Letters to the Editor, Oct. 11 edition

Last Sunday, Pence went to an NFL football game and apparently was shocked to learn that some U.S. citizens, who also happen to play NFL football, chose to peacefully express their First Amendment rights.

I cannot wait to see how Mr. Pence reacts when he learns the president joked about sexually abusing women. The Emmys only happen once a year, but given the delay he receives news, I think the vice president is a shoe-in for the 2018 nomination. Fingers crossed.

Steve Kaplan

Hood River

Death by federal silencers

Once again, the debate about legal weapons in the United States centers on unfounded beliefs about automatic weapons versus easily observable scientific facts. There is only one truly guilty party to point fingers at in this discussion: an American Congress which silences objective research into the study of disabilities and deaths due to firearms.

Easily obtainable facts will show even the dullest of Americans that four major diseases which have caused 2,000 deaths in the past 40 years have received nearly 500 research grants, yet in the same time frame, shootings from firearms numbered around four million and only three research awards were given out. Since I graduated from OSU in 1966 (51 years), there have been more U.S. civilian deaths by firearms than total U.S. combat deaths since 1776.

Now our Congress is being asked to consider reaffirming the legality of extremely rapid fire semi-automatic weapons (oxymoron for pseudo-machine guns) and also adding legality of gun silencers to up the killing repertoire of the maladjusted white American males who are responsible for the majority of mass killings in our country. If we allow our federal government to continue to sell its soul to the highest bidders, then we all are guilty. The time to stand up and denounce this charade is now, in letters and the ballot box. If not, then we ourselves are condoning mass murders here and are thus as guilty as those who, as an important man pointed out some 2,000 years ago, have thrown the first stones.

Richard McBee

Hood River

Clean elections

California just passed and Gov. Brown just signed AB 249, known as the California Clean Money Campaign. Its purpose is to disclose the use of hidden money in campaigns, an attempt to mitigate the “Citizens United” decision of the U.S. Supreme Court. For citizens of California, it exposes who is attempting to buy their elections by flooding the issue with money from unknown sources, sometimes aimed at assisting a measure or candidate, and sometimes attacking a measure or candidate without citizens knowing who or why money poured into a particular campaign.

Now we need either Sen. Thomsen or Rep. Johnson to sponsor similar legislation for Oregon, or possibly someone in the Portland area will do so. Hats off to Gov. Brown for standing up for democracy and clean elections.

Rob Brostoff

Cascade Locks

Wants info

Why no arrests in the Eagle Creek fire? Lack of evidence?

Waiting on the fire to be out to calculate total damages? Don’t worry, no supposed perpetrator or his family will be able to make a dent in the damage. The Oregon State Police owe it to this community, to the people of the Gorge, the businesses affected, the brave firefighters and to the Gorge itself to make an arrest or at least let the public know their strategy. They are not the judge and jury, and hopefully they are not operating under the assumption that the supposed perpetrator, his friends and family have suffered enough. With no statement from OSP or the supposed perpetrator, his family or friends, they could be laughing this off as a fun prank.

Hugh Amick

Hood River