Open Letters to Our Leaders

Dear Rep. Degette,

As reported in the Washington Post ("Big-Game Hunting Brings Big Tax Breaks," April 5, 2005), trophy hunters are receiving sizable tax breaks by donating their animal mounts to non-profit entities, some just warehouses or living rooms disguised as "museums." The appraised value of these animal trophies can be inflated to several times their fair market value, essentially allowing trophy hunters to pursue their destructive hobby at taxpayers' expense.

Please work with the conference committee to include Senate Chairman Grassley's language in the final Tax Relief Act Conference Report and help close this loophole and save more than $40 million.

Every year, tens of thousands of wild animals are killed solely for their trophy value-including rare and endangered animals around the world. I am opposed to this pointless killing and disturbed that some trophy hunters have found a way to finance their expeditions by duping the IRS and American taxpayers. Please do all that you can to stop this abuse of taxpayer funds.

Thank you again for your support of animal rights, the environment, and endangered species protection.

You're right, George Washington would not recognize the modern US. Women vote. Blacks are not slaves, but full citizens with equal rights. Children are no longer prosecuted for crimes as adults and are not required to work as are adults. There is public education for all. Human rights are defended to the fullest extent of the law. Even illegal immigrants are afforded healthcare and education under equal protection.

Hmm... sounds like terrible changes to me.

You should review some of Washington's verbage in his international treaties. He says what he needs to to enforce relationships... he was a master at that. Why else would he have been our first president?

This was her response:

Thank you for your comments.

You're right --- Expansive Government, on the backs of hardworking taxpayers, has made everything and everybody equal, earned or not.

Bonnie

So women, blacks, and children have been granted rights on the backs of 'us' hardworking, white, taxpaying males. This woman gives Conservative writers a bad name.

Many people misunderstand the discussion around President Bush's authorization of wiretapping of US citizens. Our foreign intelligence divisions have Constitutional authority to wiretap foreign citizens outside the US and thereby pick up communication to those individuals from Americans in the US. However, the CIA and NSA, according to legislation such as FISA, do not have the ability to then put wiretaps on those US citizen's phones inside the US without court approval. The President has broken the law by authorizing the CIA and NSA to wiretap Americans inside the US without court approval. Congress decreed that such wiretaps should be authorized by a judge because they could be used for personal and political gain.

In this climate of corruption and cronyism in the Republican Party, I shudder at the thought that appointed political officials could have access to secret, illegal domestic wiretaps.

Thank you

Dear Governor Kempthorne,

I read in the news that some Idaho politicians are attempting to add a ballot initiative that would insist that the state remove wolves from the wild using any and all means possible. In the recent past, I have visited Idaho for recreational activities that are based on your great states wonderful natural resources. While I realize that the anti-wolf initiative is more grandstanding than action, if the initiative passes, I will not spend any more tourism dollars on Idaho. Furthermore, I will encourage my friends and colleagues (many of whom are rock climbing and outdoor enthusiasts) also not to spend money in your state.

The perceived threat of wolves to livestock and human life is exactly that... perceived. Farmer groups spend far more on anti-wolf efforts than they actually lose in livestock to wolves in a given year. Disease, old age, and lightning all have greater impacts on livestock mortality than wolves.

The 'threat' of wolves to elk populations is a misstatement of the facts. Wolves no more 'threaten' elk than hawks threaten prairie dogs. It is part of the natural behavior and ecology of wolf populations to prey on major endemic herding species such as elk. Without wolves in the Rockies, elk populations have artificially grown and mingled causing the spread of diseases such as chronic wasting disease. Leaving wolves in the wild contributes to a healthy, natural ecosystem.

While I can't vote in the ballot in your state, I can vote with my dollar. As I said, if any anti-wolf initiative passes in your state, I will not spend another dime in the Idaho economy.

Sincerely,