GOP does not support the troops

Before the followers of “faux” news jump on the bandwagon that this is another President Barack Obama “conspiracy,” I would like to point out the recent history of GOP votes against veterans and Veterans Affairs. Last February, 41 GOP senators filibustered and blocked a bill to increase doctors and add 27 new health care facilities across the U.S. Many of these same senators then demanded the head of the VA for the delays in treatment of veterans.

Seven times the GOP-led House voted against VA bills to help veterans, including helping injured veterans to retain their jobs while undergoing medical treatment, increasing funding for disabled veterans needing structural alterations/improvements to their homes to gain access, retraining veterans for the current job market … just to name a few.

The VA is being overrun with veterans’ medical problems from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, two Gulf wars and Afghanistan. Many Republicans can’t get enough of this invasion fever, and their bucket list includes Iran, Syria, Egypt, Ukraine, North Korea. (Are even Canada and Mexico safe?). They don’t want to decrease defense spending and are forcing unwanted and expensive weapons on our military, but help veterans with medical problems? Not my worry, costs too much, increases the deficit! Their posturing is the most sanctimonious nonsense ever to come out of a congressman’s mouth, and that’s saying something.

You think this is the first time figures have been fudged? Look back at “body count” numbers in Vietnam.

Stop obstructionism and vote the money!

John Poe

Bend

OSU-Cascades location is too small

I think it is unfortunate that OSU-Cascades feels the need to push for a west-Bend location in a densely developed/traveled area. Juniper Ridge was being targeted as the location for the new campus.

Below are some colleges in Oregon — the student population and the acreage of the campus:

COCC: 4,048 students on 202 acres.

OSU: 20,000 students on 577 acres.

University of Oregon: 24,000 students on 295 acres.

Lane Community College: 9,110 students on 314 acres.

Willamette University: 2,800 students on 69 acres.

Chemeketa: 9,228 students on 195 acres.

Mt. Hood Community College: 7,817 students on 212 acres.

Southern Oregon: 5,154 students on 175 acres.

As you can see, not one of these campuses is less than 69 acres regardless of student numbers. And the 69-acre campus has about half the projected students of the new OSU-Cascades 56-acre campus.

OSU is being very shortsighted and is rushing this project since it was delayed by the recession.

Locating the campus at Juniper Ridge would allow plenty of acreage to expand to 10,000-plus students in the years to come. There are plenty of amenities there and more would come quickly by developers.

Locating in Juniper Ridge would also create a new hub for Bend, instead of saturating all the activity in the downtown/west Bend area.

And thinking 300 parking places is adequate is ridiculous!

This isn’t the president of OSU’s campus, it is Oregon’s!

Chris Lahay

Bend

We don’t need to read misguided ideas

The Bulletin, newspaper of record for Central Oregon, does not need to print every malformed and misguided idea every time another citizen expresses it.

We know that some people think voter fraud by individuals is a big problem. We know that for some, Benghazi holds a secret. And we know about the opinion that global climate change is natural, ergo nevermind.

The list goes on — simple notions, nothing more than reiteration of right-wing talking points. Are we really that backwater — or, conversely, must we so pander to the ignorencia, that we need to keep reading this mindlessness? What about the lady whose neighbor lets her dog turd in her yard? We don’t have to read about that — and we know you get those. Why this other nonsense?

Maybe the number of these letters that your good paper shares is a true proportional representation of the Central Oregon mentality. But I don’t want to believe that.

Steve Edwards

Bend