Letters to the Editor

Regarding the Sunday letter about the possibility of E. coli in yard waste and compost, both the city of Seattle's Public Utilities flier and Web site about yard waste specify that there should be no "meat, fish or chicken" in food scraps recycled, so, we hope, E. coli would not be a concern.

I, however, would not use commercial compost in my vegetable garden for the reason that it might contain pesticides from lawn and tree applications. For that reason, we have our own composting bin for our pesticide-free grass and leaves. We also dig uncooked peelings or rotted parts of vegetables and fruit into our vegetable garden year-round -- and the worms love it, too!

Debra Davis
Seattle

U.N. SPEECH

Chavez's tirade has the opposite effect

In a bizarre speech before the United Nations, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez referred to President Bush, not once but several times, as the devil. I strongly object.

George W. Bush is not a clever man. He is the pliant figurehead of a corrupt and incompetent administration and the worst president since Warren G. Harding. But the devil himself? Chavez is clearly a fruitloop, but he is also an educated man. He should know better. His clownish tirade elevates Bush far above his pitiable stature and does poor service to the prince of darkness. Bush as Satan? I think not. But on the other hand, Karl Rove seems to be working hard on a legitimate claim to the title.

Our deeds in this life resonate in eternity, and the devil will always have his due.

James Winchester
La Conner

Chavez hailed for standing up to Bush

Regarding your Thursday headline, "Chavez hurls insult at U.S," he didn't insult the U.S. as a country; he insulted the "devil" who calls himself "the leader" of our country.

I applaud Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez for the guts to stand up to the Bush administration and its domestic and foreign policies.

Chavez is a friend to the people of the United States, especially the low-income, the populace that the administration could care less about. That is, unless they want to send their sons and daughters over to foreign soils for economic gain -- mostly theirs. Tell it like it is, Hugo.

Mark Pfenning
Tumwater

Democrats have called the president worse names

Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Charles Rangel defend President Bush over verbal attacks at the U.N. from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Please, don't insult our intelligence.

Pelosi and Rangel have called Bush names that would make Chavez blush. Those two Democrats are just afraid people will see the similarity between the remarks of Chavez and the six plus years of hate-filled Democratic assaults on Bush.

Warren E. Peterson
Seattle

SOCIAL SECURITY

Name of entitlement is not Private Security

Does anybody else cringe every time they see the word privatize in the same sentence with Social Security? It's Social Security, not private security. We pool our money to take care of ourselves and others in our old age.

Another thing ought to set off mental alarms in anyone whose I.Q. is larger than their inseam. It is believing that the same people who took the biggest debtor nation in the world and turned it into the biggest creditor nation in the world, in just six years, should ever touch our Social Security money.

Senate candidate Mike McGavick is just a stooge for Bush's Social Security plan. Let's dump him and his plan.

Paul Carr
Seattle

McGavick plan removes money from the system

In your Thursday article "Democrats waste no time smacking Mike McGavick," McGavick said that under his Social Security plan, younger workers would be able to choose from three investment models.

One of the models is the current system, another is a moderately invested model and the third is a heavily invested model.

Like the president's plan for privatization, McGavick's plan would divert funds from the system, which means the system will run out of money even sooner than is now predicted. But, then to make matters even worse, McGavick wants the government, not individuals, to manage their private accounts. What a lose-lose proposition; not only is money is diverted money from Social Security, the account owners don't even get to manage their accounts.

If McGavick really wants to help make the Social Security system more solvent, he should come up with a plan for putting back the money that Congress has borrowed from the Social Security trust fund. We're now just two senatorial terms from the time when we will need to start taking money out of the trust fund, which is empty but for a bunch of worthless IOUs. If Congress, as usual, waits until the last minute to take action, they will either have to cut benefits or raise taxes.

And, since neither a war nor a mind-boggling federal debt can make Republicans raise taxes, it's a sure bet that a Republican Congress will choose to cut Social Security benefits.

Jack Edwards
Richland

KEEPING US SAFE

Dangerous warheads are kept nearby

Your reporter is certainly correct ("Impact of port attack assessed," Kristen Millares Bolt, Sept. 14) that a bomb exploding at the Port of Seattle would be just the beginning of misery and that the worst-case scenario would be a nuclear attack.

Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray, along with Rep. Norm Dicks, should be even more concerned about the likely 2,000 or so nuclear warheads that they help maintain within Puget Sound, at naval base at Bangor, and perhaps the bases at Everett and Bremerton, as well.

Economic costs of $1 billion to $2 billion a day are just as likely from a military nuke accident as from a terrorist bomb in a container ship. It makes no sense to try to keep foreign nukes out of Puget Sound while at the same time letting Cantwell, Murray and Dicks continue to allow the military to transport, ship and stockpile nuclear warheads within easy mushroom cloud distance of Seattle.

We should worry less about the nuclear bomb that might arrive and pay more attention to the hundreds if not thousands of nuclear warheads that are already in our back yard.

Ann Marchand
Seattle

TREES

Lots of planting space when viaduct is gone

Trees! Trees! Trees! Seattle's mayor wants more trees. The perfect site to plant those trees would be the area created by the removal of the viaduct. Imagine half a million trees planted along the waterfront from Sodo to the sculpture garden. It is unfortunate that the City Council does not have a leader with the last name of Dime; then this grand forest could be named "The Nickels & Dime Forest." (A place poets can wander and contemplate scantily clad women dancing at the South End and disrobed male figures at the North End.)

John Cashin
Bainbridge Island

HUH?

Seems Bush has decided it's OK to be flip-flopper

So one day, the president says Pakistan's sovereignty is paramount, and we cannot get Osama bin Laden if he's there, and the next day he says we will bring Osama to justice wherever he is.

I remember way back in 2004, one presidential candidate was accusing the other of being a "flip-flopper" whose words could not be trusted by our international allies or enemies. John Kerry's alleged inconsistency was posited as a threat to our national security.

Why is President Bush's conduct never judged by his own standards?

Lee Gray
Seattle

ALASKAN WAY VIADUCT

Bridge option leaves room for waterfront park

When I walked in the door Friday night, having driven across the Alaskan Way Viaduct for the umpteenth time, I turned on the news and saw that the City Council had voted 7 to 1 (lone dissenter is Nick Licata) to replace the viaduct with the enormously expensive tunnel option. The costs of the tunnel have risen dramatically and will only get worse with the track record of government projects.

I still feel the best option is a bridge built approximately 75 to 100 yards offshore. This is much less expensive than the tunnel and will retain the park plan and the view for tourists and daily commuters. I know the developers won't like that option, but who pays the lion's share of taxes in this town? Speaking of which, the council has stated that Seattle voters will only get confused about the costs of the tunnel project, so they don't want to allow us to decide how to spend our money.

Licata is the only council member who will receive my vote in the future.

Brian Benedict
Seattle

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