Letters for July 1, 2022
Abortion ruling leads to choice
On May 22, 1856, Charles Sumner was bludgeoned with a cane on the Senate floor by Southern Sen. Preston Brooks. Sumner was so severely beaten that he would not return to the Senate for two years. The act was celebrated in the South. Supporters of Brooks sent him hundreds of new canes to “beat him again.” Sumner’s crime? He spoke out against slavery.
We should not be surprised at the violent reaction from the left on abortion for the same reasons. It questions their morality and threatens their economy. Both slavery and abortion have the same premise. Before you can argue that it is a state’s right or a women’s right, the victim has to be dismissed as a human being.
Commenting on the caning of Sumner, Ralph Waldo Emerson commented, “I do not see how a barbarous community and a civilized community can constitute one state. I think we must get rid of slavery, or we must get rid of freedom.” That same choice faces us now.
Stephen Combs
Chattaroy
French wasted taxpayer dollars
Matt Hawkins, Republican State committeeman; Rob Chase, Republican candidate for the 4th District; and Bob McCaslin, a 2020 election denier and Republican candidate for Spokane County auditor, brought a national effort to destroy public trust in the electoral process to our own county courthouse last week thanks to Republican County Commissioner Al French. This campaign cynically challenges voter rolls and the processes for collecting and counting votes in 2020.
These guys don’t actually believe there was cheating in the 2020 elections. It’s a setup for voter and election worker intimidation this November. Post election will see wheelbarrows of our tax dollars plowed into bogus audits like Ninja Warrior’s $9 million fleecing of Maricopa County, and the state of Arizona. Why? To sooth the bruised egos of a few arrogant local politicians. They feel entitled to abuse the power we voters gave them in a previous election to convert well paid positions into lifetime entitlements.
French should immediately refund to Spokane County taxpayers the value of time he forced Spokane County Auditor Vicky Dalton to waste with a squad of 2020 election deniers who clearly are part of a national campaign to discredit our electoral system, paving the way for their cynical schemes to bypass the will of the majority.
Concerned citizens who want to see this campaign thwarted in Spokane County should volunteer to be official election observers with the Elections Division of the Spokane County Auditor’s Office as soon as possible. One training was Thursday and the next is scheduled July 12.
Jim Wavada
Spokane
Young people give us hope for America
In recent weeks, our hearts have been broken by news of young people shooting others, including small children.
What a sharp contrast with the blessing bestowed on the residents of South Hill Village by 50 young people from Highland Middle School on Flag Day, June 14. These young people expressed their love and concern for seniors by bringing gifts they had created in their school’s shop class under the direction of their teacher, Bryce Borland.
They brought flower boxes, potting soil and many beautiful flowers.
I had the pleasure of getting to know four young girls and was delighted to learn they loved their country very much. Those youth that weren’t involved in planting went inside the dining room and greeted the other seniors.
Interactions were so warm that tears were shed by young people and residents alike.
Despite recent gun violence by some misguided youth, these children gave us hope that America’s future may yet be bright.
Glenda Pittman
Spokane
Gun laws meant nothing
“Do something about guns.” Seems we’re hearing that a lot lately. Reminds me of, “Do something. Even if it does nothing, at least we did something.” But how do you talk to people who don’t care if their something really does nothing, or worse, are hypocrites not interested in enforcing their something?
Example: The assault gun ban of 1994, in force for 10 years, according to the Justice Department, did no appreciable change to violence using firearms. Gun control advocates want it again. They think, “My mind is made up. Don’t confuse me with facts.”
Example: In 1998, they got the federal background check. Lie and it’s a felony. Has anyone ever heard of a person being prosecuted for this crime? From 2008-2016, 556,496 denied, 256 considered for prosecution. But worse, when Hunter Biden admits in his book he was addicted to crack and lied on the form to “get the guns,” was there any outcry from gun controllers? No? Rather hypocritical.
Example: In Washington, there is a universal background check. During 2020 Seattle’s “block party,” the “Warlord of CHAZ” is filmed on YouTube saying, “Anybody know how to use an AR?” When someone answers, he gives the rifle to him, out of his trunk. Complete violation of the state background check law. Anything done? Nope.
Shawn Vestal, why are you so silent about this? You wanted this law but don’t care if its enforced? Answer, more laws. Typical, expected.
Steven Stuart
Spokane
We have failed
We have failed.
We have failed to take care of each other and our planet. We have polluted our air, waters, soils, culture and hearts.
We provide the means to obtain military-style weapons of destruction that are used to slaughter our peoples and our children.
The unbelievable horror that parents had to provide DNA so that their children could be identified is so highly indicative of this grotesque failure. The astonishment is this is not the first time.
We have put “faith” in a consumer economy that leaves many behind.
We have prided ourselves on wealth and the wealthy at the expense of others and our planet.
We have lost touch with the land, healing, and the duties that good stewardship of the whole requires.
We elect people of “pesticide-ridden playing fields” like golf courses that take us farther away from the land.
We have abused each and every gift that has been placed before us. Of course, there are the good among us, but it hardly is making a dent in the vitriol, hate and authoritarianism that is the “winning” formula of the “right.”
We must use our voices and our votes for the highest good and the time is now.
Elizabeth Cobbs
Spokane