Council made a strong reform of spending rules

I read with disappointment the Post-Gazette's editorial ("Reform Lite," June 1) minimizing the reform issues that were passed by Pittsburgh City Council. It was a curious change of position for the same editorial board that applauded "call for tighter controls on council's discretionary spending" ("Tougher Controls," May 24) after the legislation was introduced. The bill that was passed Wednesday, initially endorsed by the Post-Gazette, was exactly the same one that the Post-Gazette now refers to as "modest."

The reality is that City Council, for the first time in a long time, realized that a problem existed and stood up to make the needed changes. I would argue that the changes that will be implemented will not only be significant but will squash even the appearance of impropriety. Consider the changes that were enacted:

All expenditures will experience a significant increase of examination, including the approving signature of the president of council.

Every expenditure, before it is even introduced for consideration by the entire council body, must contain information such as a detailed list of duties, nature of work to be completed, specific rate of compensation and a verifiable description of the qualifications of the individual or the organization chosen.

The legislation also restricts each council member's ability to transfer money from the salary account to the miscellaneous account without legislative approval.

The above outlined reforms are considerable and a sign that Pittsburgh City Council is prudent and responsible. The steps taken Wednesday by this council will ensure that questions about spending will be answered before the expenditure takes place rather than after -- a dramatic difference from the practices of City Hall's past. To diminish the actions of council as "lite" is, in my estimation, very shortsighted and downright fabricated.

LUKE RAVENSTAHL
President
Pittsburgh City Council

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He should be fired

I have never seen a presidential administration so brazen in its disregard for the Constitution and the laws of this country. I seem to remember not so long ago that a president could be impeached simply for having a personal indiscretion and lying about it.

How can it be then that we have done nothing to make our current president and his administration accountable for lying us into a war with a country that posed no imminent threat to us?

How can we allow this president and his administration to run roughshod over our civil liberties and make up its own laws whenever the laws in place don't fit their agenda?

Any company in the world would consider incompetence and mismanagement grounds for terminating employment. Why is it then that we continue to employ this president when mistake after costly and dreadful mistake keep happening under his leadership?

KATHY RODRIGUEZ
Upper St. Clair

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Disrespectful Bush

In his Memorial Day address at Arlington National Cemetery, President Bush said, "These grounds are the final resting place for more than 270 men and women who have given their lives in freedom's cause since the attacks of September the 11th, 2001."

What about the other U.S. soldiers who have died but aren't buried at Arlington? Don't they deserve some mention?

I think it outrageous that the man who sent more than 2,400 U.S. soldiers, thus far, to their deaths in Iraq, and has not provided an honest justification for doing so, should preside over a memorial service for those soldiers.

Mr. Bush said, "We are reminded why America has always gone to war reluctantly, because we know the costs of war." Mr. Bush rushed to war in Iraq. He and Tony Blair conspired to make up an excuse for going to war, ignoring the evidence that Iraq posed no threat to the United States and was not involved in the events of 9/11.

Mr. Bush, quoting a lost soldier, said, "The best way to pay respect is to value why a sacrifice was made." That presumes the reason for the sacrifice was a good one. No good reason for sending American soldiers to Iraq has been given.

It is appropriate to pay respect to those who defend our country, but it is not appropriate for Mr. Bush to use the occasion to obscure his own misdeeds by quoting a soldier who died without knowing the truth about why he was asked to do so.

DUANE WILLIAMS
Squirrel Hill

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Complete disgust

On Memorial Day, our president vowed to win the Iraq war for "the fallen." Of course Mr. Bush would vow to win the Iraq war for the dead. He can't win it for the living! He didn't provide enough troops, or enough of a rationale to go to war for his military blunder to make sense to anyone who is still breathing.

I am a veteran of Vietnam. And I am ashamed of Mr. Bush and sickened by his policies.

JOHN KICHI
Sewickley Hills

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Others fight, too

While I don't know anything about editorial cartoonist Scott Stantis, and his bio on The Birmingham (Ala.) News Web site did not disclose information that would reveal much about his thought process, I suspect that his perspective is rather religiously myopic.

And what exactly were you thinking when you decided to publish his cartoon on Memorial Day depicting a child standing at the grave of a fallen Christian soldier? Is this not a holiday to honor all of America's soldiers, past and present?

MARC KAPLAN
North Fayette

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Speak up, Casey

Patricia Sheridan's May 22 "Breakfast With..." interview with Bob Casey was interesting. Mr. Casey is right -- it's time for change in Washington, time to get rid of Sen. Rick Santorum.

Mr. Casey is also correct that Pennsylvanians' concerns are health care, the war in Iraq and a living wage, not gay marriage or abortion rights.

Mr. Casey, however, mentions no remedies.

Our health-care system is the best in the world for those who can afford it. Single-payer health care is the obvious solution. U.S. Rep. John Conyers' HB 676 will be less costly for the nation, less costly for individuals and will provide adequate health care to all, including the 48 million people in the United States who have no coverage now. There is 25 percent overhead on private insurance, only 3 percent on the government-run Medicare and Veterans programs -- it's a no-brainer! Replace the people who now figure out who pays for what with people who actually provide the care.

On the war in Iraq, I suggest Mr. Casey join Rep. John Murtha, demanding an immediate plan to withdraw.

It is imperative for Mr. Casey to take a stand on at least these important issues, so that we can vote for something positive and not just the "lesser of two evils," which still is evil. I believe, many people will sit out the upcoming election if there are no constructive proposals by the candidate.

We will be stuck with Sen. Santorum for another six years.

EDITH BELL
Highland Park

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Kids need the conditions that foster love

In his May 26 column, "Kids' Brains Need Love," David Brooks tells us that his reading on brain studies into the regions of the amygdala and the orbitofrontal cortex have led him to see how crucial a loving environment is for the successful learning and growth of children.

Did Mr. Brooks really have to study brain research to arrive at that conclusion? The bigger question is how Mr. Brooks then links that conclusion to his belief that "love-hungry" children is the social issue at the core of economic equality. He says that "the closer you get to the core issue, the further you venture into the primitive realm of love."

I would like to suggest to Mr. Brooks that as he reflects more on the nature of the primitive realm of love and its relationship to social and economic inequality that he might ask himself how conducive hunger, pain and fear are to the creation of loving environments. Many of us see these effects as the core issue, the direct result of the experience of poverty -- lack of access to good nutrition, adequate health care, and quality schools and child care.

Perhaps Mr. Brooks might even expand his current reading list on psychological and neurological brain studies to include some studies on poverty and social inequality. He might start with Ruth Sidel's "Keeping Women and Children Last" and Jonathan Kozol's "Amazing Grace: The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation."

DORALEE E. BROOKS
South Fayette