The Kavanaugh papers | Letters to the editor, Sept. 13, 2018

Need to see Kavanaugh paperwork

I was shocked listening to the beginning of the Kavanaugh hearing for the Supreme Court. This nomination should be postponed until: 1) The members of the Senate have time to review the 40,000-plus pages that were released the day before the hearing! 2) The vast majority of Kavanaugh’s papers be released to the Senate. Right now, about 10 percent of his documents while in the Bush Administration have been released and the rest have not been released because Bill Burck, a longtime friend of Kavanaugh’s, is overseeing the release. The White House ordered that 100,000 documents not be released. This whole process does not pass the sniff test. We are talking about someone who can be on the highest court for the next 30-40 years. It is critical that everything there is to know about Justice Kavanaugh be out in the open. Call the chair of the nominating committee, Sen. Chuck Grassley (202) 224-3744, and demand that this be postponed until all of the relevant papers are released.

A start for health care for all

I write in response to your piece (Sept. 4) on proposed legislation on the matter of medical insurance awaiting the governor’s signature – or veto. First, “health care” is a chimera. The term actually covers two separate issues: one is medical care and the other is medical insurance. With respect to medical care, the USA ranks as fair-to-poor among the “developed nations” of the world. With respect to medical insurance, the U.S. ranks far behind the “developed nations.” In other “developed nations” it is accepted that the duties of the government to its citizens include access to medical care. This requires some form of universal medical insurance. In the U.S., it is held that medical insurance is a privilege and must be earned and paid for. Therefore, outside (and even within) the remit of Medicare, Medicaid and the VA, any episode of serious illness or injury is likely to result in personal bankruptcy. Furthermore, the cost of medical care in the U.S. is far higher than anywhere else. I, therefore urge the passage of the proposed legislation to regulate the conduct of medical insurance companies, if only as a first step to achieving medical insurance for all.

Wants to just get the sports section

I wish I could just subscribe to your sports section of the newspaper. I enjoy the sports and the T.V. listings. I pretty much quit reading the rest of the paper because of your one sided slanted reporting on politics and your daily bashing of our President.

Kaepernick more patriotic than Trump

John McCain was a patriot. A patriot is somebody who is willing to make personal sacrifices because of his or her belief in the basic principles that their country is founded on. Being forced to stand for a song or salute a flag is no more patriotic than being forced to shout “Heil Hitler” in Nazi Germany. In Germany you could have lost your life for disobeying. Here it might cost you your career, or the ire of Donald Trump, who never sacrificed anything for anybody but himself. When Colin Kaepernick took a knee to protest police brutality against African Americans, he was exercising his First Amendment right. Contrary to Trump’s inflammatory tweets, this had nothing to do with respect for the military. Trump goes out of his way to be divisive, particularly when it involves people of color. Kaepernick was using his position to bring attention to a problem, just like Trump uses his position to stir up hatred. Hopefully, in the end the right person will be without a job. Trump can wrap himself in the flag all day, but he will never be the patriot that Kaepernick is. So sad!