Author: The Seattle Times: Northwest Voices

Respect for our protectors

“Keeping a promise to nation’s warriors” [Opinion, May 25] was encouraging, but fell short of confronting the issue.

We cannot do enough for our injured veterans and we are not doing enough. It starts with sending them only on missions of clear necessity and moral imperative, making their sacrifice worthy. It precludes recklessly sending them to be cannon fodder for corporate interests and American empire.

These brave, selfless souls want nothing more than to serve their nation and humanity, and what do we do to them?

There is a reason why, as Gen. Peter Chiarelli briefly mentions, mental disorder would be the “signature” of these wars —a reason why our troops return from the Persian Gulf conflicted to commit suicide at alarming rates. Dead civilians, including children, are hard to forget.

The general’s thesis is only about mitigating the resulting tragedy because he can’t, in uniform, question the cause itself: the mission. But we can. Our silence is more than consent; it is betrayal.

— Mark Lindstrom, Redmond

Subsidies eliminate incentives for lower-cost technology

“Stimulus success at Windy Point” [Opinion, May 15] paints a favorable picture for Goldendale, but only tells part of the story.

According to the American Wind Energy Association, Cannon Power Group developed two “Windy Point II” projects and one “Windy Flats IIa” project in 2009. The smallest was 29.9 megawatts and received $19.4 million, probably representing 30 percent of the project cost. It is unclear how much of the remaining 232 MW developed received or would receive funding.

Federal subsidies are apparently necessary because these machines are too expensive relative to their electrical output to compete in the electricity market without them.

However, subsidizing existing technology eliminates incentives to develop and bring lower-cost technology into the market. Paradoxically, taxpayers would be the largest beneficiary of new technology if it eliminated the need for subsidies.

The turbines in the picture were made by Siemens, almost certainly in Europe, though maybe the towers or the blades were made in the United States.

A few months ago, Sen. Chuck Schumer went through the roof when a big project proposed for West Texas was to result in a check for $450 million to a Chinese turbine manufacturer. Only in the United States would this happen.

— Larry Miles, Bellevue

Accident leaves no second thoughts for bike lane

This is a response to “W. Nickerson St. will get bike lane” [NWWednesday, May 12].

I had a serious bike accident on West Nickerson Street when commuting to work. I was knocked unconscious, broke my collarbone and was dizzy for six months.

Nickerson Street is dangerous for bikes, and cars. The lanes are too narrow for the current high speeds and curves. Changing to a single wider lane, plus a bike lane is safer for everyone. I drive it, too, and a single lane is plenty for the traffic. The city has been planning this for years; it is the smart choice.

— Tim Hesterberg, Seattle

Toxins for the Fourth

Editor, The Times:

After reading “Puget Sound’s slow oil spill” [Opinion, May 20], I thought how the Northwest has one of the most concerned and environmentally devoted populations in the country, except on the Fourth of July.

Has anyone noticed how the awareness our actions take a vacation every July? How many thousands of tons of toxic byproducts do we send into our local waters in the form of incendiary fireworks? Residents all along the waterfront spend hours doing this with abandon.

What percentage of the yearly toxins that we send into our waters occurs on our nation’s birthday? Think about that.

— Steven Short, Mercer Island

King County Council’s taxing spree

It is extremely disturbing to me that the King County Council creates expensive ideas, whether it is the legal or the social side of business, and does not consider that there may be too many of these ideas being offered to the public. [“County looks to property tax after defeat of sales-tax plan,” page one, May 25.]

The sad part of it is that when there are hard economic times, such as the current period, the various governmental organizations refuse to do anything other than attempt to force the taxpayers to maintain the status quo by increasing taxes.

I was glad to see that the County Council decided not to present either the .2 percent sales-tax increase or the property-tax increase to the voters for the August ballot. I sincerely hope there is no change in that voting when it comes to the November ballot.

Taxpayers are sick and tired of having further taxes imposed on them to maintain the status quo for every one of the programs when so many people are out of work and many are losing their homes. There does not seem to be any will by the government to rein in the union demands or to increase the employee share of health-insurance costs.

Maybe at the same time, there should be a significant, permanent reduction in all government employees.

— John Marthens, Normandy Park

Taxes and levies in Mill Creek could sting

Next year, the state budget shortfall is expected to be approximately $7 billion and after November, the Legislature is looking to increase taxes again. This does not include a state income tax. The Legislature did not raise taxes more than it did this year due the upcoming election.

The King County Council is considering a sales tax, a property-tax increase or a tax transfer.

In addition to any legislative-mandated tax increases, the following levies are being proposed for the Snohomish County Library, Everett School District and the city of Mill Creek.

The Snohomish County Library is considering a levy for a new library in the Mill Creek area with a cost of $80 on the average house, in addition to the large increase last year for operations and maintenance.

The Everett School District is considering an additional levy to add $100 per year to homeowner property taxes. Board members say this is a temporary increase, but seldom is any tax increase temporary.

Mill Creek is placing on the August ballot a $108 per year Emergency Medical Service levy increase. This is without consideration of an alternative using demand-based staffing at a significantly reduced cost.

There is a rumor from a fire-service insider about adding a fire station to Mill Creek environs. This could add another $200 per year to homeowner property taxes, not including facilities and equipment.

In addition to any state-mandated tax increases, the levy increases if implemented could cost homeowners about $500 per year for a total of $3 million to property-tax collections just for Mill Creek, which amounts to about a 12 percent increase in property taxes.

Considering the current state of the economy, these tax increases are not sustainable.

— Will Nelson, Mill Creek

A ‘make-work’ project

Reading “An honest debate” [NWVoices, May 27] on Referendum 52, then “Be honest with voters” [Opinion, May 24], was an eerie reminder of the tremendous power that lobbyists have in taking away our money.

Forgive me if I misinterpret, but R- 52 sounds like a “make-work” project for the construction industry, which would increase the amount of taxes I would need to pay with little to gain.

Do all of the schools in the state have mold and leaky roofs? Are none of them insulated? Why not just use the existing school-district maintenance funds to fix the mold or leaks as they occur —or like in Bellevue, gradually replace the schools that are old and out-of-date?

The eerie reminder: Living in a condo development, my daughter-in-law, along with all the other condo owners, must pay out approximately $40,000 each to replace the sheathing and siding. As I understand it, water leakage was found in some of the condos, and a state law forces them with the choice to either renovate

— Jim Spray, Bellevue

An alienating proposal

I read the editorial “Ensuring the safety of international students” [Opinion, May 25], which supported the U.S. State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affair’s proposed safety checks for exchange students’ host families with special interest.

I was an exchange student last year, so I absolutely understand the need for safe host families.

My family is now having a wonderful time hosting an international student. However, we would be not hosting if we had to be fingerprinted and to divulge our financial resources — not because we are criminals, but because we value our privacy.

Criminal-background checks could catch the few sex offenders who try to host a student. But they would also deter a much larger percentage of safe families from hosting. Due to the current economy, many families no longer feel they could afford to host a foreign student. By adding additional regulations on hosting, it is going to be even more difficult for exchange programs to find families.

The suggestion to ban single people from hosting exchange students is just ludicrous. That is discrimination based solely upon martial status. I have known several exchange students who have had a wonderful experience with their single parent. It is unreasonable to assume that because someone is single, they are likely to violate a young person.

— Elliott Brooks, Seattle

Group supports construction of new 520 floating bridge

For Kirkland is a Washington state nonprofit organization dedicated to creating a healthy, sustainable city by promoting service to the community, active citizen engagement in city decision making, and a robust, honest dialogue regarding issues facing our community and region.

In keeping with our mission statement, we ask our elected leaders to support every effort to move forward with construction of a new Highway 520 floating bridge to replace the existing structure.

The vulnerable condition of the bridge is well-documented, pointing toward the very real possibility of a catastrophic failure in a wind storm or earthquake.

The replacement project has been studied for nearly 15 years and the time for action is now. The current recession has created a construction environment that would save millions of dollars in construction costs.

The project would also produce thousands of well-paying jobs for the especially hard-hit construction industry at a time when those jobs are critical to our economic recovery.

While we understand there is more work to do to resolve the issues around the final design of the west end of the bridge, we strongly favor moving ahead as quickly as possible with the projects on the east side of the lake, which have been designed and agreed upon.

To not move forward now with those projects would be to waste an opportunity to save the taxpayers of the region millions of dollars.

— Dan Krehbiel, president of For Kirkland, Kirkland

If legibility is the issue, why not practice better printing?

This is a response to “Teacher reintroduces the lost art of cursive” [page one, May 24].

Making the case for relearning cursive is not an easy one. I, for one, am just finishing up my junior year of high school, having taken both Advanced Placement (AP) Chemistry and AP U.S. Government tests, and then the SAT.

Little did I know that I would have to be writing a three-sentence statement in cursive. Now having learned cursive back in the third grade, I had to dig back through my brain to remember some of the more archaic characters, but in the end I got it done. This application of cursive however, is the first time that I have used this skill since I first learned it.

Now what teacher Nora MacDonald seems to stress is that the cursive is a remedy for her kids writing in block print, and doing so almost illegibly. There are, however, simpler ways to fix such a problem.

Instead of trying to resurrect an outmoded form of communication —which, it should be noted, is also what is being taught in her class —she could simply have them practice better printing so that she can read their writing. Perhaps she could even stress that the ability to print legibly allows the AP graders to read their work as well.

If we should all start relearning how to write in outmoded forms of communication, I may as well take both AP Cuneiform and AP Egyptian Hieroglyphics during my senior year, as neither Latin nor cursive are really defined as “outmoded” yet.

Perhaps next year, instead of having her students learn cursive, MacDonald could be pursuing Latin, a topic relevant to that other outmoded form of communication.

— Brad Russell, Bainbridge Island

We need Murray

Editor, The Times:

This is a response to “Sources: Rossi’s in, will make it official Wednesday” [page one, May 25].

A high tide brings in a lot of things, and some of it does not smell very good.

Washington state voters have twice rejected Dino Rossi, and should do it again.

His own Republican neighbors rejected him when he first ran for state Senate in 1992, too. Back then, all three of his Republican opponents refused to endorse him after the primary, leading to his defeat that year.

They knew then what a growing number of voters know now: Rossi is too cozy with the kinds of questionable corporate power brokers who nearly destroyed our economy.

I served three terms as a Republican county councilman representing the area that Rossi calls home. I have never endorsed him, either. His right-wing brand of politics is too extreme for Washington state voters.

We need to reclaim our country and reclaim our prosperity by charting a new course. That course would create new jobs in new industries that pollute less, use fewer resources and make products that last.

We need to get control of our government budgets by enforcing the discipline of frugality and paying as we go with taxes that are fairer to working families. We need to confront powerful interests that threaten to destroy our democratic republic.

A vote for Dino Rossi is a vote backward into a negative and dangerous past. This time, regardless of your party affiliation, vote for Sen. Patty Murray. She has earned a reputation for hard work and integrity, and we really need that right now.

— Brian Derdowski, King County Council member 1990-2000, Issaquah

Seek pay and benefits cuts

King County Executive Dow Constantine has inherited a budget problem created by the former King County administration. [“County looks to property tax after defeat of sales-tax plan,” page one, May 25.]

However, his proposal to solve the problem and protect basic police and criminal-justice system services is not going to work. Voters are not going to approve a raise in any taxes.

There is only one solution: Constantine must sit down with the union leaders representing King County employees and law enforcement, and get them to agree to reduce employee pay and benefits.

If they fail to work this out, the criminal-justice system and police services would be gutted. The county administration and unions would try to blame the voters, whereas the unions and employees hold the only viable solution that would work.

— Walter Huff, Des Moines

Vote out the incumbents

I am in disgust today after our elected leaders, again, failed to lead. If fact, they did not even have to lead, they just needed to decide to let us decide.

The Metropolitan King County Council cannot seem to allow the voters of the county make a decision on what we need in our communities.

While I do not want a tax increase, I would rather have the option to vote for one if it meant saving King County’s criminal-justice system. I find it hard to believe that there are no other options available to cut rather than our Sheriff’s Department and courts.

It is really time to vote out all incumbents.

— Jeff Keller, North Bend

The financial nanny

If the residents of King County are savvy enough to elect a County Council, I am not sure why the council then thinks it needs to operate as a financial nanny.

The tax measure was to put it on a ballot —not to move forward with a tax increase. I am perfectly capable of deciding whether or not I am willing to pay a tax increase to maintain criminal-justice programs.

Although I am retired, have limited income and do not live in a $400,000 home, I do believe I could manage $38. Give me a choice.

— Deanne Gilbert, Kirkland

Teacher-student commitment to learning needed

This is a response to “Race to the Top education grants: a tipping point for Washington students” [Opinion, May 14].

I agree that a vigorous debate is required concerning not only the “pictures of teaching and learning,” but more fundamentally, the oftentimes overlooked background role and responsibility that students and their parents bear in the education equation.

We could place the entire onus for success upon the schools and evaluate teachers and principles ad nauseam, but unless and until students become actively involved in their learning and parents apply more expectations directly to their children in the educational process, the perceived unsatisfactory outcomes would not change.

When students come to class unprepared or armed and absorbed with the latest tech device, they are not fulfilling their part of this learning enterprise. When parents look first for teacher and school inadequacy when their children’s grades are subpar instead of examining their students’ behavior, this only reinforces students’ view that they bears no responsibility for learning.

The upshot is that the teacher bears the sole responsibility for this partnership. Every partnership suffers when not all partners are committed equally. This mutual student-teacher commitment should be part of the debate and indeed maybe even part of the highly touted evaluation process.

— James Stark, Seattle

Government needs a tweak or two

Although not surprising, it remains appalling how Congress—in its deliberations on new regulations for the financial-services industry, supposedly intended to prevent another collapse of the credit markets such as was experienced in 2008 —ignore its own major role in causing that collapse. [“Adopt the toughest reforms, Opinion, May 24.]

The vast amount of subprime mortgages that underlay the collapse were the direct result of acts of Congress. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, both established by Congress, were not only authorized to purchase without recourse subprime mortgages issued by banks, but they were encouraged by Congress to do so.

The Community Reinvestment Act required banks to grant mortgages to borrowers not worthy of credit. The deductibility of residential mortgage interest for income tax purposes induced homebuyer to take on mortgages they could not afford. All of these acts by Congress resulted in the huge amount of outstanding subprime mortgages and diversion of capital that could have gone into more productive use.

Yes, those who invested in the mortgage-backed securities packaged by Fannie and Freddie were neglectful in not recognizing the poor quality of the mortgages backing the securities, but those subprime mortgages would not have existed were it not for the follies of Congress.

It is one more example of how government intervention in markets results in ineffective allocation of resources with a resultant lowering of people’s standard of living. Much more than the financial-services industry, it is government that needs to be reformed.

— Donald Marsh, Bainbridge Island

Why the United States is a safe haven

“Obama to send 1,200 troops to Mexico border” [page one, May 26] and “Taking a moral stand against a broken immigration system” [Opinion, May 26] contained thoughtful perspectives on the immigration issue.

But as usual, they mostly focused on those wanting to come to the United States from south of the border.

This conversation always seems to be about how we can secure U.S. borders, but also speed up the process of allowing more people in. The past couple of Mexico presidents centered their efforts on lobbying the United States to take more people.

If I were a Mexican citizen, I would be outraged at the apparent attempt by my government to dump its people while doing very little to address the actual problems that are driving immigration to the United States.

A huge piece of the conversation seems to be missing: Why isn’t the United States being asked for or recommending ways to fix the severely dysfunctional, corrupt infrastructures in Central America and South America? People would not be so desperate to leave and risk their lives to get to the United States if their own systems worked.

— Scott Nordell, Maple Valley

He’s the best we could get?

Editor, The Times:

After twice challenging for the governorship of Washington, Dino Rossi is supposedly considering running against Patty Murray for senator [“Sources: Rossi’s in, will make it official Wednesday,” page one, May 25].

This raises an interesting question: Is Rossi the only viable Republican candidate in Washington qualified to run for these statewide offices? After losing twice, it would appear a fresh face —and approach —are warranted.

— Glen Kaner, Seattle

Lets be honest

The recent editorial on Referendum 52, the healthy schools and job-creation referendum, left out some important facts [“Be honest with voters,” Opinion, May 24].

The editorial credited R-52 opponents with challenging the measure’s ballot description, but ignored the fact that I, too, have officially requested the attorney general to appeal the title.

As primary sponsor of the legislation, I did that because proponents of R-52 are fully committed to ensuring transparency and clarity, and we are confident that an open and honest debate will result in strong public support for this measure.

By repairing aging and dilapidated schools, R-52 will eliminate mold, fix leaky roofs and create energy savings across our state while creating 30,000 jobs. It will save taxpayers $130 million a year. It raises the total state debt by only 1.5 percent, and the savings will more than cover the debt service. And our kids will have healthier schools and safer learning environments. These are facts.

The editorial’s insinuation that R-52 supporters are trying to be deceptive is simply off base. The editorial also claims voters should be limited in their ability to vote on bonds because the Legislature is limited. But that ability is a constitutional right of the voters and must be respected.

I hope that as we go forward we can have a robust and civil debate about this important measure, free from casting aspersions on the motives of either side.

— Rep. Hans Dunshee, Snohomish

Light rail moves less than 2 percent of 1.1 million drivers on I-5

Recently, in a Seattle Times op-ed, former Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels bragged that the Link light-rail system is carrying “thousands of passengers every day.” [“Don’t derail region’s transit gains,” Opinion, May 16.]

This is true. It is also true that back on Feb. 11, 2000, then Metropolitan King County Councilmember Nickels claimed in a similar op-ed that light rail would carry passengers “equal to a 12-lane freeway,” thus “finding [us a solution] to traffic congestion.”

Since the claim was ridiculous, I e-mailed him, asking if he really believed this. He e-mailed me back and said, “Why, yes I do.” He went on to up the ante by claiming that Link light rail would carry the transit capacity of a 16 freeway lanes.

Wow —and I thought it was illegal to smoke that stuff. Anyway, here are the facts. Based on onramp data, I-5 moves more than 1.1 million people per day in the corridor. Link light rail moves less than 2 percent of that amount.

So, is light rail a nifty toy? Sure. Does it move as many people as a crowded urban freeway or do anything noticeable about traffic congestion? Please.

— Donald Padelford, Seattle

Kids on race

This is a response to “A child’s view of black and white” [Opinion, May 23].

Lets just set the record straight. My children have felt the disease of racial tension far less than what I felt in the 1970s —and I had felt it considerably less than what my parents felt in the 1940s.

Yes, it has been slow, but there is no denying that we have come much closer to bridging the gap. We could appreciate the humor of our diversity and laugh along with the likes of Chris Rock and Larry the Cable Guy, along with countless others who point out our differences in a fun-loving way. This is America and we are all a little different.

To make some kind of hurtful conclusion based on what shade paper doll a 5-year-old prefers is idiotic. It is like trying to figure out what kind of food children like by showing them pictures of the food. We are talking about people — OK, races of people. But to generalize like that, we are missing a big piece — the essence of each individual. Without that piece, racism is back to square one. I say we have come too far to make that our conclusion.

— Anna Welsch, Indianola

Child mortality in the United States

I suggest something akin to “caveat emptor” when reading “U.S. not keeping up with global gains in child mortality” [page one, May 24] because it lacks information about the definition of child mortality for each country.

The data may have changed, but I looked into this decades ago and discovered that how a country defines child mortality varies. What is meant by the phrase is not as obvious as one would think.

Some countries exclude childbirth deaths. Others exclude childhood deaths within the first month, defining them as birth-related mortality. Others exclude other deaths for other reasons.

Some countries — the United States, for example — include all these causes of death in mortality statistics.

Some countries also have little immigration, thus their populations are relatively stable medically. Nearly all children are part of their population and as such do not have exotic childhood diseases, which immigrant children may bring into the country. In those countries, child mortality is likely lower than countries were immigration is frequent.

Without clarification, stories like this one only result in confusion and strike fear in the heart of parents needlessly. Remember to be skeptical. Look at the details.

— Jeff Wedgwood, Issaquah

Family planning for the developing world

In “Poverty and the pill in Africa” [Opinion, May 22], Nicholas Kristof described the devastating impact of overpopulation in the developing world as well as an “inexpensive” solution: funding worldwide family planning needs for $4 billion.

How could $4 billion be cheap?

To put it in context, this year’s U.S. defense budget is $664 billion, or 41.5 percent of the $1.5 trillion worldwide total military budget. This enormous amount of our taxpayer wealth is invested each year to “keep us safe” by ensuring we are highly capable of killing anyone we deem to have become a threat to us.

For a very small fraction of this cost, 0.6 percent, we could help stabilize global population —a key first step in making our planet healthy, safe and sustainable.

Why do people become a threat to us? Typically, it is when they have no hope for bettering their lives, no matter how desperate they are. That is when violence happens. An adjustment of U.S. priorities slightly more toward investing in global health instead of feeding our military-industrial complex would make our entire world far more stable and safer.

— Dave Gamrath, Seattle

Kill mothers, keep sons planting bombs in Times Square

In the letter “Responding to terrorism” [NWVoices, May 19], Gregg Rice takes issue with “The inevitable blowback of war” [Opinion, May 17], in which columnist David Sirota writes about the possibly hundreds of civilian deaths that are the result of President Obama’s strategy of using remote-controlled warplanes firing missiles to combat the Taliban in Pakistan.

The letter reads: “The U.S. military does not intentionally target civilians. This, however, was the intent of the Times Square bomber and those responsible for the 9/11 slaughter. There is a huge, gaping moral chasm separating these admittedly tragic events.”

However, to the 5-year-old boy whose mother was killed by one of those missiles, it does not matter whether or not she was killed intentionally. All he knows is that his mom is dead, and that the Americans killed her.

As long we keep killing mothers in Pakistan, we would keep having sons planting bombs in Times Square.

— Adam Levine, Seattle

Jerusalem the only holy city of the Jewish people

“Jews in Arab east Jerusalem defy Obama peace push”[Seattletimes.com, May 20] is distorted and one-sided.

Jerusalem has had a Jewish majority for more than 100 years except for the illegal occupation by Jordan from 1948 to 1967. It is therefore incorrect to describe east Jerusalem as “Arab.”

Israel annexed east Jerusalem when it was recaptured from the Jordanians after the 1967 Middle East war waged by neighboring Arab states.

On May 24, 2007, now-President Obama said Israel is the United States’ most reliable ally and the only established democracy in the Middle East. Israel’s security — which is of vital importance to the United States — could best be guaranteed by reaching negotiated peace agreements with its neighbors. But Israel must have credible partners with whom to negotiate.

At present, Israel does not have credible peace partners.

Israel rightly cannot accept a divided Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the eternal capital of Israel and the Jewish people. It is not “the third holiest city,” as it is for the Muslims. It is the only holy city of the Jewish people. It has been so for more than 3,300 years.

A lasing peace could only be achieved if Hamas and Fatah nullify their charters calling for the total destruction of Israel, renounce violence and end their hate campaign against Israelis and Jews living in their ancestral home.

— Josh Basson, Seattle