Letters for March 8, 2022
Most lack a broader perspective
I think we need some perspective here. While reading about the convoy going to D.C. in the March 2 paper (“Protesters set to cross country”), I was also listening to a radio story about the invasion in Ukraine.
Those in the convoy are protesting mask mandates, vaccine requirements and government overreach. It’s incongruous to argue against a COVID-19 vaccine when there are other vaccine requirements to enroll in school or work in health care. Wearing a mask is a small price to pay for stemming transmission of a sometimes deadly and always costly disease.
Meanwhile Ukrainians are leaving their homes with what they can carry, finding shelter in freezing subway stations, making Molotov cocktails and taking up arms to fight a Russian military invasion.
The juxtaposition here is astounding. We all need to get some perspective.
Ellen Sherriffs Hall
Spokane
Biden and Ukraine
Putin may be half crazy but he’s not stupid. He knows that the U.S. and the allies of the West will back down. We already have. Using “sanctions” to wage war against a country shooting bullets, missiles and artillery is like throwing rocks at battleships.
Putin doesn’t care about how many die: be they Russian soldiers or Ukraine civilians; men, women, or children, it doesn’t matter to him.
The West and its Allies are afraid. Afraid to fight with the strength the West can bear, because all Putin had to do was imply that Russian nuclear weapons will be “in an alert status” and the West broke out in a cold sweat and started shaking in their boots.
Those boots should be on the ground, in Ukraine, defending a nation of good people against an unconscionable act of mass murder against innocent people. We have the capability to win: to defeat another madman in the world. Our drones alone could inflict serious damage on the Russians and that doesn’t even take into consideration our Air Force, Army, Navy or Marines. But we are afraid to use them and Biden already told the Russians we wouldn’t fight on the ground in Ukraine.
Thank you President Biden, for keeping Mr. Putin well informed.
So Russia will get what they want. Thousands of innocents will die and Ukraine will be shattered … while those who could stop the insanity stand around shaking their fists and yelling at the big bully. Fear wins.
David T. Bray
Spokane
CMR shouldn’t bash VA hospitals
Our family up here has known Cathy McMorris Rodgers for almost 30 years and as a parent, teacher, and counselor, I would give her an A-plus for how she advocated for our daughter, who has classic autism, and others in our area with developmental disabilities. Her efforts have helped many people and their families across the state of Washington.
What I don’t like, as a U.S. Navy veteran (1972-79) is Cathy’s continual bashing of the VA hospital in Spokane and down in Walla Walla. She is quoted as saying that veterans in “her district” just aren’t getting what we are entitled to. As far as I know, she has only had contact with 50 veterans in our area, over the past year. The country club crowd that she seems to like the most, appears to be preventing her from having more contact with those who honorably served this country. She needs to get out more. The VA hospital in Spokane has done an excellent job, for myself and my family, when it comes to the Community Care Program. We are not whiners or complainers, we didn’t serve our country honorably and then whine about it. Lim limt.
James Gordon Perkins
Colville
Charities
Do you know much about the charity you’re donating to to help the Ukrainians?
A little research would help you make a wise choice. I noticed several times in The Spokesman-Review that people have made donations to the Red Cross. Do you know if your donation to a charity goes into a big pot? It might not go to where you intended, but to some other crisis or administration costs. Do you know what percentage goes directly to the cause? How much goes to administration and other day-to-day costs of the charity? You might be surprised.
Before you write a check find out the answers to these questions.
Ann Carlin
Spokane