Letters to the Editor — Jan. 24, 2018

‘Tuesdays’ is terrific

At the conclusion of the play “Tuesdays With Morrie,” the audience immediately rose for a standing ovation. My wife Jolie and I were two of many that experienced a good play performed with superlative acting this past Saturday night at Olympic Theatre Arts in Sequim.

I had read the book years ago. At that time, it had become a bestseller. I didn’t find it memorable and I don’t think I had recommended it to anyone. Later it was turned into a television movie and then again reborn as an off-Broadway play.

It was chosen for production by Olympic Theatre Arts in partnership with the Sequim Education Foundation. This positive community outreach was incentive enough to attend the live theater adaption of a story I had pretty much forgotten about.

Two men, Jim Hallett and Joe Schultz, carried out the enormous responsibility of being alone on stage for the entire duration of the show without missing a beat, and demonstrating acting ability that can only be described as exceptional.

And, there was a moral to this play, “There is no point in loving, loving is the point!”

Relevant to us all. Isn’t it?

George Will

Sequim

‘Tuesdays’ is terrific, part two

Once again the OTA (Olympic Theatre Arts) hit it out of the ball park with its current production of “Tuesdays with Morrie.”

Joe Schultz and Jim Hallett were beyond outstanding in their portrayal of Morrey and Mitch.

This not-to-be-missed show was sold out in its first weekend opening which is a testimony to not only its message, but to the talent shown in its delivery. Sequim is so fortunate to have a community theater of this caliber.

Monica Ostrom

Sequim

Change is needed

When I started this letter to the editor, it was all about Trump and his minion’s threats to “deconstruct the (USA’s) administrative state.”

In less than one year, they have made substantial progress, and the morally bankrupt Republican-controlled Congress seems to be complicit.

To preserve our Democracy, civil rights, and Rule of Law, there must be a political power shift in our federal government in 2019.

To make this happen, the Independents and the Democratic Party must win the House and, to do that, convince voters the following are required and in their best interests:

• Jobs — Today, there are six million jobs available in the U.S.. They are not filled for three reasons: People are not technically qualified, can’t pass drug tests, have felony convictions; technologies are doubling every 18 months (Ref- “Thank You for Being Late,” Thomas Friedman, 2016); students must make vocational decisions by eighth or ninth grade, and persist to achieve their life goals.

• Affordable health care — Codify a progressive tax on all citizen’s gross income; repeal the Trump tax scam law for the rich, and, simplify and close all loop holes to avoid paying taxes in the Federal Tax Code. Also, appropriate funds and create a task force to seriously address the national opioid epidemic; hold doctors, hospitals and pharmaceuticals criminally liable for illegal/unnecessary opioid distribution.

• Codify women’s rights — Equal pay for equal work and impose severe deterring penalties for sexual harassment/discrimination in the workplace.

• Minimum wage — Pay levels should be self-supporting; single parents cannot work two or three jobs and have time to feed/clothe/help educate their children.

Richard Hahn

Sequim

Episode No. 99 of ‘Look, There’s a Squirrel’

Governor Inslee and his Democrat sycophants say carbon is a pollutant and causes global warming.

Conflating carbon with carbon dioxide, CO2, is not scientific. Carbon is a solid. CO2 is a gas.

CO2 is not a pollutant. In the atmosphere, it’s a non-toxic, colorless, odorless, tasteless gas which is inhaled and exhaled by animals, including you. Plants absorb CO2 and convert it to oxygen via photosynthesis. Oxygen is essential for life. Without CO2, both plant and animal life would cease to exist.

Atmospheric CO2 is a trace gas. It’s 0.04 percent, or 1/25th of 1 percent by volume. Annual human contribution to atmospheric CO2 is less than 0.0016 percent by volume. Because it’s such a small amount it would have to be a super-atom to control climate.

MIT climate scientist Dr. Richard Lindzen says, “Believing CO2 controls the climate is pretty close to believing in magic.”

Either Democrats believe in magic, didn’t get the memo or their unrelenting appetite for bigger government lays waste to any inadvertent rational thought they may encounter.

In the end, a carbon tax is a scheme designed to tax the air we breathe for no other reason than Democrat lust for more taxpayer money. Saying CO2 is a pollutant is a political jujitsu tactic designed to make uninformed and gullible people think they should pay more.

With every breath you take, they’ll be taxing you. Next chance you get you should elect leaders who focus on real things such as jobs and rural economies, not magic squirrels.

Peter Heisel

Sequim