Online-only Letters

Budget blunders

Government by brinkmanship is no government at all

Editor, The Times:

King County finds itself with a $70 million budget shortfall, and the first thing King County Executive Ron Sims does is blackmail the public with a loss of what should be untouchables in a governmental budget: public safety and security ["King County's $70M budget crisis: Cuts in courts, law enforcement warned," Times, Local News, June 6].

Held accountable by the conscience of county government, Councilmember Kathy Lambert, whose budget-cut suggestions he dismissed as "rhetoric," and also criticized by Democrats on the council, Sims has nothing to offer the public but fear. No mention is made of cutting "rhetoric" from the budget.

Government by brinkmanship is no government at all, especially when the brink was foreseeable and predictable, as Democrat Councilmember Larry Phillips clearly says.

This budgetary iceberg wasn't shrouded in fog like that of the Titanic -- it was plain as day, per Phillips. Yet the cry isn't "Man the lifeboats" (they're to be cut from the budget) but rather, "The sky is falling, the sky is falling!"

Ron Sims should not only cut wasteful and unnecessary "rhetoric" from the King County budget, but also the frightful boogeyman rhetoric that emanates from his office. If he wants to know an ideal place to start cutting budgetary "rhetoric," he should look at his own salary.

— Scott St. Clair, Kirkland

Don't bite the hand that pays you

King County Executive Ron Sims, in an alarm-sounding news conference, said the county prosecutor and courts need to bear a burden of budget cuts, which was meant to deflect blame for the shortfall.

Budget revenues have been rising greatly over the past four years, and naturally the spending always matches the increase. Perhaps more prudence in the spending department would have alleviated the "crisis" now. The reference to the $137 million cut more than four years ago -- in the last recession, by the way -- is disingenuous, without showing how much revenues have gone up.

Sims talks about having to cut the heart and soul of government, and I would say we should re-evaluate what the soul of government really is. Is it featherbedding a bunch of favored projects and programs?

The article speaks of how income hasn't kept pace with inflation, but in fact property-tax income has ballooned with inflation-driven property assessments, without even a levy increase. If the county budget department is not seeing coming reduced property tax collections due to falling property values, they are hiding from reality. I'm waiting to see how "sticky" assessment values are going to be adjusted downward, to meet the new reality.

— Ralph Kosche, Seattle

The heart and soul of government

Grim news on planned King County Budget cuts for 2009, and beyond, means not only jeopardizing police and criminal justice services, which keep communities safe, but also health and human services, which keep them healthy, what King County Executive Ron Sims has termed "the heart and soul of government."

As a community we need to take action to restore these cuts as soon as possible. We must find a way to provide long-term, dedicated funding for community health, after-school programs, violence prevention and safe neighborhoods, help for crime victims, mental-health treatment, domestic violence and sexual-assault services and prevention, drug- and alcohol-abuse prevention, and senior centers.

The Healthy Families and Communities Task Force, which was appointed by Sims, identified a funding gap in human services that has yet to be closed in order to provide desperately needed services, beyond the minimal funding now provided -- before the proposed cuts.

Let us repair the heart and soul of King County government. Now is the time to find a way to close the gap.

If we work together, we can do it!

— Geoffrey Ethelston, Bothell

Weather wonders

A small mess makes a dirty house

Can you please stop printing illogical letters every time there is a weather event that is cooler than normal? ["It's getting cold in here, so put on all your clothes" and "Stats really got us now, they got us so we don't know what we're doing," Northwest Voices, June 9 ]. A small isolated case cannot be held up as proof against a globally observed trend. I can show you a similar argument that we can all agree makes no sense:

I just spent eight hours cleaning and sanitizing my entire house. I believe my house is completely clean. My wife just saw our child spill some juice on the kitchen floor. She believes it is impossible that any part of the house is clean because there is a small mess in the kitchen. Which party in this argument is irrational?

Or try this one:

Experts have told me that it often rains in Seattle. But I visited Seattle for a weekend in August and it was sunny and cloudless both days. Therefore, the experts are wrong. It never rains in Seattle.

— Kevin Barry, Issaquah

It's the environment, stupid!

New energy resources now

This country is being economically held hostage by radical environmentalists and the Democratic-controlled Congress. Every effort on the part of the current administration has been thwarted by the radical rhetoric of Al Gore and his legion of anti-development followers.

I am quite knowledgeable regarding oil and environmental issues, having lived for more than 25 years in Alaska. Remember the trans-Alaska Pipeline? It has proved to be one of the greatest environmental projects of all time. In nearly 30 years there have been only two minor issues that were addressed immediately, much to the chagrin of all the naysayers in the environmental establishment. We cannot ever overlook the Exxon Valdez accident. However, years and years of industry action has produced enormous improvements and safeguards against future episodes.

We need to safely explore and develop every possible energy resource now! Merely the hint of renewed oil, coal and gas exploration will bring down the price of oil. The producing countries realize we are doing nothing for ourselves and they will continue to exploit this failure.

We all cherish this planet. That goes without saying. However, should we continue current policies this normally resilient economy will surely crumble. Hard to embrace radical environmental policies when you are out of work, can't fuel your vehicle or heat your home.

— Maureen Schwab, Lyman

Morals

The church of leaders

When the two leading Democratic presidential candidates, Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, offered their Christian beliefs to the readers of The Seattle Times, I felt they should better know the role of religion in their own lives. They pointed out how religious practice helped them to endure humiliation. What Obama and Clinton are doing is exactly what this country needs, leaders who demonstrate their faith and who are charismatic because this country needs a strong sense of morality that the Christian religion teaches.

Clinton confirmed that being trained in the way of God and being grounded in faith aided her in the trials of her marriage. Being trained in the way of God and wishing to serve the masses, the people's creativity and productivity and development pour out.

In addition, Barack Obama has demonstrated a deep faith as a Christian leader. His leadership enjoys wide support and has a large following.

Both Obama and Clinton are without a doubt charismatic. They are both Christian. The Christian religion is meaningful in this respect, especially when it is the leaders who practice it continually and consistently. The majority of the people identify with their leaders.

It is important that the leader of America raise the moral level and character of the people. This will demonstrate to the rest of the world through these charismatic leaders that power should be given to God.

— Tamirat Lemi, Seattle

Shift across the spectrum

The hissy fit

Sen. Hillary Clinton held the ideals and policy on issues that hit my everyday life most closely: economy, education, foreign policy, energy and social programs, in general. But now that she is out of the presidential race, I'm just going to have to go with the next-closest person in the race on these issues -- Sen. John McCain.

Come on folks! Is a spiteful hissy-fit the basis for a well-thought-out vote resulting in moving to the other party's ideals? It doesn't seem to make sense that a person would shift across the spectrum of ideology so widely. Or is it that I'm missing what our electorate is all about? Are we proving more and more that our educational system is failing compared with the world when it comes to common sense and "smarts" with evaluating and choosing our leadership?

Maybe I'll take an easier way out and blame it on a political conspiracy of the right wing to pose false Hillary supporters pretending a Democratic platform mutiny.

— DJ Septon, Seattle

Sex is power

Just a little bit of respect …

Sex has a great power. Without it, we would not be here. Sex is a wonderful creative activity. You and I are prime examples.

In being responsive to this power we need to accept our potentials at being fathers and mothers. We need to honor and support those who have welcomed new life. We need to respect those who embrace celibacy as a way of life. They live in opposition to those who say sex is the answer, the goal, the purpose. When this power is abused it can transmit disease that may lead to death. It can also destroy homes, hearts and trust.

Sex is very powerful.

— Tim Carney, Seattle

Another holy war

Peace is possible in the war machine

Charles Krauthammer continues his relentless effort to convince his readers that Israel should not be told to get the hell out of the West Bank and the Golan Heights because an Arab-Israeli peace is impossible ["Israel's undaunted courage," syndicated column, May 18].

Krauthammer knows only too well that Israel very nearly reached a peace agreement with Syria eight years ago, and failed only because of a decision to try to keep the entire Sea of Galilee rather than to withdraw entirely as demanded by Syria.

Krauthammer wants the American war machine to protect Israel no matter how many hundreds of billions of dollars this costs, so that fanatical Jews can continue to steal Arab land.

— James Canning, Seattle