May 9 Letters to the Editor

Chants for friendship

About 10 minutes of most days I spend time with a group praying, meditating and chanting for lasting peace in Gaza, Israel and the affected regions. My personal prayers during this time are for Israel, Gaza and all of Palestine to become good friends.

Perhaps to support Rico’s during the downtown construction, apparently a portion of our local football team and support personnel entered Rico’s. One of the attendees even bought me a Moscow Mule.

Today, as I participated in the time of prayer, meditation and chanting for lasting peace in Gaza and Israel I wondered if there were games played in both countries. It turned out to be a game where chanting is done. That game is football!

The chant we use is an ancient one where we express our longing that all which frustrates friendship would be evanesced.

Tod Merley

Pullman

Thoughts on “Iffy”

Can you believe that the Idaho and Latah County Republican leadership censored 15 of its own for not supporting the party’s bizarre ideas? Rep. Lori McCann was one of these and now a couple of “boot her out so I can run” members of the Latah County Republican leadership are campaigning against her. Talk about dirty politics, Wow! Rep. McCann reminds me of the real Republican legislators of some years ago. Working hard for her constituents, willing to listen to opposition, questioning party policies that bother her and her constituents and, yes, even willing to work across the aisle when productive.

Today, many Republican so-called “conservatives” ignore the voters and suck up to groups like the Idaho Freedom Foundation (“Iffy” for short). Aside from a high score in the Idaho Freedom Index, what else are Iffy’s favorites getting? Look at Iffy’s website. Much to her credit, Rep. McCann is way down on its list. The Citizen Initiative for a ranked primary was driven by the Republican leadership’s recent efforts to make it much more difficult to vote for anything except party leadership dogma.

And it’s not just me; Gov. Little referred to the attack on our librarians as “that stinking library bill” and there were lots more smelly issues. Thanks to Rep. McCann and other responsible legislators, most did not get to the governor’s desk. The primary on May 21 is the election in Idaho. Look at the candidates’ websites, go to the forums, ask questions, and then vote now or on May 21. You will find that our best choice is Rep. Lori McCann.

Earl H. Bennett

Genesee

Point of view

Interesting that Larry Kirkland thinks Ryan Urie has TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome) in his May 4 letter to the editor, because I’m thinking that Ryan Urie thinks it is Larry Kirkland that has a case of TDS. It just depends on your point of view.

Barbara West

Princeton

Heartened by Duncan

Regarding Larry Kirkland’s recent letter denouncing our choice to endorse President Biden and vote for an accused criminal and well-documented liar who will set the worst example of leadership integrity for our world — especially our youth, who should be able to emulate and respect, not doubt, the person in the highest office of the land — I am so heartened by NBC (and other outlets) reporting that Republican Geoff Duncan, the former Lt. Governor of Georgia, endorsed President Biden publicly in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

How direct and honest Duncan, a Republican, is in saying he will “pull the lever” for Democrat Biden this November to vote “for a decent person I disagree with on policy over a criminal defendant without a moral compass.” Starting a third party was not his answer, because it would dilute the resistance to the threat Trump poses to our nation’s and weaken our two-party strengths.

“Unlike Trump,” Duncan wrote, “I’ve belonged to the GOP my entire life.” By contrast, Trump’s political affiliations as well as his actions in the name of his definition of “truth” have wavered. I found it enlightening to review these in the Wikipedia article: “Political Affiliations of Donald Trump” and believe other readers may choose to do the same review.

Kathy Warren

Moscow

Blair deserves your vote

As the Idaho primary approaches, we have a few choices for representatives and senator.

Robert Blair, running for senator, will be a breath of fresh air for our district. We have met him many times and are impressed with his enthusiasm, approachability, friendly and open personality and knowledge of local concerns.

Robert is a local boy from Kendrick, fourth generation, with a degree from the University of Idaho, as do his wife and two sons. He knows our issues and as a local farmer truly understands our area’s concerns; good public education, agriculture, forestry and protecting wildlife and Idaho’s waters.

Robert has a deep respect for our Constitution, his travels out of the country have shown him how precious and fragile it is, and how necessary it is to follow it to protect all of us.

Robert is accepting of people as they are, listens to them and, if elected, will represent all of us, not just a few factions.

Please read his letter on his website, blairforidaho.com, and our hope is it will convince you to vote for him also.

Kathy Weber and Bill Lambert

Moscow

Trump vs. Biden

OK, Ryan Urie, let’s talk about a toxic environment spurred on by Trump. First, when Trump was president, he did not take a salary while president. Biden does. This fruit shows you the character of the men.

After the disastrous pullout of Afghanistan, where 13 U.S. soldiers died, Biden kept looking at his watch in front of the families of the fallen.

During his administration, Trump opened up federal lands for drilling oil. For the first time, America became energy independent. Biden comes in and signs executive orders to kill Trump policy on American energy. The result is high inflation.

Next, Trump wanted money to build the wall from Congress to secure our border. He was denied so he found the money in the military funds. Trump built and repaired 500 miles of fence. Biden signed executive orders to kill Trump’s policies on immigration. The result is open borders with millions of unvetted people coming into the country.

This is just some of Biden’s disastrous policies. Biden policies are killing this republic. The democrats hate Trump because he was successful. The American people see this. That is why Trump is polling high over Biden.

Kirk Koefod

Troy