The mayor has fired a true pro and asset to the city

I was dismayed when I read that Mayor Luke Ravenstahl asked for the resignation of all department heads but was in absolute shock when I read in the morning paper that he accepted that of Ron Graziano, head of the Bureau of Building Inspection ("Mayor Shakes Up Staff," Sept. 14).

Of all the city departments with which I am familiar, the Bureau of Building Inspection is the city's strongest. The BBI department heads, with whom I have dealt since the era of Clyde Taylor, have been most professional and totally above board. Ron Graziano was all of that and more.

Many times I have heard out-of-town developers who marvel at the positive treatment they receive from the BBI in our fair city.

We can only hope the new department heads will maintain the professionalism and spirit of cooperation of those who proceeded them.

WARD OLANDER
Real Estate Enterprises
Oakland

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Not a smart move

Luke Ravenstahl lost my vote when he fired the chief of building inspection, Ron Graziano. As a former city employee who worked in multiple departments including building inspection, I learned firsthand what a professional, knowledgeable, hard-working and caring public servant Ron Graziano was to this city.

Mr. Graziano was always looking forward and was not satisfied with just the status quo. Building inspection carries many stresses, but Mr. Graziano was typically pleasant, positive and optimistic, a rare find in the city's leadership, and he will be missed.

This decision by Mr. Ravenstahl is just one in a long line of many proving his inability to make smart choices, and I lost any faith I had in him as a leader of this city.

JUDITH MOSCOV
Squirrel Hill

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PG savagery

I can't help but wonder if your defamatory cartoon (Sept. 17) was not timed as a special gift for my wife, children and grandchildren during the Jewish High Holy Days. This is not paranoia on my part, but simply a painful reminder of the deeply ingrained animosity toward me that exists at the Post-Gazette.

In this same edition, there was no reference to the autopsies that I performed on the two North Huntingdon fire victims to determine cause of death and rule out homicide. And, needless to say, when I traveled to Louisiana at my own expense and did 30 pro-bono post-mortem examinations for the New Orleans parish coroner on Hurricane Katrina victims in September 2005, there was no mention of CHW's quest for "cadavers" in "One of America's Great Newspapers."

It is evident that Post-Gazette editors have no sense of professional decency, ethical conduct and personal morality whatsoever. Your paper continues to manifest a depth of journalistic depravity that makes national tabloids seem like literary pablum.

Now that you have savaged Richard Scaife and Cyril Wecht, I wonder who your next victim will be.

CYRIL H. WECHT, M.D., J.D.
Squirrel Hill

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Made me proud

On Friday I went to a performance of "Spirit of America" sponsored by the U.S. Army at Mellon Arena. I attended another one about three years ago and was quite impressed by it, but this performance was one of the most moving and touching shows I have ever experienced.

When we arrived, school buses were everywhere. Anyone's first thought might have been "Oh, no," it will sure be noisy with all these schoolchildren. That was not the case. The children and young adults who attended added so much to the day, it moved me in a way I can't describe.

It was a perfect history lesson for all about how the Army has helped to form this country for more than 232 years and the joint efforts of all our military services -- Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, etc. -- to make this country great.

At times the applause and the cheering of the crowd made a person want to weep over the appreciation of the total commitment of the men and women who serve in the U.S. military. I wish everyone could see this presentation. They would go home with a feeling of pride in being an American.

Well done, U.S. Army.

PATRICIA SHERWIN
Baldwin Borough

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System on the brink

I'd like to address the letter by Jack Mennis ("If Our System Is Broken, How Did an Illegal Get Such Fine Care?" Sept. 13). The impression his letter gave me was that, because someone can go to the emergency room, without insurance, and get good treatment, our health-care system isn't broken. Well, Mr. Mennis, the medical care we receive in this country is the best. But the thing that is broken is how our health-care system is being funded.

Those employees of the hospital don't work for free. The utilities don't give heat and light for free just because a patient doesn't have insurance. Companies don't donate medical equipment to the hospital. So just where does this money come from?

The answer is simple. Those of us who have insurance, and that number is dwindling, see the bills that our carriers are paying. Wow. Talk about a lot of money. It is astounding. The insurance companies are paying higher bills to cover what the hospitals can't get from the uninsured.

Of course the insurance companies aren't in it for free either. They are billing our employers or billing us directly.

Now maybe Mr. Mennis doesn't have to worry about his health insurance. But if the company that pays for mine decides it doesn't want to be bothered paying for my insurance anymore, my family and I will be in the growing group of people who can't afford to pay for health insurance on our own. If that happens, guess whose insurance rates are going to go up to pay for my emergency room visits?

TOM KERNICK
Penn Hills

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Bush enablers

My sincere hope in next year's election is that we get rid of all the enablers of George W. Bush.

House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, says the lives of our soldiers and Iraqis are a small price to pay for success in Iraq, which will never happen. The commander in chief is going to "stay the course" until he leaves the mess he put us in to the next president.

Anyone with an "R" behind their names must be sent packing. That includes Tim Murphy and Arlen Specter, whom I once admired.

SELMA FLEISHMAN
Squirrel Hill

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RAD places an emphasis on libraries

In recent weeks there have been reports on the level of support for libraries ("Library Seeks 6 Percent RAD Hike," Sept. 2). It is important that the public have accurate information about its support for libraries through the sales-tax-funded Allegheny Regional Asset District.

RAD's first budget (1995) designated libraries as the largest funding category -- 32 percent of all funds awarded. Libraries were asked to form cooperative programs that would improve service for the entire county -- an obligation fulfilled with outstanding results. For example, users can now borrow and return books to any public library in the county using a single library card.

RAD support for libraries has been consistent and increasing each year. This is reflected in the fact that 32 percent of the 2007 budget is also dedicated to libraries. Library grants have increased from $16.9 million in 1995 to $24.6 million in 2007, an increase of 46 percent, the exact percentage of tax revenue increase during that time.

Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh is actually the single largest RAD grant recipient and has received increased operating funding every year, even when tax revenue declined. In addition to the operating support, the district has provided $2.5 million in capital grants for facility renovations. In 2002 the district, at Carnegie Library's request, agreed to shift $1 million of annual operating support to a capital campaign for additional library renovations.

Public support for libraries here is not as high on a per capita basis as it is in other metropolitan areas, particularly those areas that have dedicated taxes just for libraries. But the emphasis RAD places on libraries has reduced the gap and has resulted in a more comprehensive and efficient level of regional library service.

DAVID L. DONAHOE
Executive Director
Allegheny Regional Asset District
Downtown

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We receive more letters than we can fit into the limited space of the print edition, so we'd like to share some additional letters with our online edition readers.

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I'll handle my own health, thank you

The Post-Gazette article on the diabetes "epidemic" ("Diabetes Grows Into an Epidemic," Aug. 19) is shameless, if not timely. It is obviously pandering for a socialized health-care system, not coincidentally also promised continually by Democratic presidential candidates.

Believe it or not, though, there are still some out here who do not want the government dictating to us how often we exercise, which foods we should avoid, etc. Too good to be true for those aspiring for a government-run system? Read recent articles in Britain's dailies about thoughts of refusing treatment to overweight people.

It is no one's, especially the government's, business how I choose to conduct my life within legal bounds. Socialized health care is quite simply the latest assault on personal freedom and responsibility. Again, no trouble understanding the PG's adherence to the party line.

KEVIN DONOVAN
Lexington, N.C.

The writer is a former West End resident.

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Another costly proposal

The governor has proposed a statewide health plan for teachers ("Rendell Proposes Statewide Health Plan for Teachers," Aug. 28), and he proposed the state kick in money for it? Hmm ? the same governor who said no new taxes, who was surprised that the state had a surplus and promised to lower property taxes?

We now have the possibility of new taxes, our property taxes are the same, there's no help for local flood victims and who knows what happened to the surplus. The only thing that I know is true is this governor tells the truth only when his mouth is closed.

MARK ALTENBAUGH
Millvale

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Jack Kelly is way out of bounds

I was very saddened to read Jack Kelly's Sept. 2 column "GOP Scandals Get More Press: Democrats and the Media Let the Liberals Slide." Until now, I often thought Mr. Kelly wrote many of the things he did more to entertain, polarize or get a reaction than out of a deeply rooted and, dare I say, unwavering hatred for anyone who might disagree with him. The end of his column was beyond the pale. It literally made me sick to think that Mr. Kelly might actually believe his own words!

ANDREA F. FITTING
Mt. Lebanon

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Undermines himself

Jack Kelly's column about Democrats' scandals being relatively under-publicized begins convincingly ("GOP Scandals Get More Press: Democrats and the Media Let the Liberals Slide," Sept. 2). He lists several less-well-known Democratic financial scandals that have been minimally detrimental to the politicians involved, and states the somewhat-verifiable statistic that "every Republican tainted by scandal in 2006 either resigned his office or was defeated for re-election."

But then Mr. Kelly decides to abandon the balanced, demonstrable truth and resorts to inflammatory generalizations that undermine the persuasiveness of his point, as well as his credibility. He states "the typical Republican voter wants his [legislator] to keep ? his government honest," that "Democratic voters expect Democrats to steal on their behalf" and that "the typical Democrat" doesn't mind terribly if his legislators steal for themselves, too. Since whatever constitutes a "typical" representation of anything is subjective, and because someone can name one of myriad opinions, of any moral stripe, and find at least two people belonging to a major political party who hold it, these statements aren't useful.

Maybe Mr. Kelly feels he satisfies readers by giving some facts first, and then his general opinions afterward. But I suspect the more common reaction is the thought that Mr. Kelly let his anger overtake his argumentation, thus allowing his column to devolve into a Democrat-bashing diatribe that is useless because it employs subjective generalities, and that the vehemence with which Mr. Kelly casts unsubstantiated aspersions on "the typical Democrat" calls into question the objectivity of the whole piece.

Mr. Kelly writes fair, logical, factually supported, illuminating pieces, too. I just wish they were even more common.

MATT McHUGH
McCandless

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Don't be afraid of 'me'

Other than the double possessive, as in "a friend of my father's," the three-syllable pronunciations of "nuculear" and "relator," and "wrecking" havoc and "honing" in, the thing that bugs me most is the abuse of the objective case, me.

I can understand that jocks might say something like "he thinks he can tackle Earl and I." But when a network "journalist" states that "the terrorists put my photographer and I in jeopardy," well, I just wonder where he or she went to college, or even grade school, for that matter. For some reason, everybody seems to think it's appropriate to use he and I when the objective case, him and me, is called for.

My goodness, was all that time in Sister Damien's sixth-grade English class all for naught?

JAMES H. BRAHNEY
McCandless

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