Online-only letters

Disco rail?

Buses, not light rail, the way of our transit future

Aubrey Davis is the grand old man of Puget Sound transportation politics ["Light rail is the right choice for Seattle-Eastside connection," guest commentary, Aug. 19]. But he sometimes lives in the past, in this case 1968, when "our" heavy-rail system decamped to Atlanta: shades of the Oklahoma Sonics.

But a lot has changed since the Beatles released their "Magical Mystery Tour": for instance Microsoft, Google and the Internet.

In transportation a revolution has also occurred in the past couple of generations. This revolution is the application of "mobility pricing" to transit and transportation mobility. What this means for Interstate 90 is that bus rapid transit on center-span, high-occupancy transit lanes would have an order of magnitude more potential transit capacity than light rail, at a small fraction of the price, and with as good (or better) reliability.

Take off those bell-bottoms and vote "no" on Sound Transit's Proposition One do-over.

— Donald F Padelford, Seattle

A panda note

Pandering panderers in our presidential politics

It appears that there are more panderers in the presidential campaign then there are pandas in China.

— Leo Shillong, Bellingham

Speaking of the 1970s ...

There's no need to bring back the Cold War

I chuckled at writer Maurice Marler ["Staring down the bear: The return of the USSR?" Northwest Voices, Aug. 19], and wondered if he has ever been to Russia. I have, just this summer to St. Petersburg; others in our group went to Moscow. I have also talked to Russian immigrants here who still have family there.

Under the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, with its propaganda and state-controlled media, the Russian people thought they were well taken care of. They thought it wonderful that the communists provided them with so much. That is why they supported the system.

Only after the USSR's fall did the Russian people find out how the communists were paying for all they provided. They were skimming 80 percent and giving only 20 percent back to the workers. The Russian people know better now and will never go back. They have seen the corruption of the communists.

Writers such as Marler just throw out hysterical, fear-based statements without any real basis. That is a shame. Why don't all you who fear Russia actually visit and see what it is really about, and talk to the Russian people instead of sitting in your armchairs fearing the worst?

— Michael Barr, Sammamish

Past injustice

Lawyer should not have been tried in the court of public opinion

The problem arises in our society, not because the Seattle Pacific University student newspaper won't change history in erasing a story concerning the arrest of an innocent Shakespear Feyissa, but that such history was made in the first place ["Attorney finds Internet won't let go of his past," page one, Aug. 15].

When the name of an innocent man, who is nothing more than a suspect until he is tried, is released to the public, the public judges him to be guilty like the school did in suspending him; this is an uncorrectable injustice.

Much like the Bush administration accusing a man of trying to blow up two cities and then never charging him, or Duke University suspending its lacrosse players before they were guilty of anything, it is wrong.

— Charles Fix, Seattle

The Georgian connection

McCain's adviser has dubious ties

There are some disturbing facts regarding recent events in Georgia that give me pause. Sen. John McCain's senior foreign-policy adviser, Randy Scheunemann, has been a paid lobbyist for the Georgian government ["Georgia conflict spotlights McCain link," News, Aug. 14].

Scheunemann is a neoconservative who has also been a board member of the Project for a New American Century, a conservative think tank. In addition, he headed The Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, which led the charge for the invasion of that country.

Scheunemann and McCain have a close relationship with Mikheil Saakashvili, Georgia's president, and are staunchly supportive of Georgia's policies.

Why would Saakashvili attack the breakaway province of South Ossetia knowing that the provocation would elicit a strong response from Russia?

A result of this provocation is a new Cold War with Russia. America's hegemonic and belligerent foreign policy in Eastern Europe has determined Russia's reaction to the Georgian invasion of South Ossetia. Poland was reluctant to accept U.S. missiles on its territory. Not anymore.

Throughout the region, more U.S weapons will be sold. With a foreign policy designed by Scheunemann and McCain, we can be sure that expanding the American empire will lead to a robust war economy.

— Dennis Daneau, Port Townsend

An earworm cure

Think Schubert and you'll be fine

There have been a few comments recently by Dr. Oliver Sacks and others about "earworms," the annoying little tunes that repeat themselves in our minds and refuse to go away.

Years ago, I learned a quick and easy remedy for this condition from two cellists in the Seattle Symphony, Kim and Bill Scott.

In my years as a symphony musician, I'd never heard of it, and evidently neither has Dr. Sacks, but it works every time for me, so in memory of two dear people, let me pass along the Kim and Bill Scott Memorial Cure for an Earworm: Hum a few bars of Schubert's "Unfinished Symphony" ("This is ... the symphony ... that Schubert wrote but never finished").

No, it won't stick in your memory, but it is so beautiful it will erase your problem tune.

Somebody please tell Dr. Sacks.

— Annette Case, 4th horn, 1968-1980, Seattle Symphony, Seattle