From the web

In response to last week’s cover story about Fort Smith workers left jobless by Whirlpool’s plant closing:

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Thanks for this article. The testimonials of the people left behind by capitalism should break anyone’s heart. The fact that nearly half, and more than that in Fort Smith, sucked hook line and sinker the conservative tripe that capitalism and the free market, if only let loose from pesky regulations like a livable wage, or safe working conditions, or environmental protections, would restore America should scare the hell out of us all. How many of these displaced workers do you think voted for the fairy tale?

Once you believe the Easter Bunny left that quarter under your pillow there’s no telling what you will vote for.

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Chelydra

We have seemed to become a disposable culture or at least tending that way. Honest hard-working people are disposed of like so much used tissue paper by management that is solely focused on the next quarter’s stock market affecting reports and have never made anything except anger and pain in their careers.

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And what is really sad is the lies they sell and promulgate for political gain supporting outsourcing to pittance wage countries for the quarter or two of additional profits while U.S. employment and U.S. infrastructure languish and sink lower and lower from government/public inaction.

We can’t afford to help our unemployed, or rebuild the infrastructure necessary for our country to maintain the standard of living we grew up with, but we can afford “a military capable of fighting two global conflicts simultaneously.” Even though the “cold war” died 20 years ago and U.S. military expenditures exceed the total military spending of the top 15 other countries expenditures by over 30 billion dollars. We spend on our military spending five times the next highest expenditure (China)!

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Dottholliday

And now there’s talk of raising the retirement age to 67. Two extra years in the corner office is no hardship. The people who worked with their hands to build this country, a different story.

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Springdaleliberal

In response to the Nov. 28 Pearls about Swine column (“Smile, the John L. Smith era is over”):

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Nice to see a few fans had to say farewell to Mr. Smith. The way I see it you ought to be commenting on your AD as well. Let’s look at the facts. 1. He backstabs the Atlanta Falcons to hire BP. The way BP left Atlanta should have been a tad bit of insight on his character, but hey, when you’re winning that doesn’t matter. 2. Long fires BP for doing the Texas Two Step with a Texas cutie. BP wasn’t fired for the dalliance, noooo, he was canned because he lied to the AD & pushed thru a job for his cutie! The AD had no choice but to fire him. That act wasn’t just the right thing to do but the only thing to do or as we said in the military, the AD was merely Covering His A**. 3. Instead of appointing an assistant to coach for 10 months and a debacle of a season would have been a bit less distasteful, nooo, he had to sneak behind another back and ask poor old John L. from a head coaching job at his alma mater no less to come and save the day for a salary that was only a few dollars more than what was paid to a team that came in and whupped butt! Yes, John had his moments, but the man is in bankruptcy, due to his own greed, and has recently lost his brother. C’mon give him a break! Lastly, 4. Do you think offering Les Miles a ton of cash to come to the UA was a good idea? Let me see a show of hands. All that did was ensure that Les got a raise and will be haunting Hog fans for the next seven years! Still, I hope that the AD finds a coach that will be a winner, honest & forthright bring honor and glory to the program. This may sound funny coming from an LSU fan, but we’re both in the greatest division in college football, the SEC WEST!

Saudiwoof

In response to the “Week that Was” Nov. 14:

It was not a good week for healthcare or women’s rights. Assuming you think everyone that works to earn a living should have to pay for someone else’s sex life. It is not a good week for the working women who have their own families to take care of. It is a disgrace to suggest that it is OK to usurp the U.S. Constitution and force people to pay for someone else’s sex life. It is a disgrace that Planned Parenthood is funded at all beyond health screenings, since they insist on interfering in parental rights and could leave someone’s teen-age child dead or traumatized for life without the parent (or judge) having any input let alone consent. You are a freaking moron.

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Karen Marlatt

In response to the Oct. 24 story on the LRPD’s use of license plate scanners:

I wish that people were more concerned about our privacy. If people were as concerned about privacy as people are about guns something would get done. People wake up — the government does NOT CARE OR WANT YOUR GUNS. They want your e-mails, cell phone conversations, license plate numbers, what you look at on the web. And guess what — they have it because no one is paying attention and the ACLU, the only folks that TRY to stop some of this, can’t do anything about most of it because our government says they are just using the info to “fight terrorism” and “win the war on drugs.”

Conwaykram

On the Nov. 14 profile on Mike Nichols, set designer at the Arkansas Repertory Theater:

Mike has done Morrilton proud and I’m very proud of one of my former 7th grade English students.

Mona Kay Calhoun Scroggins

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