Giving us the business
Apparently, billionaire businessman Donald Trump and his great negotiators intend to negotiate all of our problems away. So the business of America is business after all.
Sorry Donald, Calvin Coolidge beat you to the punch. Your daddy did tell you about Calvin, didn't he?
SCOTT T. VAUGHN
North Little Rock
Stop clinging to past
Perhaps, dear editor, you should pick a fight worth fighting rather than trying to second-guess what goes on in the minds of a president who hesitates (thinks) before dropping the first A-bomb on Japan or who is a "decider" and drops bombs on, say, Iraq in retaliation for 9/11. Oops!
I agree with what the Spanish philosopher George Santayana said: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." However, I would caution that clinging to the past, as you apparently suggest in your editorial, is not the same.
I think President John F. Kennedy said it best: "Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future."
President Barack Obama has accepted responsibility for the future by reducing nuclear proliferation and securing nuclear fuel in an effort to prevent terrorists from obtaining enough radioactive material to make a dirty bomb, or more.
Perhaps you're the one who hasn't noticed the world has changed?
LINDA JIRKA
Mountain Home
Truckers contribute
Re the editorial on gasoline taxes, it was stated that truckers are filling their tanks in neighboring states before they enter Arkansas to keep from paying our high rate of fuel taxes.
Unless things have changed greatly over the past few years, the owner of every truck that passes through the state must file a tax form with the state telling how many miles they traveled in the state. They must show any fuel they purchased in Arkansas and then they have a tax bill based on the miles traveled in Arkansas. If the companies don't pay their fair share of taxes, this tax form (which must be filed quarterly) will show them what they owe, and if they wish to travel through Arkansas again they will pay those taxes. There are also stickers on the sides of these trucks that show a tax-revenue stamp by state. Instead of skipping Arkansas taxes they get stuck with them anyway.
Arkansas is centrally located, so skipping around is not a fiscally responsible idea. They still pay taxes regardless of where they buy their fuel. Maybe the editor should talk to the highway-fuels tax people first. The trucks pay, so every one you see contributes to our roads.
TOM WEWERS
Benton
'Sport' exploits horses
I appreciated the sports page on Sunday, in its coverage of the Preakness, reporting on the on-track deaths of two horses in earlier races that day at Pimlico, one a 9-year-old gelding which collapsed and died after his race. A 9-year-old horse, still being raced!
For all the glory surrounding the "sport of kings," it is basically a sport which exploits animals being forced to run under whip,
drugged, and often blinded, most of them doing so until they break down or just collapse. It seems to be dying, but I fear it will continue, though on a smaller scale, at ever-worsening tracks, animals being used to line the pockets of a few people.
STEVE JONES
El Dorado
Courtesy of Depends
I would like to offer a solution to Tinklegate. You know, the LGBT bathroom intrusion issue.
Let it be mandated that all people in the LGBT category buy and wear adult diapers, and wear them everywhere. They would then be free to roam about in packs without fear of a nature call that would require them to decide if they want to stand up or sit down. No one would be offended, the restrooms would remain male and female, and the LGBT folks would come away with a warm feeling of relief.
Maybe LGBT should stand for Let's Get Beyond Trivial.
BERNARD A. FRAZER
North Little Rock
Take it easy on roads
I want to commend Mr. Roger Pritchett, who suggested we initiate a campaign with the slogan "Slow Down and Leave More Space." He's inspired due to the numerous motorists that tailgate, wanting anxiously to get around someone moving slower than they desire. He's asking for catchier slogans, so let's help him out.
I've been on a broader mission since '99, when a traffic judge read some of my Defenseless Driving essays and urged me to go public with them. We simply must as a species come up with a better way of using our car-e(s) besides a means of getting from Point A to Point B as fast as possible. Rule No. 1 is to know you aren't going to be on the road by yourself in a bubble.
Rule No. 2 is to prepare yourself to have a peaceful ride, thereby enjoying yourself, blessing the other human beings, and honoring the other creatures on this Earth with us.
Finally, as one of my dear friends told me while visiting out there: Be ready for a surprise whenever you drive! This means whenever someone does something thoughtless like pulling out in front of you, or changing lanes erratically, just let it go. When you get angry or upset at them, and want to retaliate or fume, then you are the problem. Just let some really deep exhales come out of your mouth, and even make a musical sound with that incredible exhale (TIE = Take It Easy--don't let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy).
Another pop song might be what Mr. Pritchett is looking for, and one that I suggest is: Slow Down, You Move Too Fast. If there is any one thing that will make us healthier and safer on the highways of our life, it's to just slow down, or even just stop completely. Try looking at your fellow traveler at a red light and wish them a happy day or weekend. We are really one human family.
TRUE M. ALISANDRE
Little Rock
Enforce laws for funds
I usually try to drive the posted speed limit, give or take 2 or 3 mph. Cars go around me like I'm sitting still.
I have an idea how to raise money for highway construction in Arkansas. Just start enforcing the speed limit. Fines collected could be divided between the highway department, dedicated to highway construction, and the cost of hiring and equipping more state police to enforce traffic laws.
We also have an epidemic of red-light runners. Why doesn't Arkansas put cameras on traffic lights like Tennessee does, and issue tickets to the owners of vehicles caught on film entering an intersection after the light turns red? Owners who contest a ticket could go to court and fight it, just like anyone else who gets a traffic ticket. After paying for the cameras, the cities could use the fine money to fix potholes.
SAM BIRD
Little Rock
Editorial on 05/26/2016