To be part of solution
I was very pleased to read the guest column, "Weather or not," by Shelley Buonaiuto in the Jan. 6 Voices section. It was a combination of actual facts, also known as "truths," genuine solutions and passion.
As someone who worked for an oil and gas exploration firm in the '70s, I can attest that they knew very well that the earth was warming due to the burning of fossil fuels and that such warmth would influence weather patterns and sea levels for generations to come--if we survived it. They were following the model of tobacco companies who denied, denied and denied the addictive and dangerous nature of their products, including lying to Congress. Today, it seems they are buying Congress.
The carbon fee and dividend plan is so logical and consumer-friendly we can't ignore it as a positive initiative. It is a great way for us to find a way out of the hole we have dug for ourselves and our progeny. It is also a great example that proves the maxim: If you are not part of the solution, you are definitely part of the problem.
I believe a climate-denying president-elect and his dangerous choices for cabinet heads (State) and department heads (EPA) put our species at horrific risk. For our own, our children's, our grandchildren's and great-grandchildren's future, we need to steel ourselves to the fact that planet earth is the only home we will ever, ever, ever know. Talk about pro-life!
LINDA A. FARRELL
Bella Vista
Don't need to be idol
Maybe some of you Christians should be more like Dolly Parton, who says, "I am far from needing to be idolized in any way. ... I love and accept people and that is the Christian way to be."
What is your way?
WILLIAM H. BROWNING SR.
White Hall
A nation gone under
Ronald Reagan can be quoted as saying, "if we ever forget that we are one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under."
I believe nowhere is it more evident than by the atrocity perpetrated by four young people upon a disabled young man in Chicago--then broadcast live on Facebook.
We have lost a sense of decency, compassion, right and wrong. It is time to pray for America! Pray for a spiritual renewal of Godly American values.
JEAN RIISE LEFFLER
Conway
The rooms of politics
Are politicians like married women or single women?
Married women know the kitchen more. But they crave the bathroom. They need a release. Not to always entertain.
Then there are the single women. They've spent too much time in the bathroom. They crave the kitchen where they can prepare for meals they'll cook when married.
Do politicians crave the bathroom or the kitchen? Do they start out in the kitchen preparing their "recipes" that will win over the public? And then covet the bathroom where they can get away from preparations? I wonder ...
AMY BETH SAWYER
Little Rock
Harbingers worrying
I believe two recent events show what a Republican administration will be like.
The first was the attempt to gut the Congressional Ethics Office. The second is the revival of an obscure law that allows Congress to arbitrarily reduce the pay of federal employees, apparently even individual employees. If you think they will use this to weed out incompetence, you are not paying attention. It would appear they are going after climate scientists, environmental scientists, and investigators in the IRS, the Justice Department, and any other agency investigating tax evasion and white-collar crime by the wealthy.
I'm not surprised by the corruption. I am surprised at the blatancy. I am also not surprised by the lack of comment I've seen about this in this paper.
JAMES B. SAWYER
Fayetteville
My exact sentiments
Re K.E. Pollock's letter: Exactly how I have felt for eight years, brother.
Endeavor to persevere!
GARY WHEELER
Poplar Grove
The 1920s once more
For the first time since the 1920s with Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover, America will have the combination of a vehemently pro-business, anti-regulation, Republican president and Congress with a mandate for restrictive immigration policies and high tariffs on imports. And a soaring stock market. And a European tyrant admired by American conservatives.
What could possibly go wrong? Probably nothing, but if it gets wobbly, we can easily fix it with another good war.
I wonder who will play the leads in the Donny+Vlady bromance movie. Or will it just be a reality show starring the happy couple themselves? It sounds to me like Vlady's reported election interference is being celebrated as just another example of Donny+Vlady outsmarting Hillary+Barack.
No telling what the bromance will spawn. Several possibilities come to mind. One is game-over for Syrians fighting against their dictator, who may be a bit of a third wheel but still one of the guys. Palestinians can fugetabout having their own country. Bibby will no doubt give the happy couple matching villas overlooking Jerusalem.
What is the name of that country Vlady "didn't," wink-wink, invade? If you have to think about it, you know what that means. It's not important. Russia, however, is important. The smart play is to work with Vlady to establish order in his domain of Eastern Europe. You scratch mine, I'll scratch yours.
No kidding. It's the first time since the 1920s the stars have been so perfectly aligned for the business of America, which is __.
HOWELL MEDDERS
Fayetteville
Not running on empty
Much has been said about so-called fake news. I submit that your Jan. 11 op-ed page has an egregious example.
The editorial cartoon by Clay Bennett of the Chattanooga Times-Free Press depicts an image similar to a gasoline gauge in our cars, with the drawing of Donald Trump's head and brain and showing the gauge pointing to empty. Of course, the cartoon is the drawer's opinion, but I believe it is so totally bogus as to fall into the category of "fake news."
Whatever one may think of this man, I believe stupid is not the conclusion any free thinker would come to. He took on 16 experienced politicians in his own party and beat them all without a thread of political experience. He then won the presidency handily in opposition to the ultimate politician of our times, Hillary Clinton. In the process, a political neophyte, he destroyed the Bush and Clinton dynasties.
Only time will tell how his presidency will go, but I believe to depict him as "empty" of brain capacity is pure hate speech from the far-left radical fringe, a place inhabited by Mr. Bennett and his like.
TOM CANDELA
Bella Vista
Editorial on 01/13/2017