Culture warriors be gone

There is about 1% of our Idaho community that identifies as transgender. Folks who don’t feel comfortable in the gender on their birth certificates feel bad much of the time. They feel like they aren’t and can’t be themselves. This feeling manifests as depression and makes it hard for them to be productive members of society.

Then comes along some innovative medical practices, like microdosing hormones, and people start feeling better. Except that is not OK. Not for our Idaho Legislature.

They have tried to pass 19 bills that affect transgender people. Even though the medical associations, the psychologists’ organizations all support “gender affirming medical treatment,” the Legislature knows better. Remember we’re talking about 1 out of 100 Idaho citizens. The bill HB 668 did pass and now gender-affirming health care is no longer available for Medicaid and state health insured individuals. Is this OK with you?

It’s not OK for me. I didn’t elect these characters who spend their time in Boise harassing small groups in Idaho. Not when there are real needs in our communities.

The Idaho Constitution mandates the Legislature to study and improve and fund activities that make Idaho better. How does it help all of us if these folks don’t get the care they desire?

For me it’s a “don’t look behind the curtain” thing. Like a “see me? I’m going to be passing laws, protecting you and your family from trans gender folks, so you may not bump shoulders at Winco.” Please.

Meanwhile, real needs, like helping our farming community, our wildfire preparedness, our school buildings and child care, these issues get tabled. For next session.

I don’t know about you, but I’m going to use my vote to clean out the culture warriors and bring in the problem solvers this November.

Zena Hartung

Moscow

Why you gotta be so mean?

Following singer/song writer Taylor Swift’s recent endorsement of Harris and Walz for president and vice president, Donald Trump’s immediate response on his Truth Social media platform was predictable, “I hate Taylor Swift.”

If you watch Swift perform her song “Mean” at the 2012 Grammy Awards, it is evident she is singing about a guy like Trump, who is a compulsive liar a narcissist and a bully. The refrain is: “And all you’re ever going to be is mean. Why you gotta be so mean?”

Most young women learn to detect a jerk and a creep if they encounter one. Since Donald Trump attended an all-boys military school, he had no experience in this regard to report on.

But as an adult he has been accused by at least 18 women of varying degrees of inappropriate behavior and sexual misconduct. At one time he boasted of such encounters, but such idiocy doesn’t play well with most of the American electorate in 2024.

Trump has so many misogynistic characteristics, you wonder why women would vote for him. There are reports of a movement by conservative Christian women, who are repelled by Trump’s crude and often criminal behavior, to avoid informing their Trump-supporting boyfriends, family members and husbands that they will vote for Harris and Walz instead of him.

In 2020 Trump received 42% of the female vote, vs. 57% of the male vote. Since Trump hasn’t done anything to improve his standing with women, especially since engineering the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and the subsequent loss of reproductive freedom for millions of American women, perhaps women of good conscience who previously supported Trump can intervene to help save us all from the curse of a second Trump presidency.

Richard Shafer

Pullman

Thoughtful, reasonable people

I will be voting for three intelligent, thoughtful people to represent me in Boise — Kathy Dawes, Lori McCann and Julia Parker. These three people are thoughtful, and will listen to their constituents. I am confident they also will follow the lead from their constituents when formulating the best outcomes for Idaho. Do I agree with all of the stated positions of each of these candidates? Of course not! But I seriously doubt anyone agrees with everything any candidate espouses. But I DO KNOW that my views will get a fair hearing and will be intelligently considered by each of them.

Today in Idaho (and throughout the country), far too few of our representatives think for themselves and follow the wishes of their constituents. Rather they are beholden to central committees and party leaders and follow blindly what the leadership of those parties require. We need to get back to a political setting where voters and their representatives actually think about what is good for our state and our country rather than what is good for a small group of party leaders. I encourage every voter to vote YES on Proposition 1 for Open Primaries so the people can choose thoughtful, reasonable people to run for office.

Please vote for Dawes, McCann and Parker so that we have responsive representatives in the State Legislature, and FOR Proposition 1 so that the people, and not a small cabal of party leaders, can choose who will run for office.

D. Benjamin Beard

Moscow

Nurses need care and support

In this letter, I wish to draw attention to a critical issue facing our health care system, which is the rising issue of nurse burnout due to workload, leading to poor care and patient safety. Nurse serves as the essential care givers, supporting and comforting the sick, injured and dying in hospitals and clinics. They sit with patients throughout their sickness, often get to know them and their families, and can make or break a patient’s experience.

The problem has become so acute that many nurse are reporting sever fatigue, burnout and even mental health issues, and it affects each of us. Burnout leads to sick nurses, putting pressure on their colleagues; it can lead to lower quality care, with shame and poor outcomes for patients. Nurses work under stress, and there’s a growing possibility of error. They struggle to give the kind of care they wish they could.

The pandemic has further shown how systemic change is necessary. The relentless work of the nurses on the frontlines saw extraordinary heights without proper equipment or staff support, and many have since left nursing due to burnout, plunging healthcare facilities further into staffing shortages. Unless there is real reform, including better staffing ratios, psychological support and pay — the problem will only get worse.

This is a problem for all patients and their families, and it will continue to undermine the quality and safety of healthcare unless health care leaders and policymakers make some changes. I call upon them to take care of our nurses by investing in their working conditions, increasing staffing levels, and addressing their mental health needs. We want our community to remain healthy.

Thank you for considering this important issue.

Irene Kamoye

Pullman

Lucky to support Ferguson

It’s complicated, this modern American life. I binge science lectures and podcasts, wander Google Scholar, and gorge on humanities (history and social studies for context) to keep up. It’s comforting to know smart people are working out complex problems and innovative solutions for today. And tomorrow if we’re lucky.

I’m feeling lucky about Bob Ferguson for governor because Bob is smart, an internationally ranked chess champion, who could have a corner office in a prestigious law firm anywhere. But Bob has a penchant for public service. Double lucky!

Ferguson’s record defending taxpayers of Washington is a brag board of consumer protection and financial recovery from corporations defrauding and price-gouging residents. He negotiated a better opioid settlement for Washington communities to address the crisis and support law enforcement.

Ferguson is a tireless advocate for women and children, veterans and military families, environmental and public health, and public safety. Ferguson is on our side.

I hate to lose a sharp attorney general currently producing curative rain on a world inflamed with injustice, but Ferguson has earned my trust to manage all the moving parts of governing. Intelligence is vital for the highest office in Washington state, and I’ll bet on Bob’s brains any day.

It’s refreshingly easy to vote for Democrats top to bottom over Republican plans for tax shelters for unpatriotic tax evaders, state-run child trafficking, and plans to kill family farms.

Janet Marugg

Clarkston