It's time for less compromise and more progress

President Barack Obama's State of the Union address last Wednesday should have showed at least his supporters that he is unflustered by the negative rhetoric regarding his first year in office (as if he could undo in one year all the damage left by the Bushies).

He is still a class act in the face of the Republican noise machine working so hard to slam the door on the progressive plan a vast majority of Americans voted for in 2008. I hope the Democrats (him included) grow a spine and stop caving to the minority Republicans.

Unfortunately, the GOP has successfully managed to spin everything Mr. Obama wants to do into the ditch. And the president is letting this happen, instead of fighting for the change he promised.

It's amazing to me that right-wingers in this country have been so brainwashed by their puppet masters that they actually believe Mr. Obama has perpetrated some left-wing agenda on our country. How I wish he were successful with even one badly needed progressive measure. We need one!

Exactly what has he done? Don't say health care, because that hasn't even passed yet and probably won't (and regardless of the spin, it's not a government takeover). He's been acting far too conservatively and he compromises far too much, which is really the reason Democrats in this country are unhappy. Don't even bring up the congressional Dems, as they're a far bigger disappointment (read: useless).

I saw a right-wing bumper sticker the other day sarcastically asking me how old Obama is working out for me, and all I wanted to do was answer with "Not so good, buddy, because he's acting too much like a Republican!"

PERRY MUNYON
Monroeville

Partisan pettiness

President Barack Obama, in his State of the Union speech, talked of necessary change in the spirit of bipartisan cooperation to move this country away from the daunting and crippling problems we face. But the applause and standing ovations after President Obama made critical points tell a much different story.

Democrats jumping out of their seats drunken and giddy with exuberance and Republicans sitting stone-faced and glued to their seats indicates that we will not see cooperation in the foreseeable future. This pettiness goes beyond Democratic or Republican doctrine but is really about getting or keeping power by undermining each other without regard to the merit of initiatives.

If members of Congress can't act with civility toward each other for one night, how can we believe they can work together to solve our many problems? They may think this pettiness sends a message to the American people about their stand on issues, but I am embarrassed to have watched this childish display of posturing while our nation faces crucial tests on its very survival.

FRANK PASQUALINO
Fox Chapel

The CEO solution

Elections are expensive. Candidates and their supporters spend a lot of money on advertisements. County boards of election spend a lot of money on purchasing, maintaining and activating voting systems and machines. But now we have an opportunity to reduce these unnecessary expenses.

Given the most recent Supreme Court decision that corporate money is a guaranteed form of freedom of expression, we can save millions of taxpayer dollars by simply convening the CEOs of major corporations and financial institutions and have them select rubber-stamp legislatures, executives and judges. Please note -- 'tis writ ironic.

PATRICK SEGEDY
South Park

Not senator-like

I would like to comment on Sen. Arlen Specter's admonishment to U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann on a Philadelphia radio show: "I'm going to treat you like a lady. Now act like one."

Although I don't support the congresswoman from Minnesota's conservative views, I feel that no man should tell any woman to "act like a lady." Rep. Bachmann is a member of Congress, not a child, and Sen. Specter's comment is demeaning and out of touch.

Instead of condescending to and belittling a female colleague, perhaps Mr. Specter should act like a senator.

MARIA MUZZIE
Green Tree

About aid to Israel

In a Jan. 23 letter, Carlana Rhoten wrote about the U.S. promise of $100 million in emergency aid to Haiti being "chump change" ("The U.S. Aid for Haiti Is Chump Change"). She compared its size to enormous excesses of American business and government.

I take exception to one of her comparisons, U.S. foreign aid to Israel, and would like to add some facts Ms. Rhoten may not know. By contract, more than 90 percent of U.S. aid Israel receives must be spent in the United States. Israel spends that and much, much more -- almost $8 billion annually on U.S. goods and services. That puts hundreds, if not thousands of Americans to work. A day doesn't go by without each of us using technology invented in Israel: voice mail, computers, cell phones, medical equipment and techniques, and other innovations used by our military to protect us. It would be hard to place a value on that.

Last, and maybe more important, is what Israel has done for Haiti in the aftermath of the earthquakes. Within hours of the disaster, Israel sent two 737 aircraft to Haiti loaded with supplies. Included were two teams totaling 222 people: one of medical personnel to establish an emergency field hospital, and the other, a search and rescue team with tremendous experience in rescuing people trapped in collapsed buildings.

While I might agree with Ms. Rhoten that the United States should and will probably do more for Haiti, I would suggest Israel is not a good example as she set forth in her letter.

STUART V. PAVILACK
Executive Director
Zionist Organization of America -- Pittsburgh District
Squirrel Hill

Be kind en route

I'm writing in response to the Jan. 20 letters "Creates Hazards" by John Neumann and "Procession Rudeness" by Amy Hubbard, both responses to Diana McGowan's letter "Sad Disrespect" (Jan. 9).

Mr. Neumann suggests that funeral processions should be only for the bigger-name people. In my opinion, the funeral procession is the last way to honor the deceased. Not only is it a way of showing respect, it is often part of the process of saying goodbye to your family member.

Most funerals take place in the late morning, after the rush-hour traffic is long over. Having a procession go through the city or on any major highway at that time of day should not be a driving hazard.

In Ms. Hubbard's case, from the way she has described it, I do agree that the funeral procession was in the wrong. I extend my apologies to her on behalf of the drivers who had given her the finger.

I was taught to treat others the way I would want to be treated. Perhaps if everyone young, old and in between would start being a little more courteous in all aspects of life, our world would become a better place.

CHERI RICHARD
Shaler

Education should be a beautiful thing

In the current Race to the Top competition among states for a share of the $4.35 billion in federal "education" money ("120 Pa. School Districts Competing for Share of $400 Million," Jan. 20), it would be good to remember that "an educator isn't someone who gives examinations and lectures, but someone who lights up dark places."

Without that sudden almost electromotive sense of personal achievement that comes from and engenders a sense of caring, test scores have no living roots, and information isn't likely to be retained or ever used effectively.

Without beauty in the learning process, there is no real quality in the results. Gov. Ed Rendell talks in generalities about "getting results." But without the beauty of human quality, which involves interaction, compassion, patience, perseverance and imagination, the lives of our children -- the only "results" that matter -- will reap little but superficial, statistically quantifiable results, not necessarily life benefits.

Throwing money at a problem, while a good start for instigating focus, has never had any magical, philosopher's stone effect: that of turning baser circumstances into golden results. The gold is in the people.

It is hoped that, in this case, a golden desire to do good, to access real human quality, will find its way through the accompanying flow of baser political instincts of greed and selfish motives, to the wide-eyed children waiting for a little light. Otherwise, we risk raising up a generation of hollow men and straw women who think an "A" on an exam makes them better people than those who get an "A minus," alongside an education system -- and ultimately a society -- that agrees with them.

MARK BALOBECK
McKees Rocks

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