Letters to the Editor: Hypocrisy, campaign ads and fire policy

EDITOR'S NOTE: The views and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not of Ottawa News Network.

False front for the photos

What hypocrisy to visit Kids’ Food Basket in Holland (supporting feeding needy children) when their Republican Party slashed Medicaid and SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits by $1.2 trillion in the One Big Beautiful Bill.

When U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga visited Kids’ Food Basket on June 18 for a photo op, did the public forget their party stood for tax cuts for the super-rich over feeding low-income families? Huizenga supported the bill, which Donald Trump signed on July 4, 2025.

More than 3.5 million beneficiaries of SNAP, which provides food benefits to low-income individuals and families, lost such benefits between July and February. More state losses lie ahead as the new rules and paperwork kick in. Besides SNAP losses, an estimated 171,000 Michiganders may lose Medicaid coverage in 2028. 

Will Kennedy and Huizenga visit another food bank then?

Jo Bird
Holland

Political ads

The Supreme Court has opened the floodgates for gobs of money to come into — and I would argue corrupt — our political campaigns. 

We are swamped with political ads, most of which are negative and even full of lies. My question is, "Who watches these ads?" In fact, I do not watch any ads if I can avoid them through the mute button or by switching channels. But you have probably noticed that the TV stations seem to run their ads at the same time, so thank heavens for the mute option.

I mostly watch C-Span anyway, which has no ads and better informs you about who is running and what they stand for.

What if everyone refused to watch political ads? What would the political parties do with all their cash if they thought no one would watch their ads? We would perhaps then have more public debates between candidates, people would turn to our newspapers for information and magazines such as THE WEEK, which offers both sides of each issue.

Network and cable viewership is on the decline, and I hope that in their demise, political ads decline along with them.

Henry Idema
Grand Haven

Thank you again, SCOTUS

I’d like to spitball a bit regarding Bill Dalton’s concerns regarding insider trading. (July 17, "The Farmer’s Strait")

"Insider trading," as such, would be made ridiculously easy if you could exert functional control over a given market. If you could functionally control a given market — let us, say, oil — then you could manipulate it at your will. You could make buy/sell decisions, ahead of the fact, based on your own, personal whims. 

Or maybe your own, personal profiteering. Who knows?

Further, imagine if you could manipulate that oil market — back and forth, up and down — by announcing, repeatedly, just days apart, the opening, and then the closing of a critical oil trade route.  And do so whilst uttering the words “national security.” 

You’d likely know that using those words provides a patina of official action.  And you’d also likely know that the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) has granted you presumptive immunity from prosecution for all official acts.

And that you’d be able to manipulate this and any like market, with impunity, because SCOTUS has held that no one could stop you.

No one. 

Richard Wolfe
Park Township

Fight fire with policy

Due to recent wildfire smoke, primarily from Canada, Michiganders were exposed to a public health emergency, and Detroit recorded the worst urban air quality in America. 

Writing in Bridge Michigan, Kelly House describes mid-July’s smoke as the continuation of a pattern which originates with similar fires in 2020 and 2025. Paige Fischer at the U-of-M calls this pattern the “new normal.” 

The driving force behind these fires is “worsening climate change and generations of fire suppression practices that have backfired …,” she reports. 

This “new normal” has drawn the ire of Michigan US House Reps. Jack Bergman, John James, Lisa McClain and John Moolenaar. In a recent letter to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, they note prior-year complaints and failed Canadian promises. They imply that the U.S. may take unilateral action to initiate forest safety procedures. 

They are not wrong to highlight the urgent need for better forest management. In the U.S. House, the recently passed Fix Our Forests Act is a move in the right direction. Absent from their analysis, however, is any acknowledgement of climate change as a driver in the evolution of these super fires. 

Before condemning the speck in Canada’s eye, they would do well to recognize the beam in the American eye. No country has historically emitted more climate-changing pollution than the U.S. 

We have been on notice for quite some time. President Johnson, in 1965, was the first president to receive a climate change report. NASA scientist James Hansen’s 1988 congressional testimony was prophetic. 

There’s no do-over for missed opportunities, but as ancient Chinese wisdom says: "The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now."

This isn’t Armageddon, but if unaddressed, fire risk will only increase. We need legislators to immediately begin building climate mitigation into law and policy. We need them to understand that global problems require global partners; that funding for forest management must increase; that decades of persistent work are required; and that the time to start is right now!

Peter Boogaart
Zeeland

A list of demands from the citizens

Open message to our legislators. We the people have some very simple requests.

• Fix and fund Social Security.
• Simplify and provide Medicare-type health insurance coverage for every U.S. citizen and legal permanent resident. Why does health insurance have to be so complicated and difficult to navigate? One system with peace of mind and health for all. A basic right of a civilized society.
• End senseless wars of aggression. You wouldn’t use this approach to solve problems with your family and friends. Negotiate unless our homeland is attacked. And even then, start with negotiation.
• Climate change is not a hoax.  If you cannot recognize this, you must be blind and living under a rock.  If you cannot promote a clean energy transition, please resign.
• Toxic injection wells didn’t turn out so well for Marietta, Ohio. Take note, Port Sheldon and Consumers Energy. Clean drinking water is important.

Thank you for your attention to this matter!

Laura Judge
Laketown Township

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