Letters for Sept. 4, 2022

Hypocrisy on display

Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee recently thundered: “If you take out a loan, you pay it back. Period.”

Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R) had $183,504 in PPP (Payroll Protection Plan) loans forgiven.

Congressman Matt Gaetz (R) had $482,321 in PPP loans forgiven.

Congressman Mike Kelly (R) had $987,237 in PPP loans forgiven.

Congressman Kevin Hern (R) had over $1 million in PPP loans forgiven.

Congressman Vern Buchanan (R) had over $2.3 million in PPP loans forgiven

Congressman Markwayne Mullin (R) had over $1.4 million in PPP loans forgiven.

Former baseball pitcher Curt Schilling, who defaulted on a $75 million loan in 2012, griped: “This isn’t loan forgiveness, it’s a generation of lazy, unaccountable, uneducated children being covered by hard-working, debt-paying Americans.”

I love the smell of hypocrisy in the morning. It smells like … hypocrisy.

Patrick Conley

Colville

We’re paying for student debt

Was such a joy to read Greg Mason’s story (“Voices sound off on debt forgiveness”) in the Aug. 25 Spokesman-Review on the president’s gift of $10,000 to many of the 43 million student borrowers. I only wish it was the president’s gift, but it is not. It is a gift from you and me and all the other taxpayers who work hard and pony up each year. That $43 billion will be added to the $28 trillion (plus) national debt we already have.

I do not see how President Biden can use executive action to pay down anyone’s debt. He can wheedle, coax or beg Congress to do so and they can, but only after they debate and vote. Only Congress can approve payments of taxpayers’ money, at least that is what I thought I learned in high school. This is nothing more than a plan to garner a few more votes. In November, all you parents that made sure your children graduated debt-free and all you students that worked hard at school and during the summers to pay for your education and pay down your debt, please do not vote for politicians that simply can’t take enough of your hard-earned money.

John Miller

Spokane Valley

Debt relief a win for medical students

I’m one of Spokane’s home-grown medical students, and I’m also a healthy young guy who tried to schedule a checkup with my primary care doc while I’m back on a rotation. They were booked out 2½ months.

This is anecdotal, but it’s a well-known story. It is too hard to get primary, preventative health care in the U.S. Part of what drives this is the shortage of family docs, pediatricians and internists. My classmates and I will soon choose what specialty to train in. I’ll have the choice between high-paying specialties, and still well-paid but more modest primary care fields. My cost-of-attendance at one of the state medical schools is $89,340 this year – it’s not a problem of too much avocado toast driving the average $250,000 (plus interest) debt load of U.S. medical students. These numbers weigh on us while we think about becoming specialists and subspecialists, versus primary care docs.

Many of us will still choose primary care. Skimming $10,000 off the top of our debt helps alleviate some of the pressure to choose high-paying fields. It’s not a perfect solution, and we need better-targeted reforms in the cost of medical education. But down the road, when you or your parents are able to get a timely appointment with your primary doc when you need one, it’s social policies like this that we’ll have to thank.

Kevin Glover

Spokane

No good plan for electric vehicles

The move by states to ban gas vehicles needs to come with an in-depth understanding of the impact that will have, especially on people who can’t afford new technologies. It cannot be a headline grabber that is just intended to get votes. It should be a thought-out and detailed plan that evaluates all aspects of the impact.

There are simple economics that are going to affect how this plays out. For example, the price of EV chargers is going to go up as demand goes up. Why might you ask? Because EVERY house will need an EV charger.

Who will be the last to switch? The economically disadvantaged. How will a person who makes minimum wage afford an electric car even by 2035? It isn’t just the car, it is the charger, the electricity, the planning of when and how to charge. How do they get to work with a power outage (dams removed withstanding)? Oh, did we mention that the price of gas will skyrocket. Why? Again economics, less demand and owners of gas stations will raise prices. So the last to switch will pay the most.

These are just two examples of economic questions. What about rental properties, gas station owners’ rights, remote location, gas station removal, cleanup and more? Instead of grabbing headlines, come to the people with a real plan and not a vote grabber who shows lack of leadership or forethought.

Timothy Fox

Spokane

Murray must wait

Patty Murray must be really afraid to have put off breaching the Snake River dams until after the coming election.

Bill Johns

Cheney

I have confidence in the next election

Shawn Vestal’s Aug. 24 column (“Repetitious wolf cries are no way to ‘restore confidence’ in elections”) seems irritated that the Spokane County GOP would canvass voters to see why their addresses may not match their registration address with no update and other possible irregularities. I believe Vestal and The Spokesman-Review have characterized the 2020 election as possibly the “fairest election ever.”

I was skeptical of many aspects of the 2020 election, but questioning some events in that election makes me (to some people) a racist-fascist-white supremacist-insane Trumpster.

Let me say here and now I have confidence in the upcoming 2022 midterm elections because numerous state legislatures now require that absentee votes cannot arrive after the election/that absentee votes must have both a signature and a return address. In some states, voters in person must have a driver’s license or a power bill showing an address. Facebook founder Mark Zukerberg has announced he will no longer put $349 million (or any money) in “turn out the vote efforts” in mostly Democrat precincts as he did for the 2020 election.

Yes, Shawn, I now have renewed confidence the 2022 elections will be very well run and fair. I even think harmful policies of the past two years against working families and their children will be reversed by the voters.

Ken Hills

Spokane

Support proposed Mead School District policy

I am writing as a woman of color immigrant with children who will attend the Mead School District. I am writing to strongly support the proposed school district ban on the praxis of critical race theory.

My parents were survivors of the Great Cultural Revolution of China and saw firsthand the horror of identity politics used to divide people into oppressors and oppressed based on immutable characteristics. My parents were assigned to the Black category, and severely socially discriminated against in China.

We came to America with no money and no English skills, because we embrace civil rights and liberty. We came to America because the founding principles of our country uphold equality. This is in stark contrast to Maoist China, where opportunities are allocated completely differently based on Red vs. Black status.

Given that education is state-mandated, we the parents have First Amendment rights protection from the state. However, the teachers employed by the school district, as agents of the state, do not have First Amendment rights to indoctrinate kids and turn schools into madrassas. As a parent, an immigrant, and a woman of color, I am deathly opposed to the Marxist religion and the threat it presents to American citizens. I urge everyone to support the banning of CRT praxis – and not only the teaching of CRT concepts – in the Mead District.

Erica Li, MD

Spokane

A different look at abortion

If you are a woman or a man who are feeling some pain or remorse about sentencing your unborn child to an abortionist, think about this: Your unborn child was not in on that decision, so he or she is totally innocent and his now happily alive and well with the Lord in heaven. I hope that gives you some comfort.

In addition, if you are willing to admit that your decision was a mistake and ask for forgiveness, Jesus will not only forgive you but will begin healing you from the pain.

Another bonus is that if you ask Jesus to begin leading your life and future decisions, you will be bound for heaven. When your time comes, maybe Jesus will meet you with your child in His arms and offer you the chance to love, raise and enjoy the child, if you please.

After all, he is the God of second chances.

Larry Templeton

Spokane

New stadium misses mark

Though it is a moot point to debate the flawed reasoning or merits of the new stadium to house high school football games being built now near downtown, I can at least put my two cents’ worth in.

So this stadium is to cost in the neighborhood of $53 million. How much would it have cost to revamp the city’s high school football fields? Upgrades such as fencing, new bleachers, concession stands – what else?

My point is not just about the millions being spent or those that have or will benefit from it. The whole high school experience is negated. I never lived in the city, but I did go to school in the Spokane Valley. Growing up, we lived about a mile from the old University High School. I can still recall walking to games, the lights, the fresh-cut grass. One side had the home-team bleachers, the other the away team’s. When I was old enough to play there, it was wonderful to be at your home field and all that entails.

How did this stadium become the only option considered? Typical.

Mike Krogseth

Newman Lake