Letters to the Editor

520 BRIDGE

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Fewer lanes once you get where you're going

What does it take for Dino Rossi and Kemper Freeman to get it through their heads that you can build as many lanes of highway across Lake Washington as you want, but once those cars arrive in Seattle there is nowhere for them to go? The state Department of Transportation studies show that an eight-lane bridge will increase rush-hour congestion and traffic will be backed up to Redmond because all those additional cars coming across the lake on eight lanes will still have to funnel into the same amount of existing pavement on Seattle streets and I-5.

Susan B. Woods
Seattle

ATTACK ADS

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BIAW throws a lot of mud on Gregoire

I write as a voter concerned about the Building Industry Association of Washington and its attack ads. I understand that politics gets dirty, but we deserve to know who's throwing the mud in this election. The BIAW's biased Eastern Washington billboard messages are diverting the public's attention to Republican vs. Democrat rather than to the important issues of state races.

The BIAW is a special interest group with a dismal history of supporting the preservation and protection of Washington's environment legislation. The group opposes bipartisan efforts to clean up Puget Sound. I question BIAW's agenda during such times of global warming and climate change; it has never made environmentally conscious construction a priority. The BIAW works to limit protections for consumers and homeowners.

Even though the environment desperately needs our help and attention, the BIAW chooses to spend more than $1 million attacking Gov. Chris Gregoire. Such attacks are bad for Washington politics and bad for the future of our environment. When voters encounter the BIAW's ads, consider the source.

Nick Hawkins
Lynnwood

SCARE TACTICS

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Republicans want us to be afraid, then vote

I see that Michael Chertoff has started warning us that terrorists are trying to enter the U.S. and there is no guarantee that officials will be able to catch them every time. And John McCain has come out and warned us that al-Qaida is not defeated and will be stepping up terrorist attacks in Iraq.

Now theoretically, if Chertoff has been keeping the "homeland" safe since 9/11, how can this be happening? And if the "surge" really worked, how can al-Qaida be stepping up attacks in Iraq?

Oh, that's right. I forgot that earlier this year McCain's adviser Charlie Black stated publicly that a "fresh terrorist attack" in the U.S. would certainly be a big advantage politically for McCain. And, reading further into the Chertoff story, I see he dismisses any rumors that he is on a list of potential running mates for McCain, and that the only list he has for next year is "a list of vacations."

Man, the internal polling for McCain and other Republicans up for re-election this fall must be dismal for them to be playing the terrorism card so early.

Don Christine
Sammamish

BIRTH CONTROL

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Punish pharmacists who won't do their job

Your July 17 editorial calling pharmacists who refuse to dispense Plan B "arrogant" was right in one sense: It's appropriate to use strong words to characterize the issue. But I'd go further.

Every other profession is subject to not only strong words, but strong action when a practitioner doesn't do his or her job. In those cases, the corrective actions start with such words as "negligence," "scandal" or "malpractice." They end with such words as "fine," "suspension," "revocation" or "imprisonment." I'd suggest the same words might be appropriately applied to pharmacists who refuse to do their job and have the hubris to think they get to continue in that profession.

Susan Boundy-Sanders
Woodinville

Administration launches another assault on women

I applaud the P-I's Editorial Board for shedding light on proposed regulations that could harm women's health ("Family Planning: Striking Plan B," July 17). As a doctor with decades of experience in family planning, I am appalled by the Bush administration's latest assault on women and our reproductive lives. Under draft regulations from the Department of Health and Human Services, institutions and individuals could deny women some of the most effective methods of birth control, or withhold information from patients about their contraceptive options.

Birth control is already expensive and out of reach for many women, especially if their insurance doesn't cover contraception. Many states, including Washington, have enacted laws that guarantee insurance coverage of birth control. Our state laws also ensure that rape survivors are offered emergency contraception. Now the administration wants to override state laws to appease a few extremists. With all of the very urgent problems facing our county today, I am disappointed that the president is using his time to harm women.

Suzanne T. Poppema, M.D.
Board chairwoman

Physicians for Reproductive Choice

and Health

Edmonds