Colored rings

California Matters

Gov.’s erratic vaccination orders

Generations of California public school students have been required — by law — to be vaccinated against deadly diseases.

The list includes measles, mumps, rubella, polio, chicken pox, hepatitis, whooping cough, diphtheria and tetanus. DAN WALTERS

Vaccination mandates have been tightened in recent years despite raucous opposition by those deluded into believing they are immoral or dangerous. In fact, the opposite is true. Unvaccinated children pose death threats to their classmates and ignoring that danger would be immoral.

Given that historic background, its grounding in medical science and the obvious peril of COVID-19, it makes perfect sense for California to add it to the list of mandatory vaccinations.

Gov. Gavin Newsom did so recently, declaring that when coronavirus vaccines become available for children they must be immunized before attending public school. “The state already Summary requires that students are vaccinated against viruses Gov. Gavin that cause measles, Newsom boasts mumps and rubella (so) there’s no reason why we wouldn’t do the same for that California is first state to COVID-19,” Newsom said. require COVID“Today’s measure, just like our first-in-the-nation school masking and staff 19 vaccinations of students, but vaccination requirements, there’s a smarmy is about protecting our children and school staff, and keeping them in the tinge to his declaration. classroom. Vaccines work. It’s why California leads the country in preventing school closures and has the lowest case rates. We encourage other states to follow our lead to keep our kids safe and prevent the spread of COVID-19.”

However, as with many of the governor’s pronouncements, the vaccination declaration has a somewhat smarmy tinge.

The headline on Newsom’s announcement declares “California becomes first state in nation to announce COVID-19 vaccine requirements for schools,” underscoring his years-long obsession with boasting about being first to do something.

That tendency is particularly obvious here because, in fact, a first-in-the-nation vaccination announcement doesn’t necessarily mean that California will be the first state to have school kids immunized because everyone must wait for vaccines to be approved for children.

In other words, it was more of a political stunt than a real accomplishment.

Moreover, while Newsom is touting that California students will — someday — be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19, he’s been less willing to crack down on public employees who have refused to get the shots even though they

n See WalterS, page A5

Letters to the Editor

As we were

EDITOR:

Ienjoyed reading Michael Raffety’s Belltower column in the paper. It brought back pleasant memories, but reminded me how much I miss the “As We Were” column. The historical tidbits were looked forward to by so many of your readers.

We have many new residents in our El Dorado County who know so little of its colorful history. I’m certain both new and old residents would love to see some form of historical tidbits returned to the pages of the Mountain Democrat.

CAROL LEE Diamond Springs

Rudderless

EDITOR:

How long can the federal government spend three times more than it takes in? This question is not political because George Bush (R) gave everyone cash the government did not have to stimulate the economy. Maybe the answer is that because the federal government is borrowing from future citizens not born yet that there is no intention to ever pay it back?

Per the debt clock, if you take everyone in the U.S.’s assets today via taxes the government would still owe $20 trillion. So to say tax the rich more or tax corporations more is no longer going to do anything.

I would like to hear from anyone who knows what the government is going to do or are we just doomed?

KEN STEERS Cameron Park

Does everyone need the vaccine?

EDITOR:

In the last three weeks two medical doctors from Marshall Hospital wrote in on the efficacy and need for everyone to get vaccinated. I ask why does “everyone” need to get vaccinated. Where does natural immunity come into this conversation?

All through my years of study from high school through college, through my doctorate, not to mention numerous post graduate education hours, I was taught about natural immunity. When you get sick, our bodies make antibodies against that disease.

Recent studies out of Israel states natural immunity being as good or better than vaccines against COVID. I have known people who got sick and 10 months later tested positive for antibodies. When do they say you need a booster, seven months with Pfizer?

Sen. Rand Paul, M.D., is not vaccinating due to his natural immunity. So does “everybody” need to have shots? Shouldn’t the question and conversation be steered toward what’s your antibody status?

It is my hope that the medical establishments may take this fact into consideration and try to influence our lawmakers to mandate otherwise and maybe give our civil liberties back, not to mention this might help with staffing our hospitals. THOMAS PESKO, D.C. Placerville

Pray it forward

EDITOR:

Ienjoyed the movie “Pay It Forward” — the idea of creating a better world by doing kind favors and asking those we bless to bless others instead of repaying us resonated with me.

But we Christians have an ability to improve on the ideal of paying it forward. We can “pray it forward.”

We know that while we were yet sinners, Jesus chose to die on the cross so that our sins would be forgiven by His sacrifice. But this is not automatic. We must choose to accept His gift and agree to change out hearts to reflect His kindness.

We also know that our words and actions flow out of our thoughts. That is why the Bible admonishes us to take every thought captive and present it as acceptable to Jesus. We are also encouraged to think about kind, noble things, not about negative things major media provides. Their goal is to capture our attention. After all, bad news sells.

Instead of permitting the media to direct our thoughts toward negativity, we can each select positive goals to pray about that will make our world better. Example: We can pray for truth to be known. Lies merely enable evil to exist. Knowing the truth permits us all to take wise action rather than being dominated by evil schemes designed to control us.

But faith without works is dead. We must also pray to be involved in seeking solutions. We can ask in prayer, “What can I do to further God’s desire for peace on earth?”

Our decision to pray a better future forward is encouraged in scripture. Romans 8:19 “All creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be

n See letterS, page A5

The Not So Weekly Daley

Thoughts on heroes and martyrs and victims, oh my

If you haven’t seen it already, don’t miss Donald Trump’s video paean to Ashli Babbitt. That’s the Ashli Babbitt famous for her death by gunshot Jan. 6, 2021. She was trying to climb through the hole where fellow participants had just finished breaking the glass in the upper section of a door to a room in the Capitol Building.

Capitol Police officer Michael Byrd pulled the trigger “as a last resort,” he said as a number of intruders attempted to get into that room through the broken door. He was later “cleared” of wrongdoing after a Capitol Police Department investigation.

The former president, by way of “cherishing her memory,” said she was “a truly incredible person” and “there’s no reason Ashli should have

lost her life that day.” She has been described by some as a “hero” and a “martyr” and they are certainly entitled to that opinion. I try not to speak ill of the dead, but “WHAT THE ….?! In Trump’s world Ashli Babbitt is a “hero,” ChRIS DALEy but John McCain isn’t. Not even close in that world. My world doesn’t hold many heroes and I probably wouldn’t include John McCain in a small list of candidates, but I sure as heck would not go about dishonoring or insulting his suffering and service. If Babbitt is a hero and martyr, what are all the others who were there attempting to prevent Mike Pence’s certification of the 2020 election? OK, none were martyrs. Does Mike Pence honor and cherish those dozens or hundreds who chanted “Hang Mike Pence?” I’d be

In Trumpworld, Jan. 6 was a regular tourist day at the nation’s Capitol. Mike Pence recently called it no more than “one day in January.”

quite interested to hear what Pence’s wife and daughter have to say about the experience — being hustled out of that Capitol chamber by Secret Service officers just ahead of a mob chanting “Hang Mike Pence!”

Do you suppose they hold Ashli Babbitt in high esteem? I can’t imagine it but, of course, anything’s possible. In Trumpworld, Paul Manafort and Roger Stone were, if not heroes, brutally victimized victims. So were Rod Blagoyevich and Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

In Trumpworld, Jan. 6 was a regular tourist day at the nation’s Capitol. Mike Pence recently called it no more than “one day in January.” So, can one assume, Pence believes the people who wanted to hang him that one day are heroes? I’d really be interested to hear him clarify that question.

In Trumpworld, 17-ear-old Kyle Rittenhouse from Illinois who brought an AR-15 to a Black Lives Matter rally in Kenosha, Wisc., and killed two protesters is a hero. Unknown entities put up $2 million for his bond, from what I remember hearing. Obviously somebody or a bunch of somebodies think he’s a hero and a grievously victimized victim.

If Charles Manson and Ted Kaczynski had killed a few Black Lives Matter folk and maybe a vice president, they’d be heroes in Trumpworld today and living in high cotton.

Chris Daley is a biweekly columnist for the Mountain Democrat.