Letters to the Editor

How come whenever there's a call to force an end to a strike, it's always for the strikers to go back to work, never for the employer to meet the strikers' demands?

Dave Richardson
Shoreline

Lesson for teachers: The money isn't there

We will add Robert L. Jamieson Jr. to the bleeding heart list for teachers (Wednesday column). I thought that I read in the P-I that some Marysville teachers make from $32,000 to $66,000 a year.

I ask the teacher who buys his clothes at the Goodwill why he became a teacher if he knew the pay was so lousy.

There must be a reason to take such a low-paying job. Could it possibly be the 81 days of vacation each year? Also being able to retire after 25 years of service and come back to work at the same job and double dip? The teacher is also a citizen, so as a citizen, maybe he or she can come up with how to pay for the demands; the money doesn't appear to be there.

The teachers have suffered no monetary loss during this strike. If they want to be in a union, they should suffer like other union members do when they go on strike. Those who support the teachers should get the full story of their salaries, benefits and retirement, then compare it with what they receive before joining the Bleeding Heart Society for the Plight of the Poor Teachers.

Del Coughlin
Bellevue

Terry Bergeson, we're waiting to hear from you

The debacle in the Marysville teachers' strike is not an isolated matter. We all should feel ashamed by what is happening to the children who are still locked out of school after weeks of anxious anticipation.

I applaud Gov. Gary Locke for his efforts, but where have other voices of power and reason been during this time? For example, what about Terry Bergeson, state superintendent of public instruction? Has anyone heard a single word attributed to her on this matter? Does her position in state government preclude her from making an effort to end this strike? If so, what does the state superintendent really do each day to improve the lives of schoolchildren?

What about other public officials, past and present, who could and should step in to help the students by forcing the district and union to sit and solve their differences? Former Gov. Dan Evans (who served as president of The Evergreen State College), Albert Rosellini and Booth Gardner should make their voices heard. Wouldn't it be appropriate for 2nd District's U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen and Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell to show their collective concern by contacting the opposing parties? Former Sen. Slade Gorton cares about the state's children (he was on the UW Board of Regents).

We should all care about what is happening in the Marysville School District, whether we have kids in the schools there or not. I don't know if there is a right or wrong in this matter, but the petty bickering over money issues is costing the students dearly in lost activities and opportunities as well as time in the future to make up the days missed.

As residents of Washington, we should all be concerned because our local district may be the next one to set new records for days missed while children struggle to understand why they're not in school.

Robert Vukich
Seattle

STATE'S ECONOMY

Accountability, fairness have to be part of the deal

John Rutledge's diatribe ("Small-business manifesto: Let my people grow," Oct. 12) is so misleading and so self-serving that a balanced response is an absolute necessity if the P-I is to retain any credibility in this matter. His wild, unsubstantiated dismissal of obvious precursors to Washington's economic woes, predictably and opportunistically lead to the right wing's usual whipping boy, i.e. any restriction on their power to exploit anyone they wish in any manner they wish.

With the same familiar monotonic drone that has become the hallmark of the United States' more irresponsible business leaders for the past 30 years, Rutledge targets government regulation, workman's compensation, the minimum wage, workplace safety and even child labor laws as the sinister sources of all economic instability. Let's get real here; what he is basically suggesting is that our business economy cannot afford to operate with ethics, accountability, decency or fairness. He insinuates that those who pursue profit must necessarily be above the law, above all other citizens and above all other needs of society. This pig has never flown and never will.

I believe the worst thing about this myopic vision of our economic realities is not just that it is grotesquely inaccurate or that it absolves the business community of its own very real culpability in this ongoing economic debacle, but that it perpetuates the very same elements that have brought our economy to its knees in the first place.

If we do not very soon get a handle on the corrosive influence of the uncontrolled, insatiable and economically suicidal system of crony capitalism that now dominates our economy, there will be little hope for any kind of tolerable existence for any of us. This is the ultimate irrationality of what these people propose, because if we actually do follow their advice, they have essentially planted the seeds of their own destitution.

Isn't there anyone out there who even feels a twinge of uneasiness?

Guy Hoyle-Dodson
Lacey

NETHERCUTT ON IRAQ

Using part of congressman's quote is completely unfair

What is wrong with you people? Can't you do a simple thing like printing a complete quote. The complete quote is (as if you didn't already know): "It is a better and more important story than losing a couple of soldiers each day, which, heaven forbid, is awful."

Are you that afraid to let people hear the whole story without editing a quote? This is so very sad and is one of the reasons I do not buy your newspaper anymore.

Mary Radcliffe
Bellevue

No amount of backpedaling can change his statement

Thank you for the reporting of U.S. Rep. George Nethercutt's speech ("Nethercutt hails Iraq's recovery," Tuesday). I also had the opportunity to listen to Nethercutt defend his words on a local radio station. However, no amount of backpedaling or whining about how his words were taken out of context can change his statement on the Iraq war and need for financial support, "It is a better and more important story than losing a couple of soldiers every day."

Like many Americans, my stomach turns on a daily basis when reports of another soldier's death are announced. To have Nethercutt salt the wounds, and belittle the lives and sacrifices being made by our service men and women is beyond reprehensible. Yes, it is awful but it's worse that a man who purports to be an American and whose job it is to represent the people could value the lives of our service men and women so little.

Does Nethercutt actually believe that the mothers, fathers, wives and children of those who have died in this war would think that the lives of the Iraqis and an $87 billion budget approval somehow means more than the life of their loved one? Something tells me that the foot Nethercutt has lodged in his mouth will remain there for some time to come.

Oh, and the five-year plan Nethercutt mentions, at the rate of "a couple of soldiers a day," would mean the death of approximately 3,650 more service men and women.

Karen Hunter
Lynnwood

Congressman right: We need to focus on recovery

I applaud U.S. Rep. George Nethercutt's recent appearance at the UW to discuss the current situation in Iraq. As a member of the audience, I was impressed by the videotape that Nethercutt presented of his recent trip to Baghdad and his firsthand account of what is actually happening on the ground there.

This honest account contrasts with the story as grimly portrayed in the national media: that Iraq has become a hopeless quagmire. There ought to be more focus on the recovery Iraq is making and the tremendous progress the coalition has made in bringing freedom to the country in such a short time after three decades of an oppressive regime.

Furthermore, Nethercutt deserves credit for traveling around the state of Washington to discuss Iraq policy. Whether Americans agree or disagree with what is happening in Iraq, we deserve to have a full discussion of the issues, and we deserve members of Congress who are willing to at least stand up and tell us what they believe in.

Nethercutt believes that the United States was right to intervene in Iraq and he believes we are right to finish the job we started. Whereas he has taken this message on the road and traveled around the state to debate his point of view, Sen. Patty Murray has not done so, despite her promise of such a discussion after her outrageous comments about Osama bin Laden. Nethercutt's courage to speak up on such a volatile issue deserves our thanks.

Dustin Lane
Seattle

Fulfilling mission does not insult those who died

Regarding your Thursday editorial about George Nethercutt "spinning" for the administration on Iraq: Since when is it inappropriate for congressmen to promote positions they agree with? Is only dissent virtuous? Is it wrong to side with a policy that has liberated millions of Iraqis from the tyrannical reign of Saddam Hussein? Is it political to want to expedite reconstruction in the country so we can get our troops home sooner? Is it an insult to the dead to argue that we need to fulfill the mission so that their loss was not in vain? If this is spin, I want to see more of it.

Ross Marzolf
Seattle

TED KENNEDY

'Bitter and abusive' are words Bush implies

In Connie Casciato's Oct. 12 letter criticizing Ted Kennedy she referred to his "diatribe" about President Bush. This prompted me to check my edition of the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, which defines diatribe as "a bitter and abusive criticism or denunciation." Sounds amazingly like Bush's description of Iraq, Iran and North Korea as the "axis of evil" and, come to think of it, like Casciato's letter.

Noel French
Mukilteo

'Civility' and 'gentility'? Where has letter writer been?

In the Oct. 12 letters, Connie Casciato railed against Ted Kennedy for criticizing President Bush. In her last sentence she decried "the lack of civility and gentility expected of a public servant."

I'm not sure where Casciato has been this past decade, but there has not been any civility and gentility in the U.S. Congress since 1992.

Glen Kaner
Seattle

ANTI-SEMITIC COMMENTS

Malaysian prime minister incites Muslims against Jews

The American Jewish Committee is appalled by the outrageous anti-Semitic comments made by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad at the meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (P-I, Monday).

During the first meeting of the 57-nation group since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, Mohamad sought to incite the Muslim community against Jews.

He told the conference that, "Jews rule the world by proxy" and that Jews created socialism, communism, human rights and democracy "so that persecuting them would appear to be wrong, so that they can enjoy equal rights with others."

A past critic of the West in general, and Jews in particular, Mohamad said the Muslim world was "up against a people (the Jews) who think." He said that if the Muslim community had "paused to think, then we could have devised a plan, a strategy that can win us final victory."

This kind of language, which attributes to Jews a variety of demonic powers, is reminiscent of the crudest and most vile anti-Semitism in history. The world needs leaders who advocate mutual respect and mutual understanding for all peoples, not those who promote hate and discord.

Rick Harkavy
Executive director
Seattle American Jewish Committee

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