Advice on retirement
I would like to thank the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for presenting the Senior Expo last Saturday, and UAMS for serving as the main sponsor. I would also like to thank AARP, also an Expo sponsor, for bringing financial expert Jean Chatzky to Little Rock for the Expo.
After listening to her speak, it's easy to see why Jean is an AARP personal finance ambassador and financial editor for the Today show. Many wonder at what age to file for Social Security benefits and how to maximize retirement dollars. Jean provided information that showed how the timing of when to claim Social Security can dramatically increase benefits.
For those who were not able to hear her presentation, information from Jean is on www.AARP.org to help with those and other financial questions. Her message and tips on how to save more for retirement was excellent information for Arkansans of all ages. For instance, I plan to share her information with my daughter, who is in mid-career.
I'm proud to be an AARP member and very glad AARP is a part of our community. This event is just one example of the great work AARP Arkansas is doing.
CINDY MILAZZO
Maumelle
Disrespected private
I attended the Senior Expo sponsored by UAMS and the Democrat-Gazette and listened to the discussion panel on Arkansas politics. Jason Rapert was listing some of the "terrorist attacks" that have occurred over the recent past and pointed out the incident of the shooting of the two soldiers in Little Rock in 2009. Mr. Rapert named Pvt. William Long, but did not even mention the second private, Quinton Ezeagwula, in his statement.
I later asked Mr. Rapert why he omitted reference to Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula and his response was that he was not killed and that he can't pronounce his name. I then attempted to ask for further clarification and Mr. Rapert said that all I wanted to do was argue with him, and turned away and started talking to another person.
I feel that Mr. Rapert was displaying rudeness and disrespect to Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula by not recognizing the injuries he sustained. I wonder, if the soldier that was killed and the one that survived were reversed, if Mr. Rapert's feelings would be different.
BILL OWENS
Little Rock
That is not marriage
After reading the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Sunday, I found myself quite puzzled. I read on one page that two men were the parents of a bridegroom. Also, I found a list of those attending a marriage ceremony linking two men.
Perhaps the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette should abandon all mention of marriage in its publication. The photos, descriptions of garments, linking of names and relationships of participants in wedding events has become quite cumbersome. Linking two women as well as two men in a same-sex relationship once was a very quiet topic. It was whispered. How did such unions become a feature in your newspaper? In what manner was this discussed in conference rooms? Who were those that pushed for such information to be openly displayed?
Writings in the Old and New Testaments emphatically forbid such unions. If God says it is wrong, that is good enough for me.
KAY HICKS
Little Rock
Deputy Managing Editor Kim Christ says: The newspaper's policy on same-sex unions is simple and consistent. When they were illegal under Arkansas law, they were not published. They are now legal.
What did she expect?
In response to the Arkansas first lady's comments on the rat smell in the Governor's Mansion, an accumulated stench was surely present when they arrived, and there will still be a "rattus aromus" when the current occupants vacate the premises.
Everybody say cheese.
R.M. WATERS
Siloam Springs
A choice for freedom
Evidence exists that Proto-Indo-Europeans used cannabis for medicinal and/or spiritual purposes 5,000 years ago. Now, more than ever, I believe cannabis is medicine for our time. Cancer and auto-immune diseases are running rampant, as are numerous neurodegenerative diseases and autism. Increasingly virulent microbes now hunt us.
Having extensively poisoned our land, air and water, what we eat, drink, breathe or expose to our skin adds to our bodies' toxic load. Greedy pharmasuits offer healing with poisons targeting a single desired effect but often attended with multiple unintended (or unadmitted) consequences, many deadly.
Pharma lab coats find reductionist thinking fails in their attempt to imitate the action of cannabis. Cannabis is composed of innumerable compounds working together harmoniously. The human body stays healthy when its innumerable compounds also work in harmony. Our bodies even produce some of the same compounds found in cannabis (endocannabinols). Cannabis seems to help re-balance disharmonies in the human body, targeting where the body has gone off note. This ability to respond to varying realities may be another of nature's quantum effects. This could explain its effectiveness for many differing conditions, why its actions are hard to "scientifically" pin down and why Marinol doesn't work the same. Benefits may extend even to those not overly physically ill.
I believe opposition to medical cannabis stems from fear, ignorance, politics, greed or the twisted notion that suffering best serves the human soul. Of the two ballot proposals, one is about freedom, the other about power and control. The wisest choice is always for freedom.
DAN VEGA
Fayetteville
Reasons for that vote
Please vote for Donald Trump if you like bullies. Vote for Trump if you want the wealthy to benefit from his policies, called trickle-down economics. Vote for Trump because he "looks" presidential and he is a great promoter of himself. Vote for Trump if you don't care that one of his mentors and lawyers, Roy Cohn, helped Joe McCarthy attack and defame innocent people in the '50s.
Vote for Trump if you don't care that he benefited from his bankruptcies while causing hundreds of workers to lose their jobs and pensions. Vote for Trump if you don't mind that he moved jobs overseas. Vote for Trump even if he never admits to any wrongdoing, even if he loses a lawsuit and blames others. Vote for Trump and don't look at the real facts about his true nature and self-promotion.
Vote for Trump if you believe all the misinformation about Mrs. Clinton. Vote for Trump if you cannot bring yourself to vote for a woman as president because only men can make good decisions. Vote for Trump if you don't like minorities and don't care that they are mistreated and denied their rights. Vote for Trump if you don't care about the environment, global climate change, nuclear war, losing our friends and allies, and making America hate instead of great.
LARRY D. BINTLIFF
Bee Branch
Editorial on 10/01/2016