Letters for Jan. 22, 2022

Expensive and wrong

This Sunday’s morning news shows reported that Democrats think that they would rather Biden concentrate on economy and inflation rather than saving the RIGHT TO VOTE for all Americans? I sincerely hope that is not what I heard!

But it does explain where the government’s “money over people” attitude comes from. Screaming irony! (And why most people vote against their own interests … especially in Spokane.)

And here is a “money over people” problem for the masses who believe that way: 700,000-plus COVID cases a day and over-jammed hospitals. Who is going to pay for that? Two-thousand-plus deaths a day. Who is going to replace those workers to increase service and decrease those prices you want?

Criticism and hypocrisy come with consequences (expensive ones!).

Jennifer Bates

Spokane

Pence’s opinion on brand

I read Mike Pence’s opinion piece in the Jan. 15 Spokesman-Review (“Jan. 6 was power grab, but so is busting filibuster to nationalize elections”). He has returned to his forte of bending the truth. Maybe he wants to run for office. Surely he does not think Trump will forgive his treachery.

The only fraud going on is the claim of election fraud, so that laws can be passed to disenfranchise non-Republican voters. Generally one of the few places that there are consequences for lying are in court cases. The Republicans who brought 65 court cases alleging fraud were not able to bring any facts the courts viewed as true. They continue to lie and manipulate the system that has served voting since our founding.

People alive today largely did not live in the Jim Crow era when Black men were given the right to vote but were limited by repressive laws enacted largely in the white controlled legislatures to negate their influence on the outcome. Under the influence of the BIG LIE, white Republican legislators are now doing that same thing to minimize the power that minorities might have at the ballot box, whether you are Black, Hispanic, Muslim, gay, Asian or poor. They hope you don’t vote.

Trump’s new slogan is “Save America.” Guess whom he wants it saved for – his base. His base are the people who wanted to hang Mike Pence and continue to accept opinion and allegation as truth. Many of the Republican legislators, including our own Cathy McMorris Rodgers, have endorsed the BIG LIE.

Paul Piper

Spokane

What have we learned?

I’m responding to the Jan. 4 letter by nurse Cris Currie: In addition to the control of our health care dollar by the large entities, like Providence on this side and Franciscans on the West Side, the word PROTOCOL is the most expensive ever uttered. Given the need for examination of any condition, protocol will always demand the most expensive option available. Imaging is far less expensive . Imaging requires the patient have no need of a driver or hotel room or hours of staff time. Many seniors have no driver available, but can easily drive themselves to an imaging appointment. What ever happened to patients’ rights? If you go to the hospital while passing through town and are treated, where are you going to get the needed driver to be released to ?

Will the Legislature ever consider the need for patients’ rights to leave a facility on their own steam? Will the State Board of Pharmacy ever get their nose out of the providers’ way? Protocol demands a patient receive only minimal care with the least effective product used until they are in really serious need before given the actual proven pharmacy product. Great for the drug companies and the insurance folks – not so great for the person in need of the actual cure. The state that once understood the need for pain control, found it more politically correct to just make that side of medicine way too expensive for seniors in need.

Time for some political courage, and change.

Carlos Weber

Northport

A trip into reality

If one were to go outside on a clear night they would see what the ancient humans saw. Around 2,000 stars, a moon and two or three planets. They thought it ended there. It seemed reasonable to them that these stars and planets revolved around a stationary earth with the likelihood of some gods watching to see who did what.

So it was proclaimed for a very long period.

But some humans were of the curious and detective type and with the invention of better visual equipment, human knowledge began to change and what they saw long ago was not the actual story. It is fair to say that it was completely wrong.

Some became angry and felt unsettled about the change to more accurate data. But anger should not rule over knowledge. After all, humans are not dumb, and I would say that overall the more we learn the better. And yes, even if it displaces us from the center of this cosmos – that’s OK.

Gordon Sanders

Spokane

Define ‘cult’

In her Jan. 17 Faith and Values column, Tracy Simmons once again informs her readers that she was brought up in, but got out of a “cult.” Seems to me that it is high time for her to give us HER brief definition of a cult. I do NOT mean a dictionary definition, we want HERS.

Having, in fairly recent years, and for some 25 years conducted a live Christian radio broadcast in Spokane, I often was accused of being a “cultist” myself. In truth, however, this turned out to be a cop-out on the part of my irate (false) accuser; since they could not prove me wrong from Holy Scripture they simply labeled me “a cultist” and speedily hung up. In the caller’s definition therefore, since I did not believe or accept his or her beliefs, the simple “easy out” was to call me a cultist and hang up!

In reading and analyzing many of Simmons’ columns, I rather suspect that she just MIGHT label Jesus Christ himself “a cultist,” and most certainly would she call St. Paul “a cultist” on the basis of some of his New Testament writings.

So, once again Ms. Simmons, – inform us of some of the aberrant unscriptural teachings which caused you to flee the “cult” in which you were brought up.

Ken Campbell

Deer Park