Your Radioactive Future
Dear Stranger,
Great article on Hanford ["Hanford Holiday," Eric Fredericksen, Feb 4]. While Hanford boasts more Ph.D.s per square foot than anyplace on earth, the fact is that almost no new science or technologies have been developed to handle the serious problem of the city's radioactive waste. As your article points out, if Hanford is ever cleaned up, there will be no more soft jobs and easy profits.Undoubtedly, Hanford's likely radioactive contamination of the Northwest will add to this region's inherent strangeness. I can picture this region some years from now: glow-in-the-dark salmon from the Columbia River, luminous bread from radioactive Eastern Washington wheat, and lots of children born with birth defects caused by radioactive exposure. Good luck, folks, because this is the future.
Mark Bloome
No Christian Trambley Here!
Dear Editor:
You're article on progressive think tanks was pretty progressive ["The Right Strategy," Feb 4]. It progressed very quickly from fact to fiction. It was fascinating to read Samantha M. Shapiro's engrossing tale of policy wonks at the new Economic Opportunity Institute. Fascinating, that is, right up until the end, where she quoted "Executive Director Christian Trambley" of "Discovery Institute" who allegedly is indignant about the EOI.Say, what? There is no Executive Director position at Discovery Institute, no Christian Trambley working here, and no record of anyone here having ever heard of the Economic Opportunity Institute, or having even the slightest opinion about it, let alone having expressed one to your reporter. Very progressive.
Rob Crowther
Director of Public & Media Relations, Discovery Institute
Samantha Shapiro responds: Christian Trambley is the deputy press director of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, not the Discovery Institute. Both are right wing think tanks.
The Garden of Imagination
Dear Editor,
In response to Timothy Hogg's rather scathing letter to the editor [Suite 1225, Jan 14] regarding Charles Mudede's December interview with J. Raban, please count me as someone who thoroughly enjoyed the article. I personally find it refreshing to find amongst The Stranger's often rant-filled pages a writer with delicate sensibilities.Mr. Mudede has an understated, oblique touch that allowed Mr. Raban to reveal himself in his own way. I like it when writers don't cram their judgments and viewpoints down my throat, who instead invite me down the garden path of my own imagination by revealing to me theirs.
Sydney Shera
Doomed to Penetration
Dear Stranger,
Adam Heimlich's characterization of Buffy [the Vampire Slayer] as an "asexual outcast fated to penetrate men" irked me [Book Review Revue, Feb 11]. I suggest that Mr. Heimlich brush up on a few alternative sexual practices that might broaden his conception of female sexuality:
1. Some men like to be penetrated. Penetration is a sex act regardless of whether it is performed by a cock, a dildo, or a stake. Not all of these men are gay.
2. Some women who are heterosexual like to penetrate men. They are not necessarily asexual outcasts (refer to #1 for clarification).
3. Some women--like men--do not truly enjoy being penetrated, although faking orgasms may lead the masses to believe otherwise.
By the way, I don't give a shit (nor have I ever seen) Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Audrey the Boy Fucker
Slow and Steady Loses the Race
Dear Stranger,
Running trains through the Rainier Valley is not only unfair to the people that live there ["Racism or Renewal?" George Howland Jr., Feb 4], it's also bad for anyone who rides the train.At-grade routing dooms the train to slow speeds. Sound Transit says it will travel at 25 mph max, with a slower actual speed due to traffic lights, stations, and emergency vehicle crossings. This isn't a great inducement to ride the train.
Since no recent American transportation scheme has worked, perhaps it would be useful for Sound Transit to look at what works in other countries. Lille, France recently completed a three-route commuter rail line, which is fast, offers frequent service--and none of it runs at grade. It's a popular mode of transport, and makes it possible for people to make do with one or no cars.
Sound Transit's peculiar mix of light rail, buses, and infrequent commuter trains, by their own estimation, will not improve traffic, just slow the rate at which conditions deteriorate.
