Opinion

On Monday, an epic fail of mapping technology turned what should have been a simple 23-mile trip into a 37-mile scenic route. It wasn’t useful information.

An issue currently in my community while living in Cheney that I see every day is how the COVID-19 pandemic has really affected the university and the community of Cheney. At first it just seemed like, Oh, everyone is just gone for the summer and we all will be back in the fall, but that is not the case.

“We are all victims of our own experience.” A friend of mine was fond of saying that. And it is true. Our experience colors how we see and experience things. If I grew up in a house where we saw everything through “rose colored glasses” and everything was wonderful, that is how I would see the world. But if I grew up in a house where everything was a calamity, that is also how I would see the world and I would be a pessimist.

A response to Lucy Holt’s letter ("Socialism rebuttal," Dec. 9) is needed.

Vaccines are an important tool in the arsenal to combat a communicable disease such as COVID-19. There are more than 137 vaccines around the world in different stages of clinical and preclinical trials being tested. Three vaccines have captured most of the headlines because of their successful trials within the U.S.’s Emergency Use Authorizations (EUA) process. Pfizer/BioNTech – which received EUA approval and is already being administered to health care professionals (including in Spokane) – and Moderna, a Massachusetts company that partnered with the National Institutes of Health to develop the mRNA-1273 vaccine – which we expect to receive EUA approval on Thursday.

As a former resident of Spokane I was especially sorry and embarrassed to see Member of Congress McMorris Rodgers join other GOP representatives in support of the suit brought by Texas to invalidate the votes of more than 20 million voters in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia.

As the source of local news and informed journalism, your newspaper bears responsibility to inform your readers of significant events. The free press is protected by the U.S. Constitution. Our democracy was founded on the idea of informed voters.

People are angry at governors over COVID restrictions, feeling these actions simply hamper economic recovery and restrict freedoms. It’s worth asking if this anger is misplaced. Governors react to situations threatening the well-being of their states. An unwillingness on the part of citizens to self-regulate dictates that actions to protect the population are necessary.

There has been much discussion since the lead up to the 2016 presidential election about the need for a universal health care system, or Medicare for all, in the United States. The current situation with COVID-19 has caused numerous issues with the affordability of health care for the less fortunate in society.

It is customary this time of year for opinion columnists to review their performance and offer a mea culpa where appropriate. My list is long enough that I thought I’d get an early start.

But then, shame is not a quality she shies away from when it comes to counting votes.

The article regarding fire-bombing of Democratic HQ Downtown Spokane in this morning's paper ("Suspected arsonist at Democrats HQ was after 'elites,'," Dec. 11) isn't something that should be happening in America.

By Stanley C. Parks

I acclaim Allegra and Russell VanderWilde's doctor's compassionate constructive message ("Take care of each other," Dec. 6).