"Church and state are divided in this country for a reason."

Final accounting

It's an odd society that euphemizes elective euthanasia

Editor, The Times:

Just when I thought my native state couldn't become much more uncivilized than it is — I now read that some folks (apparent fans of instant gratification) want to promote suicide on the ballot but spin it a new name ["Just don't call it suicide, initiative's backers say," Times page one, Jan. 9].

Taking one's own life is suicide and could be called many things, but hardly "dignified." It is tragic and depressing enough that women kill their babies living in their wombs and call it a "choice," when it is the death of a baby, i.e., a "murderous choice," in my opinion.

But now, they want those who are living but suffering to be legally able to choose to kill themselves or have someone help them, and change its name from "suicide" to "dignity." Oh, brother, what a sad, cold and odd deterioration of society this has become.

Worrying me is, if this does become law, at what point will the liberal-left government in power here decide for us that we are suffering too much, or burdening the medical system too much, and make that choice for us?

It is hard to be optimistic for 2008 with this gloomy mind-set that looms overhead. It makes me truly sick.

— Elaine Solberg, Shoreline

Paradise's cost

Once again, we are facing our fears and trying to control things we cannot. "Just don't call it suicide" says that many sick people want to "control the circumstances of their death." In my opinion, not only sick people but everyone would love to have control over their death. Death is the scariest thing on Earth. Of course we would all like to control the circumstances of our demise.

Contrary to what Booth Gardner is preaching, this is exactly what Christianity saves us from. We have faith in a higher power so we can cope with our fear of death. Christianity will never mean in any way that choosing death is acceptable, or that killing oneself is a viable option.

We are all stuck here with many different pains. Christianity helps us focus on life, whatever big or little amount we have. Quite frankly, I am a little disappointed that one of our good leaders has fallen so far away from truly helping people.

— Virginia Hale, Mercer Island

No atonement

I strongly support the Death with Dignity Act and will vote for it if the opportunity comes.

Death is not what Hollywood portrays. A few last words of love, a last breath, and then a peaceful sleep. Death is months of a body's total deterioration.

Dying "naturally" or "as God sees fit" is so much nonsense preached by those without either a clue or a compassionate bone in their body.

I will "die with dignity" because I will take care of my own demise if I am terminal. I will not wait for someone's "God" to take me as he sees fit. I want to die still being able to get up in the morning and breathe on my own and use the restroom on my own and think for myself.

Church and state are divided in this country for a reason. The options need to be there for both the religious-minded and those of us who feel otherwise.

My suicide or death with dignity is my issue to deal with in the afterlife — not anyone else's!

— Zannah Becker, Seattle

Work at home

Promote your jobs

Kate Riley's criticism of the Democratic presidential candidates and her blind faith in trade to grow Washington jobs ["Doing the free trade mambo," editorial column, Jan. 7] are misguided, as are her name-calling and fear-mongering. The candidates and the American people have not been snookered into positions that are critical of existing trade policy, contrary to Ms. Riley's beliefs.

Lou Dobbs reaches a very small audience, yet The Wall Street Journal reports that 59 percent of Republicans (and similar numbers of Democrats in other polls) have soured on existing trade policies. Perhaps that's because we carry a $763 billion trade deficit, which serves as a drag on economic growth and jobs.

U.S. trade policy may have helped some Washington firms and workers, but it has hurt many others. Washington has lost more than 45,000 manufacturing jobs over the past seven years (source: Bureau of Labor Statistics). More than 27,000 jobs alone have been lost due to our imbalanced trade relationship with China, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

If we continue down this path, Washington's largest export will be jobs, not products.

Any candidate — Democratic or Republican — who casts a critical eye on our trade agreements and trade policy and calls for desperately needed change is not "protectionist" or "reckless." Moreover, they do not favor blocking trade — except for toxic and unsafe imports that kill pets and people. They want to stop countries like China from distorting the market through subsidies and currency manipulation. The candidates favor a trade policy through which more Americans share in the gains from balanced trade.

Those changes will only help Washington workers, businesses and consumers.

— Scott Paul, director, Alliance for American Manufacturing, Washington, D.C.

Cable sweaters

We knew it would catch fire

Seems like the hottest new products being talked about at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas are giant, wall-sized TVs. Can you say "Fahrenheit 451"? Pretty scary how prophetic the book, by science-fiction writer Ray Bradbury, was in 1955. It forewarns of a future where people don't read anymore because they're obsessed with their wall-sized televisions.

The book has often been misinterpreted as a statement against censorship; Bradbury himself claimed it was not, but rather it was a cautionary tale related to his fear that the popularity of television would kill good literature and news, and that if we weren't a cautious society, we'd become much dumber in the future as a result.

The now months-old television-writers strike will probably cause a permanent shift for the worse in television programming (as if TV hadn't been bad enough before the strike).

Not only will the networks never pay writers for digital-download sales of programming, they'll also drag this strike out as long as they can to bust their expensive contracts with them.

Get ready for more mind-numbing "reality" shows and "news" about the latest celebrity hookup, adoption, divorce, DUI arrest, etc., etc., etc.

Books and newspapers will continue to enlighten, educate and entertain us only as long as we allow.

— Duayne Zeigler, Bellevue