Opinion
TALL HUMBS
Appearing each Saturday, “All Thumbs” is The Benton County Daily Record’s take on the people, events and issues deserving a “thumbs up” for a noteworthy accomplishment or good deed or a “thumbs down” for magnificent failure or just general stupidity. Thumbs up to the family of the late William F. “Bill” Payer for establishing a memorial fund in his honor that will pay for a carbon-monoxide monitor and alarm for the Bella Vista Fire Department. - Saturday, October 11, 2008
The likelihood of victory
PAT BUCHANAN
“Once war is forced upon us, there is no other alternative than to apply every available means to bring it to a swift end. - Saturday, October 11, 2008
LETTERS
A thank you note from the band A big “thank you” is in order to all those who helped make the past season of concerts by the Bella Vista Community Concert Band one of the most successful in our 23-year history. - Saturday, October 11, 2008
EDITORIALS : Sign of the times If it's election season, it's sign-nabbing season
Informed that 16 of his campaign signs had been pilfered overnight earlier this week, Bill Williams, the Democratic candidate for county judge, decided to have a little fun. - Friday, October 10, 2008
OTHER OPINIONS : Know where your food started
Federal legislation prompted by a spate of food-safety scares, some of them deadly, took effect recently. … It will require labels identifying the country of origin of fresh fruit, vegetables, nuts, meats and frozen produce. Seafood origin has been labeled since 2005. … While this law is a good beginning, more can be done. - Friday, October 10, 2008
America, raise your expectations
BARBARA WARNER
In this last column before the presidential election, I challenge voters to raise their expectations. - Friday, October 10, 2008
LETTERS
Not fond of Frank Rich I did not appreciate the almost full-page story in the opinion pages of Sunday’s paper. “McCain’s suspension bridge to nowhere” was very biased. Frank Rich, who writes for The New York Times, was very opinionated one way. That is not my way, and I wish you would not have him in your paper. - Friday, October 10, 2008
EDITORIALS : It’s good to be frugal
You gotta look before you leap, and Gov. Mike Beebe is doing just that as he weighs whether to restore some of the budget cuts he ordered earlier this year. - Wednesday, October 8, 2008
LETTERS
Bailout is unconstitutional As a U.S. citizen, I am not in favor of an economic bailout plan. It is unconstitutional for the government to make decisions for the American people, especially of this magnitude. I would like to inform you that putting Americans into debt is tantamount to slavery — both are against our constitutional rights. - Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Pica Pole : Kid does bad thing, then the right thing
KENT MARTS
Reading about a granite decorative cannonball from Bentonville’s Confederate statue ending up in the fountain around it, I was shocked to learn that the young man who did the deed didn’t flee the scene. - Wednesday, October 8, 2008
OTHER OPINIONS : Quality counts
Among all the bills leaders of Washington County government may consider asking area representatives in the state Legislature to propose during next year’s upcoming session, perhaps one of them should be a request for more assistance in footing the bill for the quality public defenders our justice system so heavily depends on. - Wednesday, October 8, 2008
EDITORIALS : Rough week
While the news from Washington and Wall Street last week was agonizing, maybe even depressing, the news from northwest Arkansas provided us little relief. - Tuesday, October 7, 2008
LETTERS
The letter written by Midge Garza (Sept. 27) brought to mind the many times I have turned over a product at the grocery only to find the words "country of origin: China." - Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Liberties : Sarah's pompom palaver
Maureen Dowd
I had hoped I was finally done with acting as an interpreter for politicians whose relationship with the English language was tumultuous. - Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Teed off over a T-shirt
The kind of incident that occurred at an Aurora, Colo., school probably happens far more than the noneducational world realizes. Sometimes it is dealt with; sometimes it's overlooked. - Tuesday, October 7, 2008
EDITORIALS : It’s a boy
War? Not a great thing. - Monday, October 6, 2008
Payday lender packs it in
Advance America, the largest payday loan provider in Arkansas, announced Tuesday it will close stores in the state because of Attorney General Dustin McDaniel’s threat of lawsuits over highinterest loans. - Monday, October 6, 2008
The Palin rebound
DAVID BROOKS The New York Times
There are some moments when members of a political movement come together as one, sharing the same thoughts, feeling the same emotions, breathing the same shallow breaths. One of those occasions occurred Thursday night when Republicans around the country crouched nervously behind their sofas, glimpsed out tentatively at their flat screens and gripped their beverages tightly as Sarah Palin walked onto the debate stage at Washington University in St. Louis. - Sunday, October 5, 2008
A time to plan Celebrate National Planning Month
Do you know all the organizations and causes that have chosen October as their month for recognition ? - Sunday, October 5, 2008
Murderous malaria
For most people in the West, malaria is one of those diseases they only think about when an epidemic results in a death toll that grabs the headlines. - Sunday, October 5, 2008
The Rundown : United our libraries should stand
DAVE PEROZEK
It might be time to take another stab at uniting Benton County’s libraries. - Sunday, October 5, 2008
Right Turn : The blame game
CAL THOMAS
When Speaker Nancy Pelosi took to the floor of the House on Monday to blame Republicans for the financial turmoil and charge them with a laissez-fare attitude toward regulation, it seemed like a calculated effort to shift attention and accountability from what Democrats have done to create the current conditions. Fortunately, we have YouTube, so Democrats can run from their records, but they can’t hide. - Sunday, October 5, 2008
ACORN, Obama and the mortgage mess
MONA CHAREN
The financial markets were teetering on the edge of an abyss two weeks ago. The secretary of the Treasury was literally on his knees begging the speaker of the House not to sabotage the bailout bill. - Sunday, October 5, 2008
LETTERS
Where have the savings gone? - Sunday, October 5, 2008
EDITORIAL ROUNDUP
Voters are paying attention Those who fear that democracy is losing its vigor in the modern West should have been reassured by the first debate between the U.S. presidential candidates. Not because of anything that emerged from the debate itself, for it revealed almost nothing that was not already known about the two candidates and their views. But because, if polls are any guide, American voters are beginning to show a real shift in their allegiance. And that shift seems to be based not on what the candidates had to say to each other, or on what spin doctors had to say about it, but on the voters’ own assessment of what is happening in their country. ... The Democratic candidate, Barack Obama, has long performed well in estimates of the national popular vote: he reportedly leads his Republican rival, John McCain, by an average of 5 percent across all polls. But Sen. Obama has struggled to win enough support in the states he is likely to need to win to secure an electoral-college majority. - Sunday, October 5, 2008
The Rockwood Files : Dirty laundry: Writer spills secrets of the home office
GWEN ROCKWOOD
It’s just another typical day at the office. As I type these words, I can hear my office mates down the hall. They’re searching for the bubblegumflavored toothpaste, opening drawers and cabinets, and coming up empty. “Mom, where’s the toothpaste?” So I stop my work mid-sentence and jog down the hall to hand them the tube of toothpaste that was right there in the top drawer the whole time. - Sunday, October 5, 2008
The New York Times : McCain’s suspension bridge to nowhere
FRANK RICH
What we learned last month is that the man who always puts his “country first” will take the country down with him if that’s what it takes to get to the White House. - Sunday, October 5, 2008
ALL THUMBS
Ernest Hemingway
Appearing each Saturday, “All Thumbs” is The Benton County Daily Record’s take on the people, events and issues deserving a “thumbs up” for a noteworthy accomplishment or good deed or a “thumbs down” for magnificent failure or just general stupidity. Thumbs up to Bella Vista for recently being ranked one of America’s Top 10 Best Healthy Places to Retire by U.S. News & World Report. - Saturday, October 4, 2008
An amicus brief for Neville
PAT BUCHANAN
On Sept. 30, 1938, 70 years ago, Neville Chamberlain visited Adolf Hitler’s apartment in Munich, got his signature on a three-sentence declaration and flew home to Heston Aerodrome. - Saturday, October 4, 2008
LETTERS
Remembering the bad old days There are not many of us left who remember the Great Depression of the 1930s. My parents were sharecroppers on a dry-bean farm. Thirtyfive miles east of Colorado Springs, they gave one third of the beans they raised for rent. They were hard times. My parents worked hard to feed us, but if someone needed a home, they took them in. - Saturday, October 4, 2008