Letters to the Editor

Easy to see who's telling fibs

Rick Santorum's diatribe on health care ("Health reform fog is lifting," Wednesday) was no surprise. It fits in with the deluge of ongoing tea-party and Republican criticisms of health-care reform. But if you consult Factcheck, Snopes, or other reliable truth-checking sites, guess who's telling most of the whoppers? It's not President Obama and fellow Democrats.

To highlight a few oft-repeated false claims: There was no government takeover. It's not socialized medicine. The government won't be choosing your doctor. There are no death panels, no rationing, no direct public funding of abortion services, and no funding for illegal immigrants. Nor does Obamacare add a trillion dollars to the deficit.

There never was a promise that health care would immediately cost less. Only that the rate of increase would slowly decline over time, and that the cost would be much greater if we did nothing. But don't worry, the truth will eventually emerge, just as it did with false claims about Iraq's supposed WMD.

Jim Bibber

Upper Darby

jbibbersr@msn.com

Emphasis on power spurs violent crime

Re: "Man, 18, charged in waitress' slaying," Thursday:

Sabina Rose O'Donnell's recent rape and murder is a tragedy. I am dismayed that the Philadelphia police and you are framing this crime as a robbery that escalated. The suspect was clearly physically stronger than O'Donnell, so why didn't he just take her bike and leave? Instead, he dragged O'Donnell behind a building, ripped off her clothes, raped her, and strangled her. He then left her bike behind the building in order to try breaking into other apartments in her building.

Our society teaches young people the way to get what you want and feel powerful is through violence (including sexual violence). We preach the gospel of power over instead of power with. This plays out in our intimate relationships (a fourth of U.S. women are victims of intimate partner violence), our communities, (O'Donnell's death), and our world.

Susanna Gilbertson

Philadelphia

No tears needed for the coal industry

George Ellis' critique of renewable energy's job-creation potential doesn't make sense ("Don't believe the 'green jobs' hype," June 15).

Already, Pennsylvania ranks fifth nationally in wind-energy supply-chain employment, with 4,000 citizens manufacturing wind turbines and components. The Department of Environmental Protection reports 350,000 residents are working in renewable-related industries.