Quincy Valley Post-Register

• Home
• News
• Sports
• Obituaries
• Opinion
• Blog
• Photos
• Our Neighbor
• Schools
• Classifieds
• Churches
• Businesses

Letters - 11/17

various
Nov. 17, 2011

City recreation is good news

Our community, like all others, has seen some hard times, but I must say after reading the news about the new library and the additional recreation director that has been hired, I felt encouraged, proud and hopeful for the families that live here.

I well remember sitting at a community meeting over 10 years ago, sharing the dream of one day having a recreational director for Quincy.

At the time it wasn’t possible with the local budget. But times have changed and now we have hired two committed natives of Quincy who are excited to make a difference for the youth and individuals who call Quincy valley home. Thanks for all you have already started, Russ Harrington, as recreational director and good luck to you, Amanda Bogle, as the two of you organize healthy activities for all of us here!

— Gretchen Cedergreen

About Occupy

My name is Victor Didra. I am a former Marine who fought in Iraq during two tours.

I write this on the 236th birthday of the United States Marine Corps. Tomorrow is Veterans Day. It is a time when I consider the responsibilities of being an American citizen. I took an oath to defend the United States of America from all enemies, both foreign and domestic. I find the domestic corruption of our government by money, mostly from megacorporations, to be a very real and very dangerous enemy.

As I talk to my fellow Americans, I find that they are almost unanimously frustrated with our ability to make any progress or change within government.

The Occupy Wall Street movement has taken off like a wildfire, spreading worldwide to over 80 countries and over 900 large cities. That is not counting the smaller towns like Wenatchee, which implies that there are occupations in thousands of cities worldwide.

This movement has a much clearer goal than the media reports, one that I think you can get behind. The Occupy movement has clearly stated that they are about getting corporations and money out of our government.

Unfortunately, the majority of Americans only get the information that is spoon fed to them by the biased, lying corporate media. The major TV liars will interview multiple Occupiers and pick the dumbest ones to put on the air, quietly shelving the intelligent responses.

The news agencies seemingly couldn’t figure out what the movement is about, even though it has been clearly stated since September. Yet they picked up on one point, the forgiveness of student loans, in order to convince the public that the Occupy movement is about handouts. It’s not about the forgiveness of student loans, it’s about We, The People, running our government without interference from big money.

Please read the Declaration of Occupation at http://occupiedwallstjournal.com/2011/10/declaration-of-the-occupation/

If you don’t agree after you’ve read the Declaration, that’s fine! You’ve done your job and made a decision based on your values and all the available facts.

But if you’re making your decision based solely off of what you’ve seen on a TV station that has a vested interest in keeping you misinformed and in the dark, you’re not doing your job. You must find out for yourself, search out the truth, and then support the cause you believe in. Because corporations have cheated their way into having the same rights as people, they have the legal right to lie to you, day and night, night and day.

Personally, I don’t think big business has any right to bribe our elected officials, determine who I have a chance to vote for, or corrupt the legislative process with billions of dollars, or lie to us through media. I believe these corporations to be our enemy, and we must defeat them, or bow to their authority.

Marines don’t bow, I’m standing up, and have been for some time. I have demonstrated for my beliefs. I can and will do more. I already moved my money into a local credit union. I’m writing a letter to the editor. I “Liked” the Occupy pages on Facebook.

Now I ask you to do your job as an American and find out more. Shut off your TV and research for yourself. Get online, check several different sources, dig for information, then share your findings on Facebook, etc.

(I’ve seen the lies firsthand, while in Iraq. They are lying to you. Turn off your TV.)

—Victor Didra, Tonasket

End subsidies

Back in high school, I worked on a dairy farm in which the federal government paid the farm approximately a quarter million dollars to destroy all the animals and cease milk production for 10 years. The reason: too much milk supply, which was keeping the price of milk too low. Nowadays, a popular program is paying farmers to not utilize certain areas of their farms and/or to not grow certain crops. I think there is something wrong with the government paying people to “not” do something.

Can we next expect the government to pay workers to build cars, trucks, TVs, appliances, etc. that are not selling, simply to keep them working and paying taxes?

Today, while looking at a farm subsidy database, I was surprised at some of the subsidy recipients here in Grant County. According to this database, Commissioner Richard Stevens appears to have received in excess of $519,000 (2001 to 2010) and Commissioner Cindy Carter has two corporations that seem to have collected more than $470,000 (1996 to 2010) of these subsidies. Wow! This is your money!

Ten percent of America’s largest and richest farms collect nearly three-fourths of federal farm subsidies. Is this transfer of wealth appropriate? My business successes aren’t backstopped by the federal government. Why should any private business be backstopped in this fashion? Politicians don’t care, especially when they benefit from the theft of the public coffers. They always seem to threaten essential services like police, fire and education to meet budget shortfalls. In fact, Gov. Gregoire is now attempting reduction of school bus service throughout Washington, but won’t address the pork and their own excessive salaries. Parents and increased property taxes will be expected to pick up the slack. It is past time to get real about what government should and shouldn’t be doing.

— Ken McLoed, Ephrata