Letters for April 11, 2023
The other side of the Rubicon
Welcome to the People’s Republic of America, where the former speaker of the House is fine with ensuring you your day in court to “prove your innocence.”
William Baxley
Spokane
Government needs an HR department
I hope I’m not the only person who doesn’t fathom how certain high-ranking politicians continuously get away with nonfiltered words and phrases chosen to hurt or demean others. How do the elected officials get away with this when ordinary citizens are herded into HR departments and chastised for their evil words and/or actions? Where is the Washington, D.C., human resources department when you need them?
Joe Bruno
Spokane
Second Amendment isn’t written in stone
We all know that our gun violence is out of control. Our love affair with guns and our unwillingness to change anything in the face of the continuing slaughter of innocent people is horrifying to the rest of the world.
One would think that we could at least agree on a ban of assault weapons (or as Sen. Mike Padden referred to them in his recent newsletter, “modern sporting rifles”). Everyone knows that these weapons are designed to kill as quickly and thoroughly as possible. They have no place in any nonwar setting. Yet our Republican Congress-people continue to pander to their NRA donors and in fact, are generally trying to loosen gun control laws.
Frankly, for me, guns are evil. Nothing good comes from them. I understand that criminals are armed. And that the U.S. gun industry is massive and relies on being able to arm every American with one to two weapons on average and ammo to feed them. But there are countries that have walked back from this idiocy, and we would do well to see how they managed it. Because our gun violence is not sustainable. It’s slowly killing all of us as a nation. And I believe we all understand that to be true. The Second Amendment is just an amendment. It’s not actually written in stone.
Yes, mental health is an issue as well, but you know what? Most mentally ill people don’t start out that way, so that’s never going to provide a solution.
Jeffrey Ellingson
Liberty Lake
WA Cares Act will provide help
When my mother was hit with dementia, I had to help her, including cooking her meals and cleaning her apartment. I had to retire at age 62 instead of 65. The vast majority of us will need help at some point with daily tasks like dressing, bathing and cooking.
While private long-term care insurance is a choice for those who can afford it, 90% do not have it. I am fortunate enough that I started a long-term care policy about 40 years ago. Even if you can barely afford it, those with a pre-existing condition would likely not qualify.
A new Washington state benefit called WA Cares will soon be available to all Washington workers, allowing us to stay in our own homes with paid home care if we experience challenges due to illnesses or injuries.
By 2026, working Washingtonians, even those near retirement and those working less than 40 hours a week, can access these benefits. WA Cares will provide $36,500 (which grows with inflation) to help pay for in -home assistance. When you retire or take time off work, you don’t pay in, but your coverage continues.
WA Cares makes it possible to stay in our own home and have a family member or loved one provide care. It will also allow us to hire outside help. If WA Cares had been available, I wouldn’t have had to retire at 62 and I would be receiving more Social Security each month now.
Kathy Fleming
Spokane
No one is above the law
Cathy McMorris Rodgers suggests that the Trump indictment for money paid to a porn star is “politically motivated.” How does she know this? Was she on the grand jury to which the evidence of this crime was presented? No. Does she know what evidence was presented to the grand jury? No. McMorris Rodgers doesn’t care about evidence. She takes the simple approach of ignoring whatever evidence there might be and concluding that’s it’s all political. Which means then that every time a prosecutor of one political party alleges that a crime has been committed by a person of another political party, it must be “politically motivated.”
The fact it’s Trump we are taking about is immaterial. No one is above the law.
Scott Simpson
Spirit Lake
Innocent before proven guilty?
After Donald Trump was indicted by a New York grand jury, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi put out a tweet that stated that “no one is above the law.” Really? Except perhaps Bill or Hillary Clinton, Hunter or Joe Biden, the thousands who rioted, looted and burned through the summer of 2020 or the tens of millions of illegal immigrants channeled into this country over the last 40 years by the Democratic Party and its allies to replace the party’s increasingly unreliable white working class base.
She also stated that Trump has the right to “prove innocence.” One of the legacies handed down to us by dead, European, mostly heterosexual males is a legal system in which the accused does not have to prove innocence, the state must prove guilt. It is in totalitarian systems where loyalty to the state is mandatory that citizens have to prove their innocence.
Bill Manuel
Spokane
Debt ceiling or budget?
In what I thought might be an April Fool’s Day joke, E.J. Antoni of the Heritage Foundation (April 1) writes, “The solution is not to raise the debt ceiling but enforce it. Government must stop overspending and learn to live within its means.” Although somewhat confused about the differing processes, he is also 100% correct.
The debt ceiling debate is about existing obligations which were voted upon and passed by Republicans, Democrats and Independents in the House and Senate. Raising the debt ceiling is necessary to pay for financial obligations already agreed to by the members of Congress, this is enforcing it.
If the government is to stop “overspending,” then that by definition must be part of current and future budget negotiations, not by holding raising the debt ceiling hostage.
Last month President Biden proposed a budget (largely supported by Democrats in Congress) which would reduce the deficit by $3 trillion over 10 years. In contrast, the Republicans did not release their budget proposal before leaving for the two -week Easter recess.
I call upon our Republican representatives to put their federal budget proposal on the table, detailing specific cuts to be made so that we taxpayers can compare and contrast the proposals.
Jennifer Montgomery
Spokane
Energy policy
Kudos to Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers for following through on her promise to keep us free from the pain that comes with having the lowest gas prices in the free world and protecting us from becoming “dangerously reliant on supply chains controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.” While Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has declared McMorris Rodgers’ House bill green-lighting new oil production in the U.S. “dead on arrival,” we salute her effort to gut the Biden administration’s climate budget and keep our shores safe from the Red Menace, which according to government statistics, imports 300 times more petroleum products from the U.S. than it exports.
Tom Benemann
Spokane
Gonzaga didn’t make the grade, again
My opinion of course, I have to wonder: Season after season, Coach Mark Few has been able to lead his many talented players to “almost” winning the top prize, yet falls short. Coach Few has the ability to successfully guide his players over the very rough and challenging terrain, yet once they arrive at the last remaining challenge … crossing the river, he falls short. Why is that?
My question: Is it the players or the coach?
Mark Roberts
Spokane
Rally honoring Ensign Monaghan ignored
A group of concerned citizens, mostly veterans, held a rally on April 1 to remember the honorable, heroic deeds leading to the death of Ensign John R. Monaghan. He died in 1899 while fighting Samoans rebels trying to overthrow the rightful king. The rally occurred at his memorial statue in downtown Spokane, which is right across the street from The Spokesman-Review offices. Our hometown paper received a news release about this event, but to our disappointment, a reporter was not sent to cover this story. In fact, the TV stations ignored this event, too.
Several of the veterans that made the effort to attend on a cold and blustery day wondered why the paper could find the time to cover the earlier “take down the statue” demonstrations by activists, but not one opposing such a move.
By skipping this event, our local media were unable to share the despair expressed over the possibility that the memory of a good person would be erased from the public life of Spokane. All due to a false narrative being touted by a radical group of cancel culture activists.
The media could have shared other important points with the public. Not the least of which is those of us that want the statue to remain are seeking an open, constructive dialogue to resolve valid issues that have been raised. A win-win result is possible but when our local news outlets fail to report both sides of the story, it makes that goal more difficult.
Ivan Urnovitz
President, Spokane Council Navy League of the U.S.
Spokane
Do something that matters
Another shooting prompts empty rants of “do something.” Do what? None of the recently proposed laws would have prevented any of a number of recent shootings. In almost every case, the shooter either did or would have passed a background check. Trigger locks? Seriously? An unconstitutional ban on the sale of semi-auto rifles, you say? With nearly half a billion firearms already in the hands of citizens, 30 million of them semi-automatic rifles, can anyone spend more than a few seconds thinking about the idea and then still believe banning future sales would matter? And remember the Fort Hood shooter killed 13 and wounded 33 more with two pistols.
So why don’t we do something that matters. Listen to the words of the Nashville shooter. According to the Nashville police chief, the shooter’s written notes referenced her assessment of an alternate target where she determined it to have “too much security.” Why don’t Democrats pursue the idea of security? Sadly Democrats in Washington are more interested in energizing their base and keeping a political issue alive than they are in stopping a single mentally ill shooter.
By all means, we should “do something” but make that “something” make a difference. Perhaps Democrats could consider redirecting funds they recently allocated to hire 87,000 IRS agents to harass you and hire 87,000 armed school resource officers or train volunteer teachers to protect children, something even mass shooters admit would make a difference.
David Barnes
Spokane Valley