COMICS

Bring back Blondie

As a long-term fan of the comic strip Blondie, I am upset that it has been removed from the daily comics in the Life section. I feel like such a classic should not be replaced. It is a family tradition to read Blondie daily at dinner time, and it would be a shame to go through the holiday season without knowing that Dagwood’s eating. I earnestly request that some consideration be put into bringing it back.

KATIE MEYERS, Boise

Thanks for Frazz

Thank you for bringing Frazz to the comics page. I’ve been reading it for years and it’s the best comic since Calvin and Hobbes.

ADRIAN PFISTERER, Boise

ETHICS

Training highlights GOP’s narrow agenda

The following is a quote from the Monday, Dec. 3, USA Today state-by-state section:

“Idaho, Boise: The 2013 Legislature will be required to undergo four-hour ethics training. It follows a string of ethical lapses and questions about Idaho lawmakers’ conduct. Republican Senate President Pro Tem Brent Hill of Rexburg told The Spokesman-Review the training will give lawmakers a better understanding of ethics laws.”

What I would like to know is, what about ethics is so difficult to understand? And who will be paying for the “education” of these public servants? It would be unethical to ask the taxpayers to pay for their inability to distinguish right from wrong.

Looks like it’s business as usual in good old red-state Idaho: behind in women’s rights and health care (got a D- nationwide in this category), animal rights (is No. 4 in the nation for cruelty to animals) and education (bottom 10 in the nation). Wow! I’m impressed. You’d think our lawmakers would be embarrassed, but they brashly push through with their standard agenda to maintain the status quo — ethical or not.

HELEN DELAHUNT-AVILA, Pocatello

ST. LUKE’S

Reflection of greed

In regard to St. Luke’s CEO David Pate’s question of “What if?” What if St. Luke’s efforts to dominate the southern Idaho health care market by purchasing physician practices and raising prices for common medical procedures is simply reflective of that most human of characteristics: greed?

MICHAEL J. DEVITT, Boise

IDAHO POWER

Power company fails to earn public trust

Regarding Bill Shawver’s response (Letters, Nov. 25) to John Weber, I see no reason to trust Idaho Power. Evasiveness trumped transparency at the last shareholders’ meeting, and the Idaho Power renewable energy studies are little more than stalling while the nation moves forward. Shawver’s claim of safe and fair-priced energy is dubious. Idaho Power relies heavily on coal and fracked gas, while 98 percent of scientists have concluded climate change is real and the major culprit is fossil fuels. This is no different than tobacco companies’ responses to cancer data. Additionally, if Idaho Power really cared about cost to the consumer, it would not pay its top five executives a total of about $10 million. The PUC, a three-person committee picked by Gov. Otter, to whom Idaho Power contributes, approved the Langley Gulch plant. He should have political sense, if not moral integrity, to remove himself from any influential role regarding Idaho Power. As it is, the PUC’s decisions are tainted and appear no different than other committees which do Otter’s bidding. Interestingly, the PUC-approved IDACORP rate increase soon was followed by a 15.2 percent dividend increase for stock that has declined about 20 percent in value over the last 8.5 months.

DAVID MONSEES, Boise

GARDEN CITY GREENBELT

Steps can be taken for walkers, bikers

On the Garden City Greenbelt, I believe all parties (walkers and bikers) have equal rights. As an occasional bike rider and daily walker, I was dismayed with the election, but what is, is.

In response to a letter on Nov. 29, “Walkers destroy biking experience,” bikers routinely destroy my walking experience to the point there are certain sections I will no longer use. In the past two years I have observed no biker voluntarily driving off the path, dismounting and walking around any pedestrian (including disabled), and only very few have slowed down appreciably. I suggest the author walk the path east of Glenwood and observe the open hostility and comments from bikers, albeit a minority.

So is there room for both groups to experience equal enjoyment? I would like to offer a few suggestions:

1. Close the Greenbelt to walkers on specified days or specific times during the day and vice versa.

2. Alternatively designate which group has the right of way on specified days or times during the day.

3. Paint a stripe down the middle — walkers south, riders north.

4. Encourage bikers to install devises to alert walkers.

5. Adopt ordinances similar to Boise restricting bike use.

JAMES MARTINEK, Garden City

VULTURE CAPITALISTS

Businesses profit at taxpayer expense

Gosh, I was thrilled to see Idaho voters reject Republican plans to lease laptops. P.C. sales are down big and creating laws that guarantee profits are a good thing if you’re a stockholder. Kind of like letting banks in on student loans or creating vouchers that work at for-profit schools.

Now the people in Idaho need to realize that letting business get at taxpayer dollars is what Republicans do. Remember the prescription drug plan? Americans can’t buy the same drug at the same price as Canadians do. It’s guarantees like that which make our health care system the most expensive in the world. Same thing with the military. I hear we’re up to spending as much as the next 18 countries combined. Do you think military contractors have anything to do with that?

Next election, I hope Democratic momentum continues. Hopefully, Idaho voters will realize that what we need is a representative that protects our government from all the vulture capitalists rather than a Republican who encourages them to rob it blind.

LARRY LUGAR, Boise

PALESTINIANS & U.N.

U.S. wasting capital on fruitless dispute

Recently, an overwhelming majority of the U.N. voted to upgrade the Palestinians’ status from “nonmember observer entity” to “nonmember observer state.” The General Assembly vote was lopsided, with the U.S. and Israel among a small group who opposed the measure. The upgrade strengthens the hand of the Palestinians on the world stage, but was considered counterproductive by the U.S. and Israeli governments, and an obstacle to the peace process. What peace process? No real progress has been made between these parties for decades and both sides are to blame. Following the U.N. vote, what did Israel do? It proposed new settlements on the West Bank, hardly a step in the right direction. I see real peace near impossible to achieve because of the unequal bargaining power between the two parties, with Israel holding the upper hand because of its occupation of Palestinian lands, etc. So, who can blame the Palestinians for seeking to increase their clout diplomatically at the U.N. and possibly elsewhere? I hope the Palestinians later use the International Criminal Court to highlight Israeli abuses and I hope the Israelis respond in their usual irrational manner.

The U.S. should stop wasting its political capital on them both. They deserve each other.

ROBERT BLEVINS, Garden City