Letters: Jan. 27, 2019

There’s more to it than one body

The Herald published a picture of the local women’s march showing a woman holding a sign with the words, “My body My choice.” I add my comments.

A woman in Benton City commented on words similar to that a few years ago. She said, no it is not your body, not unless your body has 4 arms and 4 legs. After pregnancy, there is more than one body involved. That second body may be in the primary stages of development or it may be in the later stages. However, it is another body or more correctly another human.

The choice you have is to not engage in the act that may bring about pregnancy. After pregnancy you should carry that human life to full term and birth. I know, that baby is a lot of inconvenience, isn’t it?

The Supreme Court gave women the right to terminate life. The Supreme ruler did not give them that right.

Life is precious! If you have had a daughter and a wife or others dear to you pass away as I have, you gain a greater realization of the preciousness of life.

How to get out of debacle over wall

Wall funding deadlocks the entire country, as leaders of both parties dig in their heels and play the blame game.

Democrats in the past have supported funding a wall and their reluctance now seems cynical and hypocritical. Republicans have generally supported our president on the wall, but winning the funding is more important to him than the construction itself.

Funding already set aside for a wall has not been spent, and no serious plan for the wall exists, not to mention design, materials of construction, and how to handle difficult terrain. Allocating the full $5.7 billion is fiscally irresponsible and subject to waste and overruns. Total funding should be approved in principle, portioned out $1 billion at a time. If and when the first $1 billion is spent, the results can be evaluated by an independent commission. If acceptable, another $1 billion will be allocated.

This project needs accountability, but also a promise by Democrats that they will not withhold funds if the project is on track and within budget. In return, DACA is supported well into the future.

Although I do not personally favor a wall, perhaps this compromise could get our government back on track.

Back school bond for Kennewick

Kennewick is alive - growing, thriving and a great place to live. One of our most important assets is our excellent public education system, the Kennewick School District. Soon you will have the opportunity to take the district to a new level of modern, up-to-date facilities to continue academic excellence and keep up with the rapid growth of our community.

We need your yes vote by Feb. 12 to ensure the passage of this very important school bond. This bond will allow us to expand our district facilities, including building a new Kennewick High School as well as improvements and expansions throughout the district.

Let’s give our kids the facilities they need to succeed. Please join me in making a great community even better – vote yes for Kennewick schools.

Reader lists how nature adds heat

The last major ice age ended about 11,500 years ago, raising the ocean sea levels almost 400 feet; The last Little Ice Age (1300-1870); The cold water trapped at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean; The winds coming off the coast of western Africa (hurricane seasons); Warming and cooling of the Atlantic Ocean perpetual conveyor belt; El Niño and La Niña (Pacific Ocean); Northern hemisphere westerly air currents (jet stream); Polar vortex; 11-year periodic sunspot cycle; Volcanoes (volcanic winters); Meteor strikes; Green Sahara and Gobero.

These are just a few off the top of my head that Mother Nature contributes to global warming (or climate change) debate. Man does contribute some, but not what politicians want us to believe. Climate change is just a way of transferring wealth from rich countries to poorer ones. Thus, the poorer nations are jumping on the bandwagon. With more wealth, the crooks can control their populations. My hat is off to the Yellow Vests in France, Belgium, England, and I heard stirrings in Canada. I can’t imagine living what is the equivalent of $7.00/gallon gas in the United States.

Thus is my primer on nationalism

We are living in a time where time-honored concepts, ideas and traditions are either called into question, ridiculed, or held in contempt. One concept that is receiving huge attention is nationalism. Negatively, nationalism is equated with prejudice, bigotry, racism, xenophobia, chauvinism and so forth.

Traditionally, nationalism has been associated with patriotism, national sovereignty, national pride, independence and belief that one’s country is the best in the world. Another concept in the U.S. connected to nationalism is American exceptionalism – the belief that America is exceptional above other nations. Such beliefs, loyalties and feelings are now discredited as undesired relics of a bygone era to succumb to the new world order.

The new world order is centered on the concept of globalism: the belief that each nation is merely a part of a larger identity in the world community. Another concept associated with this belief is moral equivalency: that no nation has moral superiority over other nations.

President Trump tapped into the traditional veins of nationalism in 2016 and won the election. He has officially labeled himself a nationalist to the uproar of progressives and some conservatives.

It is time to reaffirm the place of nationalism in our national consciousness.

Editorial cartoon was offensive

I saw a McClatchy editorial cartoon of the week for Jan. 14 on your website. For those who don’t know, the Tri-City Herald is a McClatchy newspaper. The cartoon purports to show Republicans as being torn by a choice between Martin Luther King and the KKK. I can imagine a similar cartoon showing Democrats torn by a choice between a border wall and the Sinaloa cartel. Both of these examples are offensive hate speech.

What is wrong with journalists and newspapers these days? Does this kind of hate speech meaningly inform the public? Or does it divide us as a people and threaten our democracy? When was the last time that Congress passed a bipartisan measure that actually resolved a significant public issue?

Shame on you for putting something like that offensive cartoon on your website.

House GOP also ignored Senate bill

I find it ironic that Marc Thiessen, a well-known Trump supporter, should cite the 2013 law passed by the Senate as a reason for Democrats to cave to President Trump’s demand for additional border wall funding.

While it is true that Democrats supported that bill and are now hypocritical for opposing a wall on moral grounds, the bill failed because the Republican-controlled House of Representatives did absolutely nothing with it.

There may have been elements in the bill that needed to be changed, but the Republicans in the House chose to do absolutely nothing on immigration issues since the passage of the bill. I believe this to be a gross dereliction of their responsibilities and a reason that we find ourselves in the mess that we are in now.

While I can support adding to the 650 miles of barriers that already exist on the southern border to provide an additional deterrent to illegal immigration, I find President Trump’s method of holding Government operations hostage to be extremely distasteful. Both sides are just playing politics with this issue, and government workers and the public that they serve are caught in the middle.

Transit response

After four months, Ben Franklin Transit finally responded to our major independent study of its performance.

BFT did not dispute our findings, but argued that Washington Policy Center’s analysis of the agency’s performance is flawed because we have an office in Seattle.

Left unmentioned is that WPC has an office in the Tri-Cities, employees in the Tri-Cities, and a governing board comprised of more than a dozen Tri-City business leaders. Citing a “Seattle” influence in a message urging a tax cut was an unusually imaginative approach. That said, our location is irrelevant and does not change the fact of BFT’s declining ridership trend.

BFT wrongly stated we recommend they “contract all services to privately-owned taxi companies.” We actually recommend BFT contract-out demand response services and underutilized bus services to gain cost savings for taxpayers.

Lastly, BFT officials attribute part of their declining ridership to reductions in transfers but fail to demonstrate whether this is meaningful. WPC has requested agency analysis of changes in linked trips over time.

To better serve the public, Ben Franklin Transit officials should consider right-sizing services to current ridership, cutting the sales tax, and becoming a leaner agency.