Boebert’s agenda benefits millionaires and billionaires
I commend Rep. Lauren Boebert for engaging readers in the Jan. 15 Sentinel, people who represent a broader spectrum of views compared to her core base. I hope she continues this positive change with town hall meetings where all are made welcome.
In her opinion piece, Boebert claimed Congress’s approval stood at “just under 15% under Nancy Pelosi.” Ballotpedia’s daily rating of Congress on Biden’s inauguration day stood at 13%, perhaps affected by certain members of Congress aiding the Jan. 6 insurrection. For most of the past two years, under Democratic leadership, Congressional approval has been above 20% and reached as high as 36% in July 2021. I wish for better, but Boebert’s “15% under Pelosi” comment is political spin, not straight talk.
Requiring bills address only a single subject sounds nice. But it may just be a recipe for inaction. For example, is “Infrastructure” a single subject? Boebert clearly doesn’t consider clean, cheap, renewable energy as “Infrastructure.” She disparages it as “Green New Deal policies.” The U.S. Energy Information Administration projects renewables will make up 44% of U.S. electricity generation by 2050. What is that if not “infrastructure?” Boebert would kill any infrastructure bill if it includes renewables, claiming that is not infrastructure. It’s what her fossil-fuel based funders want.
I am glad she discovered Thomas Jefferson. I strongly urge her to research Jefferson and Madison’s work on religious freedom, especially the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. Not all faiths oppose abortion. SCOTUS’s Dobbs decision allowing states to regulate reproductive freedom was a clear favoring of one religious belief over others. SCOTUS ignored that in greenlighting state bans on abortion services.
Her support of the “Fair” consumption tax merits a letter of its own. To highlight one problem: Under Fair, capital gains taxes would be eliminated. According to the Tax Policy Center, capital gains represent less than 4% of Adjusted Gross Income of earners under $200K while capital gains represent about 40% of AGIs of those with incomes over $1 million. Who would make up for the elimination of capital gains taxes? You guessed it — the “hard-working Americans” with AGIs under $200K — us middle-income folks. Despite her populist rhetoric, Boebert receives her policy ideas from the millionaires and billionaires she hobnobs with at Mar-A-Lago. She isn’t working for most of us in CD3.
JOSEPH MCGILL
Cedaredge
Show the Front Range what wolves are doing
I read the article about wolves here and more coming to Colorado because the citizens in the urban areas around Denver think it would be cool! I have an ag background that makes me grit my teeth at the idea of a rancher losing even one calf or lamb to a pack of wolves! Throw in the loss of pet dogs defending their homes against those wolves and you have the reasons rural western high country Colorado opposes the idea of wolves being artificially introduced without the ability to defend their property!
The idea some ranchers are having any trouble getting reimbursed for losses they incur due to the current wolves, and deterrents they try without killing the wolves they have, is crazy to me! Watching an animal calve a calf and the love ranchers have for their animals is something Denver may not see.
I propose some video of animals, including dogs, being destroyed by wolves be put in the media so urban Colorado can see what wolves do! How about it, it is only fair for the ag people?!
JERRY GASKINS
Paonia
Quick comments on recent news and events
Three quick comments:
1. A thumbs down to the new Off The Clock insert in the Sentinel. Give us back the TV schedule for the whole week so we can have it in one spot for reference.
2. An article in the Jan. 8 Sentinel reported that the City Council had okayed a financial incentive of $1.5 million to a Dallas, Texas company to build “market rate” residences on Horizon Drive. Not Low income, but market rate. Are there no local or Colorado companies who can build here in the valley? If that $1.5 million was to be allocated to taking care of our streets, rather than going to an out of state builder, we could have pothole repair and street maintenance for several years.
3. A TV ad is running locally that could be costly to uneducated drivers. They show a picture of an illuminated light resembling an oil can on a dashboard, with the driver saying it must be time for an oil change. The problem is, the light they show indicates that there is a problem in the engine lubrication system, such as low oil or oil pressure loss. If you see that light is lit, you should first pull off the road and check the oil level. Don’t continue to drive or you risk damaging your engine.
STEVEN POTTER
Clifton
Carlson is spreading dangerous info on cigarettes
Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s recent “Take your hands off my menthols- Pure Power Play: Banning things people like,” continues to showcase Carlson’s pro-tobacco thrust. Could his menthol position be racist as menthols are most popular among Blacks?
Will Carlson’s national network barking for people’s right to smoke mean that we should have the right to use lead-based paint to cover our asbestos-mudded drywall?
Carlson asked, “Why do they hate tobacco?” I hate it because as a little boy, I witnessed it painfully torture my poor WWII Staff Sergeant father to his emphysema tobacco death in 1964. How does Carlson pick and choose his pro-life positions?
MIKE SAWYER
Denver
How can people of western Colorado election Boebert to anything?
I’ve always wondered about the people of western Colorado. Are they really that desperate to elect someone like Lauren Boebert and then re-elect her?!
It’s incredible to me that she could get elected to a school board; yet, this district apparently has no shame. What an embarrassment to the state of Colorado. I would say to the good people of the 3rd District, thanks for less than nothing.
MARK HAHN
Denver
