Less wars would produce less homeless vets

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported Saturday there are 827 homeless veterans in Arkansas – that we know of. The VA says there may be 131,000 nationwide. The story cited Estella Morris, director of the Veterans Affairs Drop-in Treatment Center in Little Rock, as saying that 90 percent of the veterans involved in its program have substance-abuse problems.

We should be ashamed that so many veterans live on the street and should make it a national priority to prevent that from happening.  At the same time, it’s difficult to help someone who has combat-related mental health issues along with drug and alcohol addictions.

We should do all we can to help our veterans. But the best way to reduce the number of homeless veterans is to produce less veterans. Let’s fight wars only when they are unavoidable for a change.

A Natural State of Opportunity?

Rep. David Sanders (R-Little Rock) has introduced a bill to return the state’s marketing slogan to “Land of Opportunity” from its current one, “The Natural State.”

I think they’re both lame. A marketing slogan should differentiate your state. Every state would want to claim to be the “Land of Opportunity.” And “The Natural State”? It’s a punchline. Gov. Huckabee used to say that we call ourselves The Natural State, “and not because we all run around in the natural state.” Always got a laugh.

I suggested “Where the South Meets the West” to Sanders.

Not interested.

This is why people like Sanders stop being columnists and actually run for office.

Dollars for highways will need to wait

Members of the Blue Ribbon Committee on Highway Funding met this week to put the finishing touches on their recommendations to raise money for highway construction and repair. The recommendations include a lot of proposed tax increases – including a one-half-cent general sales tax to fund a 10-year bond program; annually indexing existing gas and diesel taxes to the construction cost index, meaning they would go up as construction costs go; and a phased-in tax on the wholesale cost of motor fuels.

But there’s no appetite for raising taxes this year.  The Beebe administration has submitted a tight budget and is trying to CUT taxes – specifically the grocery tax. A lot of the 44 Republicans elected in November had signed a “no new tax” pledge.

The committee did good work, and something will have to be done about Arkansas’ highways. The Highway Department has identified $19 billion in highway needs but only $4 billion in funding.

But don’t look for a lot of orange barrels any time soon.