aren't men because they never wore their country's uniform, so, in the spirit of compromise, maybe we should call them "men," and call the current and former service members "real men."
Lastly, I read all the Memorial Day sales ads, and I didn't see any discounts being offered specifically for the veterans.
DONALD SHORT
Farmington
Spending or speeding
A recent political cartoon showed the derailed Amtrak train with the word "funding" on the tracks ahead of the wreck. Perhaps it should've read "reckless speeding."
JOHN HUTCHISON
Little Rock
Bad idea all around
Lockheed-Martin has asked the state for $87.1 million to help it secure the contract for the JLTV, to be built in Camden. Not surprisingly, Arkansas does not have $87.1 million, so we will have to borrow that money at about 3.38 percent, and pay it back over a period of 25 years. We'll get the money to pay off this new debt in the form of personal and corporate income-tax receipts, and sales-tax receipts, associated with this contract.
It's sad that Arkansas had to call a special session to deal with this matter. After all, the JLTV contract has been in the works for years. How did it come to pass that all of a sudden Lockheed-Martin realized it needed an extra $87.1 million to submit a competitive bid? Or is this last-minute crisis approach something industry has learned works well to pressure local and state governments?
It's also sad that Arkansas will likely pony up the money--and get nothing back from Lockheed-Martin other than that which it pays in income taxes. Nothing. We won't get any profit-sharing, we won't get any stock, we won't get any rent. We won't even take title on the investments made in the property. While we can hope there will be some enforceable claw-back provision, it would likely not be effective in the event of a bankruptcy--an experience Lockheed narrowly avoided back in the '70s.
What to do? Long-term, the best approach would be to pass federal legislation forbidding state and local governments from subsidizing private industry on contracts with the federal government. Short-term, the state should be given some sort of equity position in this contract which would provide it a portion of any resulting profits. Giving public money to business is bad government, and bad business.
DALE PEKAR
Little Rock
Honor all the veterans
I watched the memorial celebration at the nation's capital and was profoundly moved by the stories and video. It brought back a memory I have about those we have lost and those who remain.
My children and I went to Washington, D.C., about 20 years ago and went to the Vietnam Memorial. Friends of the family went there and served, and many came back a different person. But the ones who did not come back are memorialized on this black granite wall. As I stood there looking at the many names, I had tears running down my face, as did many. Standing next to me was a young man who had his son sitting on his shoulders. He was holding his son's hand and tracing a name on the wall. I heard him say, "This was your grandfather." I was so moved, I had to step away.
We climbed on the bus which would take us to Arlington Cemetery and I heard some women talking behind me. One woman said it was her son's 42nd birthday. She then said, "I hope if he is alive he knows how much I love him and think of him everyday." She said he was MIA since 1972.
Let's not forget those who are still here and suffered, as did those who served. We honor them all.
JEANNE I. ROON
Jacksonville
Editorial on 05/28/2015