Letters to the editor

Red-carpet treatment

Exclusive admission: Why the local scholar couldn't make it

Editor, The Times:

Just read "Elite eager to shell out for brush with power" [Times, Local News, June 15]. Would any of these donors like to give my son $10,000 so he can finish his senior year of college? That would be an investment that would pay dividends.

Thanks to the behind-the-scenes budget maneuverings that resulted in changing the formulary for federal financial aid, my son's aid was reduced to $1,200 per semester (tuition is now more than $4,000 per semester, which includes the 20-percent increase in tuition and fees). Not only does he lose the opportunity to finish his degree, but he also loses his medical-insurance coverage because he is covered on my insurance only as long as he is enrolled full time.

He was told that I could take out a parental-plus loan for the balance owed! My annual income is in the low 30s and I am 60 years old, due to retire in three to five years.

I cannot take on another debt (nor will I qualify) when I am faced with only $1,200 per month to live on when I retire.

Fun for the haves, misery for the have-nots. Enjoy your 10 minutes of hobnobbing ... hope you [got] your money's worth.

— Margaret Peyou, Pullman

The surprised guest

President Bush comes to town on a campaign visit yet, per The Times, only the "elite" will "shell out for brush with power"? Au contraire!

If you want to see "elites" at political fundraisers, hang with Democrats and their fat-cat entertainment, inherited-wealth, big-labor and big-business donors.

Republicans are working people, and President Bush is their man!

Wednesday, I had an excited call from a friend who found out she was going to attend the reception for President Bush. Is she an elite? Hardly. Homeless as a young woman, she's the mom of a special-needs child. Her husband is an immigrant who came to this country with barely two nickels to rub together yet went to work (a Republican concept) and built a business employing more than two dozen family-wage jobs. My friend literally wept with gratitude, saying only in America is this possible.

I told her that their story is the quintessential American story — a very Republican story — since growth-oriented policies, low taxes, minimal regulation and their hard work made it possible.

My friend, her husband and the majority of those [attending] Friday's event are personifications of the American dream, not elites.

— Scott St. Clair, Kirkland

The canceled benefit

Too many had other plans

Reader Thomas Beaudin states, "[Tim] Eyman represents the thinking masses in this state, obviously, so why is Olympia turning a deaf ear toward his/our overwhelming sentiment toward such initiatives?" ["Taking initiative: We didn't sign up for this," Northwest Voices, June 15.]

Quite the contrary! Eyman represents the greedy masses of the state.

The federal, state and local governments are going to tax us, no matter what we do. Eyman was so proud of himself because he managed to stop the (federal deduction of) excise tax on our auto license. Now we are paying just about as much but with a different set of fee, but now it is not even deductible.

Thanks, Mr. Eyman.

What we really need is an initiative to send Mr. Eyman to some other state — get him out of here. We already have enough greedy people in the state.

— Jerry Fader, Shoreline

Spiritual promotion

The mountain goes to Muhammad

"Muslim students get help juggling school and faith" [Local News, June 15] is yet another example of our liberal Seattle School District pandering to almost anyone and anything under the guise of understanding and tolerance.

However, you can bet your life that if these were Christians demanding time for prayer, the same ones who set aside special rooms and rules for these Muslims would be screaming "Separation of church and state"!

Think about it, how often Christianity is attacked in our society, especially in our public schools, and treated as some sort of disease that can spread like the bird flu to the unsuspecting, or viewed as something being pushed down our throats.

Whereas other religions, like the Muslim religion, are treated as a special need, a right, and something that we need to go out of our way to include in our society under "tolerance."

That the anti-Christian, anti-American ACLU is supportive of this policy should give everyone rise to suspect it.

This policy is exceptional, and needs either to be reversed or broadened to include all religious groups.

— Ray Pitts, Duvall

Turn the other weak

Christian prayer in school? Definitely not and politically incorrect.

Special rooms and times set aside for Muslim prayer. Why not?

Is it diversity or adversity we are promoting? Ah, but we are mere infidels.

— Frank Clatanoff, Sequim

Blind leading resigned

For those who wonder why most religions seem to become more irrelevant in the U.S. with each passing year, we need only look at Rabbi Mark S. Glickman's comments on what the Bible has to say about homosexuality. He gives us the inspirational insight that "I don't know for sure what God thinks about this issue." ["Scripture misread by those who oppose gay-rights legislation," Living, June 10.]

Well, that's just wonderful. Here's a man who has studied the Torah all his life and even teaches it, and he still doesn't know its message regarding a pretty simple moral issue.

Religion becomes irrelevant when its leaders have no message. And a message of "I don't have any answers or any certainty to strengthen you with" only further deadens the search for moral guidance among the people. If someone who's studied all their life has no answers, how will the rest of us find any? There must not be any, so let's just go live the way we want.

On the contrary, we should choose to believe that there are answers to our deepest questions, and if the Bible has them, then let's start there. And let's learn to take what it says honestly, not twisting it to fit our ever-changing worldviews, but believing in the author who (if God has anything remotely approaching the power we think he does) ought to know a lot more than we do how to conduct our lives during our brief stay in his world.

— Daniel Magill, Seattle