Seattle Press on Line - Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor

Oct 25, 2001 -- Floridian Rips McDermott

To the Editor:

After reading several days worth of reader letters to your paper and several other Seattle publications, I understand why Rep. McDermott felt compelled to comment on the appropriateness of military action against terrorism: no letter-writer I read seems to appreciate just what is going on here. This is a clash of civilization vs. barbarism. All the letters to the editor proclaiming the power of love to overcome all will not matter to those true Muslim believers that want to destroy Western civilization. It matters little what you believe, what matters is that the Muslim fundamentalists and their sympathizers believe it necessary to kill Americans to purify the world for Islam. May I suggest that many of your readers pull themselves away from their activities with the "Hemp" legalization groups and spend more time reading the Koran and Middle-Eastern history in order to possibly gain some understanding of the nature of what is becoming another bloody chapter in Islam's 1400-year war against Western civilization.

Jack Peterson
Fort Myers, Florida
via email

Nickels is Our Man

To the Editor:

I support Greg Nickels for the next Mayor of Seattle. I didn't have to think about this decision very hard or for very long. I have been fighting against Greg Nickels for years over light rail and the at-grade alignment planned for the Rainier Valley. He was at every public hearing at the Filipino Community Center over the years and he sat there and listened as 95 percent of the people in the south end voiced their opposition to the at-grade alternative proposed by Sound Transit. But, he was there--more often than any other public official. In the end, I've come to respect Greg Nickels as a hard-working, honest, smart interested-in-the-issues public official.

As part of the neighborhood plan implementation process we planted trees and bushes in Jefferson Park for Earth Day last year. While Mayor Schell lawn-bowled, Greg Nickels held court with a group of people discussing the benefits of various alternatives facing our park. Not only did he hear us, but he had some great ideas of his own--I actually got the sense that he knew where he was standing and what is important to us. For five years I've gotten the sense that Mayor Schell needed a teleprompter to remind him that he had reached the Beacon Hill stop. And Mark Sidran? Never seen him south of Yesler Way.

Regarding Mark Sidran, I've been opposed to just about everything he's put his stamp on as City Attorney since I moved to Seattle six years ago. I came here from Munich, Germany, what I like to think of (and what was once) the home of National Socialism. Munich is clean. Nobody would think of sitting on the sidewalk, or doing anything else improper like spitting, putting up posters in inappropriate places or speaking loudly in public. Though it's a lovely place, it lacks soul and personality and the stronger the civility laws become in Seattle, the quicker we lose what's interesting and exciting about living here. The climate for public art, volunteerism, and people being decent towards one another rides on the outcome of this election. As an activist, community leader and progressive Jew, I hope people will take this race seriously and search their souls for which of these two leaders they want holding the reins for the next four to eight years.

I implore Seattle voters to keep Seattle a warm, friendly and interesting place to be. Vote for Greg Nickels for the next Mayor of Seattle.

Albert Kaufman

Read His Lips: No New Property Taxes

To the Editor:

Do you want to know the "truth" about Initiative 747 or do you want to suffer the "consequences" for not voting Yes? I-747 is a very reasonable, fair and much needed property tax relief initiative. I-747 will limit property tax district's yearly levy increases to one percent unless that limit is increased by their voters at an election.

What is wrong with that? Still undecided? Then please carefully consider the dire "consequences" of not voting yes on I-747. A no vote gives a "green light" for "full speed ahead" to al of Washington State's governmental agencies "big taxers and spenders" to continue to do what they do best. Their runaway taxing and spending could bankrupt the entire state along with you, the taxpayers, during this time of economic uncertainty. Prevent this calamity by being sure you vote on November 6, 2001 and vote Yes! on I 747.

Fred Bucke

Law & Technology Column a Great Addition

To the Editor:

Re: "Surveillance and Freedome in the Wake of WTC Attack" (September 27): Very good piece (crappy lavender background made reading tougher). Looking forward to subsequent articles.

Gerard John Sheehan
Legislative Director
American Civil Liberties Union of Washington

Reader Comments

Discuss this article in the forums!

No comments yet!