Very easy to go high
"When they go low, we go high." To follow Michelle Obama's motto seems easier now than ever. If you have any dignity left, all you need to do is stand still--it seems the Republicans themselves are taking care of going lower and lower.
Every time someone justifies the petty, vindictive, unscrupulous, lawless and autocratic "leadership" of Donald Trump, their feet of clay keep sinking deeper into the swamp of moral decay.
H. PETER ELZER
Fayetteville
Arkansans can do it
Living in south Arkansas and getting our news on TV out of Shreveport, and rarely getting the state paper, I hear very little about what's happening in our state. It was unknown to me until it happened that Hot Springs was adding more casino-style gaming.
I would think this was a matter put forth to the voters of the state. I would also think one of the benefits promised by the Racing Commission when promoting the proposal for added gaming would have been the promise of more jobs for Arkansans.
It surprised me, or perhaps it did not surprise me, when I saw on the Shreveport news that a job fair was being held in Bossier, La., to fill those job positions in Arkansas. My guess would be those job fairs were also held in Mississippi and Oklahoma as well.
I understand they want experienced persons for those positions, but I wonder if they are willing to train Arkansans to work jobs in Arkansas, or will the majority of the jobs go to out-of-staters?
WILLIAM BARLOW
Rosston
Sullying good name
As a small-business owner, I was relieved when legislation trying to weaken the law raising the minimum wage was voted down in the Legislature recently. I, along with the majority of Arkansans, voted to raise the minimum wage last November because it makes good economic sense. Some lawmakers tried to use the good name of small business as a reason to weaken the law. That's offensive to small-business owners like myself.
Workers in one business are customers at another. Raising the minimum wage will enable many more workers to make ends meet and it will boost the consumer spending that businesses depend on to survive and grow.
The legislation attempted to weaken the law by exempting most small businesses, but that doesn't help those businesses--it hurts them. It incentivizes people to work for larger businesses rather than smaller ones in order to make ends meet.
Lawmakers should understand that people need a wage they can live on, whether they work for a big or small business. I want my employees focused on the job--not worried about making rent. A lower minimum wage for small businesses would have them paying in other ways--in the form of lost productivity, high turnover and lost customers.
Voters knew exactly what they were voting for when they chose to raise the minimum wage. I'm glad lawmakers didn't overturn the will of the people, and hope they don't try to bring up any misguided bills like this in the future.
Raising the minimum wage will help local communities, small businesses like mine and the entire state economy, and I look forward to the increases going into effect.
RICHARD BISHOP
Maumelle
Sake of convenience
Years ago, when I was in college, I took a course in embryology. I was taught at that time that life begins when an ovum is fertilized by a sperm cell. A recent check of this definition revealed that it remains the same. How then, can we as a nation and as individuals decide to end the life of another human for convenience's sake? If people were made to actually see the destruction of a fetus, I would hope the majority would change their minds regarding this carnage.
In a recent letter in this paper, someone described a law pending in the state Legislature to prevent the abortion of a child if it was determined to have Down syndrome as a draconian proposal. Perhaps it would be less "draconian" for those who only care about themselves and their own rights to be legally required to be sterilized after an abortion, thus preventing the potential death of yet another unborn child. Also, what about the responsibility of men in the perpetuation of this horror? No matter current thinking, it still takes an egg and a sperm for conception to occur. Responsibility for our own actions seems to be a thing of the past.
Natural disasters can be difficult enough to endure emotionally and spiritually. The legalization of taking the life of an unborn child is an unnatural disaster that surely affects everyone involved unless they have no conscience or their hearts have become too hard.
In historical times barbaric people sacrificed their children to various gods. Things haven't changed much. Children are now sacrificed to the god of convenience.
ROBERT RHOADS
North Little Rock
Editorial on 04/16/2019