Eric Smith
West Chester
etsmith2@aol.com
Mural money can be better spent
Re: "Invitation to huge painting party," Thursday:
Talk about lipstick on a pig: The $500,000 for a mural on the parking deck's walls at Philadelphia International Airport might have been better spent on more parking. Or maybe better terminals, with adequate restrooms and gate areas. How about runways and a baggage system to keep Philadelphia from being last in on-time departures and bags delivered successfully?
Of all the airports I travel to, Philadelphia's is the worst. Thanks, Inquirer, for your continued support of the status quo in this city and your work as an abettor in its march to third-world status.
Michael Hudson
Pottstown
'Pro-life' discovery deserves its due
Long after we're gone, I hope a pope of the future will recognize that some of the good things we Christians believe in and endorse today are worthy of recognition.
Just as Galileo's revelation that the world is round was recognized in the 20th century by the Vatican, in-vitro fertilization is a pro-life discovery that deserves awards such as the Nobel, in spite of the narrow thinking of many today.
John Currie
Newtown Square
Don't let emotions decide your vote
The noble American experiment is entering a crucial stage. What happens when the great melting pot develops insoluble lumps?
Aided by the effect of the unprecedented availability of instant news, at any given point certain groups feel they have no representation in their government. Stir into this pot the worst home-value and employment crisis since the Depression.
When voters reach the boiling point, they vent their frustration by voting for any candidate who rants against the status quo. The danger of this emotional response may be the election of many unqualified candidates whose only benefit to the voter is the instant gratification felt by exacting vengeance on any candidate perceived as representing the status quo.
Richard McFadden
Plymouth Meeting
Rubber-stamping is no surprise
Re: "Amid 'blind stamping,' foreclosures are halted," Wednesday:
Are we surprised that the same bank employees who rubber-stamped loan applications are now doing the same with foreclosure paperwork? If the federal probe suggested by Sens. Robert Menendez and Al Franken, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, leads to some sort of new legislation, will they read it before they sign it?
Edward J. Higgins Jr.
Willow Grove
edwardjhiggins@verizon.net
Breast cancer has male victims, too
Karen Heller's column on the commercialization of breast-cancer awareness ("Pink all over, even on gridiron," Wednesday) is typically smart, smart-alecky, and beautifully written. But she must know it's slightly misleading to term it "girlie cancer" and to contrast it with exclusively male prostate issues.
Men get breast cancer, too, and the survival rate for those few who contract it is lower than for men with prostate and testicular cancer. Medical information needs to be grounded in stark reality.
James Miles
Collingdale
jxxphilly@gmail.com
Protests at funerals are misguided
Sadly, there has been much in the news of late concerning the uptick in suicides among our youth, particularly those resulting from harassment due to sexual orientation. Many in the media and elsewhere question the reasons for such a tragic development. It seems to me that the answer, or at least one answer, is staring us in our collective faces.
When those who claim to be people of faith feel it appropriate, even obligatory, to carry signs and shout invectives at mourners attending the funeral of a fallen soldier, it is a sign of a deeply troubling trend.
We in the West are all too ready to condemn an entire religion because certain fanatics among its adherents have espoused terroristic tactics, yet we refuse to acknowledge the results of our own prejudices, hiding behind the very same justifications. It must stop.
Gary Kaplan
Warwick
Health-care hysteria is part of a plan
The level of hysteria by some over health-care reform is fomented in part by the very corporate interests that want to keep the status quo and are pouring millions into funding their candidates, thanks to the Supreme Court ruling that corporations can spend as much as they like to influence elections.
Elaine Hughes
Ambler
