‘Welcome the stranger’
Oh, those caravans of invaders coming across the southern border.
We must deal with them by sending them back to fix their countries of origin, leaving them to suffer and be harassed at the border and transporting them to Democratically-run cities in the north where it is freezing cold and they know no one. What an absurd way to “welcome the stranger.”
Meanwhile, there is a labor shortage. Older people are not working to full retirement age of 70. Others are not interested in jobs that are not suitable because of hours, location and wages. There are signs of stress in stores and post offices where workers are overwhelmed with demands on productivity.
Imagine, certain railway workers do not have seven days paid sick leave.And there is a shortage of teachers and doctors. (Idaho alone needs 700-plus teachers.)
To add to these problems, the dysfunctional right-wing Supreme Court is keeping Title 42 in place, not allowing people across the border because of COVID-19, when it is rare to find anyone here wearing a mask these days. And President Joe Biden just expanded Title 42.
Let’s demand the three branches of government get serious and fix our immigration system.
That would improve the lives of many Americans and many immigrants, and restore our image in the world.
Let’s “welcome the stranger.”
Remember, some of our ancestors who came to this country were “strangers.”
Nancy Street
Cheney
Making sausage
There is an old quotation ascribed to Otto von Bismarck to the effect that “laws are like sausages. It is better not to see them being made.” (I have seen a couple versions of this quotation.)
This quotation came to my mind recently after watching the apparently interminable proceedings to see if Kevin McCarthy could be elected House speaker.
My problem with the process is not that they took their time to do the whole thing but that approximately 20 to 21 ultra-conservatives decided that they could not take control of the House of Representatives, hold all of us hostage and act on behalf of all of us.
It was nothing more than a blatant power play based on the concept that if they could not have their way, they would pick up everyone’s jacks, go home and leave the government unable to act.
The sad fact is that they think they know everything when, in fact, some of them like Matt Gaetz, Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene don’t show signs of knowing much of anything useful.
In the case of Boebert, the voters in her Colorado district may be catching on to this because she barely eked out a win in the last election. This is not all that common for an incumbent.
I, for one, go on record as saying that these 20 to 21 people in question do not speak for me and I doubt that they ever will.
Danny
Radakovich
Lewiston
Foreman forgets voters
In his 2023 State of the State address, Gov. Brad Little addressed his budget priorities for the 2023 legislative session. At the top of his list are plans to follow through on our legislators’ September special session promise to increase funding for K-12 public and career education by $410 million.
Dan Foreman, newly elected senator from Legislative District 6, is showing his true colors right out of the gate.
He does not see ranking 41st in the nation for starting teacher salaries and 51st in funding per student as a problem.
He wants the quality of Idaho education to be evaluated before increasing funding for education. This apparently includes solving societal issues such as drugs, “the breakup of the family unit” and “interference by the federal government,” which he says are affecting school performance. (Lewiston Tribune, Tuesday).
Wow. I’d love to hear his proposals for addressing those concerns while Idaho’s educational system remains so inadequately funded.
Foreman clearly does not represent Moscow voters, who show our support for public education by funding almost half of the Moscow School District’s annual budget through an ongoing supplemental levy.
And he doesn’t represent the 1,000 volunteers from across the state, the 100,000 voters who signed the Quality Education Act to put Proposition 1 on the ballot last November or the 80% of Idaho voters who on the Nov. 8 ballot overwhelmingly approved of the action taken in the special session.
Idahoans deserve better representation in our Legislature.
Gretchen Wissner
Moscow
