Letters to the Editor

At least seven current or former Major League Baseball players have been subpoenaed to testify before the House of Representatives Government Reform Committee.

It is more important that Congress understand its sole role: to run the government. A government reform committee should be looking at ways to reduce government spending, not meddling in the affairs of Major League Baseball; it definitely should not be putting on another expensive PR boondoggle on my dime.

Let baseball commissioner Bud Selig and other baseball people deal with steroids in baseball. While this is not a comforting thought, given Selig's recurrent bungles, it is impossible to argue that his bad decisions aren't better than those of Congress.

Congress needs to get off steroids, now.

Tim Perman
Redmond

TORTURE

U.S. military absolves itself of responsibility

The United States military has decided that no one should be held accountable for the murders and physical abuse of detainees in Iraq, Guantanamo and Afghanistan except the individuals who actually laid hands, fists or boots on their victims. So not only were no orders ever given by their superior officers to make life hell for these detainees, it also allows the individual soldiers to be hung out to dry when their actions come to light. Is this what they mean by the slogan "an Army of One"?

Ron Dickson
Seattle

BLOCK GRANTS

Local governments should stop depending on the feds

The P-I's Joel Connelly says the federal government sends the city of Seattle $14 billion of block grant money each year. He raises the alarm that there will be cuts in this funding, but he doesn't say how much, except that it will be "deep." Block grants are popular because they pad out the budget and allow state and local bureaucrats to partially fund basic needs while diverting state and local income (taxes) to favored concerns such as sculpture parks and sports palaces.

Connelly and the bureaucrats (public and private) with their hands out will do well to get a grip. Federal tax cuts have returned sufficient funds to the people of our state to meet our needs. It's time now for local governments to start acting like adults, do what they need to do and stop sucking up to the federal government.

Mark Anderson
Seattle

ORCAS

Northwest whales are in a fight for their survival

I was gratified to see Jessica Blanchard's article regarding the decision to put Orca Relief Citizens' Alliance brochures promoting land-based whale watching on Washington State Ferries (Thursday). The Southern resident orcas are in a fight for their survival, and the negative consequences of boat interactions are one of three main issues (the other being toxins and food supply) causing the decline.

The whale-watching industry has done a pretty good job convincing people that it is an ecotourism business that somehow has the whales' best interests at heart. They are strongly lobbying the government officials in charge of the listing decision and conservations plans. They are trying to position themselves as protectors of the whales. Having them in this role is like having old-growth loggers in charge of protecting the last stand of old-growth timber.

The Southern residents are chased six months a year, up to 12 hours or more a day. Today, there are more whale watching boats than whales. We need regulations, not guidelines, and enforcement, not blind trust. The Southern residents depend on us.

Monica Harrington
Friday Harbor

SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

Protesters haven't learned lessons in Bible

It seems the folks who call themselves Christians and took time off from their day to demonstrate against same-sex marriage on Tuesday need to brush up on their Bible.

The passage in Leviticus they quote is squeezed in between verses in which we are urged to take slaves from neighboring countries, forbidden to wear clothes made of different types of cloth and to "smite" a man who works on Sunday. Wednesday's P-I presented an article outlining the devastating effect of the Bush budget on the poor people of our state. The Bible is very clear about our obligation to aid the poor and is also rife with passages condemning warfare and killing. The protesters are members of modern-day cults -- perverting the word of Christ and taking cheap and easy shots at gay people. On top of that, their churches enjoy tax-exempt status as they attempt to dictate the rights that taxpaying, hard-working citizens should have. Gays make a mockery of marriage? Mary K. LeTourneau and Vili Fualaau were "one man and one woman."

David Nash White
Seattle

MINIMUM WAGE

Republican spin sounds extremely selfish, indeed

The GOP argument that the Democrat-proposed minimum wage will hurt those it was designed to help, reminds me of the same argument Malthus advanced in his 1798 essay "On the Principles of Population," to give the Industrial Revolution industrialists a reason not to pay their employees wages beyond subsistence. Ricardo, another 18th century apologist, argued that if workers get more money, they would marry early, have many children, and the population increase would depress wages again.

Do Republicans feel a sense of shame or embarrassment denying the lowest-paid workers a long overdue pittance of a pay increase, based on a 200-year-old fallacy?

Jim Behrend
Bainbridge Island

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