Still angry over primary election

At my wife’s recommendation, I read guest columnist Bill Pirkle’s report on why the electoral college exists (“Electoral college reflects wisdom of Founding Fathers,” April 9).

It has been a few decades since I last completed a course in American history, so I had forgotten the reasoning of the Constitutional Congress. Thank you very much on writing your report, which explained this quite clearly.

Now, a request for another explanation that you might be able to convince me and many others why we shouldn’t feel like we were deprived of our votes counting in the recent Washington state presidential primary election. As well as, why we shouldn’t believe that Washington state tax funds of about $9 million were wasted for this primary election that didn’t count for Democrats voting for their favored candidate and only counted 50 percent for Republicans voting for their favored candidate. I have been voting by absentee ballot for about two decades, and for what I believe was an illegitimate reason, this vote did not count.

I am still in the very angry stage about this seeming deprivation of our right to vote in this “supposed” democracy. I would like to move on to acceptance of this being a part of the system, or begin working with other voters to prevent this from happening again in our state and our country.

Robert Hester,

Federal Way

Gregoire and her results

Christine Gregoire is launching her campaign for governor this week, but I wonder what parts of her record she’ll talk about.

Will she mention that the next governor will have to solve a $2.4 billion deficit next year, and will she tell us how she would pay for it?

Will she mention that never before has our state gas tax been higher? I remember when $75 filled my tank; now I get half a tank. Will they increase more to pay for the overspending?

Will she talk about the 3,100 felons that she released early from prison in 2006, and the three police officers they killed?

Will she mention our education system, which is in need of major reform when two-thirds of our 10th-graders do not pass all parts of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) and around 16,000 students dropped out of our high schools in 2005?

Will she put students first and pay teachers well that achieve results?

Or will she talk about education and the Federal Way lawsuit against the state for $800 million to provide basic funding plan to help our children succeed in school?

Maybe she has solutions for all of these things that she’s waiting to unveil in her kickoff speech. But then again, she’s had more than three years to do it. How come she hasn’t done it already?

Greg DeLapp,

Auburn

Leave our pockets alone, Uncle Sam

Although this may come as a surprise to most, we the retirees are being bilked out of our retirement.

Now our senators, in this state as well as in Washington, D.C., want to add on more entitlement programs. Why? We are already supporting people from other countries who are not American citizens, taking more taxes out of our Social Security checks. Medicare is a joke if you don’t have supplementary insurance.

People who come to live here, illegally or otherwise, can get medical insurance, dental, housing, etc., while we the retirees are paying the bills, along with those who are working. Medicare does not pay for dental, eye or even in-home care, if needed. If we came into this country illegally and had a baby, our medical would take care of mother and child, plus the child would be an American citizen by default.

The list is endless because of the overabundance of entitlement programs.

Whatever happened to a man or woman being held responsible for oneself and children they bring into the world? Whatever happened, that welfare was for families to receive until they got back on their feet, and not a life-long commitment? How did families, back during the depression, survive? They survived because they worked to keep their families housed and fed the best they could, and did not have government assistance. Maybe they didn’t have all the goodies like many who draw from government assistance, but they did it on their own, but not today.

Today, they keep reaching deeper and deeper into our pockets — those of us who have scrimped and saved during our working years, just so we could live a little more comfortable in our “golden years.” But as the taxes grow, and the deeper the government reaches into our pockets, the less we will have to get us through until the day we leave this Earth.

Sad isn’t it, fellow retirees? What happened to our rights to live without worry?

Pat Gee,

Federal Way

Still angry over primary election

At my wife’s recommendation, I read guest columnist Bill Pirkle’s report on why the electoral college exists (“Electoral college reflects wisdom of Founding Fathers,” April 9).

It has been a few decades since I last completed a course in American history, so I had forgotten the reasoning of the Constitutional Congress. Thank you very much on writing your report, which explained this quite clearly.

Now, a request for another explanation that you might be able to convince me and many others why we shouldn’t feel like we were deprived of our votes counting in the recent Washington state presidential primary election. As well as, why we shouldn’t believe that Washington state tax funds of about $9 million were wasted for this primary election that didn’t count for Democrats voting for their favored candidate and only counted 50 percent for Republicans voting for their favored candidate. I have been voting by absentee ballot for about two decades, and for what I believe was an illegitimate reason, this vote did not count.

I am still in the very angry stage about this seeming deprivation of our right to vote in this “supposed” democracy. I would like to move on to acceptance of this being a part of the system, or begin working with other voters to prevent this from happening again in our state and our country.

Robert Hester,

Federal Way

Gregoire and her results

Christine Gregoire is launching her campaign for governor this week, but I wonder what parts of her record she’ll talk about.

Will she mention that the next governor will have to solve a $2.4 billion deficit next year, and will she tell us how she would pay for it?

Will she mention that never before has our state gas tax been higher? I remember when $75 filled my tank; now I get half a tank. Will they increase more to pay for the overspending?

Will she talk about the 3,100 felons that she released early from prison in 2006, and the three police officers they killed?

Will she mention our education system, which is in need of major reform when two-thirds of our 10th-graders do not pass all parts of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) and around 16,000 students dropped out of our high schools in 2005?

Will she put students first and pay teachers well that achieve results?

Or will she talk about education and the Federal Way lawsuit against the state for $800 million to provide basic funding plan to help our children succeed in school?

Maybe she has solutions for all of these things that she’s waiting to unveil in her kickoff speech. But then again, she’s had more than three years to do it. How come she hasn’t done it already?

Greg DeLapp,

Auburn

Leave our pockets alone, Uncle Sam

Although this may come as a surprise to most, we the retirees are being bilked out of our retirement.

Now our senators, in this state as well as in Washington, D.C., want to add on more entitlement programs. Why? We are already supporting people from other countries who are not American citizens, taking more taxes out of our Social Security checks. Medicare is a joke if you don’t have supplementary insurance.

People who come to live here, illegally or otherwise, can get medical insurance, dental, housing, etc., while we the retirees are paying the bills, along with those who are working. Medicare does not pay for dental, eye or even in-home care, if needed. If we came into this country illegally and had a baby, our medical would take care of mother and child, plus the child would be an American citizen by default.

The list is endless because of the overabundance of entitlement programs.

Whatever happened to a man or woman being held responsible for oneself and children they bring into the world? Whatever happened, that welfare was for families to receive until they got back on their feet, and not a life-long commitment? How did families, back during the depression, survive? They survived because they worked to keep their families housed and fed the best they could, and did not have government assistance. Maybe they didn’t have all the goodies like many who draw from government assistance, but they did it on their own, but not today.

Today, they keep reaching deeper and deeper into our pockets — those of us who have scrimped and saved during our working years, just so we could live a little more comfortable in our “golden years.” But as the taxes grow, and the deeper the government reaches into our pockets, the less we will have to get us through until the day we leave this Earth.

Sad isn’t it, fellow retirees? What happened to our rights to live without worry?

Pat Gee,

Federal Way