Letters to the Editor

MIDDLE EAST

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Sarcasm undermines P-I's credibility

The editorial about President Bush's Middle East tour style ("The legacy tour," Jan. 10) is dripping with sarcasm and that I would expect to find in a fringe, far-left rag, not in a major metropolitan newspaper. Using such style undermines your credibility and the weight of your opinion.

As for the substance, the president has chosen rightly not to meet with the "Death to America" Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), the folks who burned him in effigy upon his arrival in Israel and who cheered and distributed candy as Arab terrorists (mostly Saudis) were attacking New York City and Washington, D.C. Ditto for Iran, the largest sponsor of terrorism (remember the invasion of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran or the Marine barracks in Beirut?).

As for "our friends the Saudis," let's not lose sight of the fact that they are the fountainhead and chief purveyors of Whahhabi Islam that has been fueling the attacks on the West and is responsible for so many deaths and so much misery in the world.

Gabriel Scherzer
Bellevue

Bush, Cheney clueless to horrors of war

If Bush is really serious about working towards peace in the Middle East he needs to stop beating the war drums and quit referring to Iran as a threat to the area. The Middle East does not view Iran as their biggest threat; on the contrary they actually view Israel and the United States as the real threat to peace in the Middle East.

I do wonder how many extra tours of duty we are going to need ask of our GIs so that Bush can cover any military action aimed against Iran. Of course Bush ignored his military duties and was AWOL during the Vietnam War and Dick Cheney had other priorities, which makes them both totally clueless to the very real horrors of going to war.

Our GIs are nothing but numbers to them, so what does it matter to them if they have to keep sending our GIs back to the war zone even after they have served honorably and survived their first tour of duty?

Andrea Myntti
Seattle

ROBINSON COLUMN

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Give equal space for 'Articles of Reason'

"Religion and its institutions worthy of respect," says Anthony B. Robinson in his Jan. 19 weekly column "Articles of Faith." He even quotes the late Peter Jennings: "We must stop treating religion as if it were not really a fit activity for intelligent adults."

As always, Robinson offers no evidence whatsoever, or even a reasoned argument to support this view; we're just supposed to take it on faith. Well, he's entitled to his opinion, even if it's completely unsupported. But I keep waiting for the P-I to offer equal space to the other point of view. When will there be a weekly column by a rational person called "Articles of Reason."

That would seem to be a minimum standard of fairness and balance in a great newspaper.

Brian Templeton
Des Moines

ECONOMY

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Parents know what to do with tax relief

All of the talk about what to do with the money we may receive after Bush's proposed "tax relief" seems kind of silly. I'm going to do what everyone with a young child should do: invest the money so my 6-year old daughter has something to deal with the debt that will be passed on to her in the form of higher interest rates and an insane national debt.

Ralph Kratz
Ellensburg

Borrow-and-spend got us into this mess

How can we possibly give tax rebates to stimulate the economy when the nation is almost $10 trillion in debt? This is typical borrow and spend Republican economics that got us into this financial mess.

Our children are given the burden of a huge national debt that has already reached around $30,000 for everyone, including every child born in this country. Isn't this taxation without representation? Isn't that what the Revolutionary War was fought about? Isn't this a crime? Good thing our children can't take up arms.

Dan Koebel
Seattle

Fed has missed the mark with its billions

I see that knee-jerk reactionary Rich Lowry has trashed the Democrats for their proposals to jumpstart the economy with tax rebates, which he says don't work ("$250 won't ward off the recession," Jan. 18).

He should have waited a couple of days for President Bush's proposal to jumpstart the economy with even larger tax rebates. He could then have written a column praising the Republicans for their sagacity and boldness in addressing the pressing need for action. While he was at it he could also have praised the Fed for "injecting liquidity" into the banking system to the tune of many more billions over the last few months. That hasn't worked either, has it?

William Cross
Index

FARM BILL

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Senators understand policy better

It is hard for me to comprehend the P-I's opposition to the farm bill when its objective is to insure the consumer an adequate supply of domestic food at a reasonable price ("A cry for reform," Jan. 18).

Over the years our government has taken many actions to keep down the cost of food and the domestic farmers have borne the cost of those actions. The underlying goal of this legislation is to insure that farms can survive financially while keeping down the cost of food. This current year of high commodity prices is unfortunately an exception. The years leading up this time have been just the opposite.

It isn't realistic to expect farmers to produce your food at their loss and in the real world this won't happen. Perhaps our two senators understand the issue a little better than those who have taken the popular path of criticism.

Nat Webb
Walla Walla

CONNELLY COLUMN

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Party change would benefit voters

Joel Connelly's Jan. 15column, "Democrats conciliatory in debates," brought up an odd point for Connelly. He noted that "western issues," ranging from wildfires to water to protection of natural spaces, were largely ignored. Connelly seems to have trouble understanding why this situation might have come to pass.

Many people have tried to point out to Connelly, a religious member of the Democratic Party faithful, that one big reason that "western issues" are permanently ignored by the Democrats is the singularly ironic fact that people like Connelly will always vote for the Democratic Party establishment candidate (in this year's "contest", Hillary Clinton) as if it is a church requirement. When the party's candidates can safely count on western state voter turnout in elections, no matter what, they take for granted the states' votes and ignore our issues.

How sad it is that Connelly continued on in his column to ridicule Dennis Kucinich as "Dennis the Menace." Placing aside the fact that "Dennis the Menace" was attempting to force mass media to allow a range viewpoints into the "debate" beyond that which Connelly found insufficient in his lawsuit, Kucinich is probably one of the few candidates who actually has a political agenda that includes representation of western voters on the issues this columnist seems to care about the most.

Perhaps if Connelly's awareness could transcend that allowed by his church, the Democratic Party establishment, this would be clear to him. Perhaps he could quit ridiculing those candidates and voters who actually recognize that the Democratic Party needs to change substantially before we western voters have much in the way of a debate, including our own nearest and closest issues.

Cliff Frensley
Seattle

DINO ROSSI

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Candidate for governor points to future

I liked what I saw out of candidate Dino Rossi recently. I'm looking for a governor who isn't afraid to show leadership, and to me that's exactly what he did in his "alternative" State of the State address. When the courts overturned I-747 in November, we waited for our elected officials to take necessary actions and reinstate the 1 percent property tax limit. The first voice I heard was that of Rossi; it took weeks before our governor came around to make the decision to hold special session. What was she doing during that time -- polling to see if crusading for taxes would get her re-elected?

I'm excited to vote for a gubernatorial candidate that comes forward with his ideas for, thoughts about, and -- if necessary -- criticism of the current system. Rossi's State of the State showed that he's not just thinking about getting elected, but that he's thinking about the future and what he wants to do once he's there.

Paul Graves
Des Moines

ROADLESS RULE

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Charred roadless forests don't lie

Mike Dombeck's guest column on the Roadless Rule ignores reality ("Fight over Roadless Area rule in national forests is purposeless," Wednesday).

First, a little history -- several western governors asked the Clinton administration to be formal partners in the development of a Roadless Rule as provided for under NEPA -- they were denied. Then when the states and public were asked to comment on the proposal, there were no detailed maps on which to make informed assessments. Just think of the all negative editorials had a president proposed a rule involving just a million acres of timber, grazing or mining use without providing detailed maps.

After years, not days, the Bush administration offered a new roadless protection plan where governors could petition the Secretary of Agriculture to protect those truly unique roadless areas within their borders -- a process allowing for meaningful public involvement and informed decision making. This was an attempt to find a solution to conflicting court rulings, but this too was challenged in the courts. Thankfully several governors have taken advantage of this new process, drawing lines on maps and getting roadless areas protected in their states.

So where are these catastrophic and budget busting wildfires occurring? They are overwhelmingly in national forests where more than 60 percent of the land is either roadless or wilderness. Both in number of large fires and acres burned. Not only are these unnatural events costing taxes payers billions, but they are destroying critical wildlife habitat, key watersheds, threatening communities and releasing green house gasses. Just look at the devastating fires over the past seven years in Washington and Oregon -- blackened and charred roadless forests don't lie. Some may want to put the blame on the changing climate, but adjacent state and private forests have very different results when these wildfires cross the property boundary.

So, while President Clinton and Chief Dombeck had hoped their legacy was going to be nearly 60 million acres of preserved roadless areas, the reality is a devastated landscape, polluted air, silted streams and not enough money to fulfill the Forest Service's mission of "Caring for the land and serving the people."

Chris West

American Forest Resource Council

Portland