Letters

No way

To whomever thought that police sign on JJ Building Supply was a good idea.....don’t quit your day job. What awful public relations for such a “homey” town.

How about some community policing, getting out there and interacting with the community on a positive level. How about common sense traffic control during WSU games, not that awful, intimidating sign.

It gives a threatening connotation just by the way the officers are portraying themselves.

“Stop For Other Reasons.” No way. Who would? That doesn’t help out this town that has so much potential.

Jackie Bidle,

Colfax

Broken

What’s best for the folks in Eastern Washington? I truly believe the Democrats running for national office offer the best solution for the largest number of people. While the economy is not growing as fast as we all would like it to, the trickle-down tax cuts to millionaires and deregulation of the Bush era put us in this hole – so why would we want to try that again?

Back in the other Washington, things are broken – and we the people need to fix them. How broken?

We have a presidential candidate who not only takes an ignorant swipe at almost half the population – calling them victims who think they are entitled to government benefits – but who concludes by saying, “So my job is not to worry about those people.” Funny, I thought a president was the president of all the people.

And while it’s true that about 47 percent of the population does not pay income taxes, a breakdown shows that many are low-income workers who do not earn enough to pay taxes, others are seniors who have retired on the social security that they paid into their entire working lives. Ironically, some of the 47 percent are also millionaires who have enough tax shelters and schemes to not have to pay taxes.

We also have a representative in Congress who claims she is one of us – a mom and from a long line of farmers/orchardists – but who now has a net worth in the millions and who seems to take her orders not from us, but from the top honchos of the Republican Party. She claims to care about the debt and jobs, but I have seen not one piece of legislation from her on these topics – and her voting record shows she is one of the most partisan members of Congress, a puppet to the Republican leadership – not our representative.

She is out of touch with a good chunk of Eastern Washington citizens. Other writers have claimed to have received personal messages from her, but all I ever get from my messages to her are form letters restating her misguided positions – as well as half-truths and lies about her Democratic colleagues.

Finally, she just agreed with the Republican leadership that Congress take a five -week vacation until after the election; not because their work is done – far from it as there are many bills waiting. With this vacation, experts are predicting that she and her colleagues in the House will work only 109 days this year, an average of a two -day work week. Put another way, most of us are lucky to get 1 or 2 weeks of vacation. And her salary? At $174,000, it’s about five times the average annual salary of folks in the counties in her district. She also receives a federal pension (who among us have an employer pension plan anymore) and federal healthcare.

These candidates have the wrong ideas, attitudes, and agendas. Don’t believe? Check the facts. Opinions held without knowledge or regard to facts is simply ignorance.

We need a balanced and bipartisan approach to solving our problems – increasing jobs, reducing the debt, protecting and honoring our veterans, investing in infrastructure, and protecting our way of life. That’s why I am voting to re-elect President Barack Obama and supporting Rich Cowan for Congress.

Randall Hansen,

Kettle Falls

Tidal wave

So Mitt Romney and his elite buddies are worried that 47 percent of us don’t pay any federal income tax, and want to help us become less dependent. He could start by detailing just how he would start getting the rich off welfare. Over 18,783 folks and families with incomes of more than $200,000 dollars paid not a single penny in income tax in 2008 according to IRS data , and that number was up 1,782 percent from 1995. (Bartlett, D.L. and Steele, J.B. The betrayal of the American Dream, Public Affairs press, 2012, p. 134).

The authors, winners of two Pulitzer Prizes, detail how the rich have bought and continue to lobby for policy changes in taxation, outsourcing, deregulation and lax enforcement to the detriment of the middle class and the enrichment of the already wealthy. They also suggest what we the people must do to hold the line and turn this tidal wave. Instead of sending any more money to campaigns, I’d suggest voters buy this book and read it before it’s too late.

Steve Swoope,

Colfax