What is missing in all this talk of "tax rebates" at the state and federal level is that it is already our money. If the powers that be in Harrisburg and Washington believe that giving us our money back is good for the economy, why not just lower our taxes?

How is it that people are excited to get a tax rebate from the government, but not outraged at the amount of taxes taken from us daily? Drink tax, tobacco tax, property tax, car rental tax and don't forget the extra 1 percent Regional Asset District tax we in Allegheny County pay.

My friends, when you receive your tax rebate check, don't look at it as a gift from your caring government. Let it be a reminder of a bloated government and broken tax system that are limiting your ability to be free to choose how to spend your money.

JOHN G. PARKS
Pleasant Hills

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Regarding Pennsylvania's projected $400 million surplus this year, Gov. Ed Rendell said, "That's no accident!" Of course it's no accident, Mr. Rendell. You raised the personal income tax a few years back and have provided surpluses ever since.

This guy must really think we are dumb ... Maybe we are -- a majority of us voted for him twice!

MIKE FOWLER
Upper St. Clair

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Christian Westbrook's letter "End Student Grants" (Feb. 6) could not be more wrong. Mr. Westbrook proposes to end all government grants, instead giving those funds directly to the colleges. Mr. Westbrook believes that this would result in lower tuition for everyone.

First, anyone who has attended a major college in the past 20 years realizes that giving grant money to the schools would not result in lower tuition. Colleges are notorious for sapping students of as much money as possible. The extra grant money would be used to fund more "research projects," not lower tuition. For example, students buy new books for $125 (and up) in August, sell the book back to the bookstore for $30 in December, only to see it sold in January for $85. The profits are not passed to students.

I also disagree with Mr. Westbrook's suggestion to increase loan amounts to allow more students access to college. While a noble goal indeed, the problems are twofold.

First, with the average cost of public college in Pennsylvania already at $10,000 per year and the increased 8.25 percent interest rate on those loans (up from 2.8 percent in 2000), the average student leaves college owing $275 per month in interest alone. More loans means more student loan defaults.

Second, the sudden influx of loan money would allow colleges nationwide to increase tuition, magnifying the problem. Grants, which don't have to be repaid, help thousands of students avoid this hopeless financial condition by giving the money directly to the student.

SCOTT SCHUSTER
Baldwin Borough

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I wish to thank Chief James Holman and the City of Pittsburgh's Emergency Medical Services, River Rescue Unit. The professionalism and respect they showed Rebecca Hare as they rescued her from the cold river Feb. 7 makes me proud to live in Pittsburgh ("Rescue in River Tunnel a Dangerous Challenge," Feb. 8).

This is a stark contrast to other cities where their treatment of transgender people has been horrendous and may have actually led to further harm. This is another sign of the support the city has toward its lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender population.

However, I was disappointed in the media's reporting of this incident. Their reference to Ms. Hare as a man in initial reports was a blatant form of disrespect to her and to the transgender men and women living in Pittsburgh.

The only reporting agency that showed some respect was the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and for that I do thank them.

EMILIA LOMBARDI
Swissvale

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There was a time when winter in Pennsylvania was just weather. A snow day was just another day. School was canceled only if the principal could find 13 inches of snow somewhere in his back yard, and we all had rear-wheel drive with winter tires installed in the fall. The roads were never salted for one-eighth inch of snow.

What has happened? As I walk through the parking lots, no one has winter tires. Front-wheel-drive cars are dangerous. SUVs with four-wheel drive offer security until you discover they do not stop any better than any other vehicle. Oh yes, they will both get you going, with factory-installed all-season tires, but when they slide, there is no control except throwing your hands up in desperation and screaming into your cell phone, "I'm crashing!"

Buck up, Pittsburgh! Winter is fun, if you are properly prepared to drive in harsh conditions with winter tires, chains and some common sense -- and have warm clothing. Enjoy!

DON BASHLINE
Hampton

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On Sunday an icy gust of wind toppled a tall pine across Mount Royal Boulevard taking a nearby utility pole and all its wires with it. In the ensuing hours the Duquesne Light crews worked on putting the jumble of wires and wood back together so that our homes could once again have power and heat.

The bitter wind and cold made the job so much more difficult. In addition, the auxiliary police were called upon to direct traffic around the mess, which required about 12 hours to correct. Hands and feet must have been frozen and painful.

Our thanks to these crews, especially the volunteers for all their efforts so that we could once again enjoy the comforts of our warm homes.

JOHN EICHENLAUB
Shaler

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In remarks prepared for the Conservative Political Action Conference, President Bush commented that "prosperity and peace are in the balance" of the next election. For once, I couldn't agree more with the president.

Although I did find it odd for him to point out that under his Republican administration the United States has been neither prosperous nor at peace. These goals underscore a long list of reasons why I will vote for the Democratic Party's nominee for president in November.

MATTHEW STELMACK
Peters

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Dan Simpson's excellent Feb. 6 column ("The Tuskegee Conundrum") praised the University of Pittsburgh's K. Leroy Irvis Black History Month programs and world-premiere screening of WQED's "Fly Boys: Western Pennsylvania's Tuskegee Airmen" documentary. In the process, Mr. Simpson expressed his concern that WQED President George Miles Jr. publicly lauded the American evolution from the Tuskegee Airmen -- who, as black soldiers, suffered official discrimination -- to the modern-day triumph of the viable black candidate for U.S. president.

Mr. Simpson didn't like Mr. Miles' observation and believes that the nation only achieves what it ought to when its people are judged by intelligence and capability rather than race and other irrelevancies. I believe Mr. Simpson misses the point, and I submit that our nation becomes what it ought to only when its black citizens are judged by merit even if they are blacks.

This point was reinforced by the men who served under West Point's Benjamin O. Davis Jr., the black Tuskegee commander. Numerous Airmen remember that Col. Davis exhorted them to succeed as black combat soldiers as a buffer against a nonetheless unjust military and nation; that, then, became their quest. The "old man" young officer, wise beyond his years, knew whereof he spoke. Although he performed well enough at the U.S. Military Academy to graduate at the top of his otherwise all-white class, no one unofficially spoke to him or dined with him for the four years of his undergraduate preparation.

Two generations later, the black candidate for U.S. president -- in the same rarefied intellectual air as Col. Davis and hundreds of gifted Tuskegee Airmen -- is spoken to, dined with and, most important, voted for by throngs of white Americans. It is for that progress that Mr. Miles gleefully recognized this aspect of American life in the month of black history and of love.

ROBERT HILL
Vice Chancellor
Office of Public Affairs
University of Pittsburgh
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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Doesn't Sen. Arlen Specter have an infinitely more important Spygate to worry about, the one involving our government spying on the American people?

What a colossal waste of time to be concerning himself with a stupid football issue ("Destruction of Spygate Tapes a Crooked Act?" Feb. 2 column by Gene Collier).

Sen. Specter epitomizes what's wrong with today's politicians -- while the Constitution is being systematically destroyed, he's busy holding meetings about football videotaping.

Earth to Specter, Earth to Specter -- your job is to uphold and protect the Constitution.

Do us all a favor, Senator: Immediately retire from the game of politics before you further disgrace yourself.

TED NEFF
Edmonds, Wash.

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Methinks they protest too much!

One would think that the protesters of a voter ID would realize that the Republican Party is only looking out for the "we've been robbed" Democrats. Please refer to the Florida and Ohio protests by the Democratic Party in recent elections.

The only segment of the "population" that the voter ID proponents are trying to protect us from are the illegal alien and the deceased blocs.

GILBERT DADOWSKI
Moon

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I would like to comment on your Jan. 29 editorial "The Kennedy Touch: Obama Receives a Powerful Endorsement."

Jack Kennedy did indeed inspire hope as a presidential candidate, enough to garner my first presidential ballot. However, rather than fulfill his promises, he led us to the Bay of Pigs, a war in Vietnam, a failed summit in Vienna and a nuclear confrontation with the Soviet Union. And, he had to be led by his brother and a number of courageous blacks to an active, albeit reluctant, support of civil rights.

This is not exactly a "benchmark for hope."

DAVE BUCHANAN
Wilkins

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It was refreshing to read the piece by Harold Meyerson in the Jan. 20 Forum section ("Kickstarting the Economy: Unfortunately, the Same Old Remedies Won't Work This Time. We Need Big, FDR-Scale Initiatives"). Finally, someone providing a realistic assessment of the U.S. economy, including what steps need to be enacted to move our country in a fiscally sane direction.

The damage created by "trickle down" economic policies since the presidency of Ronald Reagan have included over-accumulation of wealth and power among a small percentage of the population, rampant deregulation very often to the detriment of the average citizen and inadequate government oversight of the financial sector, leading to unhealthy risk taking. Continuation of such policies, including the current Band-Aid for the economy signed into law by President Bush, will only dig the hole deeper.

It is time for true populist economic policies, unlike anything seen since the days of FDR, including: strengthening of government regulatory and oversight roles, which protect the interests of the average citizen over the interests of corporations, and government-backed stimulus packages that create real jobs instead of cash handouts and tax breaks that ultimately produce little to no long-term financial gains for those not already making at least six figures.

I am not disputing the importance of policies that support free-market capitalism, but they must be balanced with policies that protect the consumer, or gross inequities are produced like those we are seeing today, and the economy becomes destabilized.

MICHAEL SCHNEIDER
McCandless

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I read Harold Meyerson's Forum piece with interest, but found nothing new in his proposals. He seeks more government regulation and increased federal bureaucracy, both of which stifle business development, restraining the growth of the economy.

If Mr. Meyerson advocates big changes, they could be accomplished by eliminating the Internal Revenue Service. The results would be many-fold: Business would find billions of dollars in freed-up capital, individuals would no longer have to spend part of their incomes ensuring they filed their taxes correctly and America would again become an international center for business development with a simplified tax structure.

It's time for Americans to insist on more than half-steps toward improving the economy.

SHAWN PETERSON
Stowe

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I am writing in response to John A. Bauer ("God's Plan," Jan. 20 letters). Mr. Bauer cannot so much as prove that a deity exists, let alone the specific intentions of that deity. His analogy that one would not "build a bridge with concrete that is not intended to stay together because of a fault in its basic structure" is quite flawed because his concrete is weak.

Scripture is open to any interpretation because of its contextual nature. Personal experience of God is subjective and closed to objective analysis. Church teaching has at its basis both Scripture and personal experience. With an unverifiable precedent, individuals relying on logic must dismiss his conclusion.

Human intelligence, as Mr. Bauer states, is finite. What he neglects is that human knowledge, wrought through science, is ever expanding. To justify his bigotry against homosexuals, he writes: "[Letter writer Lillian Meyers'] biggest mistake is to try to use human finite knowledge to understand the ways of an infinite God." One is left to point out that Mr. Bauer's most egregious error is emphasizing fairy tales over facts and reason.

If Mr. Bauer finds homosexual acts to be immoral, he should refrain from them. However, for as much as he hates the sin, he must be reminded that the United States is a secular state. Neither he nor anyone else has the authority to relegate homosexuals to the state of second-class citizenry (supposedly "loving the sinner") based on the tenets of his or her improvable faith system.

MATTHEW KOLAS
Friendship

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Regarding Tim Tuinstra's "Exploiting Abortion" (Jan. 27 Forum): Facts are stubborn. The fact is that abortion is the taking of an innocent baby's life. I will vote for the candidate from either party who I believe has the best chance of overturning Roe v. Wade.

JAMES J. O'TOOLE
Bellevue

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We welcome your letters. Please include your name, address and phone number, and send to Letters to the Editor, 34 Blvd. of the Allies, Pittsburgh 15222. E-mail letters to letters@post-gazette.com or fax to 412-263-2014. Letters should be 250 words or less, original and exclusive to the Post-Gazette. All letters are subject to editing for length, clarity and accuracy and will be verified before being published.