Letters to the Editor

Sanders not doing anyone a favor by playing culture war game

Paper tigers by design are easy to shred. So when Sarah Huckabee Sanders referred to "a woke mob that can't tell you what a woman is" during her response to President Biden's State of the Union speech, she was throwing red meat to the culture wars crowd by telling a convenient lie.

Woke people would actually tell you that the answer is nuanced, including all who identify as female despite the genitalia they were born with. This reflects a modern understanding and acceptance of gender dysphoria.

With a wink, a nudge and a strident sense of grievance, what Sanders is trying to get across to her reactionary mob is that that is the wrong answer. Everyone born with, and only those born with, female genitals shall be called women and those who break the mold must be stigmatized and shunned. Next we shun women who don't want to marry men. Then people who attend an UnAmerican church.

Begging for attention by playing the culture wars card solves nothing but certainly fans the flames of divisiveness.

John Podulka

Wolverine

Get vaccinated and boosted

A recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association compared death rates from COVID-19 and vaccination rates among 20 wealthy, industrialized nations across the world. The United States stuck out like a sore thumb with, by far, the highest mortality rates (112 per 100,00 population). Most countries had less than a third of that rate.

The U.S. also had the lowest vaccination rates among these 20 counties at 63%. Our 10 most-vaccinated states had a death rate of 75 per 100,00 and the 10 least-vaccinated states 146 per 100,00. The ravaging of our population continues. While 43 % of our vulnerable over-65 persons have no booster, only 9% of seniors in the United Kingdom are unboosted. Our hospitalizations and deaths from the Omicron strain continue to outpace the rest of the wealthy industrial world. More folks are dying in poorer countries like Ukraine, however, where access to medicines and hospitals for COVID treatment is difficult.

Besides our pitifully low vaccination rates, the U.S. boasts the highest rates of obesity, and we are the only one of the 20 industrialized nations without universal health care. All these factors have led to several hundred thousands of excess and unnecessary deaths from Covid in the U.S. Our easy access to social media rich with misinformation about COVID vaccines may be an additional factor causing low vaccination rates. Our educators must face the necessity of teaching our youth how to separate the wheat of reliable information from the chaff of conspiracy theories. Get fully vaccinated and boosted for your own sake and for the strength of our country.

Robert Fawcett, MD

Petoskey

One-time tax rebate isn't much, but it's equitable

Sen. Damoose recently emailed asking constituents to contact legislators telling them to vote NO on action by our Governor or Legislature that prevents triggering the automatic income tax rollback from 4.25% to 4.05%. He will VOTE “NO” on bills removing the income tax on Michigan public employee pensions, restoring larger deductions for private pensions and EITC which lifts families and children above poverty. His rationale: Michigan has a $9 billion surplus, roughly $5 billion in the general fund and $4 billion in the school aid fund. About two-thirds came from the CARES Act signed by President Trump, as relief from inflationary prices from the COVID-19 pandemic, Avian flu, etc.

Michigan has 40 years of backlogs, disengagement in services and budget cuts by Legislators. State departments need huge funding to update software systems, facilities, staffing. The prison system is a mess. Child social services and foster care are disasters. State parks desperately need updated infrastructure. Large rural areas have no internet access. The state has only begun to repair a small percentage of the Michigan roads, bridges, infrastructure and municipal water systems with crumbling, unsafe lead pipes. Private power companies could use financial assistance to update and harden our electrical grid and gas supply lines against domestic and foreign terrorism.

The automatic income tax rollback from 4.25% to 4.05% would give a permanent tax cut dependent upon your income. A wealthy person, making ten times more, would get a 10 times greater reduction in state taxes.

Inflationary pressures have raised many prices such as eggs and gasoline. However, the wealthy family probably bought about the same amount of eggs and gallons of gasoline. Certainly not 10 times as much. The one-time rebate of $180 to all taxpayers that Gov. Whitmer proposed is much more equitable and economically justifiable.

JoEllen RudolphPetoskey

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Letters to the Editor: Sanders not doing anyone a favor by playing culture war game