Letters: Article on Evans just Baer-ly true

NEWS is defined as a report of recent events presented in a straightforward style without editorial comment. A recent article by John Baer attempts to straddle the lines between news, commentary and a review of state Rep. Dwight Evans' book.

Mr. Baer opens up the article by reminding us that Mr. Evans' 30 years in office "hasn't been pretty." The question becomes: Is running for office a beauty contest? In his second paragraph, Mr. Baer goes on to say that there were "electoral flops for governor and twice for mayor," as if running for office and losing is an evaluative tool for Mr. Evans' 30 years in office as a state legislator. Mr. Baer attempts to identify Mr. Evans' accomplishments, which are many, but each time editorializes by attaching a negative statement next to each.

Mr. Baer, the Daily News and the Inquirer have written so much negative about Evans that now faced with evidence to the contrary, they are scrambling for ways to justify their positions, and now in desperation have resorted to sarcasm.

I would urge Mr. Baer to take a drive through Ogontz, talk to the current and past presidents of institutions that have received support from Mr. Evans, and write their stories. He probably won't, because his lies have become the truth that he now holds dear.

Blane Fitzgerald Stoddart

Ardmore

Hatters a size too small

The Mad Hatters of the tea party seem haunted by the anxiety that somehow, some way, somewhere, some day, somebody might be getting a break. While some people see life as something of a roulette wheel - one time Joe's turn comes up, the next time John's - the Hatters seem to fancy the children's fable of the wise ant who stored up food for the winter, as opposed to the foolish grasshopper.

The epistemological standards of the Hatters are a bit suspect. They seem to feel that they can define the 47 million people on food stamps as bums, even though the Hatters as a rule do not know anybody who is actually on food stamps. Likewise, they complain about the health care act for covering maternity leave. And here some of us thought that society was an enterprise of interdependent reciprocity.

Jim Hunter

Philadelphia