Use good sense and hang up
Many laws are created because many folks don't use common sense. Cars continue to be safer, and many safety features are mandated-seat belts, air bags and so on-but lawmakers for the most part continue to overlook the serious distraction from driving while using cell phones. It doesn't matter whether it's handson or handless, the distraction is there as it takes thought to talk and this detracts from the thought needed to drive safely. It appears that 25 folks recently lost their lives with many more injured because an engineer in
California was texting on
his cell phone,
ignored a red signal and smashed into a freight train. And people drive while on their cell phones ? Within the last year, I've had a car pull out right in front of me and a car run a red light right in front of me. Both were on the cell phone and I could see when passing them that they were so engrossed in their conversations that they had no idea what they just did. When I read of the car fatalities and injuries here in the state and elsewhere, I wonder how many possibly involved cell phones. The bottom line is if you folks have to talk on a cell phone while driving and take the risk of injury or worse for not only you but also any passengers you might have, fine, but when you put my life at risk or that of my passengers, then it becomes a personal matter. Lawmakers, please outlaw the use of cell phones while driving.
ED HENRY SR.
Mount Ida
Resistance is spreading
I protest your paper's editorial treatment of Secure Arkansas and founder Jeannie Burlsworth. The resistance to subsidizing illegal immigrants is large and spreading and will affect upcoming elections.
I am a third-generation American of Czech descent and was involved in the recent petition drive, which collected thousands of signatures. I've heard the stories from my ancestors, who spent eight weeks in the holds of ships to land almost penniless in Galveston, Texas. There they applied for and were granted citizenship.
They worked hard, succeeded, paid their taxes and proved that it can be done the right way. They did not sneak across the border, organize and demand their "rights."Illegals have no rights here and shouldn't be here. They are siphoning every public and social program available, meanwhile turning our educational system into a joke. Our present elected officials supply their contributing friends, i. e., U. S. employers, with more than 40 hours of cheap labor at taxpayers' expense and refuse to enforce existing laws at all levels. Are we being racist ? No, realistic. Unjust ? If there is any injustice, it is the Mexican government that refuses to take care of its citizens. I should think that the illegals here would use their voice to demand their rights in their land. Make them accountable as we should ours. Secure Arkansas is an organization of concerned Americans who are peaceful, registered voters working to preserve our country, economy and way of life.
NORMAN BELICEK
Calico Rock
Elitism charge rings false
It never ceases to amaze me that people like columnist Bradley Gitz get away with calling Democrats elitists. I looked at the people at the Democratic National Convention. It seemed to me that, although poorer and more diverse than those at the GOP convention, they looked like totally down-home Americans.
Many new Democrats like myself are recovering Republicans not because we are elite but because we have good animal-waste detectors and feel that we are being lied to every day by the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Vice President Dick Cheney.
One help the radical Republicans have is that most of their elites are invisible. The economic elites such as CEOs, Wall Street operatives and aristocrats are seen mainly in boardrooms and mansions. These elites spend millions a year to keep American unions down, wages in the cellar and jobs moving overseas. Also unseen are the intellectual elites who work for right-wing think tanks and do the research that goes into the programs of Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. These pointy-headed elites cynically shape the deceiving arguments and sound bites of right-wing politicians and other rightwing communications. These elites have great contempt for small-town and other Americans and they know exactly what deceptive techniques they are using. Candidate Sarah Palin once may have been a down-home girl, but now she is a hired pit bull trained and willing to bite and attack for her heartless, elite GOP masters.
LINDA WOODBURY
Hot Springs
Whoever wins, we lose
I have tried to look at this presidential race with an open mind, and I believe that I have. However, the more I look at it, the more obvious it is that regardless of whom we elect as president, the United States is in serious trouble.
When I look at Barack Obama, there are some things about him that I do not know and cannot find out. When I look at John McCain, his life is an open book. He fought for this country so that I have the right to sit here at my computer and write this letter.
What has Obama done for this country ? How many days has he spent doing his job since he was elected to his current position ? When I read about those who supported him and got him into that position, it scares me. When you lie down with dogs, you will get up with fleas, and Obama has kept some pretty sorry company in the past. I really don't think it will make any difference who gets elected president. The United States is in a downward spiral and it will not stop until we hit rock-bottom like we did back in the 1920 s. All I can say is may God have mercy on our miserable souls. Money has been the god of too many people and the love of money has destroyed us. The people we have elected to serve us have not. They have served the party instead.
JACK PHELPS
Cherokee Village
Actions most revealing
The campaigns are in full swing and the presidential election is just around the corner. Through the speeches, debates and traded barbs we try to look into the souls of the candidates, even though it is virtually impossible to judge a person's character simply by what he speaks. Often, by looking at what they have done in their lives, we will get a glimmer of their inner souls.
GERALD LANGE
Bella Vista
September day recalled
In mid-December 2001, it was reported by numerous media outlets that "the underground fires that have burned at the World Trade Center site in New York for the past three months have finally been extinguished."We remember that September knell. After the lethal blast, seraphic incense soared and gray dust billowed in solemn doom. For 90 days it rose like the drone of a muffled drum and fell with a passing bell to shroud the martyrs' tomb. May they rest in peace.
RITA L. GOODGAME
Little Rock
Immigrants must adapt
As recently reported in several newspapers and TV, the Faulkner County Library is offering us gringos free Spanish classes so we can more easily assist these thousands, soon to be millions, of illegals who are infiltrating this state. This is the same approach California took toward disaster.
My grandparents migrated to this great country. They were required to enter Ellis Island and learn what was required of them to become citizens, including learning to speak English. Every one of them became very productive farmers or business operators or were self-employed.
My grandparents spoke their native language at home but English away from home. If we want these people here, force them to adapt to our way of life, not cater to them by adapting to theirs. We lived and worked in Mexifornia for 35 years, retired and escaped to Arkansas in 1998. Now I see the same paths being followed here that led to the destruction of the once-great state of California. It's time for our state and local leaders to study these soon-to-be major problems: health care, schools having to spend more for bilingual teachers, jails having to maintain separate sections for different gangs; and, of course, all police forces will have to be equipped like an Army combat unit. If anyone thinks I'm exaggerating read the Modesto Bee and the Merced Sun-Star online. We all may have noticed that we now have a Mexican consulate to teach all these people how to take advantage of all the loopholes.
LEE ROGELSTAD
Greenbrier
Obama will help nation
As though we haven't had almost eight years of plundering jobs, money and our friends around the world, John McCain wants to give us four more years of the same.
People fear that Barack Obama, upon being elected, will shout," We shall overcome,"and the blacks will take over the U. S. A. That won't happen. The U. S. A. has become very diverse. Please, I ask you, get a few newspapers and come into the 21 st century.
The president isn't really in charge anyway, Congress is, if members would just get busy and do their jobs.
Ask yourself who is going to get us out of George W. Bush's deep war hole. Who can do the job ? Sure, Obama and Joe Biden might give a few dollars to the poor, but perhaps that doesn't compare to the gigantic war in Iraq. Would that really be worse than McCain, the war hero, continuing to support the rich corporations ? Or will you just love living in the insecurity of how to pay your bills while your president and his wife enjoy seven mansions with two cars at each one ?
I would hope that Obama will be president, be diplomatic, be smart and make me feel proud he is there. Plus, Biden's no slouch. This is a business decision. Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's. This is not a church decision. This is not just about protecting the unborn. This is about not killing thousands of "born already"in foreign lands who were innocent.
JACKIE BERNDSEN
Hot Springs
Politicians are problem
So you think Barack Obama or John McCain and our Congress are going to solve our country's massive problems. If you will get your head out of the sand, you will see that they are the problem. Also, most of the responsibility belongs to us, the people who keep re-electing them. Our unelected Supreme Court and federal judges have used their power to bring down this great nation with their unconstitutional rulings with the approval of our Congress. When nine people changed rulings that had been constitutional for 200 years, our country started going downhill. When I was in school, prayer and Bible-reading were honored. Since God has, by Supreme Court decree, been eliminated from our public schoolsand [this is ] recognized by our public servants-our country has become
the most wicked nation in the world with legalized murder, corruption in high places, open homosexuality, disregard for marriage and the home, no proper discipline of children in the home and disregard for the Ten Commandments. God is destroying this ungodly nation because he has no choice. When we honor God, God honors us with his blessings. Hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, a failing economy aad major manufacturing [going ] overseas are just the beginning of America's downfall. We pray, but God will not answer prayers with unconfessed sin. Your presidential candidate will not change a thing for the better. It will only get worse without God's blessing.
JOHN JACOBSEN
Jacksonville
Feedback Upgrades cost more
Re Steve Painter's recent story on Wal-Mart's remodeling plan: These remodel jobs, with wider aisles and lower shelves, mean less merchandise, less choice and higher prices. The savings to Wal-Mart must be huge. Less inventory means fewer dollars tied up in inventory, less transportation of fewer items and fewer employees needed to stock less merchandise on the fewer shelves. To keep the very visible money stream going with less merchandise, I believe that Wal-Mart is upgrading its stock with higher-price labels. Higher price points, along with other savings, would give them a much higher profit margin on the new items. Sam Walton built an empire by stocking all the shelves with a wide range of goods with very low prices. The mantra now seems to be profit, and the competition has been minimized. JIM PUMPHREY Hot Springs Wilson distinguished Harold Coogan's letter, published under the heading," Woodrow Wilson was Southerner, too,"is an effective refutation of Cal Ledbetter's claim that before the Democrats nominated Arkansan Joe T. Robinson to run for vice president in 1928, no major party since the Civil War had nominated a Southerner as its candidate for president or vice president. To Coogan's points one might add that Wilson was the only person ever to serve as the president of the U. S. A. after living under the Confederate flag during all the years of the Civil War. Also, Wilson received his Ph. D. in 1886 from a Southern university, Johns Hopkins, in Baltimore. Incidentally, Wilson was the only U. S. president who ever held the Ph. D.
RICHARD FROTHINGHAM
Little Rock
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