Obama should get the fair shake Bush didn't

Although not my choice, congratulations, Mr. Obama! You will have my respect and support in holding the highest office of the land, until you prove unworthy of them.

If only that same attitude had been afforded President George W. Bush. The unending vicious attacks on a sitting president are unprecedented! He incurred blame for everything from a weakened worldwide stature to hangnails! No person can be that culpable! He endured continuous disparagement by an "unbiased" press, was called every despicable name imaginable and entertainment types vilify him still, with what background to do so I'll never know, not to mention the filth spewed on the Internet.

Blaming the president for our weakened stature is completely unacceptable. That blame falls on the press and all the mainstream media. The "MSM" have done a shameful job at fair and balanced reporting regarding President Bush and this past election. MSM simply cannot give an objective viewpoint. It's frightening that it seems nothing can be done to change it.

Watching a recent TV appearance, it occurred to me that the Bushes are the most unthreatening looking, decent couple. They demonstrate much love of country and family. Mr. Bush has weathered some of the most outlandish events in modern history. He has made many hard, good decisions and some bad ones. Good luck, Mr. President. You deserved better!

JACKIE ROCCO
Monroeville

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What really matters

Although I recognize the contradiction in Dan Rooney being an Obama supporter and trying to get the Steelers deal done quickly so that other members of the Rooney family can avoid paying extra taxes ("Rooneys Hurrying to Settle on Deal," Nov. 11; "Sellers, Not Buyers, Would Feel the Sting of Any New Obama-Led Capital Gains Tax Bump," Nov. 16, Ed Bouchette column), I cannot agree with any backlash against them.

It just goes to show that regardless of being a Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, people do not want (nor should they have to put up with) government seizing their wealth.

In America, where individual and property rights are held paramount, the wealthy citizen no less than the poorest citizen is entitled to everything he or she earns. And while I also voted for Barack Obama in spite of some of his socialistic policies (and, yes, PG editorial board, many of them are alarmingly socialistic), putting up with policies from a philosophy that has been universally discredited is a small price to pay to keep away the Republicans' -- usually via the religious right -- greater intrusion on one's life through government.

Maybe Dan Rooney feels that way, too. I suggest that those who got so angry at the Rooneys to donate that time and energy to help others and to charities -- to make an actual difference instead of concerning yourself with seizing wealth that you and the government have no claim to.

BART DONNELLY
Mount Washington

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Women in control

While I may not share Post-Gazette Senior Editor Clarke Thomas' view on world population problems ("Too Many People," Nov. 5 column), I strongly agree with him regarding the damage the papal encyclical "Humanae Vitae" has done to the uptake of oral contraceptives.

More than just a check on population growth, oral contraceptives are a technological breakthrough that gives women more control and freedom over the lives. Opposition to them belies an utter hatred of human life and happiness.

AMESH A. ADALJA, M.D.
Butler

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Study's significance

The first news story about the JUPITER trial ("Study Upends Cardiac Science," front page, Nov. 10) accurately described its significance. However, the follow-up story ("Answer May Not Be Drugs, But It's Surely Cholesterol," front page, Nov. 16) obscures and depreciates the point of this landmark clinical trial.

From the live presentation of the trial and commentary and its publication in The New England Journal of Medicine, the trial's results confirmed that the study drug, Crestor, reduces heart attacks, strokes and death in people with normal cholesterol levels who have a high index of blood vessel inflammation as measured by an inexpensive blood test called high sensitivity C-reactive protein.

The JUPITER trial was not about demonstrating that "lower cholesterol can save lives." It was about the groundbreaking concept that by reducing the heart's blood vessel inflammation, the study drug provides lifesaving benefit. The importance of this to understanding and treating heart disease is substantial.

DEAN E. KROSS, M.D.
Oakland

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Promise falls short

I have read with interest the announcements regarding contributions to the Pittsburgh Promise, which aims to finance a public college education for all eligible high school students. I wonder, however, how many contributors know that many of the students who graduate from the Pittsburgh Public Schools will not be able to take advantage of this program.

It is a little-known fact that anyone who started the public school after the ninth grade is not eligible to receive any funds regardless of their grade-point average, desire for higher education or their commitment to learning -- and regardless of the fact that they and their parents are lifelong residents of the city.

I think that this promise should be made to every family who lives in the city of Pittsburgh regardless of what school they attend. It is a slap in the face to longtime residents to use this program as a marketing tool to bring new families into the city and ignore those of us who have lived here all of our lives. The organizers of this program need to take another look at it.

DEBRA P. LEWIS
Brookline

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Unfair grading

Teachers can improve their methods and the Pittsburgh school district can create new programs and rearrange schools, but all this will be lost on the many students who simply refuse to do work. These students are not "struggling." They are stonewalling. They are sleeping or daydreaming or texting and the district is telling teachers to give them credit for 50 percent of the work. This makes no sense. It's dishonest and it's unfair to the students who try.

A zero almost always means the student did not attempt the assignment or study for a test at all. Why hand that student a 50 percent, close to a passing grade, as city schools policy requires? When will we start holding the students accountable for their choices? It is appropriate to fail a course if you spend the first month or so doing nothing.

Many students are smart and fair-minded enough to be against this policy. Almost all of my fellow teachers are against it. There's no free lunch, kids, and there should be no free ride through Pittsburgh Public Schools.

ELISE POWER
Shadyside
The writer is a Pittsburgh Public Schools teacher.

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Celebrity malady

The more Sarah Palin does interviews, the more I have come to realize that she suffers from Kathy Lee Gifford syndrome -- too much ego and not enough talent.

JANET McMAHON
Green Tree

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Her non-vote was meaningful to me

The night before the election my husband received a call from the local Obama headquarters asking if he would pick someone up the next morning. He naturally agreed. We went together to pick up the woman and discovered she was elderly.

When we arrived at the polls, I helped the woman into the building and waited in line with her. At the table that, according to her address, would be her place to vote, there was no record of her registration. We went to another table and waited in a line and she was not registered there either. We then went back and waited in the original line. When it was our turn I asked if they could check again. When they couldn't find her registration, I took the woman to a chair and a very helpful woman came over and talked to us.

She called the registrar and when nothing was found, she asked the woman her date of birth. I then discovered the woman was 85 and could not remember the last time she had voted. Once it was ascertained that she was not registered and could not vote, the official offered her a registration form so she could vote in the next election. I helped her fill out the form. When I asked her if she wanted me to list her as a Republican or Democrat she said, "I don't know, what is that guy?" Since she had called the Obama headquarters for a ride, I asked if she meant Barack Obama and she said, "Yes, I want to register what that guy is."

Even though this was a non-vote it was very meaningful to me. This was a woman who probably had not voted in a long time (if ever) and yet was so inspired by Barack Obama that she made this tremendous effort to vote for him and be part of this historic political process.

HOLLAND MERRICK
Sewickley

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