Short and sweet

In response to Max Brantley’s op-ed (Medical marijuana? Yes.), two words: Thank you!

Brad Bailey

Legalize it

Arkansas voters will get the chance to legalize marijuana to some extent this November. Arkansans should definitely vote in favor of such initiatives, not just for medical use, but for the purpose of extending freedom and liberty to our fellow citizens.

What is freedom, anyway? Freedom is an individual experience in which a person can do whatever he wants. Unfortunately, in a society of men, some freedoms may be dangerous, but using marijuana is no danger. Some people complain that marijuana users inhale the spirit of the plant by smoking it. Should citizens of the U.S.A. not have the freedom to smoke, at least on private property? And should citizens of the U.S.A. not be liberated from governments that take away more and more of their freedoms? There is also the issue of allowing industrialists to manufacture 25,000 products from the cannabis plan.

Advertisement

Although Arkansans talk a lot about freedom and liberty, it may be just a lot of talk. Sure, everyone wants freedom for himself, but do Arkansans really want to extend freedom to the marijuana user? Do Arkansans really want to liberate the marijuana user from prison? Maybe not. The cost of freedom is tolerating the freedoms of others. Arkansans who are not willing to tolerate the freedom of others do not really value freedom.

Gene Mason

Jacksonville

Hillary as porcupine

Could it be that the Congress is fixin’ to take another run at Hillary? This should be good news for the Clinton camp. Every time they go after her she jumps in the polls. What the congressmen fail to realize is that, despite her 40 percent approval rating, she is 30 points ahead of them in that category. Any dog will bite a porcupine once. It takes a real special dog to bite the same porcupine repeatedly.

Advertisement

David Rose

Hot Springs

From the web

In response to the Arkansas Blog post about Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” remark describing half of the Republican candidate’s supporters as racists, homophobes, xenophobes, etc.:

Hillary was just doing what Donald Trump gets praised for: refusing to be “politically correct.” Most Trump supporters ARE racists. They need to own it.

Advertisement

AnnaHarrisonTerry

I’m afraid I’d have to challenge Hillary on her notion that 20 percent or so of Americans may be “racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic.”

I think the number is much higher. 

Most of the people I grew up with may put on a halfway decent front in public. But you sit down with them over a beer at a backyard barbeque and you hear the same sort of mouthing you heard when they were in school 50 or 60 years ago.

Advertisement

Oh, OK. I’ll concede one change. When I was in school, the religious bugbear was Catholicism, rather than Islam.

And in regard to news sources, anyone wish we still had a Chet Huntley, a David Brinkley, a Walter Cronkite, a Drew Pearson, a Jack Anderson? 

Advertisement

Or any number of others whose name I can’t recall at the moment? What was the name of the motherly-type television political reporter who occasionally weighed in during that era?

Doigotta

I quit going to the local community center for breakfast once President Obama was a candidate since the “jokes” were constant. I still hold that if you put a “reinstate slavery” question on the ballot in this state, the over age 50 vote would be probably 60 percent plus pro.

Advertisement

couldn’t be better

The major candidates this year are both deplorable, so I’m voting for Gary “What is Aleppo?” Johnson.

Radical centrist

Re Hillary Clinton’s stumble at a 911 event and her diagnosis of pneumonia:

Better to have a president with a simple and curable pulmonary disease than a president with a galaxy of incurable psychiatric illnesses.

Henry Gardner Newell

In response to the Sept. 8 cover story on Graham Gordy and his new show debuting on Cinemax:

“There’s a terrible familiarity to the painstakingly accurate setting, like finding your own eyes in a Kodachrome portrait of your grandfather in an old family album.” — I love that line. Great write-up, and I would definitely watch this show if I had skinemax.

Advertisement

Lucas Murray

In response to the Sept. 8 review of the Tacos 4 Life restaurant in Conway, which donates a part of its earnings to the “Feed My Starving Children” nonprofit:

We do Tacos 4 Life almost every time we’re in Conway. It’s quality food at a decent price. I just wish that the “starving children” were not required to go through proselytizing in order to eat. At least that’s my understanding. I would love to find out otherwise.

Vanessa

In response to the Sept. 1 article on the latest extension of the River Trail to the edge of the Dillard’s headquarters on Cantrell:

This is what eminent domain was designed for, people!

MysteryShopper

Rather than eminent domain, why don’t we just stop giving city government contracts to Dillard’s and [its construction company] CDI? Dillards/CDI wins a $60 million bid to redo Robinson and then refuses to cooperate on the river trail — just astounding. The quote about “not the best use of taxpayer money” is garbage. The trail needs a few feet across the Dillard’s property.

craigsl

Submit letters to the Editor, Arkansas Times, 201 E. Markham, Suite 200, Little Rock, AR 72203. We also accept letters via e-mail. The address is arktimes@arktimes.com. We also accept faxes at 375-3623. Please include name and hometown.

Be a Part of the Fight

Step up and make a difference by subscribing or donating to the Arkansas Times, the progressive, alternative newspaper in Little Rock that's been fighting for truth for 50 years. Our tough, determined, and feisty journalism has earned us over 63,000 Facebook followers, 58,000 Twitter followers, 35,000 Arkansas blog followers, and 70,000 daily email blasts, all of whom value our commitment to holding the powerful accountable. But we need your help to do even more. By subscribing or donating, you'll not only have access to all of our articles, but you'll also be supporting our efforts to hire more writers and expand our coverage. Join us in the fight for truth by subscribing or donating to the Arkansas Times today.

Previous article Is this formal enough, Sen. Boozman? Next article City manager to review LR police car take-home policy