Cell phone usage breeds inattention
I guess some people think that it’s OK to use their cell phone in their car as long as the car isn’t moving. The other day, I was behind two cars, side by side at a red light, with drivers on their cell phones. The light turned green, “Hey, ladies, the light’s green. Can we go?” I had to honk my horn to wake them up.
I was looking at the construction site on Northeast 18th Street and Four Seasons Drive. A black Mercedes was stopped by the flagger. The flagger turned the flag to “go,” and nothing happened. I heard her scream at the driver, “Get off your phone! Get off your phone!” five times as she chased the car down the road. The flagger was absolutely livid; she’s probably had this happen before.
I’ve had numerous incidents lately when the light turned green without action — I don’t know if it’s all due to cell phones but I do know some are.
Joe Beaudoin
Vancouver
More laws are not the answer
Regarding the Feb. 10 Columbian story, “Popping pipe dreams: County eyes banning drug paraphernalia in convenience stores,” allow me to preface by saying I don’t necessarily approve of the display of these pipes and such in the mentioned stores. However, I strongly disapprove of enacting yet another law “in the name of the children.” Drug laws only perpetuate juvenile drug abuse. The answer is truthful education, not scare tactics. Lying is counterproductive. It discredits the pontificator.
More than 800,000 people were arrested on cannabis charges in this country last year. Approximately 80 percent of those arrests were for possession only. We incarcerate more people (per capita) than any other. We have a higher incidence of juvenile drug abuse than any other industrialized nation. How are those Draconian drug laws working out for us?
Another law? Part of the answer to the American drug problem is educating our children and honesty. That, and treating abuse for what it is — a social and health issue. We don’t need any more laws related to drugs. Actually, the evidence before us would indicate we should repeal those currently on the books. Now that would truly be “for the children.”
Jim Kennedy
Vancouver
Kill idea of an Internet ‘off’ switch
Right now, there is a movement by some in the U.S. Senate, as well as members of this administration, to create an Internet “kill switch,” supposedly for national emergencies. The exact nature of such an emergency or the need for such a device is not explained and one can only assume that should this “emergency” develop, it would be an interpretation made by the president or some high-ranking official in the government.
The obvious question is would the citizens agree that any such event really qualify as an emergency? What is the likelihood that such technology would be misused or abused by those who determine that they know better than the rest of us, and are just making decisions for our own good?
The U.S. is a shining example of free speech, and as such, how can we even contemplate the idea of an Internet kill switch. Such tools are the methods of repressive and hostile governments used to control and subjugate people and ideas in dictatorial regimens. We should never allow such behavior to be extended to our country.
Eugene A. Foster
Vancouver
Follow example of Egypt’s uprising
A popular uprising ended authoritarian rule in Egypt and holds the promise of democracy and freedom for all Egyptians. Similar pro-democracy protests in the U.S. could also result in a new form of government to represent the best interest of all Americans and not just the 1 percent who currently rule us.
For decades, our government has transformed to now only represent the 1 percent of our population who owns over 90 percent of our wealth. The 1 percent rules us by paying the salaries of 40,000 registered D.C. lobbyists. These lobbyists provide campaign dollars, write bills and then dictate to our 535 elected representatives on how to vote. Our elected representatives cannot support the best interest of “We the People” when they need special-interest money to win elections.
Our present system is too broken to self-correct, so a complete collapse or a popular uprising appears as the only way to install a government that once again would represent the best interest of all Americans and not just the wealthy one percent.
Things to include in our new form of government would be reforms that stop the influence of money, and term limits.
Tom Toussaint
Vancouver
Not all Americans are sacrificing
Whenever someone remarks on the widening inequality between the very rich and the rest of us, or suggests that the policies that have contributed to this inequality might be unjust, immoral, or just plain un-American, that person is accused of engaging in “class warfare.” After all, we know that the wealthy are the only ones who can create the conditions that will put our economy back on track, right?
Creating the conditions apparently means reducing wages; gutting (or eliminating) employer-provided pension and benefit plans; delegitimizing and destroying unions; dismantling social programs (including the benefits rightly earned by those who have served in our two wars); cutting Social Security, food stamps, Medicare, Medicaid, and unemployment benefits; defunding public education; and cutting taxes for the wealthiest 2 percent.
It’s class warfare, all right, but it is being waged by those at the top of the economic ladder against the rest of us. Painful choices and sacrifice, it seems, are only for the other 98 percent. Time to fight back.
Debra Di Piazza
Vancouver
Excessive taxation hurts nation
The two things that made America free and prosperous were:
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The Constitution of the United States designed to keep America free by severely limiting the powers of the government.
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Capitalism, which once made us the most prosperous nation of Earth.
We remain a free nation only insofar as the letter and the spirit of our Constitution is strictly adhered to — not circumvented as is often done lately.
We remain prosperous only insofar as capitalism (business, commerce, and industry) is not taxed and regulated to death by an arrogant, incompetent, greedy government meddling in the economy (which caused this recession). Taxation and excessive regulation drive companies to downsize, go out of business, or move overseas, causing massive unemployment.
Malcontents who enjoy maligning our American Constitution and our free enterprise capitalism are a disgrace and should move to some totalitarian, Third World thug-ocracy more to their liking.
Robert Wassman
Vancouver
