All life must be valued
I believe that to be truly pro-life a person must first value all life, not just the unborn, regardless of race, religion or gender identity.
So I say to those who push for anti-abortion, declaring that they are true Christians and value the life of the unborn, I challenge you to prove it.
Stand with the blacks when they're being persecuted or beaten by police. Stand with the immigrants when they are being persecuted and not allowed due process. Stand with the LGBT community when they are being persecuted and murdered. Stand against the death penalty to protect all the innocent who are wrongly convicted. Stand for gun safety to stop the endless slaughter of Americans.
If you cannot do that then I believe you cannot say you are a true Christian, nor are you pro-life.
JUDITH K. ZITKO
Hot Springs Village
Must save that bridge
Runners, bikers, walkers, fishermen--stand up for the Clarendon Bridge. It's beautiful and will help all in the area. Please don't tear it down. Call your representatives and congressmen and let them know we want this piece of history to stay.
EDDIE SMITH
Bryant
If it ran like business
With Donald Trump running for president, there has been a lot of talk how much better off we'd be if our government were run like a business. Would it?
Late last century, officials decided to run universities like businesses. Result? Education now burdens graduates with astronomical debt while valuable programs have been cut. Arkansas hired John White to run the our state's flagship campus like a business. He immediately closed the University Press because it wasn't making money. University presses are dedicated to publishing important but not necessarily moneymaking books. Fortunately Don Tyson knew the difference between education and business, and the press remained open.
Now we're told we should run our states like businesses. From reports I've read, Michigan's governor ran that state like a business. Result? Flint's water crisis because it was cheaper to use water from the toxic Flint River than it was to pump safe water from Detroit. How many thousands of children have had their mental capabilities damaged by lead in that cheaper water?
In business, financial profit is the most important product. Result? The richest 1 percent of Americans' fortunes ballooned while people lost their homes and retirement savings. Business looks only at the bottom line, ignoring any harm to us. You and I are irrelevant. The only thing that matters is the almighty buck.
We can't afford to vote businessman Trump into the White House to run our government.
NANCY MILLER SAUNDERS
Durham
History was rewritten
During Joseph Stalin's bloody reign it was not unusual for Soviet schools to receive change pages that teachers were instructed to paste into history books so that it (history) represented a more palatable past that fit into the party-line way of thinking. It happened often and is evidenced in many books written by Soviets themselves.
Fast-forward 80 years and half a world away to witness a United States government agency doing the same thing when the FBI/Department of Justice redacted facts from a 911 file and apparently altered them to fit their agenda.
When a call is received at a 911 center, it is recorded to a database so that it can be recalled later and events can be presented as they actually happened. Webster's calls this history.
I believe the massaging of the facts surrounding the Orlando murderer's phone calls is a much bigger deal than gun violence and its gravity will, unfortunately, go unnoticed by most Americans. It sets the stage for this to happen again and again.
We must not allow this to be tolerated.
DAVE KING
Gosnell
Catastrophic results
I enjoyed the recent letter by the Reverend Kay Wiggins of Cherokee Village regarding the possible catastrophic consequences of a Donald Trump presidency. I cannot agree more and I especially relished her statement that if a voter actually agrees with Trump's ethics (or lack of same) he should perhaps rethink his identification as Christian.
I read with great interest the story of Donald Trump's visit to his Scottish golf course. He did not appear to be receiving a warm welcome, as one Scottish official had stated, "We welcome all Americans--minus Trump."
In typical Trump fashion, The Donald had become upset about the erection of wind turbines near his club. Of course, being Trump, he had no concern about our environment or alternative energy sources, only concern about his pocketbook. On this issue he mirrors Republican scorn for any action which might possibly help stave off the dire effects of global warming.
Wake up, people! We do not need this ridiculous megalomaniac as the leader of our country. We do need workable solutions to this looming environmental crisis.
CATHERINE LAMB
Little Rock
Not seeing difference
I enjoy reading the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette every day. The top half of the front page captured me on Tuesday. On the right was an article about the Supreme Court ruling against the criteria for Texas and abortion clinics, approving easier access to abortion.
At the center of the page was a picture of women rejoicing, apparently over the fact that babies can be aborted in these clinics.
On the left side of the same page was a brief about the sentencing to life in prison of a woman who delivered her baby in a bathroom, put it in a trash bag and killed it.
Please tell me the difference! All these women created a life in their bodies, and the babies taken from their womb by abortion and the baby delivered in the bathroom all ended up in a trash bag. What is the difference?
MARY ANN VANCE
Morrilton
To defend ourselves
It seems the Democrats have created a lawless, fatherless society because of their liberal welfare programs started with the "Great Society." Now apparently they want to take away our guns so we are not able to defend ourselves from the lawlessness they created.
I am not in favor of military-style weapons. If somebody needs a machine gun to kill a deer, then they are too stupid to be hunting, but I think banning them will just be a start for liberals to put more and more restraints on our Second Amendment rights.
DON COONFER
Hot Springs Village
Editorial on 06/30/2016