Letters to the Editor

Sewer thoughts

Editor, the Journal,

Dear Randy Neatherlin,

I read your comments about the sewers in Belfair. Yes, the contractor has a responsibility to do all the work toward his project. My daddy said years ago, “If you can’t pay for it, you don’t need it.”

I know that’s unrealistic on a project of this size, but to borrow on the last project to pay off the next? That’s not good math. I’m not very smart, just an ordinary homemaker, but please use some common sense, people.

Thank you for coming to St. Nichols to speak on our flooding problems. See, I’m ordinary; just wanted to let you know.

Sarah Drath, Shelton

Truth of history

Editor, the Journal,

The writer who thought anyone who supported Jane Fonda for her anti-Vietnam War actions “is a very sick person” and should never be published is overlooking the truth of history. She was shouting, in a very annoying way to many, from that North Vietnamese gun turret, that our country was fighting a wrongful war. She was right. She was trying to tell the American people the truth over the litany of lies from our government and military-industrial complex. Comprehending her protest sooner, along with many others, would have saved tens of thousands of lives who now only exist in the memories of loved ones and on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

Craig Anderson, Shelton

‘Limit expression’

Editor, the Journal,

Please indulge me in taking some space to hopefully clear up something that was so misunderstood that it would cause a reader to have the gut reaction of calling me “a very sick person” and wanting me to “never be published” again.

It seems to me that the writer of “Limit expression” had a gut reaction to something that was not said or even implied.

In order to get us all on the same page, as well as clear up things for anyone who read the letter and did not know what he was referring to, I will try to quickly recap.

On Jan. 6, the writer of “Remember Jane Fonda?” told us his new year was “marked by the explosion of a bomb dropped in an interview starring Hanoi Jane.” Then he reminded us with a brief biography and finally on to the “explosive bomb” that ruined his 2022 New Year:

“In early October 2020, Jane Fonda said to an interviewer, ‘COVID-19 is God’s gift to the left.’ ” And then he went on to say “If her statement is true, and I’m sure it will be proven to be so, the act of COVID manipulation for political gain is indeed treacherous.”

In my letter of Feb. 3, I was interested in why a statement by Jane Fonda in October 2020 would ruin someone’s 2022 New Year, especially with all of the real threats to our democracy in 2021 and continuing today.

“COVID was God’s gift to the left” is what Jane Fonda said in October 2020. As I said in my letter, “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 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.”

That is what Jane Fonda said in October 2020. My letter ended with “she was right. In November 2020 the American people came out in record numbers to vote Trump out, the second time he lost the popular vote.”

On Feb. 10, the writer of “Limit expression” said, “Anybody who thinks Jane Fonda was right should never be published and is a very sick person. God bless America, not Hanoi.” Sounds like a gut reaction to a few select words. Fonda was right.

If he had actually read my letter, nowhere did I say or even imply that Jane Fonda’s actions in 1972 were right.

What I did say was Jane Fonda’s words in 2020 were right. We know people did not approve of Trump’s handling of COVID as well as other issues.

Jane Fonda’s words were not a deceiving act of manipulation for political gain. By October 2020, most people were already well aware of the real person Trump is.

Now, if the person who wrote “Limit expression” actually reads this whole letter and still thinks that I am a “very sick person” and “should never be published,” well, I guess that is his opinion and isn’t that what these letters are: Opinions.

Fact- and truth-informed opinions are hard to find these days.

Censoring people is a good subject for a future discussion.

Donna Holliday, Shelton

Dem deeds

Editor, the Journal,

Including Washington state and federal Democrats, we’ve accomplished much this year, including action on the climate crisis, passing a monumental infrastructure bill, emphasis on green/renewable energy, the U.S. House passed Build Back Better, American Recovery Plan, and voting rights bills (again passed by U.S. House, but obstructed by Republicans in the U.S. Senate). If the goal of Republicans was to help poor and working Americans, encourage fair and accessible elections, much more would be done. Let’s keep up the pressure to have voting rights protected and expanded, plus more action on the environment, green, affordable housing, and public parks, gardens, and trails for all at every level.

Michael Siptroth, Belfair

The economy

Editor, the Journal,

I wanted to take this opportunity to address the economy. The economy has been represented by certain people as being a disaster. So, I decided to see what the economic indicators look like for a disaster.

First: Let’s take inflation head-on. This is a global phenomenon, and nobody likes it. But the fact that it is global suggests that U.S. policy alone cannot be the explanation. We don’t control the world’s economy; despite the inflated ideas some folks have. I know everyone likes to blame it on President Joe Biden, but private-sector decisions have a lot to do with it too.

The Federal Reserve is in the process of raising interest rates to address this. The latter point fluctuates between the people who don’t like that idea, namely borrowers and the financial types who are saying it’s about time. We have had crazy low interest rates for years, and everyone has been predicting that would have to end sooner or later. So, I guess we are at later.

Now look at the countervailing trends. A year or so ago everyone wondered if there would be a slow recovery. Instead, the GDP growth rate has been fast. The S&P Index is up 15%, which is not great but hardly shabby. U.S. unemployment has come back down to record low territory. Americans have more money in the bank than they have in a long time. Bankruptcy filings in 2021 fell by 24% from 2020. In fact, we only had 413,616 filings in 2021. Compare that to 779,828 in 2019. Americans are far more solvent than they were in 2020 and 2019.

What about manufacturing? In 2021, we added 349,000 manufacturing jobs. That is the biggest increase in 30 years. Our businesses are apparently learning from the supply chain issues because they are committing $80 billion to semiconductor plants in the U.S. You may not feel it in the moment, but you will.

Who is unhappy? Well, the low-wage employers are upset because nobody wants their poor pay and the attendant disrespect. There are people that have left the job market for an extended period. Some of those are folks who were close enough to retirement that they just decided to go. I discount them as I figure they would be out of the market in a year or so anyway. The other are women.

Now, the latter group is interesting. These are workers that typically get the short end of the stick. They are also workers who must deal with child care. A lot of commentators assume they are single mothers. But I suspect a different reason. Child care has gotten so expensive that I think a lot of couples have figured out that the second job isn’t worth it. The added expense of child care, the associated transportation, business attire and time factors make just plain quitting attractive. So, for all you folks who scoffed at federal child care subsidies and tax credits, you have the result. Besides, the same people who complain about this trend tend to be the “barefoot and pregnant” crowd. Well, you got what you wanted.

I think that every economy has problems. Ours is no exception. But there are enough good things happening that calling it a disaster is disingenuous at best. I submit that if a huckster like former President Donald Trump had been elected in 2020, he and his apologists would be crowing about how good the economy is by using the exact same statistics. And his current followers in these pages would be dutifully parroting it.

Andy Makar, Hoodsport

Meaning of bravery

Editor, the Journal,

To be brave has many meanings. Bravery usually involves either forgetting any risk or ignoring that aspect of it for a greater good. I believe those individuals would still take any risks if they were aware that the results would be bad for themselves. But that is the whole meaning of bravery. These brave people first think of others.

They are the exceptions to the rule of “me first” and all others later (maybe if it is convenient). There is a very limited number of those in this select group and are to be admired, and emulated, if possible. Most of all for sincerity, which seems to be “less than” more in today’s society. This always makes me think of one of the best quotes from “Hamlet” (William Shakespeare).

This above all: “To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.”

Pat Vandehey, Shelton

Putin and Ukraine

Editor, the Journal,

Say it ain’t so, Joe!

According to all our TV news anchors lately, the U.S. and Russia are about to go to war over Ukraine, maybe by next week. Let’s hope the shooting doesn’t start at all.

We know these things: Vladimir Putin is a bad dude, mainly because of where he works. He’s an unpredictable bully. Who knows what the Russian people think if they know of this at all?

Americans (normal ones) are rightly nervous about any actions President Joe Biden and/or his advisers might take, especially after his unforced errors — if not outright disasters — in just about everything such as Afghanistan, our southern border (or what’s left of it) crime, inflation, ad infinitum. Biden’s idea of sending Kamala Harris there has calmed absolutely no one. In fact, the opposite is probably true.

We can only hope that Putin doesn’t act and quietly reflects on the very bad things that can happen to him if he does while Biden wanders around clueless. Then, hopefully, this stupidity might become no more than a big Nerf-mitt boxing match.

Some wags have suggested we send Hunter Biden to the Ukraine. Heck, he knows the territory and how to rake in the big bucks (and other stuff) over there.

Perhaps Hunter could also persuade Putin and his dad to knock it off with the saber-rattling, go home and go to bed (after taking some laxatives.)

I hope it has been a quiet day.

Robert E. Graham, Union

Socialists, communists

Editor, the Journal,

The political similarity between American socialists and the Chinese Communists is striking. Both governments are afraid of words. Communists have no free speech; socialists change word meanings to condemn their opponents and promote themselves. Both want language control, mind control and thought control.

Transportation Secretary Beto O’Rourke advocated gun confiscation in 2019 and 2020. Now he promotes the second Amendment. President Joe Biden and Gov. Jay Inslee say “follow the science.” They lie. Biology says two genders, he and she; medicine shows the heartbeat of abortion victims. Democrats show compassion and provide bail-free release for thugs with long rap sheets but provides little help or compassion for the victims. Teacher unions emphasize sex and race, ignoring other subjects. They want kids numb and dumb. Honesty and honor are victims of Democrat politicians and their control agenda.

There’s no difference between Chinese language police forcing Olympic athletes to obey language taboos and American language police telling schools, institutions, businesses and individuals lies. According to leftists, there was one riot and 573 peaceful protests. Scoring these protests, the Seattle CHOP district had two shooting deaths; Jan. 6, 2022, that protest had one death, by heart attack. Damaging federal property; Portland protesters tried to burn the Federal Building and one person shot; Capitol protest invaded congressional offices. An honest person would say all 574 protests were violent.

MSNBC commentators don’t want masking requirements lifted. NBC refused ads wanting to show Chinese brutality to their own people through a Defund the Dictator ad; yet NBC had no problem with Defund the Police. GoFundMe raised funds for BLM riots, but refuse GoFundMe fundraising for the Canadian truckers strike.

Facebook stopped American truckers from developing a notification system for a Washington, D.C., rally. Biden calls a proposed truckers strike a domestic terror threat. European truckers are on strike as are truckers in New Zealand. The Canadian socialist government has threatened the Canadian truckers with up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine for holding a peaceful protest. Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau is as pig-headed as Biden. The pandemic party is over. Socialists don’t want to control the pandemic; they want to control the people. Leftists worldwide expected sheepish compliance; instead, everywhere people are saying “hell no!” Freedom lives.

Ardean Anvik, Shelton

Property taxes

Editor, the Journal,

Originally my Board of Equalization hearing on my property taxes was scheduled for February. Now it is April 12. The reason for the rescheduling is first the time it took with COVID restrictions and secondly because of wrongful entry on obtaining and not correcting my husband’s birth certificate. I plan to use it to show my husband’s birth weight was 3 pounds at birth and now at 92 going on 93 years of age, he does all of our driving, makes our bread, cranberry sauce (using honey only because he has prostate cancer and avoids sugar) gets me up in the morning by preparing all our breakfasts, etc.

I and my husband’s son managed to save him from documentation being prepared by his oncologist to place him in skilled nursing several years ago.

The birth certificate was to show the board that I am refusing to support two-thirds of my taxes for the public school system when they allow teen age girls to go to Planned Parenthood and obtain an abortion, have their parent’s insurance pay for it and refrain by government edict from notifying the parents.

I am claiming my constitutional rights of freedom of religion are being infringed upon, especially after adding sex-ed K-12 grades to their agenda and gender issues, etc.

Of course, my concern is the state will take my home and sell it and leave me homeless. I’ve found out that “allodial title” would give me a sovereign estate with no government regulations, no taxes, etc., but the assessor doesn’t care to help me learn more about this. I bought a modular trailer with my inheritance for cash and the manufacturer indicated he was sending the allodial title to the state, but he did give me a copy of it.

Diane Eaton, Grapeview