Letters: Jan. 5, 2020

Consider sins of Japanese as well

Interesting points of view from the Rivers Edge students in the Tri-City Herald Opinion Page of Dec. 8. Nowhere did anyone mention the Pearl Harbor sneak attack and American lives lost nor the atrocities committed by the Japanese all over Southeast Asia, nor the American POW’s tortured during confinement, nor the “Bataan Death March, nor the thousands of lives lost in the Pacific Theater, nor the estimated one million on both sides if the U.S. had invaded Japan. Japan was going to fight to the death. The atomic bombs saved untold numbers of people on either side. Just saying.

I’m a proud Bomber Class of ’66, Vietnam Combat Vet, USMC. It really is more than a symbol of innocent people that perished.

We need divorce from West Side

In response to Barry Bush’s opinion piece Dec 15, yes there needs to be these exemptions, but more importantly, there needs to be a way to divorce ourselves in Eastern Washington from the leftists in Puget Sound. I-1639 is simply the result of simple-minded, fearful urbanites, who think their food comes from Safeway and their electricity comes out of a wall socket. Only three or four counties voted for this Inslee/sideshow Bob dream, so therefore, it should only be enforced in those counties. Leave the decent folks in Eastern and Southwest Washington alone. Won’t even get started on the dams.

Loyalty perverts sense of ethics

Representative Newhouse - Loyalty: It engenders a thought flowpath that bypasses and obviates rationality. The salient objective of the concept of loyalty is to eviscerate the assessing of right from wrong from the loyalist. It’s a suspension of one’s own judgment in favor of someone else’s. “No matter what, I’m on your side,” means you’re ceding your intellectual autonomy to another individual.

Being loyal to the establishments from whence one’s education was fostered can be enjoyable, and harmless. It still leaves you with your autonomy intact. Blind loyalty does not, which is why blind loyalty is not a virtue.

Loyalty wears myriad different cloaks, and many fit poorly. Fealty to evil regimes or self-serving autocrats is pejorative, negative action.

Political loyalty is most atrocious. Not a single House Republican voted to Impeach. Do they all believe that the Trump/Guliani/Sondland imbroglio is fine, fair, right and apropos? How does ethics relate to blind loyalty? The relationship is that they are antithetical to one another.

Republican apparatchiks, and you, are loyal to Trump’s perverted ideology. I can say the same regarding loyalty to perverted ideologies about Charles Manson, David Duke and George Lincoln Rockwell. Blind loyalty is not a virtue sir.

Loss of Obama legacy irks Dems

Yeah, the Liberal Democrats hate Trump because he wasn’t supposed to win in 2016, but for the entrenched Democrat members of Congress, it goes deeper than that. They are mad because of legislation that he has gotten passed that resulted in a booming economy along with many other things that have helped the average citizen and this is happening among/across all racial groups even if the socialists won’t admit it.

But, let’s pause just for a moment and think about all this. To me, the largest and most affirmative things Trump has accomplished is to roll back or simply cancel many/most of Obama’s edicts, he has systematically destroyed a large part of Obama’s supposed legacy. And that, my friends, is the thing the Liberals hate him for the most.

Last, don’t forget his administration has also appointed many judges who lean heavy on the Constitution for their rulings as opposed to the liberal judges who are biased toward their Liberal indoctrination, letting feelings, ethnicity, etc., edge into the rulings they make. He is undoing the Obama legacy in every area where Obama tried to make us a Globalist/Socialist society.

“Nuff said.

Owners, not dogs, are the problem

In response to (The) dog bite statistics letter of Dec. 18

I’ve been bitten by little ankle-biter dogs (Chihuahuas, Yorkies, terriers) but never a large dog. My daughter was bitten by a German shepherd when it lunged over a short fence as she walked home from school. My dog was attacked by a Chow as we walked past its house, and it was off lead in its front yard. That’s my point, off lead. All dog breeds have the potential to be vicious, it’s not the breed, it’s the irresponsibility or nonchalant attitude of the owner that is the problem. Don’t be a racist! (Or should I say “breedist?”)

Don’t be stumped by Jeopardy quiz

The Jeopardy article about the ‘toughness’ of the question regarding The Manhattan Project and Hanford’s role in it was interesting. This project was born of secrecy and apparently its legacy extends to this day! Many still know little of the story and the Tri-Cities’ relationship to it.

Don’t be one who is stumped! Book a tour to the B Reactor or visit the Hanford Reach Interpretive Center here in town and the “veil of secrets” will be lifted for you! You’ll be able to answer the questions that those on Jeopardy can’t!

President aided Russia’s goals

The president of the United States withheld vital military assistance aid to Ukraine in the furtherance of his own personal political interests.

Ukraine is the largest country entirely in Europe. It is about the same size as Texas. It gained its independence from Russia in 1991, and is an ally of the United States. Vladimir Putin would like to change that.

A quick scan of the CIA’s World Fact book on Ukraine will provide an understanding of how tenuous this country’s hold is on its independence from Russia. Russia has already invaded and now occupies the Crimea and is fighting a proxy war against Ukraine in that country’s eastern provinces.

Donald Trump’s actions aid Vladimir Putin’s long-term goal of rebuilding the reach and power of the Russian Empire and by extension, degrade the national security of America and its NATO allies. No one who claims to represent the interests of the American people can think this is anything but an impeachable offense.

Dam survey was waste of money

It is no surprise that the only thing that (Gov.) Inslee’s dam removal survey did was waste $750,000 of our money. And come to find out, while all of the hand-wringing about the orcas has been going on, the hatcheries on the west side actually turned out some 30,000 less Chinook salmon in 2018 than in previous years. So, Inslee and his extremist cronies would rather talk about making moves that would destroy a huge amount of the southeastern Washington economy than do the obvious and provide more food for the orcas.

That fact just invalidates their part in the save the whales discussion! I think that they have some fantasy that the Snake and Columbia rivers should be returned to the time of Lewis and Clark. Unbelievable that they are so out of touch with what is best for the Northwest.

This story was originally published January 5, 2020 at 12:01 AM with the headline "Letters: Jan. 5, 2020."