Appeasing terrorists will not make them change

Your Aug. 11 editorial "Grim Reminder: A New Terror Plot Argues for a Peace Process" incredulously seeks to link the foiled plot to blow up U.S. airliners en route from Great Britain with the war between Israel and the Hezbollah terrorists.

You imply that if the United States had halted arms shipments to Israel and had called for an immediate cease-fire (regardless of whether Hezbollah were allowed to remain armed to the teeth in south Lebanon), the threat of further terrorist attacks would somehow be mitigated and thus bolster the support of the British people.

This is naive to say the least. No amount of appeasement to terrorists is going to result in them making nice to us or to our British allies.

ED FRIEDMAN
Mt. Lebanon

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PG as Chamberlain

I just read your Aug. 11 "Grim Reminder" editorial. It was like reading an excerpt from Neville Chamberlain's autobiography. "Peace for our time" is alive and well in the offices of the PG.

GERARD D. PASQUERELL
Clairton

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No similar success

If this administration is doing such a good job securing our country, why don't we ever hear any details on how we thwarted some major scheme to attack us (like the United Kingdom did), with this almighty "homeland defense" of ours?

Please note the perfect political timing of the few close calls we have had since 9/11. We got no news on the trials, much less convictions, of the petty criminals involved.

However, you may remember the big fuss that was made of the doctor who was interrogated about the anthrax scare, causing him to lose his job and reputation. No formal charges were ever made. Neither were any apologies.

Billions are being spent, thousands of lives are being lost, yet the GOP is focused on the final solution to the two-party system.

JACK DEMPSEY
Plum

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An unceasing hatred

I would like to respond to the Aug. 6 letter by William Glikes ("So Little Progress") about the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

He states, "Why in nearly 60 years this dispute over land has not been resolved is hard to understand."

Let me explain it to you, Mr. Glikes. This "dispute" is not exactly about land, it's about hate. Radical Muslims hate the Jews (and Christians), and they will never stop killing until all of Israel is wiped off the map.

That's the very ugly bottom line.

DAN FRANCIK
Hazelwood

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BP's pipe purchases

BP announced it was going to purchase 30,000 feet of 24-inch pipe from U.S. Steel for replacement of the pipeline at the Prudhoe Bay oil field. The company also said it was going to replace 16 miles of pipe.

Sixteen miles of pipe equals 84,480 feet. Where is the difference of 54,480 feet of pipe coming from? China? Korea? Japan?

Since the damage was done to American soil, all material and labor should be from the United States.

THOMAS WORRALL
Turtle Creek

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Bolton the bully

Did Joanne Baird of Beaver ("John Bolton Is the Right Ambassador to Help Fix the United Nations," Aug. 9 letters) need to denigrate former President Jimmy Carter in order to boost Mr. Bolton, who is neither presidential nor Nobel material?

With his established reputation as a bully, he should not represent our country, as evidenced by the fact that President Bush had to appoint him while Congress was adjourned.

As for being the right ambassador to help fix the United Nations, anyone representing this administration will be poor judging by our disastrous "fixing" in Iraq.

CORNELIA SMOLLIN
Whitehall

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Earth's caretakers

Ken Boyer ("Accommodates Kids," Aug. 8 letters) strikes a Cowher-like pose (chin jutting) and practically invites us to criticize his choice of vehicle and family. We don't know his exact choices and circumstances of vehicle, but I could take it on faith that the Suburban meets his needs and that a Honda Odyssey had the wrong seating arrangement or maybe comes from the wrong country.

What I want to say to Mr. Boyer is "your mileage may vary" in the opinions of the self-righteous. For everyone using five child seats in a Suburban, there is at least one single-driver Suburban or Cherokee or Navigator, and that's who might be reasonably called "socially irresponsible," "shallow" and "self-centered." I would ask them to consider the implications of their behavior before I would accuse Mr. Boyer and his brood.

I would ask Mr. Boyer to consider this: Because his children are gifts from God, we want them to have a future. That future, for his and our children, and their children, is dependent on the environment. If Mr. Boyer can afford and chooses a second, smaller vehicle to ferry one or two children or run to a grocery store (you would be amazed at the trunk of a Hyundai), he can set an example to five, so far, of environmental stewardship.

He can choose to live and work near public transportation, to recycle plastic and maybe whole houses, rather than build new ones in a distant suburb. Compact fluorescents, bicycles, insulation -- there are lots of energy-related ways to honor God's gift to our children, the Earth. And save a buck or two.

ED HEATH
Stanton Heights

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An economic lifeline

Elimination of the Mon-Fayette Expressway project would be the fatal blow to the Mon Valley. Simply stated, you can't get into or out of those communities without suffering a driving experience more tortured than any trip in transportation-challenged Western Pennsylvania.

For fun, count the number of traffic signals in the six miles between the Liberty Tunnels and Century III Mall. Ponder the cost of buying all the properties necessary to widen the road to meet demands of a generation ago. Then, do the math on the traffic accidents and calculate the cost in human life. Next, consider the continued economic deprivation because the transportation network of the Mon Valley can't beat even mildly competitive regions.

Continue on and count the number of times you willingly traveled to the area for entertainment, shopping or for employment.

Well-intentioned people challenge the expressway because it ostensibly leads to urban sprawl. From my perspective, the horse goes before the cart. If you remove the horse of outrageous property taxes, I doubt the cart full of people would engage in sprawl.

Without private development, the Mon Valley will continue toward economic oblivion. Thousands of people will be caught in continued economic depression, thousands of homes will deteriorate and government (taxpayers) will carry the burden of supporting the region because developers will invest elsewhere.

Go ahead and cancel the Mon-Fayette project. Then move your business there and ponder the puzzled looks on the faces of people when you tell them why you did it.

STEVE FRANCKHAUSER
Leet

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Smearing Murtha

Every now and then somebody throws evil into the game. This time it's Veterans for the Truth against Rep. John Murtha of Johnstown. Others did it to Max Cleland, John McCain and John Kerry. They have this sick notion to disembowel anything good from those they oppose.

Where does this urge in humans come from? Maybe humans should stop playing games and get down to the business of what Shakespeare says in "Measure for Measure":

But man, proud man,

Drest in a little brief authority,

Most ignorant of what he's most assured,

His glassy essence, like an angry ape,

Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven,

As make the angels weep.

ROBERT SVITEK
Harmar

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In the bag

How ironic that Dick Cheney would be in an editorial cartoon on the same page as an editorial against canned hunting ("Fair Game: 'Canned' Hunting Has No Place in Pennsylvania").

How do you think Mr. Cheney shot 70 pheasants on a hunting trip to Pennsylvania a few years ago? Yes, that's right, canned hunt.

RAYMOND TASILLO
South Side

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Using a phone while driving should be illegal. Why isn't it?

Letting drivers talk on phones is dangerous. This is a guess on my part, but there has to be enough influential people doing it to prevent legislators from passing a law banning it.

In fact, they should stop drivers from doing anything else but drive.

I've seen them do everything from putting on lipstick to trying to read something on the passenger seat.

ELI R. CHABASSOL
Bridgeville

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