Letters to the Editor
Bury I-95, and fund mass transit Re: "Need an 'earthquake' to cover I-95?" letter, Monday: Removing I-95 and depending on Columbus Boulevard to carry the huge amount of cross-city and cross-country traffic through the tear-down area is simply asking for trouble. Sure, the aesthetics of the city may improve, but the traffic in the city would be even more disastrous.
Bury I-95, and
fund mass transit
Re: "Need an 'earthquake' to cover I-95?" letter, Monday:
Removing I-95 and depending on Columbus Boulevard to carry the huge amount of cross-city and cross-country traffic through the tear-down area is simply asking for trouble. Sure, the aesthetics of the city may improve, but the traffic in the city would be even more disastrous.
We do not have a proper bypass freeway in this city, unlike San Francisco. I-95 is the most trafficked highway in the nation; the Embarcadero wasn't. Unless a pretty pricey bypass is built, this idea is ludicrous.
Covering the freeway seems like a much more appropriate compromise. The biggest question for me remains: When will Philadelphia spend the money on public transportation?
Andrew E. Rigefsky
Philadelphia
'Post-racial' America
is still just a dream
John Yoo cites the recent decision in Ricci v. DeStefano as a victory against the kind of judicial empathy that Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor promises to bring to the table, suggesting that Sotomayor might be out of place. He then hails it as a sign that we are entering a post-racial America ("No more quotas," Sunday).
I wish he were right.
The fact is that, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which collects and publishes such statistics, the number of hate groups in the United States grew by a whopping 54 percent from 2000 through 2008.
One need only look at all the recent fuss about Latino immigration, along with the irrational suspicion of anyone who might look Middle Eastern, to realize that a "post-racial" America is still just a pipe dream. And, until we get there, a little more empathy is just what we need.
Mary Shaw
Chestnut Hill
N.J. electricity prices
a campaign issue
The candidates for governor in New Jersey should consider electricity prices in their energy plans. New Jersey is burdened with electricity costs significantly higher than the national average, ranking 46th-highest in the United States.
These high prices increase the cost of business and living compared with other nearby states. New Jerseyans pay 14.91 cents per kilowatt-hour - 50.5 percent higher than the national average of 9.91 cents per kwh. Pennsylvanians pay 9.35 cents, Virginians 8.06, and Kentuckians 6.25.
Solar and wind may be of some supplemental help for generating electricity. However, no business or home can rely solely on these expensive, intermittent electricity sources in our high-tech society.
George Allen
Former Virginia governor
Chairman
American Energy Freedom Center
Virginia
Palin served
Alaska well
In your flippant mention of Sarah Palin's resume ("The pit bull limps away," Tuesday), you forgot to say that she brought down the crooked chairman of the Alaska Republican Party, and the corrupt governor. She oversaw the completion of the Alaskan natural-gas pipeline, which had languished for years. She brokered a great deal from the energy companies for her constituents, who don't receive a tax bill every year, but instead receive a check from the state!
Whatever Palin decides to do with her life, she has served Alaska well. If she leaves public life, who could blame her, outside of the yapping political elites?
Fran Steffler
Philadelphia
Paper is
unfair to Palin
I can't believe the hit job you conducted on Sarah Palin. The coordinated and unnecessary besmirching demonstrates that she is still an existential threat to your political orientation.
I am willing to give this accomplished woman, mother, politician, and wife the benefit of the doubt. By your antics, you have turned The Inquirer into a tabloid.
Frances Lempa
Philadelphia
No moderation
from Abbas
Much of the American news media refer to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as a man of "moderation." However, his government continues to glorify terrorists.
Only a few weeks ago, his office sponsored a new computer center and named it after the "martyr Dalal Mughrabi." Mughrabi led the most deadly terror attack in Israel's history. Her 1978 bus hijacking killed 37 civilians, 12 of them children. Clearly, actions like this show that Abbas is not moderate or looking for peace.
Arthur Horn
East Windsor