Common sense lost
Well, it was disheartening, to say the least, seeing all of those folks packed into the Touchdown Club. There were hardly any masks, and folks (600, according to the paper) practically sitting on top of each other. I will say it is aptly named, and in this case, covid scored the winning touchdowns with a final score of Covid-19: 600, Common Sense: 0.
LORI DELFOS
Little Rock
Vaccination working
Vaccines are phenomenally effective in lessening severity of infections that "break through." Severity is much reduced essentially 100 percent of the time, but no vaccine has ever been absolutely 100 percent effective in preventing infections, so the higher the number of people getting vaccinated (Yay!), the higher the number of "breakthrough" cases, a very few involving hospitalization and death, the percentage of which remains infinitesimally small.
Isn't this an example of pure and simple mathematics? So why isn't it being reported this way?
Oh, wait, I get it. Too boring to report a plain and simple outcome that's always been absolutely and mathematically predictable if it can be twisted to stoke fear instead. How's that working for us?
What really is working for us? Vaccination. Vaccination is working beautifully.
That's what we really need to know, and more of us embrace.
WAYNE WAGGONER
Little Rock
Profligate spending
Spending, spending and more spending. Looks like Congress will never get it under control. A great congressman once said, "a billion here and a billion there and pretty soon we will be talking about real money." Today it is a trillion here and there and we are talking about real money. But more important is the obscene debt being loaded onto future generations.
Looking at past history, from my viewpoint, Congress has been a very poor steward of the funds it is taking from its citizens. Do we really want a bigger government? When one looks at the waste and mismanagement of past policies, I think the answer is obvious. Do you think that maybe the future children will look back and thank us for burdening their generation?
There is no free lunch. Someone always pays.
If we cannot pass a balanced budget amendment or term limits, maybe a restraint on legislative action should be considered. Why not require a 75 percent approval for every bill/action? Could that help bring back some fiscal sanity?
WILLIAM JEBB
Cabot
Covid and hospitals
You don't have to read between the lines. Headline on page 1 of Wednesday's Democrat-Gazette: "Hospitalizations ease, drop by 44," with the subhead, "State adds 2,223 new cases; covid deaths increase by 45."
Does anyone besides me see a little sad irony here? Hospitalizations drop by 44, deaths increase by 45 ...
Well, that's one way to clear out the ol' ICU beds. I imagine one or two of the 2,223 new cases might be needing one ...
BECKY NEWBERRY
Little Rock
To Biden supporters
For a long time, I have endured letters to this paper that ridiculed Donald Trump and those of us that supported him. We have been ridiculed as ignorant backwood countryfolk. Every time John Brummett mentions Trump's name, he takes a swipe at us. Poor folks ... God bless them ... they are just simple-minded country folks that don't know any different.
This Afghanistan debacle is not solely on Joe Biden but everyone that supported him. It is hard, but I am resisting the urge to name-call. I have a question for John and everyone that supported this president: How are you feeling today? Are you willing to defend your vote?
For some reason, I don't feel quite as simpleminded today.
THOMAS HARPER
Helena
Support our libraries
Growing up in a working-class family of seven, we spent a lot of time at the Central Arkansas Library System's southwest Little Rock branch. Little did I know then the financial and logistical struggles that parents go through in getting their kids to read. Knowing what I know now as a practicing librarian, there is no way my parents would have been able to maintain our reading interests without the resources available from CALS. Without the opportunities afforded to us by our local library, I am certain that none of us would have become the lifelong learners that we all are today. I've seen families just like mine walk into my library each and every day over the last 14 years.
I am excited to see that Nate Coulter and the CALS Board of Directors are working to ensure those opportunities are available to the next generation of Arkansawyers. The modest millage increase they are asking for will go a long way to addressing the short-term and long-term needs of folks in central Arkansas. The average homeowner will see their bill go up by about $14 a year, but what they will receive in return is far more than $14 will get you anywhere else.
There is always something to do at the library, including nothing at all. We are one of the last places where a person can simply exist without expectation of having to pay for something or, frankly, do anything. The notion of libraries as the "third place"--a communal space outside of work and home--is one that we have worked hard to cultivate and even harder to maintain. Creating and maintaining welcoming and functional spaces isn't cheap, nor is providing well-stocked, curated library collections and providing programs to entertain, educate, and delight.
As Rex Nelson recently quipped, ignorance is expensive. We cannot afford ignorance in Arkansas anymore. Please vote yes on Nov. 9.
ADAM WEBB
Hot Springs
Adam Webb is president of Advocates for All Arkansas Libraries.