Letters to the editor

OPINION:

The real disaster

Congress can’t even agree to fund our military and a G.I. Bill, or to seal the borders. The public is having trouble paying for food and gasoline.

But our nation is saddled up and ready to provide millions of dollars of disaster aid halfway around the world to Burma whose government says it doesn’t want it (“Cyclone toll feared above 100,000,” Page 1, Thursday).

We’re saying, effectively: “But you don’t understand, you need it. You just have to let us help you.”

We look like a staggering drunk trying to break in on a pair of professional ballroom dancers. “You don’t understand. You need to dance with me so I can show you how.”

Have we lost our collective minds? Don’t we need to investigate why we’re so quick to offer international aid even when it isn’t wanted? It makes one think of the “oil-for-food” scandal.

Is it any wonder we’re beginning to look like the world’s biggest idiot? Any wonder we receive responses that are everything from ridicule to bitter hatred?

RAYMOND W. ENGLAND

Florence, Ala.

Return those female crabs

Concerning the article “Governors request aid for watermen.” (Briefly, Metropolitan, Saturday): It may be better that the governors recommend that their respective legislatures reinstate the regulation that female crabs be returned to the water by the crab watermen. The markings under the crab make recognition easy. Understandably, this slows down the harvesting, but it is clear that the diminished crab population is more expensive to the industry than the added cost of female crab return.

KIR G. KAROUNA

Ellicott City, Md.

Inflation drives crime

Your article “Crime-fighting All Hands initiative launched” (Metropolitan, May 3) claims that Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier “developed the program to combat the District’s typical spike in summer crime ” Besides the fact that it isn’t actually summer yet, I would point out that Chief Lanier is not to blame for rising crime levels. Consider hyperinflation in everything from food to gas as one possibility.

This inflation comes from the Federal Reserve increasing the money supply over 15 percent in the last year. With rising inflation, the people who get hurt first are the poor on fixed incomes. This is why you are seeing spiking crime levels.

The All Hands initiative is a good program. Obviously, it isn’t the last word in crime fighting. However, this problem will continue to get worse as long as inflation continues to get worse. Let’s hope this summer honest citizens can carry guns legally to protect themselves.

TOM MCANEAR

Arlington, Va.

The dream ticket?

The people who want Barack Obama really want Barack Obama, and the people who want Hillary Clinton really want Hillary Rodham Clinton (“Superdelegates hold back,” Page 1, yesterday). If they are on the same ticket, then you merge two groups of enthusiastic supporters and John McCain doesn’t stand a chance. However, without the “dream ticket,” the Democratic candidate won’t have as much combined enthusiasm, and the Democrats might lose. I’m glad to hear that both Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama are talking about the possibility of running together. Maybe it’s time the two candidates agree to flip a coin and the winner gets the top of the dream ticket.

MARC PERKEL

San Bruno, Calif.

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I have been exposed to most, if not all, of what has been said and written about the 20-year relationship between Barack Obama and his pastor and mentor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. However, I have not seen the most important observation: that Mr. Obama and his wife evidently sat mute for 20 years while their minister indoctrinated a generation of adults and children (including Mr. Obama’s children) with racial hatred, and hatred for the country in which they lived, all based on a theology with its roots in Marxism. This fact alone should disqualify Mr. Obama for the presidency.

LEE HUNT

Alexandria

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Barack Obama has now announced that he would impose a windfall-profits tax on oil companies if he is elected president in November (“Bad energy ideas,” April 20, Commentary).

This proposal comes at a crucial time when working families are paying more for gas than ever before in the history of this country.

Likewise, Hillary Rodham Clinton hasalso announced her support for a windfall-profits tax.

Raising taxes on the oil companies will just mean yet higher prices at the pump. It will also hinder exploration for new sources of oil. Since taking control of Congress, all the Democrats have proposed and advocated is raising taxes as a quick solution to any problem we have faced.

These two Democratic candidates’ proposals just underscore what is at stake in November. Taxpayers need a break, and voters should remember this well when they go to the polls to vote for our next president in November.

ALEISNER

Wheaton

Tough decisions

The Friday article “Superdelegates hold back” (Page 1) accurately depicts the reluctance of many Democratic elected-official superdelegates to take a position on whom they will support for president.

A case in point is Rep. Jason Altmire,Democrat from western Pennsylvania and a superdelegate.

Mr. Altmire’s district overwhelmingly supported Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Pennsylvania primary. In a number of radio interviews that I have heard, Mr. Altmire has consistently said that he will not make a decision until June 3, after all states have voted.

He also states that he believes that there will be a clear victor by that time. In other words, he does not wish to take a position that will alienate some in his district, as he is embroiled in a tough re-election campaign, preferring that the decision be made for him by the national electorate.

Do we not expect our elected officials to demonstrate the courage to make tough decisions predicated upon principle, even when some of these decisions will be controversial?

OREN M. SPIEGLER

Upper Saint Clair, Pa.