Daylight exacerbates warning
You may have noticed that March of this year was particularly hot. As a matter of fact, I understand that it was the hottest March since the beginning of the last century. All of the trees were fully leafed out and legions of bugs and snakes were crawling around during a time in Arkansas when, on a normal year, we might see a snowflake or two. This should come as no surprise to any reasonable person. As you know, Daylight Saving Time started almost a month early this year. You would think that members of Congress would have considered the warming effect that an extra hour of daylight would have on our climate. Or did they ? Perhaps this is another plot by a liberal Congress to make us believe that global warming is a real threat. Perhaps next time there should be serious studies performed before Congress passes laws with such far-reaching effects.
CONNIE M. MESKIMEN / Hot Springs
Races will disturb peace
Thanks for the recent news story on bald eagles in Arkansas. It is sad that Greers Ferry Lake’s peaceful bald eagle habitat is about to be invaded by noisy offshore ocean racers and helicopters at the peak of nesting season. Anyone concerned should call the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers or the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission to ask why they are promoting this endangerment. The G&FC will provide a fleet of boats to protect the offshore racers, but will only monitor eagle protection after an eagle is harmed. The corps may do an environmental impact study after the offshore boats have caused harmful effects on the lake, wildlife and human environment, [but it ] dismisses any possibility that 1, 000-horsepower, 200-miles-perhour gas guzzlers can cause harm. The races come at considerable cost to local residents and taxpayers: $ 30, 000 from the Community Club (no member vote ); $ 8, 000 in tax funds from the Arkansas Parks and Tourism Department; and the tax-provided services of law, health and safety groups. The corps’ restrictions and federal regulations for special permits state that the permittee will make necessary provisions that the activity will not pre-empt the public use of the project recreational resources. Nonetheless, the corps has indicated that a large area of the lake, marinas, parking lots, beaches, boat ramps and all of Sugar Loaf Island will be denied public access. East-west lake travel will be blocked. The peaceful enjoyment of the lake environment should be protected for all residents and visitors.
LEONARD UECKER / Quitman
Labor unions beneficial
Re the column by Mike Masterson about his opinion of the Employee Free Choice Act: While I found it somewhat informative, I found it very lacking. While he states that he was a member of a union at one time, one could tell that he really knew nothing about them.
Did he know that unions are the reason we have 40-hour work weeks, overtime, OSHA and many other programs that are cherished by all citizens, whether they be union members or not ? Does Masterson believe that we would have a national labor board to which any worker can bring a complaint about his employer without the union ? I think not. The Employee Free Choice Act is just as it sounds, [giving ] employees free choice to organize or join a union without fear of coercion or retribution from an employer.
JIM LEWIS / Texarkana
Double standard shown
I recently saw something on-line that disturbed me. It had been aired on C-SPAN [in 2005 ]. It was an African-American gentleman stating, “We have to exterminate white people off the face of the planet to solve this problem.” Then he stated that the problem is “white people” and that “white people are going to kill us.” This man’s name is Kamau Kambon, an author and owner of the BlackNificant bookstore. Also, recently, Don Imus, a radio personality, referred to a women’s basketball team as “nappy-headed hos,” and yet he is being chastised by the media for using a racial slur. Why wouldn’t we consider what Kambon said as terroristic threatening ? Yet no one said anything about his comments. Double standard ?
WILLIAM B. BROOKS / Ward
One detail overlooked
I wholeheartedly agree with what letter writer J. Timothy Lovett had to say about the firing of the eight U. S. attorneys. However, there are a couple of things he didn’t add that would have made his point better. True, the U. S. attorneys serve at the pleasure of the sitting president. I agree that he shouldn’t have fired the eight attorneys. All of the U. S. attorneys with one exception were fired when William J. Clinton took office. I suppose the reason, if there was one, was that Republicans had appointed all the U. S. attorneys since Jimmy Carter left office. So taking a page from his predecessors’ book, he should have fired them all. Then he couldn’t be accused of being a political hack. I know it has been a long time, and to some it seems longer than it actually has been, but I don’t recall Lovett’s writing a letter with this same tone in 1992. Or maybe he believes that justice must be equal for some, but not for others.
SKIP CHRISTY / Russellville
Most wanted bill to pass
Although we have had Farm Bureau insurance and thus have been farm owners and members for over 50 years, Farm Bureau lobbyists do not speak for me on the issue of cruelty to animals. In fact, I am ashamed that a part of the money I have paid to the Arkansas Farm Bureau goes for such a purpose. I cannot believe that a majority of Farm Bureau members believe that this is the stance that a responsible organization should be taking. All I can say is shame on the Arkansas Farm Bureau and those members of the Legislature who are so spineless as to be influenced by the paid lobbyists of Farm Bureau. Are those who drag animals behind a truck to their certain death and starve animals to death worthy of the greater consideration they have been given by the Arkansas Farm Bureau and a majority of those who are supposed to represent all of us ? It’s enough to make one ill.
MARILYN FISH BRYAN / Taylor
Much history available
Many reputable history books could dispel letter writer Al Case’s distorted view of the Middle Ages. It was not the church in the seventh, eighth and ninth centuries that caused the decline of science and learning, but the collapse of the Roman Empire and the invasions by Muslims and pagans who came like stinging hornets and spread on all sides like fearful wolves. These were Dark Ages when feudalism developed as men joined themselves to barons or knights for protection from hunger, bandits and barbarians. It was the monastic life that saved Latin and Greek writings, education, art, literature, agriculture, welfare and commerce. Through Christianity, the barbaric masses were assimilated into a new society. By the High Middle Ages, Europe was able to return to learning and culture that produced the seeds of our own society and the modern idea of nations. It was an era of magnificent cathedrals, convents, libraries, art, scholasticism, schools and universities which included the study of medicine. St. Albert the Great and Roger Bacon initiated modern science. The Middle Ages, extending from Charlemagne in 800 to the invasion of Italy by the French in 1494, is an exciting era to study with its wars, kings, knights, heroism, scandals and reforms. How can anyone say that “European history was almost nonexistent” ?
ANN SKINNER / Arkadelphia
Protests make no sense
Once again the illegal immigrants in this country are protesting for their rights. What rights ? They have broken the laws of the United States by entering this country illegally. They don’t even have the right to protest, in my view. Don’t they realize that protesting for what they are not entitled to simply outrages the legal citizens of the United States ? They can consider themselves very lucky that I’m not the president. I’d round up each and every one by any means possible and deport them to wherever they came from after serving time in jail for their crime of illegal entry. It’s what their country would do to us if we entered their country illegally. And their jails aren’t the rest resorts we have here.
DAVID WEAVER / Sherwood
Masterson out of touch
Mike Masterson’s claim that the Employee Free Choice Act is misnamed and misguided clearly shows that he is out of touch with the working class of Arkansas. With most families having two or more wage-earners struggling to buy groceries and gasoline and send children to college, many would jump at the chance to form a union. This law would, indeed, give employees the freedom to choose or refrain from being represented. Masterson has not spoken to those who desire representation under the current law to learn of how unfair it is to workers and how it heavily favors companies. As a past union organizer, I have witnessed how difficult companies make it to gain access to their employees. I also witnessed company intimidation, firings, threats of plant closure and captiveaudience meetings to argue against unionization. Some of the aforementioned activity is illegal under the current law, but the burden of proof is on the employee, who often has no witnesses. Masterson also has trouble with eliminating the secret ballot of the election. Most people unknowledgeable on the subject will jump on this great American right to secret ballot. However, in most campaigns the company has enough hired guns on the inside who know who supports a union and who does not. It is time for the working people of Arkansas and America to have a real free choice in the workplace. Call your senators today and ask them to support S. 1041, the Employee Free Choice Act.
JIM DENTON / Redfield
Waiting for an apology
Now that the charges have been dropped against the Duke students, I would like to see some written apologies from all those people who rushed to judgment of these young men. The media were a big factor in stirring up the stink. Where are Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton now ? I hope that the next time an investigation of the accuser is a little more thorough before these types of charges are made.
C. E. MORAN / Little Rock
Scholar was discredited
Re the Perspective feature, “Writer forced to flee Netherlands after threats” by Clifford D. May: I am amused at the defense of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a discredited fervent Islamaphobe, by May. Apparently, he and Hirsi Ali suffer from the same malady: an aversion to telling the truth. Unlike neutral journalists, these two are not remotely concerned with fact; rather, they prefer proselytizing their narrow agenda whenever and wherever it is feasible to do so. Their modus operandi is not to inform, but to brainwash. Hirsi Ali’s sensational portrayals of her alleged persecutions as a Muslim woman by Islamic radicals, her aborted arranged matrimony, her freedom flight from Somalia to the Netherlands and her virulent anti-Islamic and immigrant bashing quickly made her the poster girl of the racist, neo-conservative Dutch political party. Unfortunately, her alleged persecutions quickly disintegrated. She was forced to... resign her membership of the Dutch Parliament and give up her Dutch citizenship and passport. The Dutch media and Hirsi Ali’s parents were instrumental in exposing her alleged persecution. Humiliated, Hirsi Ali quickly found refuge at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D. C. AEI is a haven of neo-conservative mavericks and megalomaniacs. Hirsi Ali, with her distinct track record, should really feel at home. If Hirsi Ali had been an outspoken anti-Jewish or anti-Christian scholar, would AEI or the State Department have allowed her sanctuary ? I doubt it.
MOHAMED SABIR / Little Rock
Feedback
Cruelty bill will return
I strongly second Eva Madison’s piece in the Perspective section, “Farm Bureau’s support of cruelty bill was a ploy.” The Arkansas Farm Bureau needs to understand that many Arkansans live with domestic pets and support legislation to criminalize the most egregious acts of animal cruelty. The Farm Bureau also needs to understand that animal welfare organizations are not waiting in the wings to pounce should Arkansas join the large majority of states that have enacted meaningful animal cruelty laws. Rest assured, Farm Bureau, this issue is not going away and the will of the people will ultimately prevail.
R. SCOTT OGILBY / North Little Rock
Player set an example
Amid all of the hubbub coming out of Fayetteville, there was an item about one of the Hog basketball players who said he was just staying busy with his lessons and his athletics and trying to find ways to become a better person. That made me, at age 88 and counting, stop and think. Shouldn’t I and most of us be working on becoming better persons ? I know nothing about what kind of person the ball player already is, but I am convinced that he’s a pretty good player. His name, by the way, is Patrick Beverley.
LEN E. BLAYLOCK / Nimrod
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