Letters, letters, letters

The Nugget welcomes contributions from its readers, which must include the writer's name, address and phone number. Letters to the Editor is an open forum for the community and contains unsolicited opinions not necessarily shared by the Editor. The Nugget reserves the right to edit, omit, respond or ask for a response to letters submitted to the Editor. Letters should be no longer than 300 words. Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned. The deadline for all letters is noon Monday.

To the Editor:

After viewing the preponderance of left leaning editorials about the election, recently, I felt a little balance was needed.

Basically, the Democrats problem is that John Kerry is an, "empty suit." In my opinion he is a highly skilled political opportunist who offers very little in the way of substance and character. In addition, he possesses the most liberal voting record in the Senate in many years.

He has not sponsored a major piece of legislation in 20 years and has basically hidden behind Ted Kennedy, probably the most corrupt and incompetent politician in the 20th century.

I have very little trust or respect for a man who tries to trade on his supposed war hero status. We have a war hero in our family, our son Zak, who served in Iraq and will be going back soon. He is very modest about any accomplishments, and states, "I just wanted to do my job and bring my men back safely." He wants nothing to do with talk of his hero status.

The Democrats were devastated after Howard Dean imploded on national TV and grabbed John Kerry as the only plausible possibility. Running on his congressional record is impossible because he has done nothing, so someone concocted the strategy of trading on his war hero status, completely playing down his performance in front of Congress upon his return.

Now the DNC and Terry McAuliffe show their desperation by convincing Dan Rather to air forged government documents regarding the National Guard service of President Bush. I am saddened and disappointed that a large group of people in this country can support a person of this ilk, at this crucial time in our history where once again we are forced to fight for our precious freedom.

We need a person of substance who knows what he believes in and has the courage to stand in the face of enemies who want nothing more than to take what we have defended for two hundred years.

Sure we have a myriad of other problems, but nothing is more important than our freedom and way of life, for without it nothing else matters. We will work toward resolution of very complex issues, such as healthcare and job creation. These issues can and will be resolved by competent people over time, but never by an empty suit, East Coast elitist, such as John Kerry.

Terry Burke

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To the Editor:

I found last week's guest opinion piece ("Election: It's the war on terror, stupid," The Nugget, September 15, page 2) to be interesting. I think he has the wrong political slogan, however. I think it should be "It's stupid, stupid."

Osama bin Laden hopes to do to the United States what we did to the Soviet Union, send us into bankruptcy. We did it to the Soviet Union by outspending them, and they went bankrupt trying to keep up. Bin Laden can't outspend us, but he can disrupt our economy and cause us to put large sums of money into security.

He must have been overjoyed when we invaded Iraq. Not only did that take some of the pressure off of him in Afghanistan, but it committed us to almost unbelievable expenditures, expenditures with no end in sight.

It might not have been quite as bad if we had done it right, but we didn't. The Bush administration, despite warnings from some of the country's top military minds, insisted on invading with a force that was just sufficient to sweep across the country; as President Bush has said, "probably too fast." (This is not surprising, as a general who was there said, "Saddam Hussein was a "Paper Tiger.")

But we didn't have a force large enough to secure the country. The result was, while our forces were looking for weapons of mass destruction, all the conventional weapons that any future successor to Saddam might want were free for the taking.

Now, not only are we bogged down economically but also militarily. Iran and North Korea are more of a threat to world stability than bin Laden and Saddam combined, but our ability to use military pressure is badly compromised by our involvement in Iraq. Their leaders can and are thumbing their noses at us every day.

After alienating most of our traditional allies, the Bush administration is counting on countries like China to help us solve the problem. China is a rival and possible enemy, not an ally.

So how has the Bush administration helped our and the world's security? Maybe he has improved bin Laden's disposition. I am sure he goes to bed chuckling every night.

Blair Osterlund

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To the Editor:

This is in response to your editorial in the September 1 edition of The Nugget in which you make a gross misstatement about Halliburton.

It is true that the company is grossing billions from the contract (in Iraq) but its profit is limited to 1 percent of the contract with an additional 2 percent for superior performance.

The 2 percent will not be earned and it now appears that the company will lose money on the overall contract, not even earning the 1 percent.

The company seems to have been overwhelmed by the size of the contract as well as many complications. I would suggest that you correct your statement.

Jerry Moore

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To the Editor:

If Jack Berry (The Nugget, Letters to the Editor, September 15) really believes that Republicans are more likely than Democrats to save Social Security, he must also believe in the Tooth Fairy. Republicans opposed both Social Security and Medicare from their inceptions.

Indeed, that party is ideologically and congenitally opposed to both programs. Their 1996 Presidential candidate Bob Dole acknowledged that had he been in Congress when Social Security was created he would have voted against it.

Bush's latest hare-brained scheme to destroy Social Security is the so-called "privatization" scam. This one is even worse than the one Ronald Reagan tried in 1985-86 that failed miserably and cost Republicans the Senate, which they then held, and dozens of House seats.

And Reagan was far more popular than this Republican Great Pretender.

One clue to Bush's sincerity on this issue is his claim that he wants to "protect" Americans from buying Canadian drugs because they might be unsafe.

Please spare us the conservative compassion.

Canada ranks higher than the U.S. in most indices of national healthcare. Among other measures, they live longer than Americans, have lower infant mortality and infectious disease death rates. Yet Bush would have us believe that Canadian drugs are unsafe?

I thought about it, Mr. Berry. There really is a Tooth Fairy after all. He's in the White House.

R.T. Tihista

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To the Editor:

I am a senior at Sisters High School. The following words reflect my thoughts on our president and the war in Iraq:

In the warm night of summer I gaze up at the stars. How many countless nights have they looked down upon earth's scars?

As the rulers of the earth, we fight among ourselves, brother and sister bickering; nations destroy themselves.

How many deaths the stars have seen, yet still we cannot see; to live on this earth together, we must let each other be.

Although war has achieved great things-- we as Americans live free-- some people across the earth don't understand; they just won't let us be.

As long as there are countries captive around the earth, the stars won't see peace; it will have no rebirth.

And so the stars look down, the truth only they can see: To end this mindless conflict, the whole world must be free.

Byron Womack

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To the Editor:

One thing the Tollgate residents should do until they have paths is obey the rules for walking by roads.

The man in the picture ("Tollgate votes again on pedestrian paths," The Nugget, September 8, page 4) is going in the same direction as the car behind him.

You are supposed to walk facing the oncoming traffic. He should have been on the other side of the road.

Lucia Powers

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To the Editor:

The Black Butte Ranch Art Guild thanks the greater Sisters community for your support of our art show, Art At The Ranch, held this Labor Day weekend. The overwhelming support from Sisters' businesses encouraged visitors to attend this annual event, and all enjoyed the art and the setting.

We had talented artists showing their works both on Friday and Saturday (September 3-4) and we saw some very happy visitors leaving with their purchases.

Clearly, this show could not have been put on without the involvement of the individuals behind the scenes, all of whom deserve our many thanks.

Carol Moyer's name was drawn as the Raffle Quilt winner and she was completely surprised when she was presented with the quilt while having dinner at the Aspen Lodge at Black Butte Ranch.

The real winners, however, continue to be the talented Sisters High School seniors who plan to continue study in the field of art.

This year, the Art Guild was able to give three $1,000 scholarships to deserving students. These scholarships were made possible by all of you who attended the event and made a purchase.

Thank you all, and we hope to see you at next year's show.

Lee and Marti Kufchak Co-chairpersons, Black Butte Ranch Art Guild

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To the Editor:

Once again the generosity of the Sisters community has shined. The family advocates of Sisters Family Access Network (FAN), would like to thank Jeff Taylor, Janis Demers and the crew at Les Schwab for hosting and helping with the "Tools for School" school supplies drive.

A generous amount of supplies arrived in time for 46 students to start the new school year with adequate supplies.

Thank you to the community for their quick response to fill up the truck-bed tool box at Les Schwab.

Students and families will also begin the school year with warm coats thanks to Wayne and Luann Danforth and their crew in Crossroads.

On September 11, with the help of the Danforths, Evellita and Wendall Halterman, Tom and Patty Cook and Sisters Kiwanis volunteers, Sisters FAN distributed Columbia coats, boots, and sportswear to 237 people.

Thank you for the partnership with Sisters FAN and for making these programs possible in the Sisters community.

Gratefully,

Margaret Zimet and Theresa Slavkovsky

Sisters FAN family advocates