LETTERS nation's capital. It's very important for cruisers to support the request, because D.C. doesn't have a very large boating community. It's not even a state, and only has a total of a few hundred slips. There is only one place for sailboats to anchor due to low bridge clearance, and having some moorings approved will protect our right to anchor there. So it would help if anyone could write a letter or email in support of application number NAB-2009-01754-M07 (Capital Yacht Club / Mooring Field), and send it to Maria N. Teresi, Regulatory Branch, USACE, Baltimore District, Washington, DC 20024, or maria.teresi@usace.army.mil. Thank you. Tom Des Jardins Capital YC

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Tom — Anything we can do to help D.C. ⇑⇓TO TOW OR NOT TO TOW This recent video — see www.king5.com/video/featuredvideos/RAW-Disabled-sailboat-towed-in-choppy-Puget-Soundwaters-87876567.html — would seem to refute the claim by the Coast Guard that they save only lives, not property. There must be a different mindset in the Command Center in Washington State from that in California. John Anderton Vancouver, WA

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Latitude 38

• May, 2010

John — The 'we save lives, not property' policy of the Coast Guard seems to involve some flexibility, as others have reported that their boats have been towed to safety by the Coast Guard. The text that accompanies the video reads, "A sailboat became disabled in windy, choppy Puget Sound waters between Alki and Lincoln Park in West Seattle. The boat had to be towed." You might notice it had to be towed off a lee shore. We assume the Coast Guard's reasoning is As you might be able to tell from this screenshot that if they of the video, the ketch and her crew were about to didn't tow the go on the beach before they were rescued. boat from the lee shore, the distressed boat's crew would have been injured or killed. ⇑⇓WE'LL SAY IT LOUDER THIS TIME Recent articles in Latitude have been enthusiastic about the situation in Thailand, especially the fact that fat, ugly, old, white men can get attractive young Thai women to have sex with them — as long as the man has money, of course. Regarding other countries, such as Cuba and Venezuela, you are harshly critical, supposedly because of a lack of freedom there. Is it possible that the 'freedom' you really seek is the freedom of those with money to spend it any way they like — including buying the bodies of desperate, poor, young women? I will be interested to see what you have to say about the situation in Thailand now. Please note that Thailand is a monarchy, and that on April 12, the Wall Street Journal cited Paul Chambers, an expert on Thailand, as saying "the military is free to operate outside the control of civilian leaders . . ."