Letters to the Editor

OPINION:

GW and hate speech

I respectfully submit that the “Nobles and Knaves” editorial (Saturday) was based on a misunderstanding of the facts.

My position regarding the fliers that appeared on our campus two weeks ago has not changed. I never issued any statement regarding penalties for posting the fliers, either before or after the identities of those responsible became known.

Disciplinary action at the George Washington University is handled exclusively by Student Judicial Services, and the university president has no role in that process. I never took or contemplated any action against the GW chapter of the Young America’s Foundation (YAF); on the contrary, I have met with the chapter’s leaders and assured them they did not need to sign anything and that their status as an officially recognized student organization was not in question.

In my statement on Oct. 8, the day the fliers appeared, I indicated that the university did not know who was responsible but would investigate. Our YAF chapter, which was listed on the flier, immediately disavowed any connection to it, and subsequent investigation by the university confirmed that the YAF was not involved. Several students not affiliated with the YAF later came forward to acknowledge having posted the fliers.

I also said there was no place for expressions of hatred on our campus. I remain confident that the sentiments expressed on the fliers do not represent the attitudes of our student body. I trust that all students, no matter what opinions they hold, will continue to conduct themselves in the spirit of mutual respect that has long been a hallmark of this university.

STEVEN KNAPP

President

George Washington University

Washington

Adios, Mr. Catoe

As an immigrant to the United States, I am appalled by Metro’s decision to stretch an already thin budget by teaching basic Spanish to its employees (“Metro funding Spanish lessons,” Metropolitan, yesterday).

Fares are on the way up, service continues to spiral downward, and escalators remain stuck in place. This decision represents everything that is wrong with Metro management.

With this decision, Metro is selecting Spanish speakers as the only group of customers for which it will provide extraordinary services. Last I checked, it was the immigrant’s responsibility to learn the language of the new country, not the country’s responsibility to learn the language of the immigrant.

The former made us the strong, multiethnic nation we have become. The latter has put us squarely on the road to becoming what Theodore Roosevelt once called “a tangle of squabbling nationalities.”

Washington is a diverse metropolitan area with hundreds of spoken languages, not some extension of Latin America. Where are the Vietnamese lessons? The Arabic lessons? The Russian lessons? Or are those scheduled for after the next fare increase?

If Metro is truly interested in providing service to customers, it needs to reduce the delays, fix the problems and use English. If Metro General Manager John Catoe can’t figure that out, the only Spanish word he needs to learn is “adios.”

MAURO E. MUJICA

Chairman of the board

U.S. English Inc.

Washington

Hypothetical budgeting

I watched “Chicken Little” with my children a while ago, and lately, someone has been reminding me of him. Gov. Martin O’Malley is running around the state telling anyone who will listen that the deficit is coming. He has charts and graphs trying to explain why he must raise taxes (“O’Malley’s blarney,” Editorial, Thursday).

What he’s not telling people is that a structural deficit is not an actual deficit; it’s a hypothetical deficit. A structural deficit means you plan to spend more money than you have available.

The “crisis” hasn’t even happened yet and doesn’t have to happen. I guess he is depending on the ignorance of the average person to support his tax increase.

Here’s an idea: Before the governor and the General Assembly come to the taxpayers for a raise in their allowance, why not question where it is all going?

I realize that a lot of the state’s budget is mandated spending, but doesn’t the General Assembly do the mandating? Let’s demand that it get its fiscal house in order before taking more money from the average hardworking middle-class families that already are struggling to pay their high bills.

The governor keeps talking about protecting the middle class. My family is as middle class as you can get, and I know we can’t afford an increase in the sales tax or an increase in the gas tax. For the governor to tinker a little with property taxes and income taxes won’t pay our bills no matter what the charts say.

NINA STARRIN

Port Republic, Md.

Remember Barbaro?

In the article “Distance races not fatal for pros” (Sports, Sunday), Steve Nearman laments that the typical press coverage of marathon running focuses only on deaths in the sport. He then dismisses many critics of the sport as “nonrunners and those who hate to exercise.”

As a fan of thoroughbred horse racing, I can attest that running is not the only sport receiving this type of coverage. Remember Barbaro?

Racing pushes the runner’s body to the absolute limit of endurance. Any such sport will have fatalities. It is only common sense for those outside the sport to question the wisdom of engaging in it.

BARBARA WESTRATE

Chantilly

Turkey fears Kurdish nationalism

The decision of the Turkish parliament to authorize troops to cross into Iraq (“Kurds demand U.S. defense,” Page 1, Friday) cannot be separated from the passing of the resolution by the U.S. Senate to support the division of Iraq along ethnic lines into three regions under a limited central government. The nonbinding resolution, passed on Sept. 26 and supported by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, would effectively create an oil-rich, autonomous Kurdish state on Turkey’s border, strengthening the campaign for a wider Kurdistan. Despite the assurances President Bush made to Turkey before the 2003 invasion, this separation of Iraq was always anticipated and was even set out in Iraq’s interim constitution, whose drafting was heavily influenced by the United States.

Over the years, Turkey has conducted 24 cross-border operations against the Kurdish Workers Party in Iraq, and the killing of Turkish soldiers is nothing new. Indeed, the first six months of this year alone saw 111 members of the Turkish security forces killed. What is new is the Turkish determination to prevent the U.S. from pushing through with the latest stage of its plan to carve up Iraq, combined with a resurgence of Kurdish nationalism buoyed by a genuine possibility of nationhood.

STEFAN SIMANOWITZ

Brighton, England