Reporters’ questions
Joe Biden seems to duck a lot of questions from the news media, but I can’t understand why. A real reporter might ask tough questions, you know: “What do you think about France, Australia, Canada and New Zealand using covid as a reason to create authoritarian regimes?” “What do you think about Democrat governors who behave likewise?” “Is firing someone from their job for not having been vaccinated a clear-cut case of discrimination?” “Are you fit to lead?” “Are you fit to lead?”
Yup, I could never be a reporter. I ask too many stupid questions.
ROBERT BEMIS
Little Rock
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
The vaccines are safe
Why don’t you want to get the covid vaccine? Because you don’t trust the government? Because you don’t trust Big Pharma, for-profit hospitals and insurance companies? Because you distrust the CDC, or just covid vaccines?
There’s good reason to distrust government. For 20 years–under four presidents–they lied to us about Afghanistan, insisting we were winning the war. In fact, our government never has had a strong record of truth-telling, regardless of who’s in power.
Why would we trust Big Pharma and insurance companies when corporate honchos and stockholders make a killing from our illness? The real problem is a health-care system built on profit.
CDC’s changing directives and recommendations have diminished our confidence in them. But they’re scientists, after all, and we should understand that as more data becomes available their conclusions change. Besides, is there any other group or agency better equipped to give us science-based guidance on infectious diseases?
Vaccines protect us from flu, tetanus, hepatitis, shingles and polio. We vaccinate our kids against a range of childhood diseases. Is it this particular vaccine? This week FDA finally has enough data to fully approve a covid vaccine. So, no problem, right?
Your resistance to vaccination is well-reasoned, but the bottom line is that people who are vaccinated have a very low rate of infection and in most cases don’t suffer serious illness or long-term effects if infection does occur. Unvaccinated people account for nearly all hospitalizations and deaths. Bottom line: Covid vaccines are safe and they work.
BOB BILLIG
Elkins
Enlightening reads
Thank you for publishing three very informative pieces on Aug. 6. In order of appearance: “Mask leeway for schools fails” and “Virus hospitalizations hit a 6-month high for state” on the front page, and the Style section Cryptoquote: “It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.”–James Baldwin.
JOHN C. WARD
North Little Rock
Fund Butler Center
This November, the Central Arkansas Library System will ask the citizens of Little Rock to approve a tax increase. I would like to support this measure, but I have not seen any public input, so I am not sure how the money will be used. Specifically, I would like to know if the Board of Directors has plans to restore the funding to the Butler Center of Arkansas Studies that huge budget cuts eliminated.
Until recently, the center was one of the finest Arkansas history programs in the state, but it has been forced to take crippling budget cuts. These reductions were far larger than those of any other department and it has seriously weakened the ability of the center to carry out its mission to educate citizens about the history of our state. This needs to be corrected and I trust the Board of Directors will restore funding to the Butler Center. It’s the right thing to do.
LINDA BELL
Little Rock
Turn the nation blue
I am an independent. I think what the Republicans are doing about this virus and our right to not get sick or have our children die is disgraceful. It is ridiculous to ban masks and refuse to let government and private businesses decide to protect everyone through vaccine mandates. Then, to top it off, it seems they want to suppress votes nationwide. As if gerrymandering for a desirable Republican result wasn’t bad enough.
They are only listening to the noisy minority. Let’s show them how we feel by turning this country blue in the midterms. Every race, every state, go blue and say enough. Maybe that will get their attention. At the very least, we will have a couple of years of following the science, financial support for the people who need it, support for the LGBTQ+ community, and hope toward ending racial disparity.
KARLA WELLS
Prairie Grove