Letters to the editor Dec. 18

When do we become human?

Is it when the brain’s frontal cortex is fully developed, typically when one is in their mid 20s, giving them the ability for reasoning, logical thinking, problem solving and decision making among other things? 

Or is it when one turns 21 and certain governments assume they are responsible enough to drink alcohol? Or is it when one turns 18 and they are given the authority to vote and help choose the leaders of our country? Surely when they have completed puberty and can breed another human being, they must be human. Or is it when they are potty trained and are dependent on their parents for one less thing?

Or is it when they first leave the mother's womb and start breathing oxygen on their own, but still quite dependent on other humans to survive? Could they be human while they are still in the womb with functioning features like eyes, ears, nose and toes along with a skeleton full of working organs all covered by skin? What about all of these features while they are in the developing stages, such as their reproductive systems which can identify them by their genitalia as male or female as early as 10 weeks pregnant? Or a heartbeat as early as five weeks pregnant? 

Or could it be, just maybe, when the sperm from the father and the egg from the mother are united and the 23 chromosomes from the father and the 23 chromosomes from the mother are joined together that the journey of life as a human being begins?

— Reed Darrow, Kalispell

Pardon me, Joe

Why not go big on the way to going home? As long as you’re handing out pardons, how about pardoning the debt of millions of hard-working Americans? Debt scammed into existence by a government policy of theft by deception must end.

“It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.” — Henry Ford

Yes Joe, your time in office is short, but the gig is up.  The world is rapidly moving to alternative currencies such as crypto-currencies, and a return to constitutional money (silver and gold). No more will the people of the U.S. be fooled into slavery to the banks and the global elites. Change is happening by necessity. 

Inflation created by excess money printing and borrowing against the future productivity of citizens yet unborn, along with greed and fraud, have a natural end. Enough is never enough when it’s easy to steal the value of your labor, but sooner or later, credit and the ability to create it, runs out. 

People currently invest in gold, silver, art, real estate, and yes, unfortunately the stock market. There is no refuge from an out-of-control government. Fundamentally, the banking and monetary system must change. The revolution Mr. Ford speaks of may not happen tomorrow morning, but it will be in the upcoming legislative sessions. Look for it and support it.

— Bob Wagner, Harrison