This judicial endorsement puts politics over substance

The Allegheny County Democratic Committee endorsement process last Sunday revealed itself as nothing more than a flagrant endorsement of party loyalty ("O'Connor Gets Nod From Dems," Feb. 28). How else do you explain the choice of former party chairman Tom Flaherty, who has never argued a case in court, as an endorsed candidate for Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas? In fact, I bet the other endorsed candidates are writhing with embarrassment to be in such undistinguished company.

The public now knows without a doubt that it is an insiders' club whose endorsements are for serving the party and have nothing to do with qualifications of candidates for office. Who needs these endorsements anyway? We, the electorate, can evaluate candidates based on experience and character and make up our own minds about who is qualified to serve in public office.

JEAN BARTHOLOMEW
Squirrel Hill

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Be wise, voters

The Democratic Committee should be ashamed of itself for endorsing Tom Flaherty for a judgeship. I am a lifelong Democrat and I find it hard to believe that the committee would endorse a man who has never tried a case and has absolutely no experience to justify this nomination. It is an insult to all of the dedicated men and women who serve as judges to place him among them. I hope the voters will make wise decisions at election time.

BETTY TARANTINO
Highland Park

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Budget foolishness

This letter is to the millions who mistakenly voted for George W. Bush. He's made such a mess of so many things and told so many lies, and the latest of these is the budget.

I have run a household for 38 years. How about this elementary idea? A budget consists of costs incurred in running a household (country). That means all costs, not just the ones that make the budget look good. It means a realistic account of all the money that goes in and out of the household (country).

Ladies and gentlemen, the Bush administration's budget should illustrate the same things. For instance, we could not run a family budget and forget about food or mortgage costs. How is it then that this president can put forth a budget and not include the cost of the war (which he started) and the cost of the Social Security plan?

A vast majority of Americans live above their means, just like this administration. Many have filed for bankruptcy -- much like our national deficit. It seems that whitewashing budgets is a way of life here in the United States. Mr. Bush thinks that if you don't see it, it must not matter. Unfortunately, it will matter, as this administration's debt is paid off by you and your children for many years to come. You've been duped!

D.L. McMAHON
Mt. Lebanon

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Famine factors

With reference to Jean Kaniecki's letter ("Inevitable Starvation," Feb. 22): In considering the horrible plight of the Irish in the potato famine, it is only too easy to lay the blame on the cruel and wicked English, when two other factors contributed largely to the disaster -- the Catholic Church and Irish law.

The church urged all married women to produce large families, regardless of the ability to support them properly, and castigated those who remained childless. Also, Irish law specified that property should be inherited equally by all offspring -- on the face of it an enlightened and well-meaning measure. However, these two factors combined to steadily reduce the size of the smallholdings, until they could barely support their owners and their families. The Irish peasantry therefore became dependent on the potato as the highest-yield crop, and grew little else. Consequently when the blight struck, they were in deep trouble, much more so than the other countries mentioned in Ms. Kaniecki's letter, which had other crops to fall back on.

While the English were certainly dilatory and callous, it is an overstatement to label this as deliberate genocide. Many English were deeply concerned, for example Jonathan Swift, whose "A Modest Proposal" (1729) is often misunderstood. It was intended as savage satire to stimulate the English conscience.

BILL GALBRAITH
North Point Breeze

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Schoolwide concern

We at the Colorado chapter of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network read the article on No Name-Calling Week ("Gays, Lesbians and School Bullies," Feb. 20). Thank you for such a thoughtful, thorough investigation of the whole problem of schools fearing to address harassment of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students.

A GSA (gay-straight alliance) is not a club run by gay students; it is a mix of gay and straight students who want to improve their school's climate and enjoy safety while learning or advocating or just having fun. (One of our Colorado GSAs began when 30 straight students went to their activities director and said they wanted to start one. He put them in contact with some gay students so they could all work together, which they did.)

In conservative Colorado, we have 80-some GSAs and good support against harassment in many of our schools. I hope the places you mentioned can soon say the same! Since four times as many non-gay students as gay students are victims of anti-gay harassment, this is a schoolwide concern. Bystanders feel unsafe when they see taunting, and the bullies endanger their own futures if they are allowed to escalate into more and more dangerous behavior.

The article was a pleasure to read, as it must raise some consciousness to counteract our government's crusade to create a new class, the Unmentionables.

NANCY KRATOHVIL
Co-Chair
GLSEN Colorado
Centennial, Colo.

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Coming to terms

I read with great concern Paula Reed Ward's story "Bad Things Happen: Teen Driver Pays Court $200 in Fatal Wreck With Motorcyclist" (Feb. 13) about the automobile-motorcycle accident that resulted in the death of Dave Griffith.

The guilt being experienced by the young, relatively inexperienced driver will have long-reaching psychological effects on her which, in the long run, may be even more devastating than the grief of the young widow, if the two of them do not have a chance to come to terms with it.

These two young women need to meet in some neutral place, away from the friends and relatives of either, perhaps in a professional counselor's office, and open up their feelings to each other -- anger, guilt, whatever they feel -- and they need to listen to each other. This will no doubt be very painful at first, and they may have to get together several times before they will be at peace with themselves and each other, but it is the only way to keep this tragedy from leading to further tragedy.

MARGARET MENAMIN
Penn Hills

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Some partner

In the March 2 editorial "Shifting Sands," you claim Egypt is a firm partner in the war against terrorism, yet you ignore that state-controlled media have been anti-American and anti-Israeli and spew hatred of Jews on a regular basis. If in fact Egypt wanted to play a constructive role in the Arab-Israeli conflict it would not tolerate the smuggling of weapons and terrorists from Egyptian territory into Gaza. This 57-year-old conflict is between Arab rejectionists who deny the right of Israel to exist and the only democratic state in the Middle East -- Israel.

HERB GLATTER
O'Hara

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The Iraq war has been devastating

There has been tremendous outrage, rightfully so, concerning the carnage where more than 120 innocent Iraqi civilians were killed in a suicide bombing ("Suicide Bomber Attacks Recruits; 122 Killed," March 1). Ironically, some of that outrage has come from the Bush administration. Ironic because in this war it is now reported that more than 100,000 innocent Iraqi civilians have been killed by us -- as in the leaders of the United States, as in the Bush administration. And more than half of them are children. That's one out of every three people in Pittsburgh -- killed.

Who will be outraged for these people? As titillating as an Iraqi election might be, ends do not justify means. A good election does not right a wrong war. War is full of unintended consequences, and we are now just realizing some of their bitter realities.

American and Iraqi families have lost loved ones; millions of people are affected by the recent budget cuts; 1,500 U.S. military killed and counting; more than 11,000 U.S. military wounded and counting; more than $200 billion spent by us -- as in you and me -- to date on the war, and that number increases by more than $200 million per day! Add it all up and the results are devastating.

After two years at war, the end to bloodshed is still not in sight. Before the war began, this war was called "illegal, immoral and unjust." Now, we are beginning to understand why.

SCOTT E. FABEAN
Mt. Lebanon