Nuclear threat

I am a retired active duty Army chaplain who served in Vietnam and in Germany. During my tour of duty in Germany, I was the chaplain for a Pershing II missile battalion. My work was to meet the spiritual needs of the soldiers who had the awesome task of manning three nuclear missiles, targeted on sites in the Soviet Union. That experience has caused me to think deeply about the nuclear weapons issue. With the cessation of the Cold War, it seemed as though nuclear disarmament would finally be an achievable goal. That goal has not been met.

In the video “The Nuclear Tipping Point,” former secretaries of state Henry Kissinger and George Schulz, Sen. Sam Nunn and former Sec-retary of Defense Bill Perry make the point that the nuclear issue has been downplayed and that the world is at the point of a nuclear disaster because of the proliferation of nuclear arms and the development of weapons grade nuclear material.

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President Obama is making strides toward the nuclear weapons disarmament. Just this week he has announced that he is changing the specifics of the United States nuclear protocols. Although there are caveats throughout the protocols, they do represent a shift in thinking about nuclear weapons. It is also notable that he is to sign a new nuclear pact with Russia.

These may be baby steps, but they are necessary.

I think that individuals need to see this video to grasp the deeper impacts it suggests.

Dr. Jim Robnolt
Sherwood

Health care debate

For the life of me I don’t understand those who want government managing our healthcare. Recently I had an MRI. Under Obamacare, a government committee will decide our treatments and benefits. Had this proposed government regimen been imposed 40 years ago I wouldn’t have been able to get my MRI. It wouldn’t have been invented. We also have two to four times the amount of high tech equipment per capita than government-run Canada, shorter wait times, and better survival from cancer and heart attack.

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As far as bending the cost curve, we should empower individuals and make it their self-interest to become prudent buyers of health care. When individuals control their own health care dollars they won’t purchase health care services unless the services are worth the price. The health care needy could be helped at less cost with vouchers instead of having a government system imposed that destroys incentive and inno-vation and keeps true cost unknown to the consumer.

Do you want to make medical decisions about what you spend on health care with money that you control, or do you want the decisions made for you by a bureaucrat?

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Brad Tangen
Paragould

I am so glad to see that other people are on the same page as me as far as Sen. Blanche Lincoln. There is absolutely no way I could vote for her. She has completely ignored all of the uninsured or inadequately insured residents of her home state. I thought we elected representa-tives/senators to represent our interests not those of the greedy elite.

I am also appalled at the grossly incorrect advertising campaign regarding health reform that we see every day on the television. If that is the only source people use for information then they will never know the truth. I am amazed that such rampant lies are allowed to be aired even if it is considered free speech. It seems to me that the media has an obligation to filter what they allow to be aired/read. Why put out distortions that confuse, scare and anger people? These myths and lies ignore one essential fact: the need for reform exists. In fact, it is growing. Health insur-ance premiums have doubled in eight years. Without reform, they’ll rise 10.5 percent next year and double again by 2016 to more than $24,000 per family.

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All of the developed countries except the U.S. have adopted some form of universal health care. If we are the richest and brightest country in the world, then why don’t we have medical care for each and every individual? I am 62, not yet old enough for Medicare, but unable to have affordable medical insurance that meets my needs. The way things are going, by the time I am eligible I may not be able to afford Medicare. I am afraid to get sick. Is that what our country is supposed to be about?

Sharon Roberts
Little Rock

Obama wrong on pot

President Barack Obama was absolutely wrong when he stated that legalizing marijuana would not be an answer to woes of our economy.

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There are more than 25,000 products to be manufactured from the marijuana plant. Sadly, the U.S. incarcerates more of its citizens per capita than any other nation. President Obama cannot stimulate the economy by locking up his labor force.

The right thing for President Obama to do would be to release the pot smokers, put them to work, collect taxes from them and increase our nation’s GDP.

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Gene Mason
Jacksonville

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