Online-only letters

20-cent green fee

Stop whining, Seattle

I can't believe there's so much whining about the new plastic-bag tax — the latest threat to our overindulged lifestyle ["Shopping in Seattle: Bags will cost you," Times, page one, July 29]. Things must be pretty good for folks if this is the thing they choose to gripe about — or has selfishness and entitlement gotten the better of us again?

No, the city is not trying to rob us. Some people just need encouragement in curbing a bad habit that eventually takes a large toll. So bring your own bags (the real motive behind the tax), look at the big picture and start looking for real injustices in the world to cry about.

— Matt Hayden, Olympia

Obama vs. McCain

Campaign ad about personality, not race

I find it unfortunate that The Seattle Times chose to reprint Bob Herbert's column, which ran in The New York Times several days ago ["And did you notice he's black?," Times, syndicated column, Aug. 5].

Herbert's column focuses on the recent Sen. John McCain TV spot that flashes brief glimpses of tabloid celebrities Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. He decries the McCain campaign's perceived use of the "race card" against Sen. Barack Obama in this commercial.

Herbert, please get a clue. The ad is about the cult of personality — and nothing more. Race has absolutely nothing to do with this TV spot, and to intimate the McCain campaign played the race card is disingenuous at best, but more likely a dishonest prevarication by you, Herbert.

— T.E. Krause, Lynnwood

Tragic falls at UW

Raise the window-height minimum

How many more need to fall to their deaths before the building code for window heights is changed ["Another season of worry," Times, Local News, July 11]?

When our oldest boy was 17 months old, he regularly climbed out of his crib while we slept. Federal regulations require crib railings to be 26 inches high with the mattress at its lowest position. This is two inches higher than the 24-inch minimal height for bedroom windows in the Seattle building code.

So, it isn't difficult to imagine how easy it was for a toddler to climb out of a seventh-story window if the sill height was the legal minimum of 24 inches. That same height hits the average college student at just above the kneecap, where is would be easy to fall, slip, be pushed or sleepwalk out of a bedroom window.

Despite the focus on alcohol consumption with the tragic deaths of several students from fraternity bedroom windows at the UW, there is simply no reason why these low windows are ever allowed in bedrooms above ground level in group-living structures.

A minimum window height of 30-36 inches from the floor in all apartments, dormitories, boarding houses and nursing homes should be added to local building codes statewide. Instead of talking and meeting, the UW should focus on doing something that actually addresses the underlying safety deficiencies, which have existed for decades. This isn't exactly rocket science.

The UW should start by taking a lead role in pushing for this simple change to the Seattle building code — something that could save lives of all ages.

And while they're at it, why aren't regular but unannounced building inspections by the Seattle Fire Department required for all Greek housing, as a condition of their mandatory agreements with the UW? Maybe this would cut down on sprinkler systems being disconnected, "festival seating" on rooftops for social events and the common practice of housing students in basement rooms with only prison-height windows, offering no chance of fire escape.

— Heidi Benz-Merritt, Bellevue

Blue Angels

Give up this wasteful tradition

Please, Seattle, give up this outdated, offensive display of military might as the Blue Angels recklessly fly overhead, wasting precious fuel and disturbing the environment with air and noise pollution ["Here come the hydros and the Blue Angels," Times, Northwest Weekend, July 31]. Whatever happened to energy conservation?

It's only a matter of time before one of them comes down and kills or injures many people.

I wonder how "entertaining" the poor Iraqi people would find such an event. These kinds of bomber planes flew over their villages and homes, killing or maiming many and ruining their lives forever.

I also think about how many of our fellow citizens, who are struggling between buying gas and putting food on the table, could have been helped with donations of all the money it took to finance this event.

— Carol Meyer, Seattle

Oil and gas consumption

Offshore drilling won't help us

When panic sets in, thinking ends. After 9/11, the American public fell for the lies about Iraq being a major threat to the United States and supported the invasion of Iraq. Panic ruled the day. It has taken years for a majority of the public to turn against the unjustified war.

Today, with gasoline prices hovering near $4 a gallon, the public is again in the throes of panic thinking. (This phrase, of course, is an oxymoron, for there is no thinking when panic takes hold.) After years of sensibly opposing offshore oil drilling, as well as oil drilling in the Arctic due to its overwhelming environmental degradations, panic is pushing the public toward support of such drilling ["Candidates shift gears on energy issue," Times, News, Aug. 5].

All serious studies show that opening those areas to drilling would have no effect on gasoline prices for a decade. At that time, the effect would be roughly 2 cents per gallon, not to mention devastating oil spills. Of course, by then gasoline could be $10 a gallon or more.

Obviously, drilling would do nothing to lower prices. But when panic takes over, people cannot see facts or common sense. It matters little what the issue is — panic trumps thinking every time.

— Bruce Barnbaum, Granite Falls

Working women

We need pro-family benefits, wages

Now we know that there was never a "mommy opt-out" ["Myth of women opting out simply doesn't add up," Times, Ellen Goodman syndicated column, Aug. 1]. The number of women in the workplace, according to a congressional report, has actually been decreasing for the same reason that the number of men in the workplace has been decreasing — the economy.

It's news. But it's really just new information on an old story. Despite decades of equal-pay legislation and job-access efforts, women still earn only about 77 cents for every dollar earned by men. For women of color, the gap is even wider. African-American women earn about 63 cents and Latinas about 54 cents for every dollar earned by white men, the highest wage earners.

This gap affects all working women — but particularly low-wage working women and their families. As a result, the number of children living in poverty has increased dramatically as working parents struggle in the economic downturn.

Here's what we need: family-supporting jobs that provide health care and pay decent wages. We need basic labor standards, like paid sick days and family leave, so working parents are not faced with losing their jobs when they or their children need care. And we need strong safety-net programs that support families moving from poverty to economic self-sufficiency.

Until corporate and public policies address the complex needs of women in the workplace, too many women — and too many children — will face futures of poverty and economic injustice.

— Linda Meric, executive director of 9to5, National Association of Working Women, Denver, Colo.

Hiker's death

Boy doesn't represent hunting community

How on Earth do you shoot at something that you evidently cannot evaluate clearly enough to distinguish the difference between a person and a bear ["Shooting of hiker mystifies family," Times, Local News, Aug. 5]?

This tragedy makes all of us who hunt look bad, even though the vast majority of hunters would never pull the trigger in such a situation. The one who does becomes the spokesperson for our sport.

Hunting is a wonderful sport with fewer injuries or fatalities per participant than recreational boating or backyard swimming pools. Yet, unfortunately, this young man did exactly what those who oppose hunting want him to do. He proved that hunting, hunters and weapons are all dangerous and that the public needs the government to protect us from these "bitter," as Barack Obama would say, elements of society.

As both a hiker and a hunter myself, each and every time I pull the trigger I will take responsibility for it. No ifs, ands or buts.

Rights come with responsibilities, and when responsibilities are not enforced, our rights are endangered.

While my heart goes out to the woman, the teen and their families, we have a name for actions that bring about the death of someone without intending to do so. It's called manslaughter.

— Dane Jack-Sands, Seattle