Look at all hate speech, including denigration of women

Hearing the uproar about actor Michael Richards' angry outburst at a comedy club really upset me. I have to ask, though, what's the big deal?

As a woman in America, I can't get upset about a couple of rude hecklers being addressed so scornfully when every day I see white and black men earning millions of dollars calling women whores and worse, singing about grotesque ways to abuse and kill us and selling these ideas to their kids.

Jesse Jackson says that Mr. Richards needs some race sensibility training and the N-word needs to be categorized as hate speech. It does. All this talk about people hiding their hatreds and prejudices is noteworthy, but why don't men have to hide their hatred of women? They make money off of it. They get laughs with it. They let kids sing it.

Let me see some of you great leaders, black and white, say the same thing about gender sensitivity and classifying words like "whore" as hate speech. Then I'll get really upset at folks who use words to hurt others. Let's keep it real.

JO ELLEN HOVIS
Harrisville

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Gambling's effects

Of course it is too late to vote "not in my backyard," but, really, isn't unlimited free alcohol at casinos a bit much ("Gamblers May Get Free Drinks," Nov. 22)? The fallout from promoting casinos can be ascertained by contacting cities that already deal with the resulting problems.

Ask Greenville, Miss., how its gas, electric and water companies are coping with the constant turning off and turning on of these utilities for citizens who have blown their paychecks at the casinos and have nothing left for the basics.

JOYCE CHANDLER
Swisshelm Park

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Coin-worthy people?

With these latest $1 designs, the only positive aspect is that at least we'll finally get a coin with Teddy Roosevelt on it, and perhaps one with FDR that actually looks like him ("Treasury to Try New Dollar Coins Showing Presidents," Nov. 20).

But having to accept Warren G. Harding, William Henry Harrison, William McKinley, Richard Nixon and Franklin Pierce in the deal is a steep price to pay, particularly at the expense of an artistically outstanding coin depicting a Native American and her baby (designed by a woman to boot).

If the Treasury Department would ever stop printing dollar bills and striking pennies, Sacagaweas would circulate. Washington and Lincoln really don't need to appear on two monetary units anyway, and, as many reasons as I have for liking Thomas Jefferson, if they'd bring back the buffalo nickel, no president would be overrepresented.

Then, if someone wants to make a series, how about notable scientists and inventors instead of presidents? (Suggestion: start with Thomas Edison and George Washington Carver.)

JOHN HEMPEL
Braddock Hills

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A gem of a city

I read the Nov. 19 Forum piece by Tom Waseleski ("Shake Off the Past; Show Off Our City"), and I couldn't agree more. I was away from the Pittsburgh area for 25 years due to a series of job transfers. I returned a little over two years ago and couldn't have been happier to be back. We have a beautiful city and should be happy and proud to show it off.

I have invited friends and family from all over the country to visit our area. The reaction from those who have never before been here has consistently been positive. They have been pleasantly surprised at what a pretty city it is. We need to realize what a true gem we have here.

CYNTHIA DALEY
Cranberry

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The people did it

I still cannot believe this! As a Democrat, this is the first time in years that I can relax and breathe a sigh of relief. It has been a long, hard haul -- especially when you try to reason with others who make political decisions based on a 20-second sound bite. It required unrelenting determination and courage to keep on talking until the voters finally heard us.

I sat back helplessly and watched this country deteriorate under the present administration. As the newly elected Democratic candidates speak before the nation for the first time on national television, they make us proud and are an inspiration for what is yet to come.

Gone will be the coverups, spin, talking points, lies, deception, backstabbing, unethical character assassinations, poor leadership decisions made by the executive and legislative branch, irresponsible fiscal policies, corruption, immoral and gross mismanagement of the Iraq war, approval of torture, disgraceful campaign ads, spitting on the Constitution, illegal wire-tapping, Katrina, huge tax breaks and deals engineered favoring the pharmaceutical companies and energy tycoons, plans to privatize Social Security and the painful consequences of the Medicare prescription drug program imposed upon millions of innocent senior citizens. This is only the tip of the iceberg.

The world community is rejoicing that the American people finally woke up and smelled the roses and that the United States has earned international respect again. We are in the process of reconciliation, restoring honor, peace, dignity, honesty, integrity, open government and truthfulness to our great and magnificent society. Power to the people!

GRACE FASCETTI
Bethel Park

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It's not outlawed

This is in response to the following comments in the Nov. 22 letter "The Airport Should Provide Spaces for Smokers": "Don't we, as citizens, have the right to smoke if we choose to do so? It is not the responsibility of the government to dictate what is healthy for us in the way we live our daily lives."

Nobody is telling smokers that they cannot smoke. They are only telling smokers where they cannot smoke.

CARRIE CANNON
Franklin Park

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Point safety

I'm just a small voice from the Turtle Creek Valley, but as long as I have this voice, I'd like to express my opinion to public officials.

I have observed our beautiful Point at Pittsburgh's river's edge; it looks breathtaking. But I have some concern about somebody accidentally falling from the Point's edge. It would seem wise to put some type of small barrier around the edge of the Point, just as a safety precaution.

R.G. AYERS
Wilmerding

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We receive more letters than we can fit into the limited space on the editorial page, so we'd like to share some additional letters with our Post-Gazette Web site readers.

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Bush should try a similar apology

It's too bad President Bush can't follow the example of Rupert Murdoch, owner of, among other corporations, Fox Broadcasting.

After, and I might remind you, only after, public outcry was spiking did Mr. Murdoch issue this formal apology: "I and senior management agree with the American public that this was an ill-conceived project. We are sorry for any pain this has caused the families ... ." It was apparently assessed that continuing the publication and broadcast series of O.J. Simpson's pseudo-confessional "If I Did It" would cause profit losses and future ethical repercussions that would have outweighed any potential gains.

In fact, the president need not change a word of these opening sentences ... for a start. The president, by the way, would not be apologizing for a book or TV show stemming from the Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman murders, but rather for an "ill-conceived" plan that cost far more lives.

JACK GORDON
Sewickley

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Pennsylvanians' folly

As a former Pennsylvanian, I am still a diehard Steelers and Penn State fan, but I am thoroughly disappointed in your kicking Sen. Rick Santorum under the bus.

I find it despicable that the old, decrepit, retired population of the state could care less about our ability to win this war with wackos who really do want to kill us and our children and grandchildren, than they do about their social programs and pensions.

I hope you like Bob Casey Jr., because he said what you wanted to hear and, after all, you won't be around to see the results. Your sons, daughters and grandchildren will feel the effects of your greed and apathy.

JIM LOHMAN
San Antonio, Texas

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The voters have spoken

Now that election 2006 is finally over, I am looking forward to the telephone ringing much less, and it already has. What a wonderful invention caller ID is, giving the average homeowner the right to refuse to answer annoying telephone calls.

And how about those upset victories? My, voters really were a bit testy, weren't they? It is too bad more icons didn't topple into the ditch along with those who did.

Hey, do you think the residents of Beaver and the surrounding counties should take up a collection for state Rep. Mike Veon so that he can travel to his new job in the style to which he has become accustomed? He's done it for years at taxpayer expense anyway.

And, finally, to the residents of Penn Hills, when you see that big moving van arrive, can you give a holler so that we all can welcome Rick Santorum back to his permanent residence?

NANCY JOHANSON
West View

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Privacy at the polls must be addressed

After reading the letter by Nancy Hirko ("Reluctant to Vote," Nov. 13), concerning the lack of privacy while using our new voting machines, I wanted to let the powers that be know what it was like to run those elections.

I have been involved with the polls for more than 15 years, and, yes, the privacy issue needs to be looked into. The problem is that the cords supplied for daisy-chaining the units are too small. There is no way to put three or more together and provide privacy.

We could not place a voter in the center spot if both units on either side were being used, making it longer for voters waiting in line. There can and should be curtains around the area.

TOM TOMKINS
Bethel Park

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The middle shifted

Readers of Daniel Noam Warner's Nov. 19 Forum article ("Taking Back the Government: This Election Was More a Victory for Democracy Than for the Democrats") should not be misled by its aggrandizing title.

Nor should they be particularly awed by any particular novelty in his grass-roots political cell; Americans have met in kitchens, dormitories and taverns to debate politics for 300 years.

Nor should readers believe that the election represents any profound change over a wide range of political sentiment. As most political observers characterized it -- imagine a statistician's normal curve -- the election simply was a shift in the middle, from right to left, driven by dissatisfaction with the conduct of the Iraq war.

Readers should also note, contrary to the author's pretense of open debate, his own style of language, demagoguery and distortion of issues evidence a narrow, scripted and self-righteous set of views.

Beyond the author's simplistic and limited perspective, future elections will pivot on open debate by Americans, whether the author and his ilk like it or not, on seminal issues:

A. Continued struggle with radical Muslims who repeatedly confirm, by words and actions, their intractable commitment to destroy Western civilization;

B. Burgeoning governmental programs of entitlement -- now more than 40 percent of spending -- and taxation, which will choke future economic growth (look at Western Europe's malaise) and present a staggering burden for today's young people;

C. An uncontrolled presence and flow of illegal aliens, driven mostly by failed socialist policies in Mexico;

D. One-and-a-half million abortions a year in America -- can people of conscience accept this on any basis ?

ALBERT F. LUTZ JR.
Sewickley

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