Online only letters

Crime and small punishment

Dialing while driving proves deadly

Editor, The Times:

We often hear the question posed, "What are they waiting for — someone to get killed?" Well, that happened.

While talking on a cellphone, Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz ran down Tatsuo Nakata in a West Seattle crosswalk and killed him ["Rabbi who hit, killed pedestrian gets two years deferred," Times, Local News, Feb. 29]. This after hitting a bicyclist while crossing lanes some two years earlier, seriously injuring her. And what does he get? Another deferred sentence; no jail and an eventual "clean" record — which is what he got the first time!

Has Municipal Court Judge George Holifield lost his mind? Is he in someone's pay? Unbelievably, Schwartz will actually be able to drive again in two years.

Watch out Seattle: With Holifield on the bench and Schwartz at the wheel, you are all in danger!

— Penny Koyama, Bothell

20-year pitch

Another case where the punishment does not fit the crime. If I were the judge I would take away Rabbi Ephraim Schwartz's license for 20 years. The rabbi should surrender it.

In these times of climate change it would be a holy act for this rabbi and other religious leaders to use public transit.

— Myna Lee Johnstone, Saltspring Island, B.C.

Thinking ahead

Avoid destruction

I am writing regarding the recent tanker announcement ["Boeing files formal protest of Air Force tanker contract award," page one, March 11]. Obviously many in our area are disappointed, but I am not here specifically complaining about the choice of supplier(s). I am instead concerned about the location of the Alabama facility ["Northrop plans aircraft plants," Business & Technology, March 5].

Even assuming that Alabama still gets the work, why in the world would the plant be in Mobile — right on the coast? What happens to that facility, the equipment and the lives and homes of the critical workers when the next big hurricane hits? Would it not be wise to locate the facility in, say, Huntsville, or at least Montgomery? Somewhere many miles from the Gulf Coast?

Has a formal plan been prepared to ensure resiliency of the facility, employee safety, hardening of supporting infrastructure, rapid recovery from damage and work delays, etc.? Have these issues been addressed in the overall military procurement plan? Will they be addressed in the final contract?

— Norman Mainer, Redmond

Prevent corruption

I, too, am disappointed by the aerial refueling tanker contract award denied the Boeing Company. However, to suggest, as Rep. Norm Dicks does, that the blame lays solely at the feet of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is ludicrous and partisan politics at its worst ["Boeing's tanker bid damaged when Air Force changed criteria, Dicks says," Business & Technology, March 6].

What McCain did is what we hope and trust all our elected officials do on the job: eradicate corruption and deny wasteful spending, no matter how much it may hurt.

— Thomas Frey, Kingston

The reality of dreams

A parent's nightmare

I was very pleased to read about King County Executive Ron Sim's Equity and Social Justice Initiative ["Equity and social justice," guest commentary, Feb. 10].

I feel a county named after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., should be doing everything in its power to make his dream a reality! I agree with the points raised in the article; however, I do want to call attention to an often overlooked necessity: child care.

Sims discusses the conditions necessary for a community to thrive, including affordable housing, quality education, livable wage jobs, etc. Time and time again I find that access and affordability of child care is overlooked when discussing essential components or conditions for success.

It is impossible for any parents to begin their days without first having a safe place to leave their children. However, families all over King County are struggling with finding quality and affordable child care.

The income limit for receiving state assistance for child care is unrealistic. The income limit for a single parent with one child is $2,282 a month before taxes. The cost for putting an infant in child care full time is around $1,000 a month. This means a parent with a gross income of $2,500 a month has to spend nearly half of his or her income on child care, leaving only around $1,000 for housing, food and all other expenses!

If the Equity and Social Justice Initiative seeks to create conditions necessary for success within the community, we must not leave access and affordability of child care out of the discussion.

— Oriana Estrada, Seattle

Clinton chaos

Turn on, tune in, drop out

For the last eight years, a question has been frequently raised about George W. Bush and his administration: What planet do these people come from?

An aggressive and repeated remaking of reality is the hallmark of this government, to an extent that strains the bounds of disbelief. It is beginning to look like the infection has crossed party lines and crept into the Democratic primary by way of Bill and Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.

Recently, we have heard repeated statements, hints and outright claims that Hillary's opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., "has not crossed the Commander-in-Chief threshold," although both she and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., have; that Obama is not qualified to be president and does not have the requisite "experience," although hers has become more suspect the more one asks precisely what it consists of ["Debate rages over foreign-crisis experience," News, March 7].

At the same time, sometimes in the same speech, Obama is discussed, by both Hillary and Bill, as a desirable choice for vice president, to strengthen the ticket ["Obama rejects Clintons' vision of him as veep," News, March 11]. Is there a disconnect here? Is he unqualified, but qualified? The best clue to the truth may be Bill's response when questioned on this recently: "That's politics," he said.

And, since when does the candidate running second in the race have the chutzpah to offer the number-two spot to the candidate who is running first? Have her handlers kept the truth from her? Does she believe she is winning despite being behind in delegates, popular votes and states won?

The logic, if you can call it that, is reminiscent of the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland, though, fortunately, Hillary does not yet have the authority to scream "Off with his head!" when someone displeases her — as Obama clearly has by derailing her path to what she obviously believes to be her birthright. We've had enough of "King George," we don't need a "Queen Hillary."

It is very clear that we need a president who is in touch with reality and who does not jeopardize his or her party's chances to save the country from the clueless hordes now occupying the White House, by almost daily giving the Republicans ammunition against the most likely Democratic candidate.

This past week has shown that Hillary is clearly not in touch, and neither is her apparently preferred candidate John "Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" McCain. Hillary and Bill need to shut up and sit down.

— Charles Scurlock, Langley

The two faces of Hillary

I read "Questions linger amid Clinton turnaround" [page one, March 10] with great interest. The insight into Sen. Hillary Clinton's (D-N.Y.) campaign tells us a great deal about what kind of president Clinton would be.

Clinton's claims to be ready to lead the nation on day one, based on 35 years of experience, have unfortunately not prepared her to lead her 700-person campaign staff effectively.

"She hasn't managed anything as complex as this before … She wasn't as decisive as she should have been … She doesn't seem to know how to stop or want to stop [the divisions over strategy and communications among campaign staff]." Like our current president, "[s]he showed a tendency toward an insular management style, relying on a coterie of aides who have worked for her for years" and she "was a detached manager."

Experience is only as good as the results it produces. Whenever I hear Clinton make the claim about her extensive and superior experience as well as the claim to be a "doer" over a "talker or speech maker," I find myself asking, "To what end?" What are the results of all this experience and doing? Health care? She tried (her way) and failed. Iraq? Wrong vote, both times. And now campaign strategy?

This conflict in the campaign produced two Hillarys. Hillary One is the fighter, the "bring it on" woman who never gives up or gives in. Slug it out to the bitter end to get what she wants, because she knows what is best (for us) and will borrow as much as she needs from the Karl Rove handbook to get it. Hillary Two is the "victim," the poor little woman, picked on by the press, the Republicans and the opposition.

It is hard to say which Hillary wins more votes. It is not at all difficult to imagine that some of the distortions, innuendo and outright slander that spew from the backroom of her campaign end up damaging her opponent. At the very least, it redefines the issues and brings the Democratic Party down to the level where the Republicans have a better shot at success.

The story should give every Hillary supporter a reason to rethink his/her decision. We had four years of the fighter, "us against them" Clintons. In the end, the Clintons prevailed. Never mind the cost to us, the nation. Then there will be the first victim president. When she fails to achieve, to produce, from all her doing, there will always be an enemy or conspiracy to blame.

— F. Van Paemel, Redmond

Trillion-dollar baby

Well let's see: Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., can't successfully manage a $170-million, 700-person campaign organization. And she is asking us to elect her to manage a $1 trillion (give or take) country? She relies on old friends … sounds like George W. Bush, and you know how that turned out.

And whatever happened to her demand that Rodham was always to be an integral part of her name?

— Theodore Wight, Seattle

Fighting all who tear her asunder

The recent primaries in Rhode Island, Ohio and Texas proved one thing: The more you put someone in harm's way and talk them down in America (as has constantly been done to Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y. on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News and other TV programs), the more the American people will rally around the underdog!

We don't like being told what to do and we don't like trash talk about one of our own, whose only fault is that she had some tough times in the past. And coincidentally, we realize that Hillary was the injured party and she held it together for her family.

Since those days, she has tirelessly helped the poor, the unfortunate and children. She has done a lot for education and she comes from an era of strong leadership, military expertise and a strong economy when she was in the White House.

The people in the recent primary states recognized that and didn't believe all the negative hype. Those of us who got and still get hate e-mails about Hillary from our relatives and friends are simply more resilient to not let a decent American get soiled. We can thank our fellow Americans for being much more educated beyond what the pundits think, all of whom seem to have their own agendas.

The haters need to remember, as John Bradford said, "There but for the grace of God go I"! None of us are perfect. When we vote for Hillary, we're voting for ourselves!

So to Brit Hume, Dick Morris, Tim Russert, Sean Hannity, Mort Kondracke, Fred Barnes and Chris Matthews, among others, just continue to trash a good, hard-working American like Hillary Clinton all you want. You'll end up putting her in the White House all the sooner, because we the people won't stand for it!

— Jerry Taylor, Montesano

Incalculable influence

Reinforcing the positive

Thank you for carrying the article about the passing of William F. Buckley Jr. ["William F. Buckley Jr., 82, prolific writer, founder of National Review," News, Feb. 28]. It is hard to overestimate his role in the modern conservative movement, which resulted in the election of Ronald Reagan and a new era in American politics.

Those of us who were in college when President Reagan was elected learned the philosophical underpinnings of conservatism from Buckley's magazine, National Review. We benefited from his efforts to turn conservatism into a positive force, rather than simply anti-communism and his assistance in purging it of anti-Semitism.

God bless you, WFB. We will miss you.

— Ed Brown, Redmond