Move on to real solutions for the Mon Valley

I read Joe Grata's Oct. 5 "Getting Around" column, "Reminders of What Could Have Been," with great interest. As a person who lived in the Mon Valley in McKeesport in the '60s, '70s, '80s and '90s, I think I have a point of view that might have value for this discussion.

In the '80s when the Mon-Fayette Expressway was in discussion, I thought the Mon Valley politicians had finally made a breakthrough to help the Mon Valley get out of its economic conundrums. Like most folks, I thought that the expressway would finally bring in companies and create jobs.

Recently, I had the pleasure of finally taking my first trip on the expressway. Although a very pleasant experience because of so few vehicles, I didn't visually see any large-scale economic developments along the way that created any significant number of jobs.

I would find it astounding if the expressway replaced the thousands of jobs that went belly-up with the demise of the steel and manufacturing industries. Now I realize that the almost $4 billion necessary to complete the highway to Pittsburgh and Monroeville would be a huge waste.

Instead, it would be much wiser to invest in people's education and perhaps create a "Mon Valley Promise" similar to the city of Pittsburgh's "Pittsburgh Promise." Please stop writing about the expressway as if it has a chance of being built, or that it would have solved the problems in the Mon Valley. It was all a figment of our collective imaginations that concrete would be a panacea for all the ills in the Mon Valley.

Get on with real solutions like education and investing in the existing infrastructure, and then the Mon Valley might have the chance to revitalize itself.

TIM BURAK
Lawrenceville

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Unequal coverage

The Oct. 12 front-page article "System Isn't Kind to Third Parties" tells only half of the story. The lack of media responsibility is the other half.

The public media, including the PG, have the responsibility of informing us of all our choices in candidates, especially presidential candidates. In Pennsylvania we will have more than two presidential candidates on the ballot, including Ralph Nader. As a public information source, the PG has the responsibility to give each of these candidates equal coverage.

You do understand that the polls are a reflection of what you, and the rest of the media, tells us. I fear that you do understand that better than anyone.

DON GRBAC
Valencia

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GOP on the hook

I knew there was a stalwart Republican out there who could blame President Clinton for the current banking debacle, and there it is in "Credit Clinton" (Oct. 14 letters).

If letter writer Bill Hoagland had done the tiniest bit of digging instead of getting his "facts" from Fox News he'd have known that the bill repealing Glass-Steagall was signed by President Clinton because it was a veto-proof bill passed by a Republican-controlled Congress. The voting for the bill was right down party lines. Oh, and who wrote the repeal bill? Why, a Republican, Sen. Phil Gramm (an economic policy adviser to the McCain campaign).

I love it when Republicans keep trying to heap the current state of our country onto the Democrats despite the fact that Republicans have controlled Congress for 10 of the past 12 years and the White House for the past eight.

As far as the current banking crisis goes, if only someone had known that an unregulated banking industry was a bad idea. Oh, wait, Congress did in 1933 -- during the first Great Depression. Now, what's that axiom about history and those who refuse to learn from it?

JOHN HINDERLITER
Bethel Park

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Penalty on Henry

I take offense to Reg Henry's column blasting hockey moms as making America exceptional in the dumbing down department ("Hockey Moms and Joe Six-Pack Rule," Oct. 8). My wife and I have attended our grandson's hockey games for 10 or more years and the many moms, grandmas and families I have met have all been intelligent spectators and conducted themselves as such -- doctors, dentists, lawyers, nurses, business owners, teachers, an actor, managers, accountants, engineers and stay-at-home moms, not the moms Mr. Henry described sitting in his section of the bleachers.

Mr. Henry, do your homework before you write and blast others. I think he owes hockey moms and families an apology. And I would rather hear a screaming hockey mom than imagine the silent screams of a live baby who may have grown up to accomplish greatness, having its brains literally bashed in to prevent being born alive during a partial-birth abortion.

Have to go! My hockey grandma wife just took off her apron and is serving the apple pie she baked earlier and, boy, do I feel the love radiating. Hey, gotcha there, Reg! Oops, I forgot to wink!

S. ABBOTT
Carrick

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Her surreal world

Every Monday, I open the Post-Gazette only to find, to my immense displeasure, the latest in a series of indefensible Ruth Ann Dailey columns. Although her columns are usually off-base and laughable, her Oct. 13 column, "The Next Step in Post-Racial Politics," continues her disturbing trend of rewriting history and fervent belief in an insidious "leftist" conspiracy.

First, she seems to forget that the Civil Rights Act was passed with the support of a Democratic administration. She curiously forgets to mention that Democrats who did not support the act, such as Strom Thurmond, later found a welcoming home in the Republican Party. She also downplays the callous racial politics that permeated Nixon's Southern Strategy, a campaign that slyly exploited racism in order to win more votes. She also seems to dismiss the racism that still exists within this country, writing that only "left-wing politicos" believe that some Democrats will not vote for Barack Obama based on his race even though many freely admit that is the case.

It seems that Ruth Ann Dailey lives in a surreal world, a world in which conservatives champion the cause of racial equality and liberals seek to institutionalize racism. In Ms. Dailey's world, the rise of Barack Obama is just another sign of the left's cold-blooded use of race to further their goals, not the long-in-coming result of America's increasing tolerance and openness. But as we know, openness in Ms. Dailey's world means willful ignorance of the truth and a methodical replacement of history with a revision that fits perfectly with her warped ideology.

RYAN McCARTHY
Ross

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Picking Sides: Barack Obama

As a retiree the same age as his opponent, I will enthusiastically vote for the Obama-Biden ticket. Barack Obama continues to be a breath of fresh air in presidential politics. He has energized younger and older persons to participate and to vote, has offered thoughtful and responsible proposals about crises facing our nation and has resisted substituting character attacks for measured responses to complex issues. He has demonstrated the ability to listen and learn from those who agree or disagree with him. Joe Biden exemplifies the competency of leaders anticipated in an Obama administration.

GENE DEGITZ
Ligonier

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Picking Sides: John McCain

In my opinion the three most important issues in any campaign are the judgment, character and truthfulness of the candidates.

All the other issues are filled with little more than rhetorical promises that will never come to anything.

Barack Obama has tried to deflect any discussion on my three concerns as distractions, but his actions have shown he does not deserve passing grades in any. If John McCain merits only low "C's," he still clearly wins my vote.

BILL YORK
Upper St. Clair

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