On outrageous ideas
The overburdened middle class cannot and should not be expected to pay for a wall we do not want while the top 1 percent get off with yet more tax cuts.
I have never objected to my taxes helping to fund WIC, housing for low-income Americans, police and fire protection, libraries and education and the like, but the Trump administration's latest proposal to erect a $30 billion wall along the Mexican border while offering the "biggest ever" tax break to corporations and individuals is beyond outrageous!
JOYCE MURRAY
Springdale
Health-care honesty
In March, before the canceled vote to overturn the Affordable Care Act, I called Rep. Steve Womack's office. The aide I spoke with told me that he was "passionate" about keeping the pre-existing conditions provision in any new bill.
After reading the language of new proposals, I had serious doubts that this was true, so I called again this Monday.
The aide who answered the phone attempted to avoid the question, and when he couldn't, said that the congressman supports handing pre-existing conditions decisions to states. States could petition waivers for those in low-income brackets to be covered, but only in low-income brackets (which is essentially Medicaid and puts health-care legislation back to pre-ACA status quo). This would create 50 different health-care policies.
Someone making $35,000 a year is not in a low-income bracket. Yet they would not be able to afford cancer treatments, heart surgery, treatment for complications from AIDS, obstetrics for pregnancy if conception occurred prior to seeking coverage, or even sinus surgery for chronic sinus infections.
This position would force those with pre-existing conditions who do not have accumulated wealth into poverty to qualify for coverage.
I wish someone could explain the reasons for such obvious and intentional cruelty. It can't be about discretionary spending when 54 percent of that goes to military and 6 percent goes to health care.
Steve Womack should be honest about his position and say that the country and the budget would be better off if sick people died faster.
DANA COLLINS
Fayetteville
Mixed up Irishmen
I must correct my friend David Cockcroft, with whom I may disagree at times but still esteem. It was not Oscar Wilde, but another Irishman, Jonathan Swift, author of Gulliver's Travels, who, in his essay, "A Modest Proposal," suggested solving the Irish famine by eating Irish babies.
David, Swift was a satirist. He was making a sick joke to make a serious point. But like most historic references, it does little to bolster the point about the death penalty.
KARL T. KIMBALL
Little Rock
No pets? No thanks
Do you recall Socks, the Clintons' cat and their various Labs? Or how about the Obamas' Portuguese water dog? I have fond memories of Amy Carter's Siamese, Misty Malarky Ying Yang (I love that name). I am old, so I even remember Lyndon Johnson's long-suffering beagles.
My point is that almost every recent White House occupant has had a pet, and no, it's not just because they had small children. Hillary Clinton still enjoys walking with her dogs. Lyndon Johnson had no small children at the time. I have heard no mention of a pet in the Trump White House. That could be well be because the narcissistic 45 could not tolerate any other creature receiving attention.
A person either does or does not have love and reverence for non-human species. I am 70 years old, and I have found that those with no reverence for the animals often also have no real love for humans. There is just something missing. Donald Trump Jr. was off shooting prairie dogs recently--deems it "fun."
Please help in removing this horror and his family from our White House.
CATHERINE LAMB
Little Rock
Kindness toward all
Seems to me that if your religion doesn't help you walk with kindness toward all, acceptance of what you can't change, determination to help others less fortunate, joy in the celebration of just flat-out being alive; if you're angry, judgmental, critical, selfish, mean, ready to kick the dog, scam the little guy, belittle minorities and women, and beat the homeless with a club, you got the wrong god, partner.
It works the same way with your political affiliation.
MARIANNE BEASLEY
Fayetteville
They're still in charge
About 40 years ago, my mother told me that no matter which party was in the White House or had a majority in Congress, the Democrats always run the country.
She was right. We have a Republican president, a GOP majority in both houses of Congress, and it seems the Democrats are still getting their way on just about all issues.
FRANK LATIMER
Sherwood
Editorial on 05/03/2017