Letters to the Editor

Condoleezza Rice should be more careful with her comparisons. French disagreement with the administration's Iraqi policy is in no way like European appeasement of Nazi Germany. The German army of 1938 was widely understood to be -- and would shortly prove to be -- as highly developed as any on Earth. Its air force, fresh from trial in the Spanish Civil War, was equally capable. Iraq's military is no such thing.

If Rice were more honest with her history, she would admit the truer parallel between the coarse, crude bully who used the Reichstag fire to impose a police state on his own citizens while pursuing his lust for world domination, and the bullying frat boy in today's White House, who uses the smokescreen of Iraq and the bogeyman of terrorism to dismantle our nation's great tradition of civil liberties while threatening war with the most dangerous arsenal of weapons the world has ever seen.

As for appeasement, that charge is more properly leveled at the Republican and Democratic legislators who aid and abet President Bush, for they betray their oath to protect and defend the civil liberties embedded in the U.S. Constitution and stand silent in the face of the administration's contempt for the environment, public health, public education, a woman's rights over her own body, a secure retirement for the average American, international cooperation and the rights of Congress itself.

When the history of this time is written, it will be Tom Daschle, Bill Frist, Dick Gephardt and Tom DeLay, who will share the same, shameful chapter as Neville Chamberlain.

Daniel Wilson
Seattle

TURKEY

President gives OK to another attack on Kurds

After all the blather about NATO protection of Turkey, and after President Bush's saccharine assurance that America is "a friend of the Turkish people," the time has come to -- pardon the pun -- talk Turkey. If the United States is to use Turkish bases, if we are to advance into Iraq over Turkey's southeastern border, the Turkish government wants money -- a lot of it; enough to make this already unaffordable war that much more so.

This is a pragmatic concern for Turkey, and one not without justification. After all, its economy was greatly stunted by the first Gulf War. But Turkey's other demand, to follow U.S. troops into Iraq and secure its northern border, is something else entirely. What this means is that Turkey wants to wipe out the Kurdish people in much the same way that Saddam Hussein did. And because we want access to that border, it is likely that Turkey will get its way.

Out of one corner of his mouth, Bush says, "The man gassed his own people" and out of the other, he gives the green light to Turkey for another massacre of the embattled Kurds. How many double standards and half-truths must Americans be subjected to before they realize this war is an absolute sham?

Tony Perkins
Olympia

GAMBLING

Native Americans have the only slots? No fair

Normally, I would be against the expansion of gambling here, but not allowing any citizen of this state to conduct the same business as another citizen of the state is wrong.

Therefore, if Native Americans are allowed to operate slot machines, any other citizen of the state should be allowed to operate slot machines.

Franklin L. Wilton
Bellevue

PARKS DEPARTMENT

Cancellation evidence of mismanagement

Your Valentine's Day article "Birds do it, bees do it" offered up a fun, unusual opportunity for Seattleites at Camp Long Nature Center.

Unfortunately, this wonderful program was cancelled. Mismanagement by Seattle Parks Department has now reached the level of an international embarrassment.

Continuing mismanagement is having disastrous effects on Camp Long and its offering of programs for the public. Offerings are down by 45 percent and programs actually being held are down even more, as is attendance. This is due to poor management, not budget cuts.

Although I offered her no honorarium, Dr. Olivia Judson agreed to travel to Camp Long from her home in England for a special program that would cost taxpayers nothing.

After I was put on leave in November, poor judgment cut this program out of Camp Long's brochure, which is mailed to 3,000 homes. Even poorer judgment by management in mid-January resulted in trying to revive a scaled-down program with too little and too late advertising.

Judson arrived in Seattle to find the program cancelled.

The city's Department of Parks and Recreation should be ashamed and Mayor Nickels should investigate mismanagement of the parks department.

Lynn Havsall
Former director
Camp Long Nature Center

INITIATIVE PROCESS

Judge strikes blow to tax-cut movement

By ruling that Initiative 776, the $30 car-tab measure, is unconstitutional, King County Superior Court Judge Mary Yu struck another blow against the tax-cut movement. Fortunately, five state senators are proposing a bill that will reinvigorate that movement by allowing tax-and-spenders to pay more to the government voluntarily, thus letting the rest of us have lower taxes.

Senate Bill 5700, sponsored by state Sens. Don Benton, Dan Swecker, Bob Oke, Luke Esser and Mike Hewitt, states:

"Recognizing there are individuals who believe they are undertaxed and that advocate a greater tax burden for Washingtonians, it is hereby the declared policy of this state to provide such individuals with the opportunity to contribute more of their income to state government and to this end there is hereby created in the state treasury the 'tax-me-more account.' Any person who believes he or she is undertaxed may contribute any amount of money to the account. The account shall consist of money received from contributions, donations, gifts, bequests, grants or other sources granted or given for this account."

I suggest the thoughtful senators introduce a companion bill to promote voluntary citizen actions and to create the "I don't need any public services" category of state citizenship.

Surely the combination of bills will help build a strong, healthy society in Washington.

Aaron Katz
Seattle

Judge criticized for doing her job

The public voted for another Tim Eyman initiative, even after his other ones were overturned because they were improper. Then the public gets upset once it is overturned again.

And whom do they blame? The judge who did her job according to the state constitution.

Eyman has failed to create an initiative that meets legal muster. It has nothing to do with the politics of the judge; it has to do with Eyman being a failure at writing initiatives. Additionally, these initiatives have cost us all lots of money to vote on and to be reviewed by the courts. Who is really wasting taxpayers' money?

People should stop burdening the system with the abuse of the initiative process and tell their state representatives to get off their duffs and make the tough decisions, even if it means they will be kicked out of office at the next election.

Whining when you don't get your way is so childish.

Michael T. Barr
Sammamish

SEATAC MAYOR

It takes courage to admit wrongdoing

SeaTac Mayor Kathy Gehring-Waters' admission of theft should be welcomed with appreciation. Not all elected officials have the courage to admit wrongdoing. The crime she confessed to is not directly connected to her function as mayor, but as an elected official, she is accountable to the public.

I abhor what she did (deposited her neighbor's money -- $25, 000 -- into her own account and bought stocks for herself with $6,000 of it) and I'm happy to know that in the United States a public figure is not above the law.

On the other hand, I admire Gehring-Waters for admitting her misdeeds. I say this because I come from a country where laws are like cobwebs in which the small flies are caught and the big ones break through.

Warlie Villasencio
Kent

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