| Letters
to the editor from this week's Chronicle:
To the editor, I write today out of great concern for everyone in Idaho. In late March, Governor Brad Little issued an Executive Order requiring all residents to stay home except to perform “essential” activities. So called “non-essential” businesses were ordered to close, and houses of worship were told to shut their doors. All this was done, we were told, to control the spread of the novel Coronavirus. This virus was deemed dangerous enough to declare a state of “extreme emergency”. Thus, it is reasonable to assume that this virus must present an extreme, unprecedented threat. So, let’s have a look at this threat. According to Idaho’s official government source, there have been 79 “Idaho resident deaths related to Covid-19”. In a footnote there is an explanation of what that sentence means: “Covid-19 may have been the underling (sic) cause of death or contributed to the death”. Please note: the phrase “confirmed Covid-19 death” in this case means that the person had a positive lab test for Covid. It does not mean that Covid was the confirmed cause of death (hover the cursor over “confirmed deaths” on the Covid-19 death demographics page for this info). By the above criteria, a car wreck victim could be counted as a “Covid-19 related death”, if a Covid coughing fit was involved in causing the wreck. In other words, no one has any idea if anyone in Idaho has actually died of Covid-19 (https://public.tableau.com/profile/idaho.division.of.public.health?_escaped_fragment_=/vizhome/DPHIdahoCOVID-19Dashboard_V2/DPHCOVID19Dashboard2#!/vizhome/DPHIdahoCOVID-19Dashboard_V2/Story1[accessed on May 22, 2020, with a link from coronavirus.idaho.gov]). While some would suggest that the death count is small (or even zero) due to the lock down, evidence suggestsit has not worked as expected: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-scott-gottlieb-mitigation-didnt-work-as-well-as-we-expected-face-the-nation/. Governor Little’s priorities are strangely skewed. For example, as a Republican, he ought to be pro-life. Abortion kills 1,000 in Idaho every year, and he has done almost nothing to address it. But when a virus appeared, which to date has maybe killed 79 people, he broke the Idaho and U.S. Constitutions, destroyed thousands of livelihoods, and ended religious freedom in our State. What happens next is up to us. Sincerely, Isaiah Williams Cottonwood A New Virus: FANW-20? I wonder if the Self-Isolation Order created unintended consequences by inoculating individuals with an unseen secondary virus called FANW20 (Fear and Not Working 2020) which may prove to be more problematic. By observation, after a couple months, FANW20 definitely affects mental, emotional, and physical health of individuals. I wonder in the long term which will cause more health problems, FANW20 or COVID19? In time the population will build up immunity to COVID19, but can you build up an immunity to continued FANW20? Scott Perrin Cottonwood, Idaho Dear Editor Back before 24 hour "news" networks I remember listening to Walter Cronkite on CBS and Huntley/Brinkley on NBC.. These men told us in an hour a day what was going on in the world. They didn't tell us what they thought or what their network thought or what we should think. They just told us what was happening. Imagine that! Also, they reported on many things from all over the world in one report. Today all the networks have one subject at a time round the clock. Now it is China virus. Before that it was impeachment. Maybe soon they will move on to the 2020 election. Who knows? Too bad Walter isn't still around. On the election subject, since so much other stuff has been cancelled, we could just cancel the Presidential Election and give Donald another 4 years. Think of the money saved and the networks wouldn't have to change subject for another 6 months. Just a thought. Lucky Brandt Kooskia Redneck Review! No. 265 - 5/25/2020 "You gotta know the past to understand the presence, then to know the future!" During my 53 years of teaching, most of them in high school in math, social studies, and especially in economics, the statement quoted above became very important to me and in my efforts to pass along important information to my students. By luck or design, who knows, it was my good fortune to accept an invitation to a week long session in New York, sponsored by the Foundation for Economic Education. The year was 1968. In the following five years I was also able to attend two additional conferences in Economics, in southern Idaho, and also in Denver, Colorado, where the same quotation became more meaningful, especially as it related to economics and the various systems societies use to organize their way of life. The topic at all these sessions? Free Enterprise or traditional capitalism! It is the intent today to discuss important events which have occurred in the past, and which today have important impacts on our lives and our future. The first of course, is the life, death, and resurrection of the God Man, Jesus Christ, whose arrival on the earthly scene some 2000+ years ago is commemorated still today by our calendar, the year 2020 A.D. Though continual efforts have been made down through the ages, and perhaps picking up in intensity today, to discount this event, such efforts are in vain because the overwhelming evidence is that this event did happen, and has had more impact on history than any other event ever recorded. The recognition of His resurrection has just recently been celebrated in our country and around many parts of the world in the feast last month of Easter. The second of many similar events is the historical recorded appearance of the Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ so claimed, who appeared at Fatima, Portugal in 1917. Six times on the 13th of the month from May to October of that year, three children and a growing number of other people traveled to one designated spot where the heavenly virgin appeared to the children and left requests for prayer and sacrifice to ward off predictable disastrous events which would be coming if the world did not change its ways. The October event was foretold in advance and history records that a huge crowd, estimated in size over 50,000 saw a sun suddenly begin spinning in the sky, and appeared to fall towards the earth. The event which came during a drenching rain was further verified by the recorded fact that the sun returned to its normal place and suddenly all the drenched individuals and the surrounding area became dry. The event was recorded by even secular newspapers some 50 miles away, and a study of Fatima is available on line, and in books and movies by the dozens. The heavenly virgin predicted the end of WWI and described a second world war to come, WWII, if the human race did not change its ways. She correctly foretold that Portugal would be spared in the war. For the interested person in "Knowing the past" which has a profound impact on today and what we are dealing with, be encouraged to study similar appearances by Mary the mother of Christ at Lourdes, Guadalupe, La Salette, Knock - Ireland, Akita - Japan, and several others, all detailed by searching Wikipedia with a search engine. The third of world shaping events occurred also in 1917, with the success of the Communist overthrow of the Russian czars, and the beginning growth of modern atheism. The influence of atheists, and partners, agnostics and secularists, have had a growing influence on conditions we live in in our world today! And a careful study of that influence or impact will lead to critical insights into the events which are shaping our lives and futures today! (Continued next week!) Jake Wren |
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