Sequim Gazette Editorial and Letters to the Editor

PR person needed

It seems someone is in dire need of retraining in law enforcement, in this week's Gazette the Border Patrol deputy chief says, "Agents will not do a checkpoint in bad weather." Duh, when do you think the illegals will be traveling now, in sunny clear weather when there are checkpoints or when there are none. Sounds like the agency better get a PR person to make the remarks based on the type of enforcement that is needed and start making the surprise checks 24/7.

Bob Lampert

Sequim



Editor's note: In the story, "Border Patrol increases highway checkpoint frequency," Sept. 10, Joseph Giuliano, deputy chief patrol agent, said, "If we are already not there 24-7, then why be there in bad weather and possibly make the highway less safe. We are doing this for safety."



Please, no smiling face

After seeing the WASL results in the last issue of the Gazette, I'm not positive what grade

Sequim's faculty and teachers deserve. But I see that "Sequim students scored less than 1 percent to 8.4 percent lower in math in five of the seven grades tested, than the state average." If average is a "C" then it becomes obvious we're scoring somewhere below that.

Gazette staff: whenever I become the school district superintendent, please, please, please don't put my proud smiling picture in your paper right next to "D" level results. Not only would my parents become very unhappy, think of all the homeowners in the district whose property taxes take a big jump every third year "for the children."

Robert Stevens

Sequim



Terminal men and women

Those in support of physician-assisted suicide argue that by providing lethal medication they are showing compassion to the terminally ill. Yet when offered the choice of death, patients, instead of feeling less pain or fear, actually had increased feelings of anxiety, pain and worthlessness. In fact, studies have shown that in areas where Physician Assisted Suicide is legal, severe pain and distress has increased. Providing death as a solution could be abused, one 84-year-old woman explains. "I started losing my hearing about three years ago, it irritated my daughter. She began to question me about financial matters ... one evening she said she thought it was OK for older people to commit suicide .... So I sit, day after day, knowing what I am expected to do."

I have a close friend suffering from Parkinson's. Watching his condition decline rapidly is very difficult, but to think that there are those who would like to offer him death instead of loving care disgusts me. What the terminally ill need is love, true compassion and support. The last days of life should be cherished as the first days of life, not discarded. After all, aren't we all terminal?

Kira Clark

North Bend





10-percent change



How can Sen. (John) McCain pull us out of the deep hole when he voted 90 percent of the time with President (George W. ) Bush? We deserve more than an 10-percent change. We need a complete change. We cannot depend on ideas or plans that have failed the past eight years. We need a common purpose and direction that will unite our people.

Vote for the Democrats this year.

Fred Bedford

Sequim





A scary election

When will people see that John McCain is not fit to serve as president and he will do anything to get elected. Just look at his pick for vice president, Sarah Palin. By picking her to be the VP, he has sold America down the drain because she is not fit to command if and when McCain dies in office, and the chances are real good that, if elected, he will have medical problems.

Second, when will McCain and the GOP stop telling half-truths and outright lies about Palin? Living close to Russia is not foreign policy experience, she was never in Iraq and had a refueling stop in Ireland and vacationed in Mexico? My daughter and sons have more experience traveling abroad than she does.

Her statements to the departing National Guard that they were going to Iraq to fight the same people, the terrorists that attacked us on Sept. 11, is an outright lie and shows just how dumb she is.

And her statements that the war in Iraq is a righteous war and a holy war and a task from God has got to scare (everyone). She did not even know what the Bush Doctrine was.

Edward Anderson

Past commander VFW Post 4760 Sequim

Port Angeles





Palin, McCain don't compute

In choosing Sarah Palin as his running mate, John McCain has proven to be intellectually and morally bankrupt.

During this campaign, he has pandered to his base by reversing his economic policies, making the rich richer on the backs of the poor; by claiming early warnings about the Iraq invasion when he is on record for his gung ho support from the beginning; by shifting his position from pro-choice to pro-life.

Now he has chosen Sarah Palin, an obscure two-year governor with no foreign policy experience. She showed her woeful ignorance during her first interview when she was unable to identify the defining legacy of the Bush presidency: The Bush Doctrine, which claims the right to pre-emptive strikes on foreign countries. She believes she knows how to deal with Russia because Alaska is close to it.

Palin's social views do not reflect John McCain's or those of most Americans. She opposes abortion, even in the case of rape or incest; opposes stem cell research; supports drilling in ANWR; as governor she hired a lobbyist to secure $26 million in earmarks for Alaska.

And please spare me the argument that Barack Obama has little experience, too. As senator, he cosponsored a bipartisan bill to reduce nuclear proliferation. He serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Committee on Veterans Affairs, Committee for Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, and the Homeland Security Committee. Through a grueling 18-month campaign, he won the support of his party, proved his intellect and grit, and demonstrated his potential to become a great president.

Paul Chasman

Port Angeles





Voting for real change

I have very deep concerns, above and beyond the issues of this election, concerns for my family and my country. It seems every phrase that John McCain utters is couched in military terms. Words like "fight," "deploy" and "victory" fill his every speech. Even his jokes have to do with bombing Iran. Recently, on a forum about serving the country, again, his main concern was military service. And recently, his running mate, on an ABC interview, spoke of the possible nuclear war with Russia in the near future.

My husband is a veteran who, like millions of other vets, was injured in one of our many wars. My son at age 20 was killed while serving our country in the Navy. I know I am not unique. There are many, many other Americans who have paid an even higher price than our family, because it seems that in recent years, we are always at war.

But I say enough! We have to change. We cannot keep giving our finest and best for these wars, our children and our grandchildren. We must figure out a way to bring peace to the country. Voting for levelheaded people who will work for peace is a start. So I am voting for change this year, and I believe Barack Obama can bring the change that can perhaps keep me from having to give my grandchildren to yet another war.

Susan Shaffer

Sequim