Letters To The Editor

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

So-called peace efforts not working

The Nov. 1 letter regarding the Clinton foreign policy needs some updating.

True, Iraq’s troops are not in Kuwait. However, Clinton’s questionable Indonesian connection has resulted in Iran’s recent acquisition of five new French helicopters, having been outfitted with the best, most lethal armaments possible. Hardly a peaceful addition to the always volatile Middle East.

Nor is it good news to have any nuclear capacity in the unstable Russian state.

North Korea is well on the way to possessing nuclear weapons since Clinton agreed to furnish them with a nuclear plant. Who believes they will use it only for power production when they can make weapons?

War isn’t waging is Bosnia now only because our military are sitting there on guard. They were supposed to be out in December, now it will be another year or two. Why? We have no national interest there. Their feud is centuries old. We’ve spent billions there. For what? We could use that money at home.

A dictator still rules in Haiti. Again the American military is being used for guard duty. Haiti is a mess - economically, politically, any way you look at it. So far we’ve spent at least $3 billion there, with nothing to show for it.

Perhaps there’s a framework for peace in the Middle East but it’s fragile. Arafat has said, “Peace for us means the destruction of Israel.” Arafat’s peace policy is only a part of an overall Palestinian design to eventually destroy Israel.

Churchill had a name for such so-called peace efforts: the “inexhaustible gullibility” of Western pacifists. E.H. Springer Spokane

Order first step to banning tobacco

A few weeks ago our so-called president signed an executive order that gives the Food and Drug Administration full authority to declare tobacco an addictive product. This was done in a very secretive way.

This is only the first step. The next step will be to ban tobacco products completely.

I realize that many people agree with the government when it concerns actions like this. However, there are many who don’t agree.

You may remember that our government wanted to take all tobacco products out of military commissaries. Their excuse was they were concerned about our health. Not so. What they wanted was the tax dollars on tobacco products. Now they have started charging commissary shoppers more by using the same price that our BXs charge, which means more tax dollars for the government. Cigarettes in commissaries will now cost the shoppers approximately $3 more per carton - another way to gouge the military.

Sen. Slade Gorton knew about the above and did nothing to help the military people.

All military people out there, wake up and start raising holy hell about issues of this sort. Owen Drennan Ephrata, Wash.

Medicare threatened by politicians

During the recent congressional debates we heard charges of demagoguery and lying. Are they really cutting Medicare or not, and when is a cut not a cut?

A working person told his/her salary would be raised 6 percent next year would know there would be more money to spend. But if the inflation rate was to be 10 percent, it would be clear to most that all that new money would buy less.

Why then is it so difficult to understand that if Medicare is increased 48 percent over seven years and medical costs are predicted to rise over 100 percent, that Medicare beneficiaries are worse off? Medical costs have soared over 10 percent each of the past 10 years, and are expected to double over the next five years. Raising the per-person expenditure from $4,800 to $7,200 will not cover inflation.

The debate should focus on the medical inflation rate and its containment. We need to ask if the HMOs will engage in competitive pricing, or will they merge into bigger corporate units and fix prices at higher levels.

Those who argue competitive pricing will prevail are the true believers. Evidence shows large corporate groups are moving out of HMOs and are negotiating directly with health providers. The rest of us are vulnerable.

The greatest threat to Medicare seems to be from politicians who claim to support the program because they have a loving mother, but wish to appropriate funds at half the inflation rate. This is what Newt Gingrich means by “let it whither on the vine.” Reed Hansen Pullman

IMMIGRATION

Laws apply to new immigrants

I’m puzzled by Roger Slaters’ comments regarding the new immigration bill (Letters, Oct. 24). If he has read the bill the president signed and is knowledgeable on the process to implement the new law, he knows that the bill is still in committee to determine how the new law will be enforced.

The comment regarding the “country’s very strict and demanding green card system that welcomes certain entrepreneurial overseas nationals who have special or unique skills and/or money” is grossly exaggerated. Entrepreneurials are a small percentage of the overall visas allocated each year. While I agree that there is a lot of paperwork involved in immigrating to the United States, our country has many of the most generous provisions of law for people to immigrate. There always will be specific requirements for all aliens. The new law is to prevent new immigrants from promptly getting on our welfare system. There’s a provision in the immigration law that requires a family member to guarantee the U.S. government that their newly immigrated family member won’t go on public assistance for at least five years. In many cases, new immigrants go directly to file for welfare and they’re hand in hand with the family member who guaranteed INS that their relative wouldn’t go on public assistance. Isn’t there something wrong with that picture?

Since Slater has been here for 17 years, I hardly see how the new law will affect his daughter’s medical coverage. The changes apply to new immigrants.

How do I know? I’ve been an immigration officer for 14 years. S.A. Brumley Spokane

IN THE PAPER

What does ‘landslide’ mean?

Your breathless headline announcing a Clinton “landslide” seems to suggest a new definition of the word.

I don’t think 49 percent is a landslide.

If 49 percent is a landslide, what word did your headline use to announce the roughly 60/40 crushing that Walter Mondale sustained at the hands of Ronald Reagan? G.L. Nelson Colbert

Lifestyle doesn’t change for cancer

After reading “Looking back on cancer” by Carol Kershner (Oct. 20) I was very angry. It never fails to amaze me that such articles concern people in a lifestyle unlike most people going through the same situation.

Have you ever considered doing an article on people from the real world? Written by someone who must somehow fit their chemotherapy or radiation treatment into their regular work schedule? Someone who goes to work every day feeling like they’ve been hit by a ton of bricks but must carry the bricks with them all day? These are the people I know who have gone through cancer treatment - not people like Kershner.

Having undergone treatment twice for breast cancer I can assure you that at no time was I able to lay in a bubble bath for an hour listening to soothing music, read book after book for a full week or even decide I wouldn’t do my volunteer work this week.

Some of us - the vast majority as a matter of fact - have jobs we have to go to, to help pay the bills and put food on the table. We are not allowed the luxury of pampering ourselves.

If you ever do another article such as this, please contact people whose lifestyle must go on as usual instead of people who can dramatically change theirs to make it easier for them to withstand treatment. Karen L. Kennedy Elk

IDAHO TOPICS

Low prices will hook skiers

In reference to the Nov. 1 article on Schweitzer Resort, a study suggests the only way resorts make money is to raise prices. I suggest the opposite is true.

In North Idaho, volume will keep resorts alive. Since the seasons are unpredictable, maybe affordable family passes should be considered. Other ski resorts build a strong financial base by offering very attractive incentives to locals. Several Tahoe ski hills lure students with low discounted lift tickets and lessons. Wouldn’t you think it most beneficial to “hook” potential customers, ensuring the future of skiing in North Idaho?

Both Vail and Aspen offered appealing ski passes to locals, then advertised enticing ski/room packages and 3- to 5-day passes to lure out-of-towners. Schweitzer may compete someday, but not until there are more entertainment choices, dining choices and local character.

Our ski resorts do not have celebrity clientele, close proximity to one another, airports or wealthy locals to support them. I hate to see the lift lines I’ve experienced elsewhere, but it’s better than losing our ski hill.

Keep the mountain affordable to locals and we’ll support local resorts. Wake up and learn from successes of offering discounted passes as did Silverwood and Waterworld - both are expanding. If fees are raised to ski locally, we may take our money to a posh resort or they may see us only once or twice a season. Give us a great deal and we’ll flock the hillside. Judy Minter Twin Lakes, Idaho