Letters to the editor
Share with others:
New rules foolishly don't extend to cargo pilots
Regarding "Alert Pilots: It's the First Step Toward Flying the Friendly Skies" (Jan. 11 editorial): The traveling public and everyone else should know that not all pilots flying large transport aircraft are subject to the new rules. As a pilot for a major cargo operator, I can personally attest to the level of fatigue I routinely encounter. And yet, the Federal Aviation Administration chose to exempt cargo operations from the new flight crew member duty and rest requirements.
This exemption was a result of lobbying by the cargo carriers and justified on a financial basis, rather than the science-based reasoning underlying the rule change. The FAA press release indicates that the loss of a cargo aircraft and crew simply would not cost enough to justify the cost of implementing the new rules. Yet, cargo aircraft are flown in the same crowded skies and over the same homes, schools and hospitals as every passenger-carrying aircraft.
Politics and money won out over good sense yet again.
JIM STEWART
Robinson
UPMC billing
I would like to comment on UPMC sending out bills. UPMC sends bills with comments about the bill being seriously past due with the threat of collection activity. Upon calling with a question about the bill, I was told to disregard it, that insurance adjustments were made and my balance is zero. Shouldn't UPMC make those adjustments before it sends out the bill?
How many people, unlike me, wouldn't call and would just pay the bill? Medical expenses are high enough! This is not the first time this has happened to me, and I am sure it will not be the last, unless UPMC revamps its billing process.
Its "seriously past due" wording and threat of collection activity are deeply resented, especially when the error is on UPMC's end!
JOYCE WEBBER-OLSZEWSKI
Baldwin Borough
NFL concussions
I am not one who thinks the violence and injuries that are endemic in pro football promote bloodlust. That's a cheap shot, but I do think they promote a stoic indifference to the injuries that do occur, as breaks of the game, as suffering on the path to glory. This effect is chilling enough, but it has its limits.
It would be one thing for a 50-year-old Ben Roethlisberger, suffering from premature arthritis, to recall from his wheelchair the good old days when he was regarded as the toughest quarterback in the league. Many of the sports-loving public would say that this is acceptable and maybe even Ben would, too. It would be another thing to see a punch-drunk Ben, a relic of a man, suffering from the dementia induced by multiple concussions, not even able to remember his glory days.
This sort of injury is just what is being revealed and documented by the autopsies of many former NFL players. I think the spectacle of Muhammad Ali in his later days, suffering from the effects of all the punishment his body took in the "sport" of boxing, is what finally turned the public against boxing as a public spectacle.
As for football, I'll bet it is headed in the same direction, that is, if journalism is honest enough to cover the story.
TOM AMMONS
Hampton
People's poor choices
In response to the Jan. 6 letter "No Compassion" : I would like to offer an analogy. Let's say person No. 1 decides to forgo health insurance so that he or she may buy steak and lobster while I use my health insurance money to actually buy health insurance and only eat hamburger. So now that person No. 1 gets sick, it seems that letter writer Dennis Donegan expects me to have compassion and pay for person No. 1's medical expenses -- and maybe now I get to eat dog food!
No thanks, buddy. Call it lack of compassion or whatever, but I believe that you have to pay for your choices in life. I find it amazing that the uninsured person isn't expected to have any responsibility for his choice, but the other responsible individual is thought of as being uncompassionate.
JEFFERY J. JACKSON
Ohio Township
States' rights gamble
During the multiple Republican candidate debates, we keep hearing endorsements for leaving a slew of programs up to the states -- that is, each state's legislators. Whether it be Medicaid, health care or others (not just poverty programs), those seeking a GOP presidential nomination want "states' rights" to reign supreme.
The effect? It will become 50 times less likely any of those desirable benefits would be received. I, for one, certainly don't like those odds!
WILLIAM J. BROWN
Squirrel Hill
Not a fun ride
Now that we on Mount Washington have McArdle Roadway, our main access road, closed (again) due to landslides, leaving us the serpentine, slalom course cow paths of Sycamore and Greenleaf streets -- extra thrilling in snow and ice -- perhaps it's time to lift all restrictions on the ridiculously underutilized Wabash Tunnel.
Place Jersey barriers in the middle and open it up inbound/outbound 24 hours -- and please give us another way on and off the Mount.
SHARON BRADY
Duquesne Heights
Essential today
The article "Teachers Resist High-Tech Push in Idaho Schools" (Jan. 4 PG.com) was shocking. As a high school senior, I cannot wrap my mind around the fact that some teachers are too stuck in their old ways to move along with these modern times.
In this day and age, technology is necessary for everyday life. I am a teenager and I can speak for most when I say that whenever technology is involved in the classroom, we are much more interested. For example, in my creative writing class, we have been working with technology all year through blogs and media websites.
Adding a touch of technology really can change a student's outlook on learning.
ALYXANDRA MANCE
Imperial
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.
First Published January 14, 2012 12:00 am
