Online-only Letters

Eat your heart out

Alternative solution to trans fat ban

Editor, The Times:

I think the decision by King County Board of Health to require chain restaurants to ban trans fats and provide nutrition labeling information for menu items is an unnecessary overreaction to an only sometimes-legitimate nutritional concern ["New rules: Menus must say what's in your meal," Times, News, July 20].

Trans fats, also known as hydrogenated vegetable oils, are artificial fats commonly found in cookies, crackers, frosting, potato chips, margarine and microwave popcorn. Numerous studies have associated trans fats with increased total cholesterol, decreased healthy HDL cholesterol, and increased risk of heart disease and obesity.

However, the occasional inclusion of these fats in the diet is not in itself a health concern; it's the regular or excessive consumption of trans fats that significantly increases the risk of disease.

Many restaurants are already decreasing use of trans fats, as their demand has declined with increased consumer awareness of health concerns. King County Board of Health could have supported this market trend with an ad campaign warning consumers of the potential health hazards of trans fats.

Instead, they banned restaurant use of trans fats altogether. Additionally, restaurants will be required to provide nutrition information for beverages and menu items listed for more than 60 days. This may be ideal, but in reality, it will cause restaurants more work (and expense), which will be passed on to customers as higher prices. It's a delicate balance; businesses need to make a profit to exist, but if taxes and regulations eat away enough profit margin, businesses fold and tax revenues decrease. That's not good for government, businesses or consumers. Thus, there is need for common ground where the concerns of all parties can be met.

People like me don't need nutrition information on trans fats. Others simply don't care one way or the other. For consumers who need the information to make healthy choices, there are ways this can be done without the information being included on the menu itself.

David Flemming, director and public-health officer for Public Health of Seattle and King County, says he is willing to allow restaurants to meet the new requirements through substantially equivalent methods. One such compromise might be to allow restaurants to make nutrition information available to customers by request on a flier they could take home with them. The flier could also serve as an advertisement with the business logo, phone number and Web site at the top. In this way, concerned consumers could have the information they want, and businesses could meet the new requirements with less expense.

-- John Cartmell, Redmond

The wheels on the bus

King County Metro gets gold star

My wife and I recently moved to the Ballard area for the summer. In order to avoid Seattle traffic, we ride the bus whenever possible. We believe Seattle Metro Transit Agency does an excellent job of hiring and training its bus drivers.

Uniformly, they are friendly, competent and helpful. We are amazed at the genuine care they give all passengers, especially wheelchair passengers and the courtesy they show automobile traffic. These drivers earn their pay and represent a fine sense of community to the city of Seattle.

Seattle, your city is beautiful but your traffic is abominable. Ride the bus!

-- John Daggett and Barbara Hilyer, Seattle

Recruiting in schools

Schools are for learning, not recruiting

Students want equal-opportunity jobs, not the racist, sexist and bigoted jobs that the military provides. Prior to the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, military recruiters were not guaranteed the same access to young minds as college recruiters and private companies. There was a time when school prepared students for college. It was assumed that an educated person would find a job. That was the purpose of a liberal education. This is the same type of education that a democracy needs to survive.

With the rise of corporate power, capitalism replaced a liberal education with a technical education, i.e. one that has no value system to support it. The military-industrial complex funnels corporate power into the military. This military-industrial complex now controls our government. European powers in the 20th century correctly identified this as fascism.

The reason we are protesting the misguided policy of Seattle School Board member Brita Butler-Wall is that we want peace. Pulling out of Iraq is just the beginning. Students want jobs with a living wage that don't contribute to the deaths of innocent women and children in foreign countries. We want an education for all that will equip our students to become good citizens, not one that will justify a system (the military) that promotes inequality, racism, sexism and leaves Americans without health care.

I find it incredible that a bunch of high-school kids understand democracy better than the members of the School Board, or the members of our state Legislature, or the leaders of our nation who claim to be fighting this illegal and unjust war for, ironically, Democracy. Our schools are there to provide an education and democratic values, not as a recruiting station for the military or private interests.

-- Ivan Wodarz, Seattle

List of lies

President Bush untrustworthy

Letter writer Gene Davis makes the case that just because President Bush hand-picked intelligence that ultimately proved false, it doesn't make him a liar ["A flying leap," Northwest Voices, July 22].

Perhaps he's right on that point, but when Bush claimed that military force in Iraq was a last resort and then turned his back on further diplomacy that was proving effective, the country saw immediately that he was not an honest man. That notion was further advanced by the fact that we were told we went to war over weapons of mass destruction, but then through his "leadership" we abandoned munitions dumps and weapons depots so that they could be picked over by insurgent groups, it was clear that Bush wasn't the least bit concerned about WMD. That was lie number two.

One has only to look at the further radicalization of the Middle East to see that Bush's foreign policy has been disastrous for America and her allies. Moderate populations are becoming more radical in response to a perceived growing threat from the unhinged aggression of Bush's America. Even radical groups like Hamas are taking power through legitimate democratic elections!

Bush's efforts haven't prevented terrorist attacks in this country. They've made them more inevitable. Of course, that makes people like Davis want to cower behind a man who uses a dangerous false bravado to hide his dearth of leadership ability.

-- Kurt Keydel, Seattle

Missing taxes

Show me the money

Letter writer Troy Faraone is right on ["In the red sea," Northwest Voices, July 23].

I purchased my home in Seattle in 1958, and the population was approximately 468,000. My mortgage payment, including taxes, was $109.00 each month. Water bill was $10.00 every two months, no sewer, garbage or yard-waste charges. My electric bill was 1 cent per kwh, there were no parking meters, and admission to the zoo was free. We had police officers who walked a beat. The phone numbers for the city offices were listed on a single page.

The Seattle population is now approximately 577,918, a 24 percent increase.

My water/sewer/yard-waste bill is now more than my mortgage and taxes combined used to be. Electricity is now 6 cents per kwh, there are almost five pages of phone numbers for the city offices, and my property taxes have gone through the roof.

We need more police officers and the streets fixed, we need accountability… what has the city done with our taxes?

-- Charles Kessler, Seattle

Nothing wrong with naked

Arrests unwarranted

I was disappointed with the narrowness of thought that went into The Times' editorial regarding the arrest of three men during the Seattle Naked Bike Ride ["The naked city," editorial, July 21].

For several years there have been various naked events in Seattle, including parades and bicycle rides. However, The Seattle Naked Bike Ride had an organized opposition group that phoned police demanding they "do something." In response, the police arrested three men, despite the obvious fact that the men were not breaking any law. Nudity per se is not illegal in Washington. Unless there was lewd or lascivious behavior, which there was no accusation of, there was no illegal activity.

The police action amounts to illegal false arrests, and should concern Seattle citizens. The sight of a human being has never harmed any child or adult. It doesn't break your arm nor empty your purse. The Seattle Council ought to clarify matters for the police and declare that human bodies are legal in Seattle.

-- Bob Allen, Seattle

Out of balance

Unfair quote

On July 23, The Times printed an article about the 100th anniversary of St. James Cathedral. The article doesn't contain any statements from the American Atheist Association.

Another article told us that Nokia is buying a Redmond media company. There was no quote decrying this from somebody at the Socialist Worker's Party.

Yet another article told of Starbucks raising its prices. But there are no quotes from any Latter Day Saints church representative about how the Word of Wisdom forbids the drinking of coffee.

And, oh yes, there was an article about the new domestic-partnership law. No protesters even showed up, and yet The Times searched out the obligatory gay-bashing quote from the minister of the Cedar Park Assembly of God ["Law lets couples be 'partners'."page one, July 23].

What's out of balance here?

-- Laura Billington, Maple Valley

Hillary Clinton

Love her or hate her

I think it's pretty clear to anyone who watched the CNN/YouTube Democratic Debate that Hillary Clinton won without question. She demanded the attention of the audience, having the strongest stage presence and the most thought-out and well-articulated responses.

Yet, while I believe Sen. Clinton won this debate and is rightfully the undisputed front-runner for the Democratic nomination, I do have some reservations about her candidacy. Trying so hard to combat the image of a "soft woman" candidate, I think, if elected president, she will be prone to overcompensating, choosing militaristic responses to issues requiring a diplomatic response in order to present a hard, "manly" image for the public.

To date, the Iraq war has cost more than $340 billion dollars -- money that could have been spent much more wisely, and with better end results. The Borgen Project estimates, for example, that the expenditure of a mere $19 billion annually would eliminate starvation and malnutrition worldwide.

In a time in which one person dies every 3.6 seconds due to starvation, it is simply immoral not to address such a comparably affordable goal as that of eradicating world hunger. The last thing this nation needs is to get embroiled in another futile military conflict. If I could trust that Sen. Clinton would follow her own intellect as president, I would absolutely have no qualms about casting my vote in her favor. At the moment, however, my lingering fear about her political maneuvering remains.

-- Elayna Hecker-Thompson, Seattle

Seattle showdown

Nightclubs will be victorious

In the ongoing battle between the Mayor Greg Nickels and the nightclubs of Seattle, the actual facts are omitted and distorted by the city to better suit its story.

The accusations made by the mayor would be legitimate if they were indeed based on the actual facts of the incidents in question. There are two common incidents quoted by the mayor's office as to why Pioneer Square nightclub Tabella should be shut down.

The first is the July 2 shooting. This occurred not in or even near the club, but more than a block away. No fight within the club preempted the shooting; the unfortunate girl who was wounded was half a block away. The shooter had been expelled from the club more than an hour before the shooting itself occurred. The Times ran an excellent and factual story. Why is the mayor's office reporting a different story?

The mayor's office also states that a mob of 200 plus people were fighting in the Tabella parking lot only weeks before. Exactly how does a fight of this magnitude occur and not make local headline news? Why were there no damaged vehicles, no injured persons, no major police response, and no medical response? Where does common sense play here?

If accusations are going to made, they need to be verified. The State Liquor Board could not substantiate the mayor's claims. We are on a slippery slope. This is not about six problem clubs and safety of residents. It's about dictatorial control of Seattle nightlife.

-- Scott Robertson, Kent