Shows lack of respect
Never in my adult lifetime have I seen such a lack of respect by journalists--mainly television journalists--for the president of the United States and the office of the presidency.
Whether or not one agrees or supports the president, respect should be shown to him and the office.
Never have I seen such know-it-all (television) journalists. The New York Times and Washington Post are two newspapers that fall in this category as well. It is no wonder President Trump is "obsessed" with finding the author of the New York Times op-ed piece demoralizing his presidency. The journalists say he is obsessed, but is he? If there really is such a person--an insider--this person needs to come forward. Have the gumption to admit to writing the disloyal rant. If this is a bogus deal, The New York Times should come clean.
The good President Trump is doing--our economy, for one major point--is overshadowed by the constant attacks on him, mainly by the media and disgruntled Democrats.
SHERRY SNOW
Pangburn
Hit nail on the head
Re Voices letters "The answers are clear" by David Cockcroft and "Blew his chance early" by Millie Foree: Both hit the nail on the head. When are America and the Republicans who are in total control of government going to realize that we have an idiot in the White House? I agree with David Cockcroft that we, the sane ones, should vote only for every Democrat in the coming elections. Then perhaps Mitch McConnell and all them old tired dogs in the Republican Party will realize that enough is enough.
God bless America!
RON SNIDER
Jacksonville
Road to world order
In the two centuries following 1750, the West rose to world dominance. Western science transformed the market and created modern arms, leading to global empires. Success inevitably engendered attitudes of cultural and racial superiority. Within the West, liberalism triumphed over fascism in World War II and over communism in the Cold War, leading to the conviction that liberalism marks the apex of development, the social order to which all must aspire, the end of history.
To implement this Western version of millennialism, neoconservatives advocate U.S./NATO military supremacy to ward off all competitors. Liberal internationalists advocate forcing non-Western states to open their markets to free trade. The process and its unhappy results are recorded in Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism.
Powers such as Russia and China don't fit the liberal mold and both recognize that the U.S. created a world order after WWII to serve Western interests. In 1989 Mikhail Gorbachev ended the Cold War by withdrawing Soviet forces from Eastern Europe; and between 1989-2014 Premiers Gorbachev, Yeltsin and Putin sought through negotiation to replace the liberal world order with one that's peaceful and serves the interests of all major powers.
Stubborn Cold War attitudes and policies stand in the way. In 2014, faced with NATO's membership surge toward Russia's borders, color revolutions producing regime changes favorable to the West, and efforts to lure former Soviet republics into NATO and Western trading blocs, Vladimir Putin lost patience and decided to fight back. We've seen the results. For careful documentation of Russia's effort to supersede the Western world order with a more inclusive one, see Richard Sakwa's Russia Against the Rest: The Post-Cold War Crisis of World Order.
DAVID SIXBEY
Flippin
Case for prosecution
In his presentation for the defense, retired Cajun lawyer Edward Chevallier has said that the hog farm waste is but a drop in the river compared to the rest of the animals that live in the drainage area. I wish to present a set of facts that will show his data for the defense may be true but skewed.
First a few facts, sir. The Buffalo River drainage has an area of over 350,000 acres. C&H Hog Farms occupies only 23 of these acres, or roughly 0.007 percent of the drainage area.
On these few acres sit approximately 6,500 hogs filling two ponds with excrement for later distribution over fields, some in the same drainage area. But those two ponds, full most days, are the waste equivalent of a city of 15,000 humans.
Imagine a town of 15,000 people sitting just 6 miles off the river without a sewage treatment plant. Did you know that there are about 15,000 people total in Newton and Searcy counties combined? The population of both counties crammed onto 23 acres. You don't see a problem yet?
I wish to present to the jury the fact that all this concentrated doo-doo is sitting on rock that is full of holes, passages, caves and pristine underground water. A formation called karst. One good leak of these ponds and the contents head to more places than just down Big Creek. Underground water would also be affected. Hogs also carry pathogens that humans react to as well.
So now you know why we are not concerned with millions of critters doing what they do in the woods harming the river. We are worried about this load of concentrated excrement hanging over the playground for millions of people.
As far as buying up the farm and shutting it down? They won't sell. The prosecution will never rest, your honor.
STEVE HEYE
Little Rock
Vote on term limits
I believe shorter term limits to elective office will enhance our democracy. Democracies have functioned far better than the alternative forms of government over time primarily because they allow for the orderly adjustments of political positions on issues deemed important by voters.
Limiting elective representation to shorter terms in office enhances this political adjustment to current issues because it allows candidates with a passion for a new issue to run against a candidate with a similar opposing position. Both candidates are knowledgeable on the issue. When the voters decide, then the winning candidate should have an adequate period of time to make the law that implements the voters' desire.
An elected official will deal with many other issues that he may have little passion for or knowledge about, so after an appropriate period of time to champion his/her issue, the non-career representative should move on with his life outside elective office to allow others to ardently consider new voter issues. This makes our country decide laws issue by issue and not by party affiliation. Shorter term limits will then enhance our democracy.
MAC FAULKNER
Little Rock
Editorial on 09/16/2018