Letters to the editor: COVID-19, U.S. senators, tax dollars, PPP loans
COVID-19
Are the dollars more important than the deaths that occur? Apparently they are. In the last four days we have had 10% of all deaths in Idaho from COVID! Why? A do-nothing governor who passes the decisions to local governments for fear of upsetting his base. CDH sitting on their hands. People who refuse to listen to the experts. If a doctor said you needed medication or surgery to stay healthy, you do it without question. He asks you to wear a mask to stay healthy, and the feel-good bonus of keeping other people safe and that infringes on your personal rights? If you don’t wear a mask, I pray that somebody you love doesn’t get sick or worse.
Timothy Walsh, Boise
Seat warmers
Idahoans are happy not being represented in the Senate. The evidence is overwhelming seat warmers Crapo and Risch do not represent Idaho but only themselves. The dereliction of duty was flagrant during the impeachment trial, with Risch sleeping through it on national television. Even now, Trump uses the White House and staff to film a 45-minute tantrum over the election, which violates federal law. Our troops, cops, firefighters and medical personnel, risk their lives daily, while these seat warmers enjoy a life of wealth and privilege for doing nothing. The stock market is not a reflection of how working and unemployed Americans are doing, just them.
With no jobs available, due to the Trump herd immunity plan, Senator Romney worked to try to help the unemployed avoid homelessness and feed families with food banks running low. The seat warmers have done nothing to help Idahoans. Their only concern is their political career and will risk nothing.
Carrie Huskinson, Mountain Home
U.S. tax dollars
I am writing as a comment to Amber Daley’s letter to the editor. In this letter Amber makes a case for the U.S. spending $20 billion to work toward globally “ending poverty and leveling the playing field for women and girls.” She calls on Congress for immediate action and implores Sens. Jim Risch and Mike Crapo to support this funding.
What a load of hogwash. Here we go again — let’s spend U.S. tax dollars on some far-fetched pie-in-the-sky dream that throwing money at global problems will help. Oh it sounds nice — like a Miss America pageant winner saying she is all for world peace. Spare me this useless drivel.
Similar to Don Quixote’s quests, giving away our hard-earned tax dollars to other countries or NGOs to assist in eradicating global poverty and leveling the playing field for women and girls is lunacy at its finest. We might as well just put it in a pile and burn it for all the good it will do.
But Amber is free to donate her money as she sees fit. Not everyone else’s, please.
Lynn Feldmann, Bonners Ferry
PPP loans
I’m intrigued the folks who are dedicated to saving us from a Socialist Armageddon felt the need to accept government funding from the Paycheck Protection Program. Our gun-packing and bible-carrying lieutenant governor received over $300K. The nonprofit Idaho Freedom Foundation received $128,000 to compensate for a decline in donations. Also, five of its directors accepted over $2 million in the low-interest loans. These are the people who trumpet free enterprise, small government, fiscal conservativism, and no government handouts! Their logic for accepting the loans is comparable to a Gordian knot tied around a corkscrew. But fear not, the PPP allows for repayment if the recipient chooses to do so. I’m sure given their loudly proclaimed conservative philosophy they will repay the loans as soon as possible.
Bob Fritsch, Boise