The right decision
I write an occasional letter to the Moscow-Pullman Daily News attempting, usually, to penetrate a penumbra of suffocating university-inspired wokeness that seems to blanket much of the Opinion section; which is not to say that all Opinion page contributors are members of the woke crowd, but many are.
Regarding the recent overturning of Roe v. Wade, it was the right decision by the Supreme Court, long in coming, but welcome nonetheless. Fifty years of pretending that a woman’s “right” to abortion is guaranteed under the Constitution is just plain wrong.
Five Justices voted correctly to overturn this wicked precedent. A sixth “conservative” justice should have sided with the majority, but I believe he is highly compromised and dares not get too uppity with the left. They’ve got the goods on him, it would appear.
It’s really very clear in my Catholic mind. One simple declarative sentence says it all: Abortion is murder. The sixth commandment says thou shalt not kill, i.e., do murder.
Shrill, hysterical women do not have an absolute right over their bodies. They can yell, scream and resort to all kinds of ridiculous behavior in public. It doesn’t matter. Only God can legitimately end human life inside the womb or outside of it.
My Catholic faith does not permit abortion in most if not all cases. I know of only one major religious sect that does. Many of its adherents treat abortion as a sacred “value” to be protected at all costs. Not so the Catholic Church. She proscribes this so-called “value” and treats it as a grave sin, punishable in the end, in the absence of true repentance, by eternal damnation.
Timothy Moore
Potlatch
Addressing climate change
Many issues that impact us locally these days cross international boundaries. That’s a simple fact. High gas prices due to underproduction during the pandemic and the Ukraine war and world-wide inflation affect us here on the Palouse — all at some level exacerbated by climate change.
Coastal flooding, desertification, and dangerous air pollution threaten communities around the globe. Fires and smoke, periods of excessive rain alternating with drought, and extreme weather endanger our quality of life, even our livelihoods here on the Palouse. Remember the heat dome last year at this time? Climate disasters in Texas, California and New Jersey create indirect effects in the form of higher tax and insurance rates in anticipation of similar disasters.
As the political campaign season begins, let’s remember that our voices can affect positive change at the local, state and national levels. Candidates need to hear our concerns. Ask them to take action on climate change. This is not a partisan issue; it’s about the world that we and our loved ones all share, living as we do on a troubled Earth.
One positive, constructive way to address climate change is to join a group like the Citizens’ Climate Lobby. It has an active chapter here on the Palouse (cclpalouse.org). Nonpartisan organizations like Citizens’ Climate Lobby bridge the political divide and magnify our voices as we challenge our elected officials and public servants to act on climate change.
Mary DuPree
Moscow
Constitutional protections
The Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol has revealed truth. Witnesses — all Republican — have exposed Trump’s absurd election fraud claims, the horror of a planned insurrection and the incredible story of an American president refusing to hear or speak truth.
Unfortunately, The Donald continues pushing his personal vendetta. Jan. 6 was a lovefest! Trump cooed, “his people were filled with so much love.” Nothing worrisome, just harmless “patriots” exercising their right to assemble.
Most conservatives, at first, were unable to hear the truth for themselves because their “news” station decided to air Ozzie Osborne blather and Biden crashing his bicycle. Fortunately, no longer.
Unfortunately, gerrymandered voter districts will probably keep many former Republicans in office, who steadfastly mock Constitutional principles, the rule of law, use minority rule through filibustering and lie — their platform.
I believe their trope of “small government” is hypocritical. To the point of legislating morality, open racism, deny alternative energy options, further obedience to corporate America and more lies — their other platform.
Bilked by a rich, lying authoritarian, thousands of donors have given Trump $250 million. Fools!
The “sanctity of life” joke Republicans espouse only applies until birth. The unborn now have greater Constitutional protections than women.
It is immaterial if conservatives don’t like minorities, lifestyle choices of LBGTQ+ and the country’s newest class of second-rate citizens — women.
Even if people believe marginalized people’s lifestyle choices are sinful — Irrelevant! God says men are unqualified to judge sin.
Our representatives must stop pushing their perception of morality. This is why we have separation of church and state. Mideast governments and now, the U. S. Supreme Court prove this assertion.
Constitutional protections apply to everyone or they apply to no one.
Jim Roach
Moscow
What am I missing?
The essence of liberty and freedom is encapsulated at Libertarianism.org: “Liberty is the most important value. … Liberty means being free to make your own choices about your own life, that what you do with your body and your property ought to be up to you. Other people must not forcibly interfere with your liberty, and you must not forcibly interfere with theirs.” Linked with conservatism, libertarianism promotes “freedom of choice.”
When Roe v. Wade was overturned, existing legislation in “trigger states” like Idaho automatically outlawed abortion, criminalizing it. These states are controlled by conservative legislatures, mostly white males who pride themselves on their conservatism and sometimes libertarianism.
What’s wrong here? What am I missing? See first paragraph. Choice? What choice?
Seventy percent of Americans “identify as Christian,” according to prri.org. Christianity includes belief in a soul that lives on following death of the body. Biologically speaking, “personhood,” defined by the National Institutes of Health, “is present at the point of human fertilization.” Many religions accept that a person’s soul begins an eternal journey when personhood begins, at the instant of conception.
But death is possible at any time throughout pregnancy, from aborted fertilized egg to stillbirth. If one accepts that we have souls, it’s usually understood that a soul never dies. Following the body’s death, the soul is subject to God’s mercy and justice, often depicted as Heaven and Hell.
In other words, abortion, whether spontaneous (miscarriage) or intentional, doesn’t kill the soul. It deprives that person of making choices as an individual human. As with each of us, it’s ultimately in God’s hands.
What, then, is the rationale underlying abortion bans, which are primarily advocataed by those who strongly support individual liberty and freedom of choice, God-fearing Christians and conservative libertarians?
Help me out here. What am I missing?
Pete Haug
Colfax
