Phase out state-only liquor stores
It begins to look as if Gov. Chris Gregoire is serious about reducing the cost of government. She recently said it might be time to turn over the operation of more liquor stores to franchisees. My goodness, what a novel idea. Let the private business sector sell these consumer products.
It really doesn’t matter if you consume spirits or not, it’s worth your time to examine how pervasive the continued expansion of Washington’s liquor control agency has been. Visit http://www.liq.wa.gov and examine the Washington State Liquor Control Board’s annual report and look at Strategic Plan FY2009-11. Ugly. This agency currently employs 1,450 full- and part-time employees.
The state is already concerned that 64 percent of its total employees will be eligible to retire (with state pensions) by 2015. What an ideal opportunity to begin phaseout of the distribution and sale operations of this agency. Job loss could be picked up by privately operated retailers. Of course, employees in state stores would no longer be entitled to state pensions, but, hey, life is tough.
I imagine that some private retailers could even reduce the agency’s current product markup of 51.9 percent, giving opportunity for the state to increase its tax on spirits. This could be a win-win.
Ralph W. Burke
Vancouver
Practice peace and it will come
I’ve read the story telling us Rep. Brian Baird, D-Wash., will seek to punish Israel if it does not ease the blockade on a region that is the source of rocket and other attacks. This was a Page 1 story in The Columbian on Dec. 31, “Baird on Al Jazeera about aid to Israel.”
Then a few days later we find out that the Palestinian security forces in the West Bank will stop torturing Hamas prisoners from the Gaza Strip. And, oh yes, the U.S. is probably complicit in this torture. This was on Page 4 of The Columbian on Jan. 4, “Palestinians stop their torture of Hamas inmates.” Does anyone want to bet that it would have been on Page 1 if it was an announcement of Israel misbehaving with U.S. help? And the U.S. would have been roundly denounced, too.
The so-called Palestinians would have had peace and a nation by now if they practiced peace. Every time Israel tries to practice peace the result is an attack. This has been proven time and again, including the latest disengagement at the Gush Katif settlements.
What does it take for the world to see this?
Neal Brenner
Battle Ground
Genocide inflicted in Middle East
In his Jan. 8 letter, “Baird doesn’t ‘get it’,” Joel Littauer stated, “Hamas continually shot rockets into southern Israel, prompting the Israeli attack.” Contrary to what we all heard during the 22-day attack by Israel, the facts clearly show that Hamas withheld rocket fire during the Egypt-brokered cease-fire despite repeated attacks into Gaza by Israeli forces,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SILJxPTqjAM.
It was Israel, not Hamas, that violated the cease-fire and began the attack last winter on innocent people who were trapped behind a wall surrounding the Gaza Strip, with 1,400 dead, including 400 children, under Israeli airstrikes and artillery bombardment. Numerous crimes against humanity were uncovered by U.N. investigators. As a result, Britain issued an arrest warrant if Israeli opposition leader, Tzipi Livni, steps on British soil.
Israel still chokes the borders to 1.6 million people locked in Gaza. There is widespread malnutrition and dire lack of medicines and equipment and material with which Palestinians can rebuild their lives.
Instead of writing about a genocide he thinks Hamas may be wanting to inflict on Israelis, Littauer should be writing of the very real genocide Israel is inflicting on Palestinians as it continues to starve them and murder them for their land.
Logan Johnson
Battle Ground
It’s nutty to change city’s name
Here is a short missive concerning the people who want us to change our name: Nuts! We were named before Vancouver, B.C., so if anything that city must change its name.
Karl Krehbiel
Battle Ground
Time to establish relations with Cuba
In response to the Christmas Day airliner bombing attempt, we now have a long list of countries supposedly spawning terrorists bent on detonating weapons of mass destruction in the hopes of killing scores, if not thousands of Americans. Included in this list is Cuba.
Cuba? Sure, there was the missile crisis a half-century ago. Or maybe there’s a fear they would export exploding cigars.
I can travel to Mali, Yemen, Iran, Somalia and every other “terrorist” nation, but I can’t travel to Cuba. We have cozy relations with all kinds of totalitarian states, but not Cuba. Isn’t it about time we develop some sort of rational, sensible relations with one of our nearest neighbors?
Ward Upson
Vancouver
Heritage still being dictated
Despite the fall of the USSR, there is no quick fix for the Soviet human condition engulfing people for most of the 20th century. Freedom from dictatorship meant mass corruption while sacrificing historical and cultural traditions.
In the Ukraine, a former satellite state, destruction of UNESCO World Heritage-protected sites and monuments is rampant.
Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev, an architectural marvel beginning from the 11th century, is at the center of illegal construction financed by hush money, in spite of surviving the Mongolian invasions, rulers Lenin and Stalin, and 70 years of communist rule. Its spacious grounds house apartment buildings that are in equal danger, as illegal permits allow skyscrapers to be erected on nearby lots marked as green zones.
Tenants from adjacent buildings show floors, walls, and ceilings that crack from construction pressure. Yet, there are no faces to go with the forged names on the permits and seeking compensation is futile. Authorities are openly bribed, having little memory or understanding of their heritage, while UNESCO threatens to cross the cathedral off their list.
Without international money or support, Ukraine’s history and visual markers are going extinct, for the average Ukrainian retains the all-too-familiar national apathy from decades of Soviet oppression.
Kira V. Ray
CAMAS
We are losing the battle
It doesn’t matter if there are “Republicrats” or “Demopubs” in power — the only winners are Wall Street, the banks, Big Pharmaceutical, Big Oil and health insurance companies.
We the people are no longer relevant.
Kevin J. McElrath
Camas
