Write to the Point

Series: Letter to the Editor | Story 3

The demise of the Olympic Games

The Olympic Games is the mountain top of the athletic realm. After all, when you consider the thousands of young people who dedicate their lives to become a participant in those games and the millions of spectators who eagerly wait every four years to watch these wonderful athletes perform, it must be a world event.

Then came Paris.

In the opening ceremony, when then mockery of the “Lord’s Supper” — which in my mind had nothing to do with the Olympics — it avalanched the entire ceremony into the cesspool of humanity.

Shame on the International Olympic Committee.

To add to the stench, the committee allowed a man into the boxing ring against real women. Unbelievable!

Again, shame on the International Olympic Committee.

I’m deflated. Never again will I be able to so totally enjoy an event that nearly unites the world.

Shame on the International Olympic Committee.

Paul A. Lillengreen

Davenport

Students deserve their own union

One of six initiatives introduced by Republican-allied group Let’s Go Washington, Initiative 2081 gave parents and legal guardians of school children certain rights, including the right to examine textbooks, curriculum and any supplemental materials used in their children’s classrooms.

Although that’s innocent language in normal times, the 2024 Democratic-majority state Legislature was understandably suspicious. So they passed a similar parental “bill of rights” that removed the initiative from the upcoming November election. Two other initiatives were handled similarly.

So, three of the initiatives remain for November voters: Initiative 2117 prohibiting carbon tax credit trading, Initiative 2124 allowing individuals to opt out of long-term health care and Initiative 2109 repealing the capital gains tax imposed on gains over $250,000.

All must be defeated, especially the one repealing the capital gains tax that funds all-important early-childhood education.

The recent uptick in the parental rights movement has largely been driven by banning books and dictating curricula, including eliminating unpleasant aspects of our racial history.

But students, particularly the most mature at high school and college level, generally oppose these actions. They want books covering a range of subjects and the whole truth from their history classes. Even organized student protests have occurred along these lines.

When educator Cory DeAngelis says, “Now kids have a union of their own — their parents,” he errs. Indeed, it is just the opposite: students deserve their own union that opposes anti-education efforts characteristic of the parental rights movement.

Norm Luther

Spokane

 

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