POLITICS

Double standards?

A couple of questions. If the Electoral College is so wonderful and allows for equality of the individual vote, why is there no Electoral College in Idaho for the position of governor? And Luna and the GOP want teachers to be paid according to their effectiveness as evaluated by student test scores. How about paying them according to their effectiveness as evaluated by job creation and economic growth?

NICK HALL, Boise

FUNDRAISERS

Voters have to pay big for access to candidates

I remember, as a kid back in the 1950s, when a politician came to town to solicit votes. They threw a picnic, furnished beer for the adults and watermelon, pop and hot dogs for the kids. You could talk to them, shake their hands and get a picture taken. Mothers could have a picture of their baby taken with the candidate. Now, they come to town (or send their wife), charge $1,000 to $25,000 to have the honor of seeing them. I guess for the $25,000 you get a picture.

What has happened to our system? They want in office, but want someone else to pay the bill. They are no better than the people standing on the street corner asking for a handout. Are the state politicians attending this affair paying for their tickets? Or are the rest of the suckers attending these events covering their cost also?

These people are not coming here for votes. That is already guaranteed in Idaho. They just want your money. As the famous circus owner once said, “There is a sucker born every minute” and “a fool and his money are soon parted.”

JAMES ROGERS, Meridian

HEALTH INSURANCE

Exchanges provide a winning formula

For more than a decade, I have had the privilege of working in the insurance industry in Idaho, and I recognize a need to offer my clients greater solutions.

The new health insurance exchange has the potential to offer great benefits to Idahoans — or great harm to agents across the state.

Each state has three options for an exchange: state, federal, or a partnership model.

The downside for this new marketplace comes from the unknown of a federally run system. Many agents will lose their jobs, and multiple estimates project a near 40 percent premium increase. There is no guarantee that agents will be allowed to advise clients in a federal exchange and questions will have to be routed through Washington, D.C., instead of being dealt with by local licensed professionals.

As a native Idahoan, I shudder at the thought of directing my clients to a one-size-fits-all federal health insurance solution that is designed to manipulate market forces and restrict competition.

Maintaining control of our future in Idaho will come from an Idaho health insurance exchange. The state has our best interest in mind — it is committed to preserving a role for agents while protecting the right to choose for Idaho citizens.

DOUG HETHERINGTON, Boise

ARAB FREEDOM

The world is watching

To all the Arabs behaving badly and Muslims gone wild: the world is watching, and yes, you are revolting. The strongest defense I have heard so far on your behalf has been that, “These are societies that are politically infantile.” Talk about damned by faint praise. As Col. Jessup might say: “Freedom? You can’t handle freedom!”

BRUCE BOATNER, Meridian

POLLUTION

Republican policies poison environment

Mike Simpson says one mercury pollution rule will effectively shut down one-sixth of the nation’s 360 coal-fired plants. Has he considered what mercury will do to a person? What impact it has on a child?

There is so much mercury in the Snake River that you cannot eat the fish. China is retooling all of its coal plants with new technology to remove mercury, pollutants, where is our coal industry's plan? When fracking and destroying the fresh water table, have you included new water treatment and distribution plants for all of Idaho residents when the fresh water is contaminated?

Gov. Butch Otter is permitting out our land for fracking, letting our forests burn, allowing sheep and cattle to roam freely through our rivers, no monitoring of massive strip mining or water pollution — we wouldn’t want to hurt business or tax someone.

How much corporate welfare is being set aside by the EPA to clean this messup? Why aren’t the corporations and their CEOs being held personally responsible? When the general public has been poisoned by some company’s pre-meditated shoddy business practices, they should be facing criminal charges with jail sentences. Way to go Idaho Republicans!

KEN FENTON, Fruitland

ABORTION OPTIONS

Choices are not good

Abortions and health care:

First I want to make it clear, I am neither Democrat or Republican and I am not against nor for abortions or health care reform.

Scenario 1: Your 12-year-old daughter gets raped and becomes pregnant. You pay for her to get an abortion and a few months of counseling.

Scenario 2: Your 12-year-old daughter gets raped and becomes pregnant. You force her to carry the baby full term and give it up for adoption.

A) You pay (or you hope your health insurance does not deny you due to a preexisting condition”), or taxpayers pay for medical care through the full-term pregnancy, plus the counselor’s monthly fees plus the 24-hour suicide watch for the rest of your daughter’s mental health life care, and hope that your grandchild you will never know doesn’t commit suicide when they find out they came from a mother who was raped by their father.

B) You forbid your daughter to abort the fetus and she commits suicide and you have two people dead.

Think about it! Yes I am voting in November.

NANCI NYDEGGER, Boise

ECONOMY

Simplifying tax code would provide a fix

Sixteen trillion dollars and rising.

I agree with President Obama on one thing — I don’t want to go back to policies that got us into this financial mess. I don’t want to go back to: ACORN’s influence in the housing market, Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac’s financing practices (costing the U.S. taxpayers more than $183 billion and not done yet), Wall Street’s loan bundling, bank bailouts, etc.

President Obama hasn’t addressed three other contributing factors: tax policy, trade policy and government regulations. Obamacare, new regulations starting after the election, additional federal employees, czars, and White House staff has made it worse.

If you think we need more government see www.usa.gov — A-Z list of agencies and “ask DEX” for your local list of city, county, state and federal government agencies.

Taxing the rich isn’t going to help; additional revenue from the top 2 percent would only fund the federal government for nine days. The only ways out of this financial mess are simplifying the tax code, level-field (not protectionist) trade policy and an EPA that works with industry as a partner in successful manufacturing.

Only new fresh private sector money will save this mess.

MARTIN V. DUARTE, Kuna