Breach the Lower Snake River dams. They never should have been built to begin with | Opinion

Breach dams

I recently read Public Power Council’s Scott Simms bellyaching over the “intolerable uncertainty” of placing Lower Snake River dams on a path for removal.

Most importantly, the Lower Snake River dams should never have been built. Their benefit cost ratios never came close to Army Corps’ requirements for justification. But building a redundant power source for plutonium production of Oppenheimer’s atomic bomb was justification enough for the Corps to fake a benefit cost analysis.

Now with decades of unnecessary delay and Idaho’s forest starving from lack of salmon, wheat shippers have preserved a $40,000 per barge taxpayer subsidy — fattening their political influence over powerful Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell — at the expensive of degrading Idaho’s Salmon River forests that once sequestered half of the region’s carbon dioxide from our overburdened atmosphere.

Let us look forward to a better world, where salmon restoration and Treaty obligations are satisfied. Breathe in the fresh oxygen our restored forests offer. Feel the healthy soil growing beneath our feet. Bless this day and our daily bread (not shipped to faraway lands) and give thanks to our collective cooperation.

Scott Levy, Ketchum

Ukraine

Idaho’s political commercials usually include guys and gals in jeans holding guns, but it’s hard to believe they actually care to defend anything but themselves, major donors and their high-paying jobs. Why do they refuse to vote for funding fighters in Ukraine who are actually risking their lives to defend their democracy? They may as well send personal guarantees to Putin that he is their favorite dictator and he should keep murdering and destroying a country. I thank the people of Ukraine for fighting against tyranny and shedding their blood so my children and grandchildren will hopefully not have to go to war. I do not thank the hypocrites in Congress denying help for political grandstanding.

Sheila Robbins, Boise

Voting act

I am deeply concerned about the state of U.S. democracy. In order to make progress on the issues shaping our communities, we must have a government where everyday people have a voice. But right now, state legislatures across the country are passing bills that attack our freedom to vote, and billionaires and corporate interests continue to spend big to influence our elections.

That’s why Rep. Mike Simpson and Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch need to support the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act to protect our freedom to vote, reduce the influence of big money in politics, and ensure fair representation.

We must have a democracy in which all of us — no matter our color, zip code, or income — have an equal say.

Samuel Paden, Garden City

Dialysis

At the young age of 25 years old, I had to accept the fact that I would need dialysis treatment to survive.

Like many Americans with kidney failure, I was too sick to continue working. I lost my employer-provided insurance soon after I stopped working. Since I did not immediately qualify for Medicaid, I was forced to pay the 20% of the bill that Medicare does not cover for 6 months. The costs were extensive, and I am still in the process of paying off that debt.

It is imperative, therefore, that dialysis patients who have private insurance can keep that private insurance as long as possible before transitioning to Medicare. Not only does this help with costs, but this also helps guarantee the highest quality of care.

Unfortunately, a recent Supreme Court decision allows private insurers to weaken coverage for dialysis, pushing patients off of their insurance prematurely and leaving many in the dust.

This is why Congress must pass legislation that ensures that dialysis patients can keep their private insurance for the first 30 months of treatment if they choose. If passed, this legislation will go a long way in helping kidney patients in America.

John Carter, Caldwell

Polls

I fear that misinformation is being put out via “polls” that are being talked about on some news outlets.

Unless the sources of those polls are honestly disclosed, they are meaningless. What I’ve observed is that one side or another has an agenda and they make unsupported claims about some poll. Well, isn’t that just dandy.

Unless the essential information about who, when, where and how many is disclosed, I recommend you disregard any “poll” being offered.

How was said poll conducted? Was it via phone? Was it via landline or cell? My cell blocks unknown callers, so I’m excluded. I don’t even have a landline. That is bias. Was the poll conducted in a small geographic area? What if that area was dominated by a particular group?

I want everyone to have their awareness turned up to “full” as these deceitful announcements are made. I recommend as someone interested in facts, you challenge any and all polls. Only pay attention to those with full disclosure on the who, when, where and how many is disclosed. Otherwise you are being fed mis or disinformation.

The topic of any poll is not relevant to these remarks. Keep your awareness at a high level and don’t be played a fool.

Gary Apter, Boise

Israel

In its invasion of 1982 in Lebanon, Israel leveled Beirut with indiscriminate bombing so deadly it killed 17,000 civilians in 10 weeks. President Regan was so angry he threatened to end U.S. support for Israel. The bombing stopped immediately. From Reagan’s diary: “I was angry-I told Begin it had to stop or our entire future relationship was endangered. I used the word Holocaust deliberately and said the symbol of his war was becoming a picture of a 7 month old baby with its arms blown off.” Begin stopped the bombing. A child amputated without pain killer or antibiotics on a filthy floor in now the image of Israel the world knows.

Ceasefire now! Hamas must be disarmed and sent into exile never to return and Israel must withdraw from and dismantle settlements in the occupied territories. They are illegal. The only way to peace is to create two states and the US must speak forcefully to both sides. Right now our name is on each bomb that is dropped. Allowing Armageddon on Gaza is decidedly not part of the answer. Blessed be the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. There is no God in Gaza now.

Scott Cook, Boise