Our readers' views, Oct. 8, 2008

I cannot believe that people are using other people’s residences as a dumping ground for their unwanted pets. On a recent afternoon my husband was standing in our front yard when a large SUV did a turn-around in the drive across from ours. What got his attention was that the driver unfastened her seat belt, so my husband walked to the road just as she stopped and shoved a dog out of the vehicle and took off.

The dog, terrified, just ran after the vehicle. I reported the incident. Animal control will patrol the area, but the dog is out, wandering around, lost and confused and probably wondering what happened. And then I got mad. Since last September, we have found a bunny, a kitten, and, in a cage, a mama cat and her litter. And now, what looks likes a pure-bred, well-looked-after dog.

Why does this happen? Is it really that hard to do the right thing?

Laurie Morton
Vancouver

The recent turmoil in the markets has served to put the philosophy of governance of the two major parties in the presidential race into stark contrast. John McCain accurately identified the basic problem as greed.

We saw this scenario before in the 1930s. At that time a broad range of laws and regulations came into being to curb the worst angels of our nature from creating just such a mess ever again. Since the Reagan presidency, however, there has been nothing less than frenzy within Republican ranks to reduce or abolish all forms of regulation. McCain has consistently voted to go along.

Contrast McCain’s record with that of Barack Obama, who has introduced legislation, met with members of Nasdaq and pleaded with the administration in an attempt to stem the coming fiasco.

Do we want a president who has consistently been a part of the problem or one who has demonstrated an ability to address problems before they explode?

Rodger L. Stevens
Vancouver

Initiative 1000 deserves the support of the people of Washington. Oregon has successfully used a measure substantially like this for a decade or more. Because of the strict requirements, it has been used only a few hundred times and then not so much by the disadvantaged but by people who are better off than average in wealth and education.

People of old age do not fear death; what they fear is the dying process.

This measure if passed will be used by only a few hundred people, but as my late wife, a supporter of it for many years, always said, it will give peace of mind to millions. Vote for I-1000.

Harris Dusenbery
Vancouver

How touching the solicitude of the Audubon Society in restoring to health a barred owl and releasing it back into the wild, reported in the Oct. 3 story “Injured owl spreads wings again.” But wait, isn’t the Audubon Society one of those most active in protecting the spotted owl? And isn’t the barred owl known to be one of the major threats to the spotted owl?

Perhaps the Audubon Society’s protective instincts are aroused only when someone threatens to cut a tree.

Mike Stein
Washougal

If anyone still has doubts whether or not the so-called “bailout” was a complete government boondoggle, I offer the following:

In the Oct. 1 story “Baird explains economic mess,” our esteemed U.S. Rep. Brian Baird, offers this cutting insight to a group of high-schoolers in Hockinson on what happens if a “bailout” is not passed: “You’ll be screwed.” Absolutely brilliant.

Not only is it not necessarily true, but we are putting the fox in charge of the henhouse, which they have already botched beyond belief.

Thom Buck
Vancouver

Campbell Brown of CNN recently called on John McCain’s team to “free Sarah Palin” from the chauvinism of a sexist campaign that makes it appear she is not capable of speaking for herself.

I may disagree to some extent with Brown about the sexism part, if only because that’s what the Republican “handlers” have done for eight years with George W. Bush.

What I’m tired of are the handlers — those invisible geeks in the background who do all the staging, the media handling, the speech writing, and everything but appearing in public.

I understand that the job of being a candidate or president is big, but I want my candidate to be big; I want him or her to lead, not be pushed around by an invisible bunch of wonks that shape message, policy, and strategy.

If the handlers could have their way they would get robots to run for office and program them without the messiness of human frailty.

Bill Morris
Vancouver

If we legalize assisted suicide, we will also be legalizing nonvoluntary euthanasia. The recognized legal principle of “substitute judgment” means that the guardian of someone deemed incompetent makes all medical decisions for that person. If assisted suicide were legal, the guardian could request “aid in dying” for any ill, senile, or disabled adult or child considered “terminal.”

There’s no way to accurately predict how long a terminally ill person will live. My mother was given less than six months to live; she lived another five years.

The 9th Circuit Court said, in Washington vs. Glucksberg, that legalized assisted suicide would give guardians power to kill their incompetent wards: “We should make it clear that a decision of a duly appointed surrogate decision maker [to request administering deadly drugs] is for all legal purposes the decision of the patient himself.”

What a scary thought.

Karen Baye
Battle Ground

Investment bankers who leveraged the financial funds have been making billions for close to a decade. Now the market has dropped and the taxpayers have to pay face value for these worthless bonds. All under the threat of the U.S. banking system going insolvent.

How about a reality check? Most of those in trouble would be the financial firms who count bonds issued by the housing giants as Tier 1 capital.

I, personally, am sick and tired of being the one getting the government haircut. We need to hold those responsible, ahh … responsible.

We are led by the idiots whom we elected. In the future, however bleak it may seem, give a little thought about the name you mark on the ballot.

Greg Hohmann
Vancouver