Yea for yoga

To the gentleman who wrote in a letter that he was appalled that inmates in Deschutes County jails were receiving yoga instead of punishment the “purpose of jail” as he presented it: It’s not the Department of Punishment, it’s the Department of Corrections that operates jails.

The purpose of prison is to have humane consequences for illegal actions and to transform people’s decision-making so they don’t return to crime when they are released.

Yoga teaches people to be less impulsive, better able to cope with disappointments and yes, to find one’s “better angels.”

Those are enough reasons for inmates to receive yoga in my mind.

But if you need another, think of how much better the life of a corrections officer is if the people he is tasked with correcting are reasonable, able to manage their incarceration without hurting themselves or others and better able to see how their actions impact those around them.

I say, yea for yoga!

Jane Kirkpatrick

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Tribalistic hypocrisy

Flip the script on Trump’s meeting with Putin and imagine if Obama had adored Putin so. The president that was continually accused of not being tough enough on Putin is looking like a meanie compared to the holding hands and long walks on the beach approach of this president. Had Obama been so glassy eyed over Putin as Trump, the right would have been foaming at the mouth like a rabies victim, and still be talking about it to this day. The fact that some on the right have critiqued Trumps meeting gives me some hope.

However, I know folks that panned Obama continually over his lack of toughness on Russia that have no bad words for Trumps latest performance.

Don’t even get me started on Trump’s praise and sucker deal with the ruthless dictator Kim Jong Un. Tribalistic hypocrisy at its finest. He’s Republican, he can do no wrong. Sad.

This “I’m in way over my head” presidency can’t be over soon enough.

Rob Smith

La Pine

GOP wants to rule

The U.S. Congress and the president have been told about Russian interference in our 2016 election and warned of their intent to interfere in our 2018 election.

Yet the president has questioned the intelligence community and sided with Vladimir Putin.

The Congress controlled by the Republican Party has waffled and on occasion some Republican members have attacked the intelligence community.

They have until now refused to assert their constitutional responsibility and authority and stop some of the presidents’ actions.

We now know why such inaction, it’s because Vladimir Putin wanted Donald Trump elected and therefore the Russian interference probably helped fulfill Putin’s desire

Why would a party such as the GOP that has gerrymandered and suppressed many minority voters want to stop the Russian hacking?

It is unlikely that the Russians would try to help any other party retain or increase its control of Congress.

At this point it should be obvious that many of the current Republican Party members want to “rule” not “govern”.

Lewis L. McFarland

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Car mess

Three cheers for the recent editorial regarding Oregon making car drivers miserable.

Just look at the huge traffic tie-ups on arterials and freeways and you can see what the radical Oregon planners have in their minds.

For liberals, their mecca is New York City, and for two or three decades they have been working hard to turn Oregon into Manhattan. More density, fewer cars, your future in the hands of the planners.

We all want planning; we don’t want sprawl, but the planners in Oregon are out of control. Oregonians claim quality of life as a birthright.

When you can reach out of your bathroom window and hand your neighbor toilet paper, your quality of life is becoming nonexistent.

Now, which gubernatorial contender will fix this mess?

Michael Hartfield

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