Letters to the editor

HEALTH CARE

Crapo's vote doesn'thelp Idaho's seniors

Senator Crapo sure is talking a good game as commercials air across the state touting all he is doing to protect Medicare and fight for Idaho's seniors. I beg to differ.

He just voted against legislation to make sure Idaho doctors continue to take Medicare patients. The AARP-backed measure would have kept physicians from seeing their reimbursement rates under the program from being cut by about 22 percent. The move is expected to cause even more doctors to stop accepting Medicare, making it harder for older Idahoans to get the health care they need. That just doesn't make common sense. I hope that you decide to back the compromise health reform bill that Senator Harry Reid, (D-Nev.) has said he will take to the floor. It lets the individual states opt out of any public option - which Idaho's Legislature may or may not do.

WILLIAM J. BONNER, Meridian

STOLEN PROPERTY

Daughter distraught over missing birdhouses

To the awful thieves who stole the birdhouses on Saturday night, Oct. 17, in downtown Eagle, I hope that life brings you what you deserve!

My 72-year-old mother hand-built and painted those bird houses with love. They were very special to our family and have sentimental value that is impossible to calculate. You ripped them apart in the process of stealing them, broke the bottle that contained the feed and completely violated our personal and private property.

Hell hopefully has a very special place for individuals like you! I would love to have a front-row seat to watch your punishment be administered.

If anyone sees decorated bird/squirrel feeders that look like a church with a bell (imagine Little House on the Prairie) and a school house, know that you are amongst bottom-dwelling thieves.

I would love to see them returned in whatever condition they are in, but I understand that the chances of that are slim. If, by the grace of God, you should come across them, please contact me and I can give a more detailed description. I am simply sick.

MELISSA SHARP, Eagle

HOT SPRINGS

Rocky Canyon doesn't have to be taken apart

I am writing to express my concern about the dismantling of Rocky Canyon Hot Springs. I have been soaking here for years and find it to be healing and relaxing. I feel it would be more detrimental to the environment and the hot springs to take these pools apart than to leave them. If the concern were misuse of the hot springs, maybe a solution would be better management and educating the public on how to take care of hot springs for years to come.

I was up there Oct. 27 and could not have enjoyed a lovelier spot to take in the beauty of nature. If people participate in respectful dialogue maybe we can all reach a better solution? It is possible for people to enjoy this hot springs and others for many years if we can respect each other's values and take care of this beautiful natural resource.

MOLLY ELIZABETH HEYN, Boise

Improved hot springs deserve to remain

Government officials should consider a stay on the demolition of the Rocky Canyon Hot Springs. Understandably, they want to maintain the sovereignty of the National Forest Service not allowing private individuals to build or divert natural resources for private use.

However, these pools were not randomly built, having been used by the public for 50-plus years. The man who improved these pools went through the judicial process and was prosecuted. The courts did not rule on the removal of the pools. So, what is the value in destroying them? Prior to the existing structures, visitors brought tarps and used rock, dirt and logs in a haphazard way. The stress on the land has been greatly lessened by the present structure. Not only are they safer, but there is a sensitivity in design that blends into the natural surroundings and honors this sacred land.

The issue now resides on the fact that they exist as is and no one is questioning the environmental impact (view National Environmental Policy Act) or cost of destroying them, the economical impact to Crouch and Garden Valley nor the opportunity for visitors to enjoy the benefits of these incredibly pristine natural hot springs.

MARY HILDRETH, Eagle

FRANKEN AMENDMENT

Senators' vote did not support 'family values'

I am furious that both Idaho U.S. senators voted to give Halliburton/KBR a pass on the sexual torture and apparent kidnapping of Ms. Jones. This is tantamount to agreeing that a clause in an employment contract trumps applicable laws regarding felonies and the right of every citizen's access to the judicial system. This speaks volumes as to the insincerity of our senators regarding their "family values."

Government contractors overseas in war zones have enjoyed shameless immunity from both U.S. laws and Uniform Code of Military Justice. Fortunately clearer heads prevailed and this abomination was not perpetuated in our names. Shame on Sens. Risch and Crapo for joining the backward cabal of GOPers who are soft on rape and, who by implication, view women as second-class citizens.

IRENE E. WRIGHT, Meridian

POLITICS

Deriding Obama reveals ignorance of history

On a misty morning, July 11, 1804, on a bluff overlooking New York, two political enemies fought a duel. Alexander Hamilton, primary author of the Federalist Papers explaining and promoting the Constitution, fired into the air. Aaron Burr aimed and killed Hamilton. Burr had tied Thomas Jefferson in the presidential electoral vote. Hamilton persuaded the House of Representatives to make his political rival Jefferson president, fearing Burr dangerous to the general welfare.

Slaveowner Jefferson declared "all men are created equal," opposed expansive unenumerated executive power but made the Louisiana Purchase.

Burr schemed to overthrow the government, but was acquitted of treason when witnesses refused to testify. Fleeing to Europe, unsuccessfully seeking financing for his schemes, Burr returned to scorn and derision.

Those angry poor losers, claiming to love our Constitution, shouting Hitler, Nazi, Socialist, Marxist, etc., at our duly elected president, have no respect for its genius establishing a representative democratic republic and orderly transition of power. Nowhere does the Declaration nor Constitution provide, enumerate, nor even mention capitalism nor any economic system.

These delusional paranoids need mental health treatment, but the for-profit private health care system would deny coverage for their pre-existing conditions.

They are the Aaron Burrs of today.

MICHAEL DEANGELO, Boise

SOCIAL SECURITY

Will Congress receive its cost-of- living increase?

We now know that Social Security recipients will not receive a cost of living increase in 2010. President Obama has indicated that a $250 "stimulus" might be considered, but there is opposition to that as it will increase the budget.

Since I have heard no rumors to the contrary, I am assuming that our congressmen will receive their usual cost-of-living increase. How about asking them to share a portion of their increase so that Social Security recipients can at least have the $250?

MARY DAVIS, Payette