Let's expand that idea
Regarding the state's new program of screening and testing thousands of needy Arkansas families who receive state aid, letter writer Jack Murphy says that this testing is a good idea.
I have a better idea: Rather than just pick on the needy--after all they are certainly not the only offenders--why not test everyone who applies for or renews their driver's licenses? This makes more sense, as drivers on alcohol or drugs do far more harm to society than someone who is simply hungry or sick.
While we are at it, why not screen them to see if they have the "right to bear arms"?
CHRISTOPHER B. WILLIAMS
Little Rock
A batch of hypocrites
I believe Arkansas Republican voters were duped by the current batch of hypocrites in Little Rock. First, state legislators ran on the ticket of small government and stopping Obamacare. Next, they immediately voted themselves and Asa, our NRA-backed governor, a raise. Where Obamacare is concerned, they did nothing to stop it because it works, and overpaid Asa decided to raise the six-figure salary of his new Department of Human Services head by more than 50 percent, apparently his idea of his pledge to reduce the size of government. But a Republican, no matter how disgracefully he behaves or lies, is better than any other candidate in this state.
That brings us to Republican favorite and front-runner Donald Trump. This example of corporate filth left his creditors paying his bills in bankruptcy court four times and he's considered by Republicans a successful businessman. He has dumped two wives for younger women and is still the front-runner of the family-values party. Republicans love that he "tells it like it is" but he won't tell us about his income taxes, or how he intends to deport 11 million immigrants, or reduce the national debt in eight years. He has the full support of the Republican Party just as long as they get the White House. How patriotic.
Finally, and most importantly, it seems Arkansas Republican senators and congressmen support hard work and carefully following the U.S. Constitution, except when it applies to their constitutional mandate of voting on Supreme Court nominees. In that case, the Republican Party, full of hubris, apparently thinks it supersedes the U.S. Constitution.
Shame on our delegation! Don't vote for any of them. They are freeloaders living high on the hog in Washington and laughing all the way to the bank.
LEE WIAND
Bentonville
Lucky to have airline
I recently needed to fly to New Orleans and back. I had heard about this new airline--GLO--that flies non-stop twice a day to New Orleans. But was I ready for a flight on a prop plane?
The trip turned out to be a delight in every way. The gate staff, flight staff and even the baggage folks provided a level of friendly attention that reminded me more of the glory days of air travel, rather than the cattle-car approach taken by so many of the major carriers.
Central Arkansas is lucky to have GLO. Way to go, airport folks, for bringing us low-cost options that put service first!
DAN BAW
North Little Rock
He missed the point
It appears Mike Masterson, a personable mature white newspaper columnist for the Democrat-Gazette, former editor of the Newport Daily Independent and other newspapers, and a ne'er-do-well newspaper wordsmith across six states, missed the point of the visit to Harrison of Robert Samuels of the Washington Post.
The national leader of the Ku Klux Klan, Thomas Robb, is alive and well and active in nearby Zinc, whose postal district is Harrison. The locally despised billboard on U.S. 62/412 is acknowledged. While the good people of Boone County do nothing.
Edmund Burke is believed to have said that the only thing that is necessary for evil to succeed is for the good people to do nothing.
I believe the Klan is weak little men and women with no honor and no shame and no conscience, so it is a waste of time and effort to reason with them or to attempt to shame them. But, I'd hammer their ribs so that it would be painful to take a breath.
The Tea Party is strong in Boone County and I suspect a large dual-membership component. And, of course, the Tea Party is an interest group that influences the Republican Party.
Let Mike Masterson connect the dots or a "Robert Samuels" will write an expose. Purge the Klan from your midst!
JOHN ROACH
Yellville
Gross disservice to us
I believe the current Republican lack of valuing the well-being of the country over the party is a gross disservice to the country and its citizens, but apparently wholly supported by Sen. John Boozman.
The arguments for delaying a vote on any proposed candidate are dishonest and completely specious. I believe there is no justification to hamstring the Supreme Court, our ultimate interpreter of the law of the land, but to do so for partisan advantage is disgusting.
We all have our biases and preferred rulings bent, but the court system is the great leveler in a democracy, and all we are entitled to are knowledgeable justices who are honest and wise. The president proffered such a man, and our senators flatly refused to honor his qualifications, choosing to abide by the party line. If he is not qualified, then say so and deny him the position, but do so openly, not through a sham excuse.
This is behavior not worthy of supposedly the world's greatest deliberative body.
RODNEY ARENT
Little Rock
Interchange gorgeous
We would like to thank every single person who helped build our gorgeous new Big Rock Interchange. It is so classy and so easy. Thank you!
RAY, CHERYE
and THEVENET RIGGS
Little Rock
Editorial on 04/09/2016