The PG sounds like a broken record regarding Bush

The PG talks about the same old same old and does the same thing. No matter what President Bush would have said in his speech last Monday, you would have had the same editorial ("Same Old, Same Old: Bush's Speech Fails to Offer Anything New," Sept. 13). When are we going to pull out of Iraq, when both parties say we can't cut and run?

Get a new line and give us a break or a better idea than to give the enemy a timetable as to when we are going to pull out.

ROY LEUCH
Upper St. Clair

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Divisive speech

I am replying to your Sept. 13 editorial "Same Old, Same Old: Bush's Speech Fails to Offer Anything New."

I agree with you entirely on your assessment of President Bush's speech, and I would also like to address the Democrats' request for equal time. Fair is fair. Sadly, this speech didn't offer anything new, and in fact our president did indeed present the American public with a political speech on Monday evening.

Instead of his speech addressing the tragedy of 9/11, he took on the dissenters and misrepresented the Democrats' position on the Iraq war, even suggesting that political leaders who do not agree with his current strategy want to abandon Iraq and the war on terror.

He went on to claim that those who questioned him on these issues were placing our country in peril, and then he called for unity saying we need to remain united to win this war. If I recall, it was our president who squandered the unity that existed after Sept. 11, 2001.

That aside, though, I fail to see how calls for a real winning strategy and a new direction along with new leadership, i.e., replacing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, suggest the abandonment of Iraq or even a lack of support for President Bush, but rather concern for our country's safety here at home and abroad -- and a call for an honest discussion of President Bush's current direction and policies.

Unfortunately, President Bush missed another opportunity to unite us all. Instead, it was politics as usual.

MARGARET VOGEL
Greensburg

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Pot, meet kettle

Regarding Chick Dinovitz's Sept. 12 letter, "GOP, Accept Reality": As I read through his letter, all that I kept thinking was "you have got to be kidding me."

In it he notes that a characteristic of being a good sport was being able to admit defeat, and generalized that Republicans are far cries from being good sports. Based on his letter, I assume he is from the same party that is still querulously bellyaching about the results of the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. If so, then he may serve himself well by revisiting the story of the pot and the kettle. What defeat is he referring to, anyway?

Mr. Dinovitz could be right in saying that history may judge this administration as the worst, but that in no way validates his outright hypocrisy. There is plenty of that already in the cauldron of present-day politics, and we do not need him adding to that foul soup.

Specific to his rather presumptuous predictions on the results of the November 2006 and 2008 elections, and his less-than-mature recommendation for another letter writer to have a "good crying towel ready," well, I seem to recollect prior prognostications on the 2000 and 2004 results. We have seen how accurate those were.

JON SWEITZER
Kennedy

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Another chance

I read with interest the three letters to the editor on Sept. 10 ("Santorum Tuition Dispute," Issue One) calling for the state not to pay Rick Santorum's cyber school fees, which his "home" district already had paid.

My interest came from the fact that the previous weekend, Sen. Santorum again lambasted his challenger, Bob Casey (our state treasurer), for signing the checks from the state Legislature's pay raise. He called out Mr. Casey for "following the law," implying that Mr. Casey should have known this issue was beyond the law.

Here's his second chance: Bob Casey should take Rick Santorum's advice and not sign the check for the cyber school fees, even if it means not following the law.

H. SCOTT MATTHEWS
Point Breeze

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Insensitive item

I do not appreciate the lack of respect the PG gave to the fallen police officer in the Sept. 8 news brief "Traffic Problem Expected Due to Cop's Funeral."

The officer was killed while arresting a rape suspect, a most despicable piece of garbage. He and his family deserve better -- a wife has lost her husband and a child a daddy. The correct title is "police officer," not cop. The officer and his family deserve appropriate respect.

Furthermore, the article's tone was accusatory of the funeral's impact on traffic conditions. Although the intent was to inform, some sensitivity toward the family could have been injected.

EDWARD HUTTON
Oakdale

The writer is a member of the Braddock Hills Police Department.

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Reduced to statistics

In response to Bob Smizik's article "Pirates, KDKA End Long Marriage" (Sept. 13): While I understand and somewhat accept the concept that it was strictly business (according to Tim Schuldt, the Pirates' vice president of marketing, sales and broadcasting), I take great exception to his choice of words in explanation of the demographics that led to the Pirates' choice of Clear Channel. It was demeaning to show percentages of future audiences as being "116 percent more likely than the mean to have an advanced college degree" and "WPGB's audience is 112 percent more likely than the mean to have a household income of between $100,000 and $149,000."

After 50 years, it would behoove the Pirates organization not to ignore those without college degrees and household income considerably below the above numbers when noting that the team is thankful "for the impact they [KDKA] have had on our organization and the many generations of fans." Need I say more? How sad what we have been reduced to because it "was strictly business."

MARY LEE SNYDER
Mt. Lebanon

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Real tears

I absolutely share Bernadette Kaelin's frustrations regarding what passes for news these days in most Americans' opinion ("Much of What the Media Report Nowadays Isn't Newsworthy," Sept. 10). I echo her call for responsible journalism and media that aren't afraid to question and call for accountability instead of going the sensationalistic route for the sake of ratings and revenue.

However, it seemed to me upon reading her letter that perhaps she was not someone in the unfortunate position of having to break the news to her school-age children that their beloved Crocodile Hunter had died. Had she been witness to a houseful of heartbroken kids whose tears were anything but crocodile tears, she'd have held Steve Irwin in higher esteem than a polygamist, a child pornography suspect and Tom Cruise.

Steve Irwin loved all things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small ... and stopped at nothing to share that love and wonder with anyone interested enough to watch his unique brand of "edutainment."

Crikey! He deserves more credit than that, mate. Our family is genuinely saddened and sends warm wishes to his wife, Terri, and his small children in Australia. We will miss him.

HEIDI McDONALD
Edgewood

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The claim that Rumsfeld forbade postwar planning simply isn't true

The claim in the article "General: Iraq Postwar Plan Forbidden" (Sept. 9) that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld forbade war planners from developing a plan for securing Iraq and threatened to "fire" anyone who did is absurd. It simply did not happen.

The general quoted, Brig. Gen. Mark Scheid, later publicly refuted the article saying it was a "manipulation of my words to stir controversy." Contrary to the suggestion by the article, the U.S. military began planning for post-Saddam Iraq in 2002 and included input from and consultation with all parts of the U.S. government -- the secretary's own policy office, the State Department and the National Security Council. A group of American and Allied officers at Central Command was specifically assigned the task of preparing for "Phase IV" -- the transition from major combat to security and stability operations. And in January 2003, after these weeks and months of preparation, the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance was created to plan for and facilitate the administration of the country once the Saddam Hussein regime was disarmed and dispatched.

Furthermore, the article states the Secretary Rumsfeld "replaced" Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki after he supposedly disagreed with military leaders over troop levels in Iraq. In fact, Gen. Shinseki completed his full four-year term as service chief and retired on schedule.

BRYAN WHITMAN
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs
Washington, D.C.

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