Bush cutting red-state programs

Now that George Bush has safely been installed for a second term he can start to cut funding for programs in order to pay in part for his large tax cuts for him and his wealthy corporate cronies. This does not surprise me.

What does surprise me is the cuts to programs that benefit supposed "red staters", like farm subsidies, veterans benefits and Medicaid that many low-income rural residents depend upon. Even proceeds from timber sales to counties are on the chopping block.

While Bush/Rove used phantom issues like gay marriage to scare you into voting for them, his budget office was hard at work figuring out ways to cut programs to make it seem he is trying to cut his deficit back.

The only things the red staters are really going to get from this president are tough talk and red ink. You lose.

Jeff Duty

Spokane, WA

The Spokesman Review

Standardize voting procedures

After close and contentious elections in Florida in 2000 and again here in Washington last year, we are finally hearing rumblings that perhaps it would be a good idea to address the procedures that are used in the conduct of the elections, and perhaps it is really not about voting systems that are being used, rather it may be the procedures to mail out, receive, process and tabulate the votes.

Aha! At last! A glimmer of light in the darkness! Absolutely, it is about procedures, and the fact that all election administrators (if not nationwide then at least statewide) should be on the same page when it comes to the conduct of elections.

There needs to be statewide standardized written procedures promulgated by the office of the secretary of state so that in future elections there will be little or no question about what is being done and how it is being done.

Perhaps a good place to start would be for the Washington state county auditors association to form its own task force committee to brainstorm those procedures to be submitted to the secretary of state.

Voter confidence in future election results may well depend upon such a proactive stance being taken.

Tom Wilbur

Spokane, WA

The Spokesman Review

Go ahead, call me liberal

All of a sudden, during the presidential election campaigns, "liberalism" became a profane word, a stigma that no one except the brave Howard Dean wished to be associated with.

All the liberals out there that shy away from being called "liberal" should re-examine what "conservatism" and "liberalism" stand for. It is as simple as looking up the definition of these words in your Merriam-Webster's dictionary.

Conservatism is a political philosophy based on social stability and tradition with a tendency to prefer any existing situation to change.

Liberalism is a political philosophy based on belief in progress, the essential goodness of the human race and the autonomy of the individual.

Go ahead, make my day. Stigmatize me with liberalism. I am proud to be a liberal.

Hami Abghari

Spokane, WA

The Spokesman Review

Bush is supposed to protect the poor

This is so confusing to me and others. President Bush evidently does not realize that the object of having him in office is to serve all the citizens of our country. He needs to be reminded that, as the man in charge, he is expected to take from the rich and give to the poor. There is something wrong with the picture as it is today.

Betty Jean Blackman

Spokane

The Spokesman Review

Bush invested in bad idea

Guess what! Our president is a liar! I know that may be troubling news to some, but unfortunately it is a fact.

This person who claims to talk to God on a regular basis, was investigated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission - not a noted liberal institution - for possible insider trading while at Harken Energy. Not a big deal, I suppose, unless you count the fact he made a big old pile of money.

Wait! Doesn't Bush want us all to invest in the stock market instead of maintaining Social Security? In fact, he does! Well, that wouild work 0ut great for him and his honesty-challenged rich buddies, wouldn't it? Then they could swipe some of everybody's money instead of just the money of people who had enough to actually invest in the stock market.

If this is the "freedom" Bush wants to export, the freedom to lie, cheat and steal with the impunity of the wealthy, no wonder there is such resistance to the U.S. style "freedom" around the world. It is nothing to be proud of.

Nancy Runyan

Spokane, WA

The Spokesman Review

Bush is fattening the calf

The Japanese have a method for fattening Kobe beef that entails suspending the calf in a sling, force feeding it to the bursting point and massaging it to keep the fat and muscle well marbled and tender. At the proper time the calf is butchered and sold for hundreds of dollars per pound.

The stock market is President Bush's Kobe beef, which he plans to force feed to the bursting point with diverted Social Security funds. Inflated stock prices will result from too much money chasing too few stocks. At the proper time the butchers will arrive to carve up the carcass.

Butchers such as Jeff Fastow, Ken Lay, Bernie Ebbers, Michael Milken or their spiritual heirs will divide the carcass among themselves and send the scraps to the dog food factory. From there working people and the middle class can feed themselves in their old age and watch the feast with their noses pressed against the window.

Glenn A. Lange

Marcus, WA

The Spokesman Review

Expect expansion of war

Nations make war mostly because they want to, not because they have to. The American expansion of war in the Middle East will begin soon. You doubt it? President Bush's evangelical mission of liberation continues unabated.

Syria is now on the menu, and the administration is accessing Iranian nuclear capabilities, looking for an excuse to attack. If the administration doesn't find one, expect the usual contrived emergency to justify American action.

Bush already believes he has justification for his war policies. The election, he said afterward, supplied all the accountability he needed. In other words, once a president is elected he is no longer accountable.

Bush also said that the freedom-loving people of Iran are waiting for us. So you doubt his intentions? Bush could get political support from people and institutions who wait too long to oppose him.

This newspaper supported Bush's re-election, but opposed the war in Iraq. The editors should now oppose war with Iran and Syria.

Everyone who is disenchanted with the Bush Doctrine should speak now to tell the president that he is not a king and is still accountable to the Constitution and to the people who didn't vote for him

Lee Freese

Pullman, WA

The Spokesman Review

Congress to blame for SS mess

Congress has yielded to the overwhelming temptation to "borrow" from the giant surplus of the Social Security fund for every purpose under the sun, promising the full faith of the U.S. government to repay the money borrowed, plus interest.

If the Social Security system had been left alone, it would be in a great shape for the foreseeable future. Congress made it top heavy, raiding it for many purposes, and Congress is to blame that these certificates cannot be repaid and will default. It has little to do with who or how much is or will be paid in - it has to do with Congress destroying it.

Congressmen should take their golden parachutes and extensive retirement benefits and repay the funds. Furthermore, the people should decide when and if congressmen and senators get a pay raise, not Congress itself. The common taxpayer is subject to performance reviews on his or her job; Congress should get a review from the people as to whether they merit pay increases.

"More paid out than will be paid in" would not occur in the future if Congress had left the program, its funds and its codification alone as it was originally intended.

Robert L. Wimp

Spokane, WA

The Spokesman Review

Freedom to snoop

Freedom and liberty! Oh how George Bush trumpeted these rights 42 times in his inauguration speech of Jan 20.

A few days before the inauguration, I received the 2005 update of costs and coverage from my health insurance, Group Health Cooperative. On page three of the brochure is the following statement: "OPM will use and give out your personal medical information...to law enforcement officials when investigating and/or prosecuting alleged civil or criminal actions."

I looked at Medicare 2005 and on page 67:"Medicare must give out your personal medical information...where required by law." This is freedom and liberty? Oh, I have questions.

OPM oversees federal employees, both retired and active, so are my senators and congressmen subject to the same intrusion? Is this provision written private insurance? Why does the government snoop into my medical records, but not into my purchase of an assault rifle: How does this prying into my private life make us/me safer?

If I ask quesitons, will my asking become an "alleged" action? Will I be labeled an enemy combatant? Will I disappear? How did George Orwell know what George Bush would do to our democracy?

Janet Callen

Coeur d'Alene, ID

The Spokesman Review