Author: The Seattle Times: Northwest Voices

Now is the time for cutbacks and concessions

This threatened garbage strike just bothers me. I do not think waste collectors will get much sympathy from me or many of us who do not see the other side of $50,000 a year. [“Threat of garbage strike intensifies,” Page One, March 31.]

The median salary, they claim, is only $58,000 — and that is with health insurance —instead of the $71,000 the company states. That means half of them make more than $58,000.

There are people standing in line to take those jobs at $50,000 and they will think they are making a good living —and they will be. It is time the unions looked at themselves for cutbacks. Look at the concessions made by the United Auto Workers to keep the automotive industry alive.

This is not the time to inflate. This is the time to cinch the belt and try to contribute to recovery, not demand more pay for the same work.

— John Fuik, Oak Harbor

Justification for limited gun control

Niraj Warikoo’s story “Experts: Christian militia part of growing trend” [News, March 31] should make you think that maybe some sort of limited gun control is needed.

With groups such as Hutaree out there, advocating the killing of law-enforcement officers in hopes it will lead to more widespread uprising against the government, clearly something should be done. Their plan was to kill a police officer and then during the funeral ceremony, kill even more hoping to spark a revolt — scary stuff, and these people have guns.

— Ed Wilson, Seattle

Renewable energy brings starvation, not nirvana

Environmentalists claim drilling for oil is evil, but they do not understand that renewable energy schemes can never become a substitute for fossil fuels [“Obama wants to open part of Alaska coast to oil drilling,” Page One, March 31]. You cannot replace the highly concentrated, reliable energy of fossil fuels with weak, diffuse and fluctuating energy from the wind and sun.

Food equals energy and energy equals food. The higher we push the cost of energy up with mathematically impossible renewable energy schemes, the higher the cost of food will climb.

We will literally starve to death billions of people and our economy will collapse if we try to rely on wind and solar for anything more than symbolic window dressing.

The only possible carbon-free replacement for fossil fuels is the new generation of small, relatively inexpensive liquid fluoride thorium nuclear reactors that could be mass-produced on assembly lines and are 100 percent meltdown-proof and incapable of producing nuclear weapons.

Renewable energy brings starvation, not nirvana.

— Christopher Calder, Eugene, Ore.

Drilling will benefit the wrong crowd

Yep, there goes that socialist Obama again. Now he’s opening up offshore oil drilling to the poor oil companies who only made $40 billion or so in profits last year. Boy, those tea-party people sure had him pegged.

— Richard Reuther, Richland

True stories uncloak one-sided U.S. support for Israel

Brian Baird is an honest man who judges what he sees by a single standard, whether it is in the United States or in Gaza. [“Standing up for Gaza’s people,” Bruce Ramsey column, Opinion, March 31.]

As an American who went to see what was happening in the West Bank and Gaza for herself, I applaud the decision to allow Baird to say what he saw. I saw war crimes, apartheid, ethnic cleansing and torture. As a human-rights lawyer, I documented them. As an activist, I nonviolently tried to prevent them.

When I came home to tell Americans that our tax dollars were paying for these atrocities, many people did not want to hear it or believe it. It is columns like this that will begin to persuade people something is wrong with our one-sided support for Israel. Only when the United States stops its unconditional support for Israel can Palestinians and Israelis begin to negotiate equality with justice for all people.

— Linda Bevis, Seattle

Israelis were killed, look toward Hamas

Bruce Ramsey’s column published Mar. 31 is distorted and inaccurate.

“The rockets hadn’t killed any Israelis.” In fact, one foreign worker was killed by a Kassam rocket as recently as two weeks ago. It also included inaccuracies about Rachel Corrie and Israel’s legitimate, defensive war on Gaza in response to thousands of Hamas rockets indiscriminately fired on its civilian population.

Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza more than four years ago, hoping for peaceful relations with Palestinian Arabs. Instead, currently ruling Hamas is an extremist terrorist organization. Its goal is to destroy Israel. A lasting peace can only be achieved if Palestinian Arabs renounce violence, recognize Israel as a Jewish state and end their hate campaign against Israelis and Jews living in their ancestral homeland.

— Josh Basson, Seattle

Solution: Build an oil pipeline

Does anyone out there really think Israel will ever allow the creation of a Palestinian state? Why don’t we just do away with the charades of the last 60-plus years and give Israel everything it wants; it’s going to happen eventually anyway.

Bruce Ramsey’s column illustrates the spell the Israel lobby has cast over every branch of our government and how powerless we are in dealing with it.

My solution: Expel the Palestinians to Iraq and build a large oil pipeline from Iraq to Israel. That way, Israelites will no longer have to deal with the Palestinians and they can get rich off Iraqi oil. Israel will then have the peace, security and wealth it deserves.

— Gary Negley, Mill Creek

Damage report on Hamas

Bruce Ramsey’s column on Gaza is long on complaints and short on solutions.

The miserable condition of Gaza is indisputable. The key question is what each side has done to bring a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

Israel has consistently demonstrated its desire for peace. Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered the Palestinians a state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 2000, but the offer was rejected. Ariel Sharon, Israeli prime minister at the time, unilaterally withdrew every Jew from Gaza in 2005, hoping it would bring peace and calm.

Hamas, in marked contrast, has consistently called for Israel’s destruction through violent jihad. It has acted on those calls by targeting Israeli civilians with thousands of rockets.

While the damage to life and property caused by Israel’s 2009 military response was tragic, it all could have been avoided if the Palestinians had focused their resources on building a brighter future for themselves rather than trying to destroy Israel. The blame sits squarely on Hamas’ shoulders.

— Randy Kessler, Mercer Island

Thank you, Congressman Baird

My thanks go out to Congressman Brian Baird. I do not live in his district, but I am grateful that this representative from Washington is showing courage and trying to do the right thing for the people of Gaza and the West Bank.

The Palestinians deserve justice and peace.

— Michael Silence, Bellevue

Stop playing political games, Super Mario

I am happy that Mario Segale made it from rags to riches. This is the beauty of America, the opportunity it gives to everyone. [“Secretive developer has a massive plan,” page one, March 28.]

The part of the story I do not like is that his efforts with the Democratic Party —Gov. Chris Gregoire and Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, in particular —show how easily politicians can be bought.

Segale gave the Democratic Party more than $350,000 since 2008 and now he gets permits galore. A grant from the federal government will be used to build a four-lane road to Segale’s Tukwila South project.

It is good that Segale is doing so well —it truly is. But I resent that he continues to “buy” Democrats and works to keep them in power in this state. The rest of us just get taxed to death and beyond by the lack of fiscal responsibility that the Democrats in the state and the ones we send to Washington, D.C., demonstrate.

It appears the difference between Republicans and Democrats is simpler than I thought. Republicans are for businesses —all businesses; Democrats are only for businesses that make large donations to their campaigns.

— Pauline Cornelius, Olalla

Solution, Tivoli Gardens style

I have a solution to the problem of what should be done with part of the Seattle Center Fun Forest.

It is based on a visit to the Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen years ago. One could, for a modest price, throw wooden balls at a gallery of Copenhagen china plates.

Why not set up a similar gallery where for a modest price, one could throw stones at a gallery of overblown, production line Chihuly “art” glass? This would provide a display of the glass, preserve an open-air quality for the space and make money, all at the same time.

— John Edwards, Seattle

Story came too late

Now you tell us this. Some of us sent in our census forms weeks ago. [“Gays can now check ‘husband or wife,’ Page One, March 31.]

Better late than never? Not so much.

— Tom Highsmith, Seattle

Legislators need to meet constitutional responsibilities

Washington ranks 42nd in the nation in providing funding for public education. What a disgrace.

But there is a ray of hope. In response to a lawsuit brought by educators and parents, King County Superior Court Judge John Erlick agreed the state is not adequately funding public education. He ordered the state Legislature to determine the cost of providing basic education for all students, then pay for it as the state constitution requires.

My fear is that legislators will continue to fail at meeting their constitutional responsibility. We must insist they correct the situation.

In the meantime, our children continue to suffer the consequences of their neglect.

— Neal Porter, Seattle

Bellevue School District primary programs on the chopping block

The Bellevue School District (BSD) is forced to cut its 2010-11 budget because the state is not adequately funding basic education.

It is the paramount duty of the state to make ample provision for the education of all children residing within its borders —now, not by 2018.

Swimming, golf, gymnastics and wrestling are in danger of being cut in the BSD. With rampant obesity in the United States, this is ludicrous. High-school athletics teach life lessons and give many a reason to stay in school. Athletic participation can be the difference in getting into college.

Also at risk in the BSD are elementary-school physical education (PE), music, art and library time. PE is federally mandated; how will this be taught without PE teachers? Children will be at a disadvantage in the Information Age without teacher-librarians. Cutting elementary-school music classes will decimate music programs at all levels. Music and the arts are not luxuries —they create better learners and well-rounded individuals.

There are many cuts the BSD can make before eliminating entire programs. Personal agendas must be abandoned and cuts that do not affect students in the classroom and on the field must be made first.

— Marie Cummings, Bellevue

Column a rant; think about Hamas rule over strip

Bruce Ramsey has a memory problem about Israel and Gaza [“Standing up for Gaza’s people,” Opinion, March 31]. Israel turned over Gaza four years ago. Hopes were higher for peace.

Hamas rules that area, lobs rockets that have killed at least one Israeli only days ago and teaches its children it is OK to kill not just Israelis but Jews all around.

As to the young lady killed by the Israelis: That issue never escaped Israel’s concerns. However, how many Arabs or Palestinians have ever been tried even once for the long list of atrocities visited upon not only their Jewish neighbors, but in venues around the world —including schoolchildren in Ma’alot?

The column repeated the rant of people who just showed up to check things out. On the numerous occasions when Israeli heads of state made very public commitments to the Palestinians, they were met with jihads of varying kinds or wars of attrition. No doubt Israel can make negotiations work with Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority —but can Hamas and its minions do it too?

— Joseph Honick, Bainbridge Island

Qassam rockets killed at least 14

Bruce Ramsey’s column repeats the lie that the Qassam rockets fired at Israel (more than 6,000) “hadn’t killed any Israelis, but they might have.”

The rockets fired by these “hotheads” —presumably the same hotblooded types who threw fellow Palestinians off Gazan rooftops, blindfolded and handcuffed, during Hamas’ bloody coup in June 2007 — have in fact killed more than a dozen Israelis and wounded scores more. Less than two weeks ago, a rocket attack from Gaza proved fatal as a Thai farmworker was killed.

Downplaying the rockets’ deadliness by calling them “homemade pipe-bomb-type rockets” obscures the fact that the launching of these rockets at civilians is not only a war crime, but also a weapon of terror that has traumatized thousands of Israeli children and adults, in addition to murdering at least 14 people on Israeli soil.

— David Brumer, Seattle

Supreme Court should declare legislation unconstitutional

I was heartened to read that state Attorney General Rob McKenna was joining the suit to challenge the constitutionality of the recently passed health-care legislation. [“State AG McKenna has authority to challenge health-care mandate,” Opinion, March 27.]

Hopefully the Supreme Court will declare this legislation unconstitutional. Then based upon this precedence, the attorney general (and anyone else for that matter) will sue and get Medicare and Medicaid declared unconstitutional as well. This will get the government out of our health-care system. Everyone will then be able to buy health insurance from any private insurer they choose.

— Mark Mackaman, Woodinville

Obama should recognize opposition will not fold

The World Health Association ranks the United States last among industrialized nations at twice the average cost. Our health-care system has been statistically and undeniably broken.

The for-profit health-insurance industry has been one of the few employment-growth industries the last 10 years. Analysis shows that growth to largely be claims examiners whose primary job is to deny claims to individuals or doctors. Add on the huge salaries of CEO’s and the smoke and mirrors used as an explanation of soaring rates is clear.

President Obama tried to make a bipartisan bill. He made hundreds of changes in response to Republican concerns, yet not one Republican voted for this bill. Many of us see its faults as not going far enough or going too far. However, there is no chance that not one Republican saw it as better than what we have.

President Obama is a smart guy. I hope that he sees that the opposition has no desire to cooperate. It is time for him to step forward, and act out of conviction and step beyond politics into statesmanship. If he had done so a year ago, we might already have the popular Medicare program for all today.

— Harvey Schwartz, Bellingham

Owning life-forms a brave new world intrusion

Striking down these genetic patents is a wise legal decision. [“Judge’s ruling raises challenge to patents on human genome,” Business, March 30.]

Life-forms and their components (plant or animal) should never be owned by private companies. Developing drugs, cures, new strains, seeds, etc., based on knowledge gained from understanding the life-forms is one thing, but to own the life-form itself is an unprecedented brave-new-world intrusion meant to monopolize and subvert that knowledge to the exclusive benefit of a few.

Hopefully, any appeals will fail and any existing patents on life-forms proactively rescinded.

— David Kerchner, Kirkland

Baird’s account sheds light Gaza

Thanks to Bruce Ramsey’s column [“Standing up for Gaza’s people,” Opinion, March 31], we’ve learned about Congressman Brian Baird’s trips to the Gaza Strip, laying bare the destruction of The American International School by Israel’s invasion of Gaza in 2009 and the disproportionate deaths of Palestinians.

Congressman Baird should be commended for taking the time to see an area people rarely visit and know little about. If we want a clear picture of Israel and its issues, we need the unvarnished truth about all of those who live there.

— Erin Scarlett, Seattle

The Seattle Times should host public forum on conflict

Most days I despair at the dearth of “discussion” in the U.S. corporate media about the U.S.-Israel-Palestine impasse —one that even Gen. David Petraeus is now declaring a risk to American lives and interests.

How do we seek truth through the veils of fabrication shipped out to us by the Israeli government? They have Frank Luntz to help frame their messages and the bulk of the U.S. Congress willing to betray their constituents for 60 percent of their campaign donations that come from wealthy Jewish donors.

I would love to see The Times host a public forum on the U.S.-Israel-Palestine “conflict.”

— Linda Frank, Tacoma

Terrorists in Gaza can’t send blame elsewhere

Here are some simple truths: The rockets are now able to shoot as far as Jaffa, where my daughter lives. Israel removed settlers and settlements to give Gaza to its residents. Its residents had a higher employment rate under the Israeli administration.

The people of Gaza and the acknowledged terrorist organization now running Gaza, Hamas, are responsible for their actions. This is no less true than the drunk who drives through an intersection and then blames death and devastation on alcohol. One is a cause and the other is an effect. The drunk is still the responsible party.

— Jack Richlen, Bellevue

Boycott Starbucks if you care about justice

Americans are uninformed about the reality in Gaza, east Jerusalem and the West Bank because Israeli propaganda has dominated for 60 years.

Most of the American press and virtually all politicians are afraid to say anything. Many Muslims are angry because our government supports violent, unjust policies. We literally pay taxes that help Israelis to kill, steal from and starve Palestinians. Individual Americans do it, too.

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is one of the biggest funders of building “Jewish only” housing in east Jerusalem and forcibly removing Palestinian families from their homes. The families lose everything and end up living in the street in front of their homes while subsidized Jewish Israelis, usually recent immigrants, move into their houses.

We must open our minds to answer the query, “Why do they hate us?”

— Jennifer James, Burien

‘Visitors’ should be identified

While you report about gays’ the new ability to define what they think their relationship is on the census, I note that there is no place on the census for where one is born or if one is even a citizen. [“Gays can now check ‘husband or wife,’” page one, March 31.]

These items were part of earlier censuses. If the census is going to be used to determine the apportionment of representation and monies in this nation, how can that be done correctly if you do not know who is a citizen of this country and who is a “visitor”? Certainly, the division of our elected representation should not be based on who has the most “visitors.” Something is wrong here.

— Jon Egge, Woodinville

Instead of short-lived exhibit, build something useful for residents

I oppose giving rare, public land over to a private use, even if it would help Seattle Center financially. [“Open bidding endorsed for Center’s Fun Forest,” Opinion, March 30.]

I was a charter Experience Music Project member, but the novelty wore off. They had to convert it to additional use; that supports my contention that things like this aren’t sustainable. I like Chihuly’s early work, but it’s now a cliché. As with the EMP, I might go to his “museum” once or twice, but no more than that. This would be true for most residents.

These “commercial” uses seem aimed at creating tourist attractions, whereas the Fun Forest was primarily used by residents. Future use of the site should be aimed at residents —not tourists.

If Seattle Center persists in creating a private building, it’ll eventually become a white elephant. But if it’s to be private, I propose the contract include a demo clause: If the building remains empty for two years, it has to be demolished at the owner’s expense.

I would support an outdoor use aimed at residents with a nominal fee. Coming to mind are putting green, wading or swimming pool, ice rink; basketball, tennis, bocce ball or pickle ball court; carousel, climbing wall and outdoor fitness stations.

— Robert Koch, Seattle

What about local artists?

Do we really need another shrine to glass artist Dale Chihuly?

His work is already on display at his native Tacoma’s Glass Museum and seems to be nearly everywhere else. If we are going to showcase art at Seattle Center —an idea I support — let’s look for something that reveals new exciting work by other Northwest artists. There are so many of them. Let’s not create yet another venue for Chihuly simply because he is already famous.

— Kevin Schafer, Seattle

Turn fee into free

The proposal to place another commercial development in the space vacated by the Fun Forest at the Seattle Center is moving too quickly. The proposal for a glass museum was sprung on the public just weeks ago, ignoring the open-space recommended for that area by the Center’s master plan.

Nearly everything at the Center — except the fountain — costs money. There should be more open space for visitors to enjoy as a public park.

Tacoma already has a fine glass exhibit and glassmaking shop. Many buildings downtown have Chihuly glass on permanent display.

Let’s move slowly with replacing the Fun Forest and have more public involvement with deciding how that space will be used.

— Ned Gulbran

Time to apologize, Gov. Gregoire

The answer to the question in Afton Swift’s piece [“Rossi’s PDC case says a lot about Democrats,” Opinion, March 30] is yes.

Voters who seek integrity and virtue in their legislators will neither forget nor overlook corruption by those who lust for political power. All good people, no matter what their political party, despise dishonesty and treachery. Strategies surrounded and immersed in lies and done in darkness always come to light sooner or later.

The quiet release of this report by the PDC calls for a public apology from Gov. Chris Gregoire and her allies to Dino Rossi for defamation of character and a thorough investigation with full disclosure to Washington state voters.

— Barbara Requa, Seattle

While thinking about garbage-collection workers, make room for teachers

Priority check time: Garbage-collection workers are already paid more than teachers. Which can we afford to upgrade first? [“Strike looms as talks continue,” NWTuesday, March 30.]

As long as society values garbage collection more than education, we will remain knee-deep in muck. A good garbage strike will only give us a deeper pile to sort through.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m as pro-union as they come. Garbage collection is one of society’s highly necessary and most dangerous jobs. Union workers have every right to stand up to unfair management practices of intimidation, mandatory overtime, threats of job loss and more. Lets not get into exposure to disease, violence and daily backbreaking toil.

How is this a different for a teacher?

In some schools, the psychological intimidation factor from administrative superiors and students would curdle your coffee on a regular basis. Mandatory overtime is written into the contract and covered under professional expectations —it comes with the job and it is unpaid.

Threats of job loss and more? After three years, teachers are impossible to cut loose without just cause and a good lawyer, but wait until June when budget cuts hit home. We’ll see what a guarantee of employment means when the pink slips go out.

— Al Tietjen, Seattle

Workers don’t realize how lucky they are

Is the union insane or simply hubristic?

With unemployment hovering at 10 percent, they should be glad to have jobs at all.

Let’s face it — garbage collection doesn’t require an advanced degree. There are many able-bodied people who would jump at the chance to make the kind of money and get the benefits garbage collectors receive.

If the garbage collectors go on strike, I hope Waste Management and Allied Waste will have the guts to hire permanent replacement workers. Some people don’t know when they’re well off.

— Daniel Gilmore, Des Moines

Ferguson needs to focus job as County Council chairman

Metropolitan King County Council Chairman Bob Ferguson’s letter is nothing more than a political stunt from someone who is already running for attorney general. [“Ferguson takes aim at attorney general,” Opinion, March 27.]

Ferguson ignores the state constitution; the attorney general is independently elected to be the people’s lawyer and in this matter, the great majority of the people support Rob McKenna in challenging the health-care-reform bill’s massive expansion of federal government power.

I don’t want an attorney general who is merely a mindless tool for the governor or the Legislature, which is what Ferguson sounds like he would be.

As County Council chairman, Ferguson has so far been ineffective in pushing any reforms desperately needed to reduce the bloated government in King County. He should spend more time concentrating on his duties to King County residents and less time trying to raise his profile in order to run for higher office.

— Charlie Klinge, Bellevue

How much will this cost the government?

I’m not in favor of the government taking over the student loan program. [“Obama inks final health bill with student-loan changes,” News, March 31.]

What really galls me is that President Obama made his remarks on the program yet another unfair hit-and-run attack on private enterprise in general and banks in particular.

He said fees paid to banks was wasted money and all of that money would now be redirected to the loan program. Wait a minute —these loans require a fair amount of administration. There are applications to be reviewed, then approved or rejected and payments to be tracked, billed and accounted for. Most of the money the banks got from this program paid for those costs.

Is the federal government going to magically administer these loans at no cost? Do they have the infrastructure in place to even begin to run this program? Will we ever be told the truth on what the program costs versus what they are providing in loans?

— Mark Ursino, Sammamish

Shelve stigma of spent fuel

Having spent my career in nuclear energy, I offer comments on the Yucca Mountain closure. [“Nuke waste has no place to go; new hunt begins,” page one, March 29.]

First, the sky isn’t falling. If the waste —including Idaho’s —is stored here, it will not affect Washington. It could be stored here with no danger to the public or the environment for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years, providing it is immobilized and contained (which the vitrification plant will accomplish), shielded and placed in a secure area.

So what’s the problem with the waste? Mainly that it has a stigma. This bothers the NIMBYs. To them, it’s horrible, dangerous stuff and it’s an insult to Washington to even suggest that it be stored here. This is neither an informed nor rational point of view.

Most radioactive wastes in the United States are of two kinds: sludges left over from Cold War production of plutonium at Hanford and Savannah River and spent fuel from nuclear power plants.

The former needs to be vitrified — at least the high-level stuff needs to be permanently stored at Yucca Mountain —but not the latter. Spent fuel should be reprocessed to recover plutonium and uranium, which could be recycled into new fuel. This conserves fuel values, consumes toxic plutonium and cuts the volume of waste requiring permanent storage by 98 percent or more.

France does this and stores its waste in one building. Perhaps this is something useful President Obama could learn from France.

— Clark McKee, Anacortes

Bussard nuclear fissions a suitable alternative

Your story on nuclear waste did not mention President Obama wants to spend $9 billion on three new nuclear power plants without solving the waste problem. On the surface, nuclear fission looks clean and green except for the waste.

A research group in New Mexico achieved a sustained fusion reaction in late 2005 under a Navy grant. This effort was lead by Robert Bussard. For a fraction of their budget, the Bussard team achieved what the Department of Energy has been trying to do for decades at a cost of $1.8 billion.

As funding trickled in late 2005, Bussard and his team achieved the first controlled fusion reaction. It does not produce radioactive waste. Bussard passed away in 2007, but his company has a $7 million Navy grant to continue its work. They need $200 million for a demonstration reactor. This would free us from creating more high-level nuclear waste as well as freeing us from fossil fuel.

The science is done, now is the time for the government to fully fund this activity.

— Bob Holley, Seattle