Not an itch to scratch
John Brummett thinks Arkansas has "an itch to kill" convicted murderers. He states that "if a court ruling lasted irrevocably forever, then the Republican Party might be out of business. It would not be able to cling to the possible repeal of Roe v. Wade to stir vital supportive passions against abortion on the evangelical right."
What does that have to do with the crime and punishment of murderers, or the laws regarding those crimes?
Question for Mr. Brummett: Do you have a "shingles-grade" itch to kill babies who have never killed anyone?
VIRGINIA JONES
North Little Rock
Complaints? Bury 'em
So what do you do if the industry you are in gets 300,000 public complaints from your customers? Do you listen to the complaints and make changes to your industry so that your customers are happier?
Not if you are in the banking industry--in that case you just try to keep the complaints from being seen by the public. Luckily, it seems if you donate to enough Republicans, you can do just that.
"Once the damage is done to a company, it's hard to get your reputation back," says a trade group executive quoted in a story in the Monday Democrat-Gazette. Translation: Once the people find out you are ripping them off, it becomes harder to rip them off. Dismantling Dodd-Frank is a high priority for Republicans now that they have finished getting rid of that pesky requirement that financial planners work in the best interest of their clients.
On another note--perhaps we should close the hog farm near the Buffalo River and open a coal mine instead. It appears Republicans are fine with coal sludge dumped directly in our rivers, but pig poop dumped six miles away really upsets them.
MICHAEL P. VINING
Benton
Speeding in the zone
Every day I drive from West Fork to Springdale on I-49, so I go through the construction area in Fayetteville. It is so disheartening to see the number of drivers who do not lower their speed to the posted limits.
Almost every day, without exception, I see cars zip past me going 70 mph. This is in a posted area of 50 mph. This is quite scary, especially where the lanes become narrower than normal. Honestly, this scares the daylights out of me! Why don't drivers pay attention to the laws?
It would be so much better if these areas could be patrolled a little heavier. I would imagine that the city would recoup a substantial amount in revenue because workers are almost always present, which means fines are doubled.
In the meantime, I'll be the car in the right lane going 50 mph. To those of you who want to break the law and ignore the safety of others, please feel free to go around me. Riding my bumper will not get me to go faster. Sorry, but it's just not worth it.
MICHELLE EVERETT
West Fork
Lesson there to learn
Violence begets violence. History teaches many lessons to those who choose to listen, though none as consistently, nor with such brutality, as this one.
Empires are raised on the blood of slain men, only to be later razed by the sons and daughters of those men. Who then, of course, raise their own empire, and thus continue the cycle.
Slavery is an inherently violent act against those enslaved, and in our country, has led to the Civil War, the Ku Klux Klan, and race riots. One might say that police brutality against minorities is the grand descendant of that original act of violence.
In L.A., a gang avenges the murder of one of its members with a drive-by. In Israel, a Palestinian car bomb kills a dozen Israelis. The Israelis respond with the massacre of 50 Palestinians.
World War I began with the assassination of a single man. The chief antagonist of the war, Germany, was punished so ruthlessly for its transgressions that its citizens were willing to fall in line with a demagogue promising vengeance. Six million Jews were exterminated.
And so we have men sitting on death row, awaiting their fate. Men whose crimes against their fellow man are so despicable that they scream out for justice: An eye for an eye is the often-heard cry. These men have killed without remorse, and so they must be killed.
Government sanctioned vengeance, renamed justice. The message received by anyone who chooses to listen is that blood is the only liquid that can quench the fire of the angry heart. The approval to respond to a violent act with another violent act is tacit, but clear.
The problem with "an eye for an eye" is that eventually everyone goes blind.
THOMAS DOVE
Jacksonville
The problem is people
How many shootings and killings does it take for people to realize that it's not the guns that are causing the harm, it's the people?
For so many years there have been news reports, complaints, even laws trying to be passed about "gun violence" or "gun control," or sayings of how guns kill people. Well, last time I checked, guns cannot breathe, talk, nor walk. If someone sat a gun on a table and never picked it up, the gun will never move nor fire a single bullet. So it's not the guns that kill people; it's the people in control of them. So why are people blaming guns in tragic cases, instead of blaming the users and sellers of the gun?
I believe guns are too easily accessed. Maybe if the U.S. worried more about how people are getting hold of these weapons and put a hold or restraint on it, then maybe that would lower the rate of deaths and injuries due to gun use.
You can go almost anywhere on social media and find 13-year-old children holding guns in pictures and waving it around in the camera, and no one ever wonders where could a child this young get a gun from.
People can't shoot and kill with something they don't have, and a gun can't be shot at anyone without it being in a person's hand. So how about instead of getting restrictions and getting rid of of guns, how about getting a restriction on who is allowed to have and use them?
JORDAN ROBINSON
Sherwood
Editorial on 04/27/2017