I hate to give Greg Barnhisel the slightest recognition for his letter calling for the removal of the "name blade" honoring Pittsburgh native Gen. Michael Hayden ("Gen. Hayden Doesn't Deserve Such an Honor," Feb. 22), but the absolute tyranny of Mr. Barnhisel's mission requires me to do so.

Gen. Hayden, in the service of the United States and under the direction of President George W. Bush, served to protect all Americans from the certainty of more terrorist attacks. We know they will happen, but we must do what is necessary to stop them where we can. We do not and did not torture. I have nothing to fear from a wiretap ... do you?

If you wish to protest something honorable, Mr. Barnhisel, take your buddies to Iran and protest the killing of innocent people who dare to oppose their dictators. Take them also to Afghanistan or Iraq where women and children are routinely killed in the name of Islamist jihad.

I am not a Pittsburgher or even an Allegheny County resident. No, I am an American, and I salute those like Gen. Hayden and President Bush who stood to protect what so many of my brothers- and sisters-in-arms have died for ... our way of life!

Mr. Barnhisel, stop wasting Pittsburgh City Council's time. It has much bigger issues to deal with.

ANDREW YOUNG
Economy

Just poor judgment?

I was disappointed to see that Bush Justice Department lawyers Jay Bybee and John Yoo, the authors of the "torture memos," will get off with no punishment ("Bush-era Lawyers Cleared," Feb. 20). The departmental investigation cites them for bad judgment and nothing more.

Tiger Woods is guilty of bad judgment. The opinions of these lawyers resulted in actions that the United States once considered torture and may have resulted in the deaths of some prisoners.

This smells like whitewash. Tiger Woods' infidelities hurt just a few people and he had to make a public apology, but Bybee and Yoo will not even receive a wrist slap. Where is the justice?

LEROY PAYNE
Stanton Heights

Tiger in contrast

Thanks very much for the two front-page stories on the Feb. 20 Post-Gazette of the 6th Marines in Afghanistan ("Marines Capture Taliban HQ") and Tiger Woods, including a photo with his hand over his heart ("Opinion Divided on Tiger's Shot Out of Rough"). The contrast could not be more complete.

Here we have 6th Marine grunts being shot at by Taliban combatants, and on the same page we have Tiger Woods with his so-called apology. Mr. Woods says he felt he had "worked hard" in the past. Oh, please. Since when is playing golf hard work? He needs to join the Marines and find out what hard work and a real job are.

We call these sleazy sports people "heroes" when the only real heroes we have in this country are men and women the likes of these Marines from Lima Company. These Marines, living in foxholes and being shot at daily, have more honor and courage in their little fingers than all of Mr. Woods' entire body. Compared with any Marine, Mr. Woods is just your typical, spoiled-brat, overpaid sports entertainer.

I suggest he take his billions of dollars, buy an island in the South Pacific and live the rest of his life in splendid privacy. We are sick of seeing his pathetic face plastered all over the newspapers and TV.

JOHN MULHERAN
Union

Palin speaks truth

I had to chuckle while reading George F. Will's Feb. 18 column ("Sarah Palin vs. the Press"). In describing Ms. Palin, Mr. Will states that "grit is no substitute for seasoning."

Oh, how true! We are finding that out firsthand with every passing day of this new administration. Mr. Will says the Republican Party "has become ruinously weak among highly educated whites." I think he might want to check the recent results in Virginia, New Jersey and "hallowed Kennedy" turf in Massachusetts. It seems as if every Democrat in the Senate who is up for re-election in the fall is either retiring or just deciding not to run.

I'm not sure that Sarah Palin is the answer, but I am sure she will continue to speak the truth. That is something that is obviously lacking with this "change we can believe in" gang. It is changing all right -- in the wrong direction.

ERNIE LIEBERT
Indiana Township

Tea-party delusion

A recent CNN poll on who really makes up the "tea bagger" movement found, unsurprisingly, that the majority of self-identified tea-baggers were white, older, rural and financially well-off men who protest government supports for other Americans.

These tea-baggers themselves are the generation that received high levels of government supports: from subsidized college educations back when public universities and colleges enjoyed broad government funding to the steady federal funding of agricultural supports in rural America. Tea-baggers -- many of whom enjoy Medicare and Medicare Advantage -- actually represent the America that enjoys extensive federal financial assistance.

Thus it is not socialism that the average tea-bagger opposes. In reality, tea-baggers like their own federal welfare programs just fine and solely want to prevent younger Americans, urban Americans and Americans of color from enjoying the benefits they so readily accept for themselves.

CLAUDIA NEELY
Monroeville

Power-loss factor

I just wanted to throw in my two cents regarding the problem the city and other areas had with clearing the roads of snow. My neighborhood lost power on the Friday evening of the first large storm and remained out for about 20 hours. With the power out, our homes got cold very fast.

I know that main arteries need to be cleaned first, but some thought should be given to areas without power so that people can make their way to warming centers. To compound the problem, some of the new phone systems like Comcast work only for a few hours on battery during an outage and may limit people's ability to call for help.

My borough was able to plow my street by late Saturday night, so we got our heat and means of exit at about the same time. That some people were still without either for days after the storm is frightening.

JOHN MARKOWITZ
Baldwin Borough

Real cost of case

The actual cost in dollars of former U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan's failed prosecution of Dr. Cyril Wecht is irrelevant to me ("Buchanan, Wecht Spat Provokes Mega Hurts on Radio," Feb. 19). I am more concerned about the real cost.

The real cost of her efforts is that the integrity of the office she served is now, whether right or wrong, being questioned by citizens.

And what of her threat to sue a talk show host for defamation? That suit would be frivolous, in my opinion (I'm a trial lawyer). If the Wecht debacle taught Ms. Buchanan anything, it should have been that being a bulldog doesn't work -- not when you hold the power of the office of the United States attorney, and certainly not now when you're asking citizens for their vote.

PATRICK J. LOUGHREN
South Side

This proposal for tax reform is repugnant

Columnist George F. Will, in "A Path to Solvency" (Feb. 8), approves of a tax plan offered by Republican Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. I focus on two of its main features: 1) Mr. Ryan proposes a 10 percent federal tax rate on incomes up to $100,000 for joint filers ($50,000 for single filers), with no exemptions or deductions. 2) He proposes elimination of federal tax on interest, capital gains and dividends.

Now, under the current system, for a family of four the standard deduction and exemptions exclude almost the first $25,000 of income. Under Mr. Ryan's plan, the government would take 10 percent of incomes of millions of the working poor and near poor not now paying it (although they do pay 6 percent to 7 percent in the Social Security payroll tax).

At the other end, eliminating tax on interest, capital gains and dividends would represent a massive tax cut for the rich. The richer a person is, the greater the proportion of income that comes from these sources. For the extremely rich the effective tax rate would be near zero.

This plan that Mr. Will says is about solvency would actually effect an enormous redistribution of income from lower-income people to the rich -- this in a country where the steepness of income inequality, or concentration of wealth in the hands of a few, is already much greater than in any other industrialized country of the world.

Making the rich richer has always been the core purpose of Republican tax policy. But pushing such a plan now, at a time when millions more Americans are pushed into poverty by unemployment, is particularly repugnant.

BOB BEATTIE
Churchill

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