Your Voice: March 2, 2022

Doug Hamada

Hood River

Worth reading

My reading and research has revealed a book entitled “The Wrong War: Afghanistan, A War We Cannot Win and Cannot Afford To Lose.” The book is available at the Hood River County Library. It was written by Bing West, a Marine Corps Combat Veteran and Assistant Secretary of Defense. It was published in 2011.

I heard a quote once, “You can’t defeat ideology with technology.”

Bill Perkins, Army Vet, Korea

Hood River

Support Ukraine

I recently donated some money on behalf of my company towards the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Ukraine. I found this link through a Google search ‘how to donate to Ukraine’. The Catholic Relief Services is approved through the Better Business Bureau.

There are other links and options of ways to donate. Now more than ever it seems like the moment to help in any way that we can. Democracy and the freedom to choose our paths in life are the foundations for everything that we do as a business and how I live personally, so it goes without thinking for me. Freedom is fragile and I want to play any role that I can in helping sustain it for as many people as possible around the world from Afghanistan to Ukraine to my backyard. I’m not Jeff Bezos but I still can play a role.

Avery Hoyt

White Salmon

Great Job HRCSD!

Congratulations to Hood River County School District on an eighth consecutive year “clean financial audit,” as reported in the Feb 2 Columbia Gorge News. I know from my time on the school board and the budget committee that this achievement represents focused work by the financial department and continued financial leadership commitment from Superintendent Polkinghorn and the school board. This achievement provides continued assurance to all tax payers of the respect and stewardship by the district of funds that come in and how they are spent. Looking further back in years and at other districts, we can see this level of stewardship is not something that can be taken for granted.

Thank you HRCSD for keeping your eye on the ball in the midst of so many issues, for following laws to protect people and our tax dollars, and providing excellence in education opportunities for all.

Rich Truax

Hood River

Modify legislation

As the small business owner of Miller Girls Pet Care Service and a mother, I shudder to think what this pandemic would have been like without the technology tools that have sustained both my family and my business in these dark times. I run a pet walking/pet sitting business and rely on online tools to communicate with customers, rely on Amazon for supplies and use social media channels to promote my business. As much as I use those tools for work, I may use them even more for my family. I am keenly aware that the technology that has kept me going is not ubiquitous and I hope that Congress increases broadband access so that all Americans can benefit from online opportunities. It is confounding, then, to hear that there are those in Congress pushing legislation under the banner of antitrust reform for big tech that would make it more difficult and maybe impossible to access those online tools that have kept us going during the pandemic.

Congress is currently debating the “American Innovation and Choice Online Act” (S.2992/HR 3816), a bill that would prohibit platforms prioritizing their own products and services. While that might sound good in principle, in practice it could mean that Amazon would be banned from providing free two-day shipping on its own Prime products; Google could no longer display its shopping results and would be prevented from displaying Google Maps or local business reviews. During the pandemic, communities supported their local businesses, but this bill would make it harder for customers to easily find information about their neighborhood businesses, like mine, through Google search.

I don’t think big tech should have unfettered power but I also don’t think that stripping the internet of some of the most used and relied upon services is the right way to regulate that industry. Rather than making access to online services more difficult, Congress should look to ease barriers to online tools that will benefit small businesses and families here in Washington and across the country.

Brandy Miller

Bingen

Theory of Relativity

Energy equals mass times the speed of light squared. The current play/musical at HRVHS is The Theory of Relativity which uses science as a metaphor for human connection. Since space and time are connected, the same event may look to take place at different times in different ways to humans, and the musical shows how supposed unrelated events in space and time connect us.

College has always been a time of wondering how a person changes but keeps the same Footprints (a song with lyrics to ponder). The musical was written after interviewing groups of college age people to find out what was going on in their lives. “They are unsure, eager, joyful, and susceptible to the demands or wishes of parents and peers, yet, above all else, they are searching for their place in the world.”

“Everybody’s a mad scientist, and life is their lab ...”

The Theory of Relativity: a musical with science and heart, joy and questions.

Tom Hons

Hood River

Incredible transformation

After reading the article about the proposed Navigation Center in The Dalles that would help those experiencing houselessness, it made me realize the issues we now face in the Gorge and how much the area has changed. I’m not yet an old timer, according to some, but in 34 years I’ve already seen some incredible transformation here.

Some changes were big and consequential, others small and less so. I remember when Safeway was located in downtown Hood River and when The Dalles Dam had a little visitor train to ride. Orchards gave rise to housing developments and new industries moved in. In general, change is good because it keeps us alive. We’ve known that; Marcus Aurelius wrote nearly 2,000 years ago that change allows trees to become firewood, and firewood to fire, which keeps us warm in the winter. I am grateful for that.

However, some changes are difficult. Last summer we saw thermostats creep well past 110 degrees, the mountains lose a jarring amount of snow, and trees die left and right. Not long before that was the Eagle Creek fire in 2017, where our backyard was transformed into a fiery hellscape. I’ve never been in a war zone, but I can imagine the parallels.

Events like these are becoming commonplace, unfortunately, unintended consequences of simply living in today’s world. Heating a house, driving a car, and buying necessities all put carbon in the atmosphere one way or another. I would like to think that carrying around a metal straw, or not eating a hamburger would be enough to keep the world from cooking. But it’s not. It’s a bigger problem that requires a bigger solution, and in our society that means government. The advantage we have as Americans is that we decide our own fate. We do that by telling our legislators what matters. I’ve told them we need real action on climate change. Will you?

Please do, by contacting:

White Salmon: Sens. Patty Murray, Maria Cantwell; Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Butler.

Hood River/ The Dalles: Sens. Ron Wyden, Jeff Merkley; Congressman Cliff Benz.

Karl Nachmann

Hood River

Russian domination

I have begun a series in our paper concerning Russia, the Scriptures Gog, Prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal. I have suggested it before, “The Russians are coming.” The 38th Chapter of Ezekiel is an amazing read. Written about 600 BC it tells us current news. People, that other political gang is not your enemy. Your enemy is the Holy Roman Catholic Church and Russia. These two political, military and religious monsters are the ones who will take away the freedoms you are fighting for.

Do not be mistaken, Russia will invade and occupy Ukraine. She will occupy all of Eastern Europe. She will eventually control all of Europe. Most of you are ignorant of these facts. If you were diligent readers of the Scriptures you would understand why this is happening. Your hate for the Scriptures (the bible) is well founded and reasonable. People judge and condemn the books not from a reading of them. They are deemed worthless trash by association. The behavior of pastor and the history of the church system, specifically the Vatican have shamed these honorable worthy books. The Hebrew prophets wrote to inform us that Russia and the Catholic Church would unite, as the Vatican attempted with Hitler’s Germany, to accomplish one goal. Conquer and control Europe and then the entire world. Catholic Rome will be alongside with her “moral” backing and to grab her share of the gold. Popes worship gold.

Russia and the Catholic Church will dominate all of Europe except England. I told you that England would leave the EU years before it happened because the Hebrew prophets predicted it. Catholic Europe has been plotting to destroy Protestant English Royalty for 500 years. England could not be of Europe, so thanks to Brexit, the sides are being drawn.

Russia cannot dominate the world unless it takes the “keystone nation” first, Egypt. It will not take Egypt until it occupies Turkey. It will not take Turkey until it occupies the Crimea (done) Ukraine and Europe.

Reliable knowledge will ease the fear. I have a free 16 page herald on Ezekiel 38.

Gary Fischer

The Dalles