Already safe
A petition is being circulated in Washington State to get Initiative Measure IL26-126 to the state legislators by Jan. 2, 2026. The petitioners claim that passage of the measure will make the election system safer. Washington State already has a safe and secure system with a very low rate of fraud. Changing the law would only make the system more burdensome, and the wannabe fraudsters would still be with us. Many organizations have taken a position against passage of IL26-126, including the non-partisan Washington State League of Women Voters. Please search for “Decline to Sign,” read for yourself about IL26-126, then decline to sign the petition.
Janet Holen
White Salmon
Reconciliation
The poet, David Gate, writes that daring to say something that is deeply and fundamentally true for us in a world awash with lies is the first act of rebellion. I would add that it can also be the first act of reconciliation and understanding in our politically broken country, if it is spoken to another from the heart without judgment, and so long as our statement is accompanied by genuine curiosity about what that fellow human also knows to be fundamentally true. The hard part, however, is that we must be willing to really listen to their answer without arguing.
It is the goal of the organization Braver Angels (www.braverangels.org) to help us all acquire these skills. Maybe we can get back to working together for the good of our communities, even when we disagree. Especially when we disagree.
Tom Pierson
Glenwood
Fire aftermath
I’m a Rowena Fire victim. I lost everything I owned, and the house is flattened. I lived at 4510 Discovery Road — they saved the Discovery Center, but turned their backs on my house.
I’ve been in a hotel from July 1 until now. I’m moving into a bedroom because everybody wants you to make two to four times the rent before you will be considered for a place to live. I was put on a three year waiting list for low-income housing. I’ve contacted all these organizations that have done fundraising for the fire victims, and guess what? I’ve not received help from anybody. I only get $90 in SNAP benefits, and I’m on social security. You tell me how is any of this helping fire victims like me.
Karen Schell
The Dalles
Expectations
Recent letters here have bemoaned the personal increase in taxes. One said he was waiting to hear a reduction proposed. How could this be expected when the population here is increasing, and needs are obvious? What’s possible is these writers reflect the wrong people paying taxes. Americans expect quality living, but they expect it on the cheap.
Polls show the happiest people in the world are Scandinavians, and their taxes range from 20% to more than 50%. In Norway, I asked a hotel worker why I saw no homeless people, and he replied, “The government makes sure everyone has housing.”
Scanning the Wall Street Journal, my mind churns over the MANSION section. Every week is about a different place in the U.S. “The Village the Billionaires Love” is about the exclusive area of Cashiers, North Carolina. I am fascinated with the different architecture and buildings that sell for millions. Am I envious? No! Besides wondering how many maids it requires, I wonder how many of these owners have faced a hungry child and can still go on to spend that kind of money. Is a plush couch and bigger pool more satisfying than food for hungry people? Why isn’t there more joy — pure JOY! — in making a thriving existence for all across the country? Why does anyone need, or want, the “illions” to have a “b”? Certainly, a million or two ought to be enough for anyone.
I can admire the hard work required to make a fortune in our capitalist system. What I can’t understand is the spending priorities. Why shouldn’t we all want to make a quality society? In Washington and nationally, the wrong people are paying most of the taxes. Keep that in mind when you vote! It isn’t the amount charged; it’s who is being asked to pay it.
Roz Luther
Spokane, former Gorge resident
Lawlessness
The news is full of incidents of kidnapping citizens, brutal attacks on protestors, and blatant obstruction of the right to due process. The Coward and Thief is intent on escalating the situation as evidence from his tirade at the Pattonesque assembly of star rank commanders on Sept. 29, 2025, “Only in recent decades did politicians somehow come to believe that our job is to police the far reaches of Kenya and Somalia, while America is under invasion from within, we’re under invasion from within, no different than a foreign enemy, but more difficult in many ways because they don’t wear uniforms. At least when they are wearing a uniform you can take them out. It is war from within …”
He has amplified and clarified his bigoted savagery in his conclave of sycophants Dec. 3, 2025, “Somalia, which is barely a country … That is not politically correct. I do not care. I don’t want them in our country. Their country is no good for a reason. Their country stinks and we don’t want them in our country. Ilhan Omar (member of Congress) is garbage. She is garbage …”
It is a short step from murdering people on the high seas to murdering U. S. citizens on our city streets!
The U.S Constitution applies to everyone in government from the president, chief justice, admiral, dog catcher, parking attendant, custodian, seaman apprentice, and everyone in between. Only Congress can authorize, within well-defined limits, killing!
There is no declaration of war! Even if Congress did declare war, killing of unarmed people trying to survive and trying to surrender is murder! Murder has no statute of limitations. Murder is punishable across national boundaries and upon the high seas.
In 2015, a court convicted Oskar Groning, accountant at Sobibor death camp in 1943-45, as an accessory to murder. In 2016, the court also convicted Reinhold Hanning, a low-level Sobibor guard of accessory to murder. The Army court martialed and convicted Army Lieutenant William Caley of premeditated murder of 22 civilians and sentenced him to life.
Justice will in time come to this lawless administration!
Terry Armentrout
The Dalles
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