Letters to the Editor

The picture accompanying your editorial ("Eight is too many," yesterday) of the protester outside Nadya Suleman's home made me angry.

Like most Americans, I think Suleman needs a psychiatrist, not children. But unfortunately, because of her irresponsible decisions, there are now 14 innocent children who need food and clothing. Standing outside her house with a picket sign isn't going to make things better for them. Let's hope that this experience will be a catalyst for change in the in-vitro fertilization industry and that some corporations will step forward and help her children. She doesn't deserve it; they do.

Eric Jensen
Downingtown

A business-page story, "Pfizer says the time is right for Wyeth deal" (Saturday), invites the opinion that this deal is wrong for just about everybody else, and that it may not be right even for Pfizer.

The company is paying $68 billion for Wyeth, and $22 billion of this amount is being borrowed from banks that received bailout money from the federal government. It is my understanding that bailout funds were provided for the purpose of stimulating the economy, not eliminating jobs, thousands of which will be lost in this merger. The deal is also wrong for the country and the public, because the research, innovation, and productivity of a single huge pharmaceutical company will be considerably less than that of two companies that have a strong commitment to research.

Daniel A. Hussar
Newtown Square
d.hussar@usp.edu

With the state trying to balance its budget in these difficult economic times, I would like to know why my tax dollars are being spent on radio advertising campaigns for the wine and spirit liquor stores in Pennsylvania. A monopoly in the marketplace, such as the Liquor Control Board, has no need to solicit for customers. By the way, this state-controlled business should be privatized.

Brenda Webster
Norristown

Michael Phelps' pot-smoking may have saved him from a greater error: being a long-term poster boy for Nike.

Pseudo-moralists got upset by his pot-smoking but appeared giddy when he prostituted himself to a big corporation. Because Phelps is considered a role model for youth, some say he failed them by his indiscretion. But showing kids that the ultimate goal of winning the gold is to become obscenely rich by getting their parents to buy them things they neither need nor can afford reflects a greater failure of ideals. America needs as many rehab centers for greed as it does for chemical addictions.

Ron Giemza
Philadelphia

We read with great interest that the Phillies' Ryan Howard will receive $54 million in a three-year contract, and then recalled all of the taxpayer money that went toward building the South Philadelphia "playpens" after ballclub owners cried poverty.

It's also of interest to note that fans are being continually gouged by ever-increasing admission and concession fees. If the owners can afford this kind of money to pay players, why not reimburse lowly taxpayers for their subsidies? If the city and the state had not put up funding for these stadiums, we possibly would have money for fire protection, libraries and other necessities.

William and Carol Risko
Dresher
wrcgr1@yahoo.com

Can somebody help me? What kind of system is it when the politicians take the serfs' money and give it to wealthy capitalists so they can lend it back to the serfs so they can buy the goods the capitalists have had manufactured in some foreign country?

The age of the financial shell game must be replaced by common sense. Citizens must end their lethargy and begin a new revolution. Politicians might understand angry citizens in the streets with pitchforks and torches.

Roy Lehman
Woolwich Township

Although soundly defeated in November, the Republicans are taking the only stand politically possible for them: pretend the election never happened, pander to their only remaining base (the far right), and obstruct the new president to impede his success. Eight years of Republican policies have brought the middle class to its knees. Now, they won't stop until we are all paupers.

Paul L. Coppola
Philadelphia