Letters to the Editor, February 4-10, 2021

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The Editor:

During the opening of the Washington State Legislature session in early January, I watched the speech on TVW by Doug Ericksen, our 42nd District state senator. Ericksen ridiculed the Covid-19 restricted legislative opening by comparing it to a group of farm animals in George Orwell’s book, Animal Farm, a satirical anti-communism tale, where animals rebel against their human farmer but end up under the dictatorship of a pig. 

After the November general election, Ericksen continued the unproven “rigged election” conspiracy theory suggesting that our vote-by-mail system was unsafe. Since then, our Republican Secretary of State Kim Wyman and her family had to go into hiding due to death threats against them.

The January 21 edition of The Northern Light contained letters to the editor complaining about the tone of several letters from the previous January 14 edition. These writers complained that the previous letters carried a vitriolic tone, and that by printing these letters, The Northern Light was being unfair to conservatives and their free speech rights. 

After reading the January 14 letters, I would be hard pressed to classify them as being vitriolic, defined in the dictionary as “savagely hostile comments or criticism.” Those letters were mostly sharing observations many of us saw live on national TV, on the January 6 storming of the U.S. Congress. 

Conspiracy theories and paranoid thinking have resulted in serious damage to our society. We need to stop using the term “fake news” that was turned into a weapon for attacking the legitimacy of the press. Recent research from the journalism nonprofit Knight Foundation and Gallup, which conducts public opinion polls, shows the majority of Americans agree that misinformation on tech platforms is a problem. 

We need to restore a sense of shared reality and responsibility and reduce the underlying fear that drives “us versus them,” restore basic norms and decency, such as honoring facts and communicating with compassion. We need to stop pointing fingers, blaming others, and work together to find common ground to solve problems, like the Covid pandemic, Covid-related impacts to our economy and opening up our schools. 

D. Brady Green

Blaine

 

The Editor:

I read Don Starr’s “obituary” (letter to the editor) in The Northern Light of January 28 issue with true dismay. He is obviously a true liberal, most of whom have extreme difficulty determining right from wrong. He cites Donald Trump’s lies, which I will not deny; however, collectively, all of them were “white.” A far cry from those intentional lies the liberals (Sleepy Joe included) relate with exasperating impunity relentlessly. Mr. Starr – all politicians lie. It’s up to us to determine who tells the fewest and vote for the one that will tell the fewest.

Donald Trump was a true believer in our democratic republic and the Constitution for which he worked throughout his administration. The sore loser leftists began attacking him without valid evidence on his first day in office and relentlessly thereafter.

The left has no interest in a democracy wherein it’s all for one and one for all, and freedom of speech and religion prevail. The leftists want socialism wherein all are equal, i.e. equal under the hammer and the hammer will come down hard on the proletariat that chooses not to prevail. Socialism has been tried in many countries and most have given it up in favor of capitalism. They eventually realize that the social masses really want a government that they control, which is the way the founding fathers meant it to be.

I have many friends and relations who identify themselves as liberals in spite of the fact I’m essentially conservative. Bearing that in mind, we should all go along to get along. I would portend that all of humanity should adopt this attitude.

Mike Myers

Blaine

 

The Editor:

I realize this is trivial but I would like to point out an error in the reporting found in the police reports for January 21-27, bit.ly/3oy12lY.

To clarify, I believe that the writer intended to convey that the suspect slammed on his brakes, not breaks.

Jason Crossley

Blaine

 

The Editor:

Concerned, worried – legitimate feelings relative to the federal policies being established these past weeks – especially relative to energy and fossil fuel issues.

Most individuals are not well versed (nor should they necessarily need to be) in the inter-related technical aspects. Fossil fuel usage, like most all ‘useful’ commodities, is accompanied by both negative and positive trade-offs.

One side effect of fossil fuel usage, for transportation and electric-power generation, is the creation of carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide increases the reflective characteristic of the atmosphere, contributing to a warming effect in the atmosphere – arguably a negative trade-off.

Carbon dioxide also induces a fertilization element into the environment – a definite positive trade-off.

Studies have shown that the reflective contribution of carbon dioxide has near-leveled off. Studies have also determined that its fertilization contribution is not only ‘of value’ but a necessity. The present concentration of about 400 ppm (parts per million) is well below the recommended fertilization level of 800 to 1000 ppm, and the saturation level of 1300 ppm. As well, the present growth rate of carbon dioxide is only about 0.6 ppm per year.

Therefore, many experts contend that the positive ‘fertilization’ component of a carbon dioxide enhanced atmosphere far outweighs the negative, very moderately increasing, ‘reflective’ characteristic.

Worldwide, human-mass, over the past 100 years, has selectively migrated toward year-round increased temperatures, at a significantly greater rate than the overall increase in atmospheric temperature(s). Human beings, as opposed to polar bears and penguins, are a naturally tropical species that, without the direct and indirect support of fossil fuels, would not likely survive unprotected, much above the 23rd parallel. Humans inherently flourish in warmer climates. As well, fossil fuels, particularly petroleum products, are required raw material for thousands of products that support our lives.

The above issues are not of my expertise – simply information that is factual. Conversion and control of both power and energy (each quite different), and electric vehicles, are areas of my career knowledge and experience; however, time/space here is limited.

Suffice to say: Concern, worry and fear are justifiable. Not relative to the disciplines themselves, but for; that our political class is directing the ‘solutions,’ not our technical communities. Not yet sure why that is.

Peter Werner

Blaine

 

The Editor:

I am a bit weary of people who use terms without understanding that they are painting with a broad brush. There are those who believe that affordable health care for all is socialism. There are those who believe that health care for only those who can afford it is democracy. (Now, that’s painting with a broad brush.)

My view is that if the nation has affordable health care for all, the result would be a healthier workforce with fewer production days lost to sickness or ill health. Not only that, the 1 percent who control the workforce would thus make even more money and increase the employment rate. 

If only.

Richard Mollette

Custer

 

The Editor:

As we bear witness to the aggressive removal of houseless people from the encampment at Bellingham City Hall, we should remember this sort of combative response to people power is not new in Bellingham. The beginning of the U.S. Army occupation in this region was marked by the forced removal of people from their homes in order to construct a watchtower and prison. Bellingham is no stranger to militaristic actions disguised as public safety measures.

My question is: If safety for all is a priority of mayor Seth Fleetwood (as it should be), why did he deploy SWAT officers, paramilitary units, CBP officers, rooftop spotters, weapons, bulldozers, vehicles and police from both Bellingham and out of town against his own constituents? No city is safe when occupied by agents of state terror. Far from advocating for the houseless people of Bellingham, Seth Fleetwood has waged war against them.

One of the main authorities of the mayor is the ability to expropriate unused properties – and in the middle of a pandemic, there have never been more unused properties in Bellingham. This should mean that it has never been easier for city government to create safe and dignified housing for its community.

Existing shelters in town, including Lighthouse Mission and Base Camp, have faced serious criticism from those seeking support. Issues include: Discrimination based on mental health status and addiction, sexual assault allegations, forced religious views, and the myth of meritocracy – the idea that only people who work hard deserve housing. These are some of the many ways existing shelters in Bellingham have denied people’s humanity and dignity.

I am calling on mayor Seth Fleetwood to make reparations for the damage he has done in terrorizing the community, both housed and houseless. He must secure safe housing for every individual in Bellingham, and publicly apologize to the entire community for waging war on our streets.

Marii Herlinger

Bellingham

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