Letters to the Editor

(Don’t) take him out to the ballgame

I am very pleased that Stroube Smith has decided not to attend Baltimore Orioles games at Camden Yards (“No base hit for D.C.?” Commentary, Friday). He joins an increasing number of Washington baseball fans in this decision.

I have never been to Camden Yards and will not go until there is a major-league team here in Washington. Washington is the only top-10 market without a major-league baseball team.

Orioles owner Peter Angelos’ claim that baseball in Washington will damage his business is false. There will be little or no economic damage, and a small increase in marketing in Baltimore — where the Orioles do very little marketing — would more than make up for any small loss that might occur.

Mr. Angelos’ claim is insulting to the people of Baltimore, as well, implying that they cannot support a team on their own. I urge Washington fans to get out of the way and let our friends in Baltimore prove that proposition wrong.

Until such time as the Orioles cease their campaign against the return of baseball to Washington, I see no reason to put money in the pocket of my enemy. Accordingly, like Mr. Smith and many other Washington fans, I will not attend baseball games at Camden Yards, and I urge all Washington fans to join us in that effort. This is the most effective thing fans can do to bring major-league baseball back to Washington.

TIM PHARES

Laurel

Kennedy’s reckless comparisons

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy likes to dredge up the distant past by calling up the memories of President Nixon and Vietnam and comparing them to President Bush and Iraq, respectively (“The V-word,” Inside Politics, Tuesday). Be careful, senator — the past is dangerous terrain for you.

JACK WEBB

Springfield

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Mr. Kennedy’s verbal assaults on the Bush administration point out the weakness of the Kerry for President campaign. If Sen. John Kerry is really presidential material, why does he need Mr. Kennedy as point man? Better yet, why would he want Mr. Kennedy’s political baggage to distract voters from himself? Could it be that Mr. Kerry’s own political baggage has become so burdensome that Mr. Kennedy provides a much-needed decoy?

If we are judged by the company we keep, Mr. Kerry needs to find some new friends. I cannot see how his association with Mr. Kennedy is going to help him win the White House in battleground states like Ohio, where the Kennedy name resonates with voters only when preceded by John, not Teddy. I guess the conclusion voters will reach is that John Kerry and Ted Kennedy are like “two peas in a pod,” in which case, Mr. Kerry will lose Ohio.

RICHARD W. RESSLER

North Olmsted, Ohio

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Sen. Kennedy, in a speech at the Brookings Institution, said the war in Iraq is the Bush administration’s Vietnam and that America is more hated in the world. Does the senator think the terrorists were showing us how much they liked us when they attacked America and killed about 3,000 innocent civilians? It would be refreshing to hear Mr. Kennedy say something half as damning about the terrorists as he says about the president who has made a commitment to protect the country from further attacks. One wonders what side this guy is on.

BOB WEIR

Flower Mound, Texas

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Perhaps if we had any journalists left in the United States, they might ask Mr. Kennedy to justify his disgracefully partisan attack against President Bush in light of these comments he made in September 2002:

“The life and death issue of war and peace is too important to be left to politics. And I disagree with those who suggest that this fateful issue cannot or should not be contested vigorously, publicly, and all across America. When it is the people’s sons and daughters who will risk and even lose their lives, then the people should hear and be heard, speak and be listened to.

“But there is a difference between honest public dialogue and partisan appeals. There is a difference between questioning policy and questioning motives. There are Republicans and Democrats who support the immediate use of force and Republicans and Democrats who have raised doubts and dissented.”

JOHN KNIGHT

Eden Prairie, Minn.

Lead hazards real and dangerous

I was dismayed by Steven Milloy’s assertion, “No health effects whatsoever have been attributed to the lead in D.C.’s water” (“EPA’s lead heads,” Commentary, Tuesday). Given the available data on which he relied — a March 30 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — the statement is demonstrably incorrect.

The CDC report found there was no statistically significant decline in blood lead levels (BLLs) between 5 micrograms per deciliter (mg/dL) and 10 mg/dL in homes with lead service lines, despite finding evidence of such a decline in other homes, and concluded that “levels[in drinking water] exceeding the EPA action level of 15 ppb can result in an increase in the percentage of BLLs greater than 5 mg/dL.” This is important, because, as the CDC also stated, “Adverse health effects have been reported recently at BLLs [Particularly misleading in Mr. Milloy’s commentary was the observation that medical intervention is not indicated in children having BLLs below 45 mg/dL and his intended implication that health professionals believe there are no health effects below this level. The reason doctors do not give chelation drugs to children at lead exposures below 45 mg/dL is not because there is no harm from exposure to lead at that amount, but because the drug therapy has substantial side effects, is expensive and doesn’t reverse the brain damage that is known to occur in children exposed to lead at levels up to 45 mg/dL. I defy Mr. Milloy to point to any reputable pediatrician or public health expert who suggests blood lead in children up to 45 mg/dl isn’t a concern.

Despite Mr. Milloy’s zeal to score an ideological point against the Environmental Protection Agency, I wonder if he would let a 2-year-old in his care have a nice long drink from a D.C. tap first thing every morning.

CHRISTOPHER COLE

Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP

Washington

Giving an old idea a new spin

After reading Cal Thomas’ column on accountability (“A new idea at last,” Commentary, Sunday), I would like to add one more idea to make politicians responsible for their actions: Require each and every elected legislator to prepare, without assistance, his or her own income tax return. Perhaps this would open a few eyes to the desirability of scrapping the federal (and, in many instances, state) tax regulations in favor of a flat tax.

ROSEMARY MARSHALL

Leesburg, Va.