Letters to the Editor 4/12/2022

Radical column

To the Editor:

Ryan Moffat’s commentary “Easter for everyone,” (The Nugget, March 30, page 8) hangs on my refrigerator where I have read and reread it several times. My admiration for The Nugget has increased tenfold for the boldness of publishing such a radical piece.

Yes, Jesus Christ remains the most radical association on the face of the earth. I know this firsthand. For the 25 years prior to 2019, I would have written this letter in vehement criticism of publishing such a commentary. How dare you, I would have said. I was a derisive atheist cum apathetic agnostic cum new age seeker until the Holy Spirit overcame me, and I became a follower of Jesus Christ. No one was more shocked than me, but it has been the greatest gift I have ever received.

In Christ, I now find the answer to the meaning of life, have a true understanding of good and evil, and — importantly — know what to do and where to go with my grief, pain, and fear.

Thank you for sharing Mr. Moffat’s exceptional piece. What an encouragement it was! It’s never too late to open our hearts to Jesus, and there is no amount of cultural or scientific criticism that can undermine the truth of the gospel. Praise the Lord!

Dawn Bernhardt

No to Schrader

To the Editor:

An unfortunate possible result of Sisters Country becoming a part of Oregon’s 5th Congressional District is the fact that we may be represented in Congress by incumbent Kurt Schrader.

This guy is bad news and ought not be reelected to office.

Schrader is a classic example of a politician in the pocket of big business. His first Oregon campaign in 2008 was funded by inherited family wealth earned from Pfizer and he has been on the pharmaceutical take ever since, having received nearly $700 million in campaign funds from the pharmaceutical industry. In 2021 he was the No. 1 Democratic recipient of money from pharma company PACs (Opensecrets.org). He’s taken money from 19 of the world’s top 20 pharma corporations. The dark money group Center Forward is financing the media blitz we are

now seeing in Central Oregon.

Schrader’s record in Congress reflects his pharma support. In 2021 he voted against President Biden’s Build Back Better plan that would have allowed Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices. He brags about lowering the cost of insulin as a result of a bill he didn’t sponsor, thereby taking credit for what his colleagues accomplished.

In 2020, nearly $360 billion was spent in the U.S. on prescription drugs. That’s an increase of 40 percent over the past decade. Per capita, this is higher than any other country.

Jamie McLeod Skinner is opposing Kurt Schrader in the upcoming 5th District primary. She offers a much better alternative to pharmaceutical-beholding Schrader.

Roger Detweiler

Real Easter

To the Editor:

Let a real Easter bloom in Sisters.

Can you make a flower? You probably think you can, since flowers are blooming everywhere.

We can buy the seeds, plant them in the soil, water them, and in time a flower will sprout up and bloom.

But who created the soil, the water, the sunlight, and the seeds themselves? Who created life? The life inside each little seed inside that little envelope we buy in the store? That we take for granted? The same one who breathed the very essence of life from his own mouth into the nostrils of Adam, the first human being, when he created him from the dust of the ground, and he became a living being (Gen 2:7).

God’s very breath keeps our hearts beating, our brains functioning, our nails growing, our eyes seeing, our ears hearing, and our lives living.

We are able to walk, talk, and reproduce because of him.

He makes the sky blue, the sun to shine, the wind to blow, the clouds to form, the rain to fall, and the birds to sing.

He parted the Red Sea, calmed the storm, and walked on water.

God gave us our first Christmas gift, the gift of love, his son.

Jesus gave us the second gift of love to this broken world, his life.

He died on the cross so we could live.

We need to search, each our own hearts. Are we really true Christians? Are we living his words and setting his example every day, not just in church on Sundays? God gave us his son, out of his deep love for us. Jesus gave his life for us out of his deep love for us. What have we given back to them to show our deep love for them?

Let’s put our greatest thank-you into Easter this year. Let’s show them our love for them by making more than a flower bloom. Let’s make love bloom, “their kind.”

Let Sisters lead the way. Let her be the first to put God and Jesus back where they belong. Where they’ve earned the right to be, filling every store, office, school, every home, family, and heart in Sisters, Oregon with their very presence and love, as our brave forefathers and mothers did when they made them the foundation, guide, and protectors of our whole country when they founded it. They made America God’s own country. Amen. Let Sisters lead the way. Let Sisters bloom for God, Jesus, us, and love this Easter.

Amen.

C. Johnson

Switching to McLeod-Skinner

To the Editor:

Jamie McLeod-Skinner is bringing a unique vision of unity and prosperity to Oregon.

Though I have voted for Kurt Schrader for years, this year I will vote for Jamie McLeod-Skinner in Congressional District 5 in the May primary.

Despite feel-good TV ads and mailers portraying him as a veterinarian and a farmer, Shrader has lost touch with those he represents.

His votes against stimulus checks, raising the minimum wage, allowing Medicare to negotiate on pharmaceutical prices, and doing little to address climate change hint that the lobbyists may be calling many shots.

He has received over $600,000 from big pharma and $300,000 from the oil and gas industry.

His votes and his track record, as well as the great experience and vision of his opponent, Jamie McLeod-Skinner, led the Marion, Linn, Deschutes, and Clackamas County Democrats to vote to endorse her in the race.

She brings broad experience in local government leadership, wildfire recovery management, raising funding for housing and work in war zones in refugee resettlement and reconstruction.

She will act boldly on our priorities as Oregonians and is reaching out to conservatives, liberals, city dwellers, and rural folks alike, with a vision of unity and prosperity.

Learn more at JamieforOregon.com. Please vote for Jamie McLeod-Skinner on May 17.

Lee Mercer