Letters to the Editor

Christmas kudos

Editor, the Journal,

I’m a first-time writer to you. I’ve been living here off and on since 1992. I go away for a while, but always come back. Folks vacation in this area and I have the privilege of living in this beautiful place.

I live in the woods on 5 acres and am within a few minutes of the hospital and downtown. It’s a short, but beautiful drive to Olympia (the big city), and 90 minutes to many beautiful ocean beaches to explore and rest up. We have the Olympics and Mount Rainier a few miles away and many lakes and hiking trails fairly close. I jog and bike on back roads — no traffic faster than 15 mph. The main reason I am writing this is to let others know what they missed if they did not visit downtown Railroad Avenue at Christmas time. I have lived in various small towns at Christmas over the years (I’m 78) and none compare to the beautiful decorations of our Christmastown Shelton. I have friends who have lived here for years and have never seen Shelton at night during Christmas. I took an old-time resident downtown and she oohed and aahed — especially over our green monster Christmas tree at the post office.

Then it snowed and the beauty was even better — so sweet! Thank you, Jesus. A big thank you to those responsible for the decorating.

Allen Radke, Shelton

Fonda was right

Editor, the Journal,

I would like to respond to a couple of letters.

On Jan. 6, a writer talked about how his new year (this year) “was marked by the explosion of a bomb dropped in an interview staring ‘Hanoi Jane,’ Jane Fonda.” So his new year of 2022 was ruined by a statement made in October 2020. In the interview, Ms. Fonda said, as correctly quoted by the writer, “COVID-19 is God’s gift to the left.” Well. let’s see the whole quote, the full “bomb.”

“I think COVID is God’s gift to the left. It’s a terrible thing to say, I mean, I think it was a very difficult thing to send down to us, but it has ripped the Band-Aid off who Trump is and what he stands for and what is being done to average working people in this country.

“We can see it now. People who couldn’t see it before, you know they see it now. We have a chance to harness that anger and make a difference.”

She was right. In November 2020, the American people came out in record numbers to vote former President Donald Trump out — the second time he lost the popular vote.

An observation on all of the letters complaining about Democrats: Replace the word “Democrats” with “Republicans.” That’s how we see each other. And Republicans sound so angry. That anger must come from watching so much of those angry, screaming people on FOX (which is their goal).

To the writer of “Trump haters” in the Jan. 20 edition. Wow. Talk about lack of facts.

About Jan. 6, of course now you and Trump lovers don’t remember Rep. Kevin McCarthy and Sen. Mitch McConnell speaking on the floor of the House and Senate, saying Trump was directly responsible for the attack on the Capitol. They only changed their position after McCarthy was summoned to the wannabe dictator. I can only hope you will actually listen to the Jan. 6 committee.

Trump was actually impeached two times for his crimes. He was not removed from office only because of Republican cowards. Impeachment will always be a stain on him. (Hillary Clinton had nothing to do with either one).

You want to give Trump credit for the vaccine, OK, I’ll give him some credit here only because he was the president at the time. If it’s the Trump vaccine why do so many Trump supporters not want to take it?

Secure border under Trump? No, it wasn’t. And he did separate families with no record to reunite them. Nothing good came out of his policies.

Energy independence, we’ve heard this from every president in my lifetime. We, and all countries, will be energy independent only when we all get off of fossil fuels.

I’ll give you the quote from former President Barack Obama. I’ll give you that I do not agree with the way President Joe Biden has handled a couple of issues. I will take Biden, his administration and his ideas for this country over the screwup, treasonous Trump or anyone from the Trump party. There is no longer a Republican Party. You must have seen that McConnell has no ideas, no platform for the future. He and McCarthy will only do what Trump dictates.

We all can only hope that in the coming elections Democrats will again come out in record numbers to vote no matter the obstacles Republicans are putting up. And we have to hope that Republicans will again see the attack on our democracy that continues with Republicans and vote them out as they did Trump.

Donna Holliday, Shelton

Firm beliefs

Editor, the Journal,

I wonder which is a more appropriate metaphor for the Biden/Harris ticket, a dumpster fire or a train wreck? A coin toss could quickly decide, but it’s too bad this pair gets so much media coverage. There’s plenty of attention needed here at home about other matters.

First, the Marquess of Queensbury (the godfather of fair play) got pushed to the ground and kicked in the teeth in last week’s Journal. In her Jan. 27 letter, Karen Skinner of Shelton claimed that my statement, “January 6th was not an insurrection” was a lie. She attached this to me, ergo, she essentially said I was a liar. Karen, please. What we have here is two firmly held — by me, very firmly — but opposing opinions. You’ll never make the debate team by running around calling people you disagree with liars (even though your party does.)

Oh, I almost forgot. As a bonus, Ms. Skinner added that Donald Trump is a traitor, according to what sounded like some liberal crank she cited.

So, name-calling is now OK? Sorry, but I choose not to play this time, but you can bet I have some choice monikers for a few of my favorite people whenever we get the official green light from whomever to go ahead and use an ad hominem or two.

It sounds as if Ms. Skinner made it all the way through school without taking a course in civics, so perhaps the old proverb, “more to be pitied that scorned” would be apt here. First, I urge her to read — slowly, please — the definitions of both “insurrection” and “traitor.” The fact that anyone would apply those terms to the events of Jan. 6, 2021, or to Donald Trump, respectively, is, I think, ludicrous … and truly sad.

Back to our friend Karen Skinner. To help her in her home-schooling efforts, I would ask her to take a close look at our law of the land, the U.S. Constitution. Please, please check out the Bill of Rights, especially the first one and that part about freedom of speech. (The Journal’s editor-in-chief is rightly fond of that amendment.)

I’d like to close this by giving a shoutout to our neighbors in Canada, especially the truck drivers in their growing “freedom convoy” of big rigs traveling over 3,000 miles from Vancouver, B.C., to the nation’s capital in Ottawa. Those drivers are protesting the government’s vaccine mandates for truckers. Thousands of citizens are lining the route and waving national flags to cheer them on. I hope the drivers all beep when they pass landfills or city dumps to help celebrate the growing number of Tony Fauci prayer candles being disposed of at those places.

Bon voyage!

Robert E. Graham, Union

What about Ukraine?

Editor, the Journal,

Isn’t it interesting the Biden administration is sending troops to Ukraine to help protect its border? How about untying the hands of our border patrol and send troops to protect our Southern border?

Our country is being invaded by illegals numbering now in the millions by drug dealers, gang members, sex traffickers, pedophiles, etc. from around the world.

They pour in uninvited and if you believe they are all vaccinated, do you also believe pigs can fly?

If you get all your information from the mainstream propaganda media, if you were to look deeper you would be amazed at what is going on in the world that they are not telling you.

Ralph E. Aldrich , Shelton

Novel books

Editor, the Journal,

I recently wrote about political and economic free choice. I’m concerned President Joe Biden’s Marxist philosophy and political aggressiveness might overturn our Constitution. I used works of fiction to show how we might lose our freedom. The novels mentioned included, “Atlas Shrugged” and “The Fountainhead,” both by Ayn Rand, and “1984,” by George Orwell. Andrew Makar suggested a person could not follow Ayn Rand’s philosophy of objectivism and be a Christian. Wrong. Makar assumes Rand’s philosophy is a religion. A rational person can admire Rand’s political and economic philosophy yet reject her enthusiasm for atheism.

Patricia Hawley said my book choices were works of fiction, not historical references. She then suggested I read Chicken Little, a biography of Joe Biden. Apparently, Ms. Hawley has no appreciation for the impact a novel can play in changing audience attitudes. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” an anti-slavery novel published in 1852, had a profound impact on how America viewed slavery and likely influenced the Civil War. “Gone with the Wind” by Margaret Mitchell showed early-20th-century audiences the evils of slavery. “Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck did the same for those facing the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. Harper Lee’s book “To Kill a Mockingbird” showed us the Jim Crow evils early in the 20th century. George Orwell’s book “Animal Farm” described socialism, starring the pigs as dictator of the farmyard and chickens their most ardent followers. To see how these books of fiction might have relevance in our lives, you’re required to use your imagination. These novels had a greater impact on society’s problems than any history class. Sometimes fiction turns into fact.

A couple years ago, the Daily World published an article by political critic John Stossel on Ayn Rand and “Atlas Shrugged.” Stossel asked, “Who is our Wesley Mouch?” I think it’s Sen. Bernie Sanders. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is too inexperienced, but by 2030, she’ll be Wesley Mouch and very dangerous. Of course, Ms. Hawley knows nothing of this; she ridicules fiction. It’s not real and therefore not important. Thinking has never been a strong point for Democrats. They focus on feelings rather than serious thought of the future and deliberate contemplation of the possible.

Ardean Anvik, Shelton