All mixed up
I think Marty Trillhaase and Mike Kingsley are both all mixed up on the absentee voting issue. It seems pertinent to check the Idaho Constitution on this issue.
Copied and pasted: “Article VI Suffrage and Elections
“Section 1. Secret Ballot Guaranteed. All elections by the people must be by ballot. An absolutely secret ballot is hereby guaranteed, and it shall be the duty of the legislature to enact such laws as shall carry this section into effect.”
A secret ballot has no monetary value. You cannot prove your vote so it cannot be sold. None of us has any objection to absentee voting for military, elderly or disabled or those who will be traveling.
But I have a civil right to a secret ballot. It is that simple. My right to a secret ballot includes that your ballot also be not provable. Someone’s desire for convenience does not supersede my right.
Mike, the Constitution makes your case, not some goofy mailman story. Marty, I’m not sure you really want a constitutional change. But if so, say so.
Terry Kristof
Sweetwater
Outdoing themselves
On Feb. 16, the Tribune printed an 1,153-word screed by one of its favorite blatherskites, Marc Johnson. Johnson’s message: Republicans bad.
It’s practically impossible to refute that argument, seeing that the motivation of 99.44% of humans is self-interest. However, any clear thinker could conclude that the USA has a one-party political system, which has two branches: the evil branch and the stupid branch.
The Republicans are the stupid branch. A clear-headed Tribune analyst might deduce the identity of the evil branch. Unless the abundance of evidence is too confusing.
On Jan. 9, the Tribune’s top headline was “Clarkston moves toward allowing afforable (sic) housing.” This statement featured one of the Trib’s most popular goofs: misspelling. The correct word would have been “affordable.” A proofreader might have caught that.
But we peasants respect the Trib’s bravado, putting a typo in the front-page headline. Zowie.
Having sacrificed its credibility on the altar of expeditiousness, the Trib charged ahead with the rest of its Jan. 9 front page. The second story, directly under the “afforable housing” piece, was headlined, ‘Folks, we can do better’.
Oh, yeah? Show us.
The Tribune’s politico-literary martinets have outdone themselves.
Bridger Barnett
Clarkston
Questions about embryos
A judge ruled that an embryo is now a child.
My first question is, is the embryo issued a Social Security number, since every child has to have one?
Secondly, does this ruling mean that the parents can claim these as a deduction on their federal tax return? (Example: If they have 100 embryos, can they claim all of them?)
Thirdly, if one of the parents die, can they claim survival benefits for each one?
I think this needs clarification.
William Watts
Clarkston
Dams provide power
Regarding Snake River hydroelectric dams: These dams may present an obstacle to salmon recovery but then there are Columbia River dams; a warming, polluted Pacific Ocean; and excessive salmon bycatch by commercial fishermen, and possible illegal fishing by foreign nations.
The Port of Lewiston on the Snake River provides economic water transportation for farm products and farm necessities and inland communities. The Snake River and Columbia River hydroelectric dams provide economic and pollution-free electric power to the Northwest, as well as needed irrigation for farm-grown food and industrial crops.
To meet the legal demands of tribes, it would be more sensible to offer tribe members a free ride in an Air Force C-17 to the North Slope of Alaska where we reasonably know there are salmon.
Destroying Snake River hydroelectric dams is not a long-term solution for salmon recovery in and of itself, and it will be wasteful of a limited quantity of public funds.
Ron Morrison
Tacoma
