Letters to the Editor

John Kerry’s covert cookies

Michael Becker believes Sen. John Kerry’s covert cookie-eating, observed while Mr. Becker was a grocery-store employee, should disqualify Mr. Kerry from serving as president (“Being king in Mr. Kerry’s house,” Letters, Wednesday). Good grief.

Clearly, Mr. Kerry’s wife cares enough about his health to ask him to avoid sugary treats. Mr. Kerry, in turn, cares enough about her feelings to avoid eating sweets in front of her. This sounds like a pretty healthy marriage.

Maybe Mr. Becker would prefer that John tell Teresa: “I’ll eat what I please. I am the king of this house.” Remind me not to vote for Mr. Becker if he ever runs for anything.

CARL HENN

Rockville

Chechen illegals give pause

The latest troublesome illegal-immigration news, as you report it, is that 25 Chechens illegally crossed the border with Mexico (“Chechen terrorists probed,” Page 1, Wednesday).

If Time magazine’s estimate that there were 3 million illegals crossing the border annually is accurate, and if we assume that 5 percent of them are “OTMs,” as the Border Patrol calls illegals other than Mexicans, the total number is 150,000. Let’s assume that one-third are from overseas (i.e., not from Latin America) and that one-tenth of those are from countries harboring terrorists. That would mean that there are 5,000 potential threats to our country entering illegally each year over the border.

Because only 19 persons killed about 3,000 on September 11, 2001, how many people could 5,000 kill? 5,000 is the number for only one year. How many have crossed since September 11? The answer: We have no idea.

Nearly every poll on the subject indicates that Americans oppose illegal immigration. Why aren’t the politicians debating illegal immigration?

BYRON SLATER

San Diego

’Political grandstanding’

Your editorial “Kerry’s cheap shot” (Friday) was off the mark. Mary Cheney is in her 30s. She’s public about her sexuality.

Miss Cheney has made a career of doing homosexual outreach, first as a homosexual community liaison for Coors Brewing Co. and then for Republicans in various capacities. She served on the advisory board of the Republican Unity Coalition, a homosexual-straight alliance to increase tolerance within the party for homosexuals. She serves as director of vice presidential operations for her father’s campaign team.

All Sen. John Kerry said to President Bush was, “I think if you were to talk to Dick Cheney’s daughter, who is a lesbian, she would tell you that she’s being who she was, she’s being who she was born as.” Sexual orientation should not be made into a cultural wedge issue.

Lynne Cheney is silent when Republicans such as Alan Keyes attack homosexuals, but she’s outraged when a Democrat speaks of her daughter respectfully. This strikes me as an instance of political grandstanding and fake outrage.

ALAN L. LIGHT

Iowa City, Iowa

The new trinity

Sen. John Kerry’s view on abortion is that choice is left to the trinity of woman, doctor, and God (“Bush, Kerry spar over college funds, faith, gay ’marriage,’” Nation, Thursday).

Left out is the biological father, who contributed half the genetic material. Why don’t fathers have a right to choose as well?

GORDON E. FINLEY

Miami

Upgrading the Panama Canal

The $8 billion figure cited in your Sept. 21 article “Panama leaders considering canal upgrade” (World) is incorrect.

This estimate originated from the 1993 Canal Alternative Study. It is not related to the plan for the future that the Panama Canal Authority is formulating. The true cost for expansion is unknown, as studies are still being evaluated and critical components are being researched.

The fact is the Panama Canal is running better than ever in its 90 years of service to the maritime industry. Recent improvements in the canal’s reliability and safety are the result of the Panama Canal Authority’s permanent modernization program, with numerous projects that have made the canal more efficient than at any point in its history.

Over the past two years, the authority has been undertaking an exhaustive effort to plan for the fundamental direction of the canal to 2025. Among these options is whether to construct another set of locks, creating a third lane of traffic that would increase capacity and allow for post-“Panamax”-size vessels to transit the canal. Should this expansion be recommended, the cost will then be determined.

Rest assured that the decision will be in the best interests of the canal’s customers, international trade and the Panamanian people.

STANLEY MUSCHETT

Manager of executive administration

Panama Canal Authority

Panama City

Thank you, Sinclair

I would like to thank Sinclair Broadcast Group for having the courage to air the documentary “Stolen Honor: Wounds That Never Heal,” which the mainstream media and their political allies would like to thwart (“Democrats protest anti-Kerry TV film,” Nation, Tuesday).

It is ironic that the Kerry campaign and its surrogates are not the least bit troubled by an internal ABC memo directing its reporters to disproportionately scrutinize President Bush’s statements, by CBS’ use of questionable documents to attack the president’s character or by the Sundance Channel’s around-the-clock Bush bashing. But these people are outraged when a few brave television stations give some of this country’s most deserving heroes one hour to set the record straight.

Despite what John Kerry wrote in his 1971 book, “The New Soldier,” these Vietnam veterans do represent America’s best, and the least they deserve is an hour to defend themselves against Mr. Kerry’s slanderous claims.

ALLEN HELTON

Fredericksburg, Va.