Hypocrisy abounds on smoking bans, health care

This is in response to the Jan. 18 article "Health-Care Changes to Require Extensive Action by Legislature," where our brilliant governor, Ed Rendell, outlines his "Prescription for Pennsylvania." Am I the only Pennsylvania resident who marvels at how our fearless leaders inform us of their brilliant plans for our state (and city) conveniently after elections are over?

Mr. Rendell is suddenly in favor of making Pennsylvania a smoke-free state -- for our health -- and also will hike the taxes on cigarettes and add the tax to all tobacco products sold in this state, all to supposedly lower skyrocketing health-care costs? Brilliant, I say, but first why don't you start with banning City Council members from smoking in their offices and using taxpayer money to purchase smoke-eating fans?

To every reader out there, I can promise that you will never in your lifetime see lower health-care costs, whether the ban on public smoking is passed or not. Our politicians are much too greedy.

I may see a smoke-free Pennsylvania, but to Mr. Rendell, I say, if you truly want Pennsylvania to be a smoke-free state, then stop selling tobacco products here. You would never do that, though, because then you wouldn't receive the taxes for the state, which will no doubt raise your own and your cronies' salaries. I, for one, will gladly buy my tobacco products from neighboring West Virginia, which still believes that this is a free country.

Again, kudos to you, Gov. Rendell, for showing your true colors so shortly after elections.

KAREN M. GANTER
South Park

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Police standards

I am concerned about the comments that were made by Jim Malloy, president of the Fraternal Order of Police ("FOP Opposes Merger," Jan. 10). It would appear that he is speaking for the entire membership. However, some of us don't agree that standards are lowered by hiring 30 Pittsburgh Housing Authority police officers. A number of officers, including yours truly, have transferred from the Housing Authority to the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police over the years and have performed the duties well.

I don't believe that integration of the Housing Authority police officers into the 840-man Pittsburgh police force "lowers the standards" of the bureau. Unless every one of the 840 police officers currently on the force meets all of the appointment requirements (e.g., the 60 college credit minimum for city police recruits), the standards are not necessarily compromised.

I am confident that many of the requirements were waived for experienced officers in the city. Housing Authority police have always been required to perform to the same standards as the city police and have shown themselves to be competent keepers/upholders of the law. I would not be surprised if many former Housing Authority police are already city policemen.

How the FOP president can make a blanket statement, which seems to be unfounded, is unclear. Like almost everything else we see in this city, it looks like it is totally political, aimed at maintaining the status quo without considering the possibility for improvement in the safety of our citizenry.

BRENDA TATE
Hill District

The writer has been a Pittsburgh police officer for 28 years and was a Housing Authority police officer for five years.

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Experienced officers

I am writing in response to the article regarding the merger proposal involving the city Housing Authority police and the city of Pittsburgh police union's concerns ("FOP Opposes Merger," Jan. 10). I disagree with the comment from the FOP that the city would be "lowering the standards of the Pittsburgh Police Bureau to secure $3 million" in federal housing police funding.

The city would be acquiring 30 seasoned police officers, all of whom have undergone police training and are certified by the Municipal Police Officers' Education and Training Commission. Many of these officers have many years of experience on the streets fighting crime in some of our city's highest crime-ridden neighborhoods and have always worked side by side with city officers.

I think their on-the-job experience brings as much to the table as the required college credits do. And I believe that the city of Pittsburgh will be a better place if the departments are working even closer together under one roof.

GLORIA SCHOFIELD
Whitehall

The writer's husband is a Housing Authority police sergeant.

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Vietnam parallels

Regarding the Jan. 16 Perspectives piece "An Indecent Interval or How the GOP Can Win by Losing in Iraq": I was waiting for Rosa Brooks to make two more obvious parallels between the Vietnam War and the Iraq war: The same Henry Kissinger, who steered Nixon's cynical policy of prolonging the Vietnam War so failure could be blamed on the Democrats, is now offering advice to President Bush, who in his recent "60 Minutes" interview said he was reading a book on Algeria given him by Mr. Kissinger. (Does this book deal with how the Algerian conflict tore apart the French Republic?)

The second and more chilling point is the question of how many American (and Vietnamese) lives were lost in the years the war in Vietnam was prolonged. Ditto for the Iraq war: deaths incurred for Republican victory? This is beyond cynical, it is horrible.

VICKI GUY
Squirrel Hill

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Sickening photo

When I picked up the paper in the driveway last Wednesday, I was sickened by the photo on the front page. The last thing I want to look at in the morning or any other time of the day is a picture of a pool of blood (photo accompanied Jan. 17 article "For Iraqis, Deadly Day, Deadlier Year").

I am well aware of the violence that goes on in this world, but I don't want it to hit me in the face first thing in the morning.

With all the violence in the world and crime in our own neighborhoods, I would think you could focus on printing something more pleasant on the front page.

The world would be a better place if the news media (newspaper and TV) focused their attention on good things instead of everything negative.

CORA MORLEY
Baldwin Borough

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Bush is delusional about something more devastating than the Iraq war

While I am heartened that the lies and fantasies of George W. Bush with regard to the war in Iraq are now manifest to everybody save a tiny remnant of fanatical "true believers," it is imperative that the American people understand that this man has been equally deceptive and delusional in his comportment toward pending crises and disasters linked to environmental degradation and global warming.

Since "unsigning" the Kyoto protocol on global greenhouse gas emissions in March 2001, Mr. Bush has pretended that there is no scientific consensus on the reality and causes of global warming, and his underlings have, at times, even ordered government scientists to alter reports that contained mention of global climate change and the role humans play in the process. In all of this, Mr. Bush was, for the most part, aided and abetted by the late, unlamented, rubber-stamp Republican Congress.

Now that the Democrats have taken control of Congress, I have hopes that the problem of global warming will be addressed in a reasonable and scientifically sound manner. A good place to start would be enacting new and stricter fuel-efficiency standards on SUVs and light trucks. A standard of 25-30 mpg for highway driving would not be unreasonable since there are already SUVs on the road that meet this standard.

In any event, something must be done quickly to undo the environmental damage and neglect that has been the deliberate policy of the Bush administration. An editorial in a recent edition of the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano stated that ecological crises pose "a bigger global threat than terrorism." I tend to agree. Throughout history, wars have come and gone. But once the environment has been destroyed, there can be no remedy.

MICHAEL PASTORKOVICH
Oakland

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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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It's now a miserable flight

I enjoyed the Jan. 14 column by PG travel editor David Bear trying to explain US Airway's elimination of the nonstop flights to LAX ("Whatever Happened to Nonstop L.A. Flights?"). Just the week before the column appeared, I flew the revision of Flight 1410, which now stops in Phoenix, changes planes and loses about 2-1/2 hours. If you fly coach, there is nothing to eat once you leave Los Angeles until you leave Phoenix.

Logic defies me here. This is exactly over the lunch hour -- the flight is scheduled to leave at 12:45 p.m., so loading is at 12:15 p.m. You are asked to arrive one to two hours before flight time to tromp through the security rituals, then you have to either buy food and juggle it onto the overcrowded plane and put it under the seat in front of you for takeoff or just wait until you get to Phoenix. However, once the flight arrives in Phoenix, Pittsburgh passengers must get off and change planes and obviously gates. There is about a half-hour to do this before the flight to Pittsburgh begins to load. No time to purchase food. Hence, it is most conceivable that coach passengers will either buy the "snack" offerings of the airlines on this now "one-stop" flight, or not eat from the time they leave their lodging prior to going to LAX before noon until they arrive in Pittsburgh at 10 p.m. Pittsburgh time.

In addition to time extensions, overcrowding on the flight, the additional possibility of lost luggage and the inconvenience of it now taking an entire day to fly a four- to five-hour flight, no meals are possible for the entire day. Conclusion: It is a miserable traveling experience between two major cities that the airline serves. How can they have the nerve to say, "Thank you for flying with US Airways; we hope you enjoyed your flight and will fly with us again soon."

LAURA MIKESELL
Murrysville

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No bus link to airport?

I'm sure there will be many letters about how people will not be able to get to work due to the cuts proposed by the Port Authority. Of note is that Pittsburgh International Airport will no longer have a link to Robinson, the West Busway, Downtown Pittsburgh and Oakland with the loss of the 28X Airport Flyer route.

As a student at Carnegie Mellon University, I know many students who do not have cars and pack on overfilled 28X buses to leave for break. I also know of those who live in Moon and use the 28X to commute to Oakland, and of those who use it to get to the airport to work.

The lack of public transit at the airport will be a shame to our city, as I cannot find a major city that does not have some public transit link to the airport. With the loss of the 28X, Beaver County transit would have a bus stop at the airport. Allegheny County transit would not.

BRENT FIORE
Lincoln Borough

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Decayed gateway to city

Thank you for the Saw Mill Run slideshow ("Blight for Sore Eyes," Jan. 14). Though I no longer live in Pittsburgh, I do get there at least once a year and have always marveled that Saw Mill Run between the Liberty Tunnels and Whited Street continues to look like a dump.

I remember, though, when it didn't. Maybe the city should condemn that stretch, clean it out and see what can be done to improve it.

RICHARD L. LINDBERG
Pottstown, Pa.

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An insult to women

What an insult to Nancy Pelosi and America's mothers you've shown by printing Daniel M. Felter's letter, along with House Speaker Pelosi's photo and a denigrating headline, showing her elation regarding her new position ("Speaker Pelosi's Unstatesmanlike Moment," Jan. 12).

Nancy Pelosi was showing the logo/symbol of a fast-growing group in America, "MomsRising." It proudly displays the power of American mothers to gather their influence together and demand their voices be heard against the abuse and marginalization of women in this country. They're not taking it anymore. I am a proud member.

This whining letter and picture show the vast difference between how the sexes are perceived in this country. If she were a man, there would never have been a whimper about professionalism.

What an insult to women.

MARY L. KIENTZ
Collier

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Public housing solutions

I have a simple solution for our public housing financial shortfall ("Rallies Fault Bush for Public Housing Cuts," Jan. 11): The elderly and handicapped take precedence -- as they should -- and come first, getting the housing and assistance they can't gain on their own.

The remaining funding is applied for based on one's ability to work. If an able person can work, then limit the time they are eligible for benefits, as they get back on their feet and become productive members of society. During that time, they can apply for any assistance they need (day care, training, etc.) as they reintegrate themselves into the working class.

And finally, stop pouring millions of dollars into middle- to upper-class neighborhoods for public housing. Living in those neighborhoods should be a reward to those who work hard -- especially the elderly who have worked hard their entire lives and no longer can -- not to those who chose not to work at all.

FRANCESCO ROSATO JR.
Brookline

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