Dark Ages

Jerald Green, the Democratic candidate for Montgomery County treasurer, says a time warp has encircled the county courthouse. "Why do lawyers have to come to Norristown to look at court papers?" asks the 45-year-old vice president of an international computer software company. "Montgomery County is probably one of the most high-tech counties in the state. But if you go to Norristown, you feel like you've stepped back in time. . . . You don't have to have this Cecil B. DeMille cast of thousands in Norristown.

WILL RONNIE Polaneczky kindly explain why she feels a bill to reduce animal abuse is a trivial matter? When it comes to animal abuse, the state of Pennsylvania still lingers in the dark ages. We finally see a state legislator doing something to reduce the horror in puppy mills, which mills should be outlawed altogether. So don't go off the deep end, Ronnie. Man's best friend is still in deep trouble. Helene Schwartz, Pennsauken

What is he thinking? OBVIOUSLY, M.A. Vare, who wrote on what to do with kids who kill, still lives in the Dark Ages. I have just one question for him (although it could be a her, but I doubt it): Do you have kids? Anyone who has would never say to execute them. A more appropriate approach would be to hold parents accountable to some degree, since it is they who should be raising these kids with values that represent more respect for people, and life in general. Dave Sillery, Carneys Point, N.J.

NOTHING IS WORKING the way it should - and inequities, which have always plagued us, grow worse. Yes, I know, old people are always lamenting that the world is going downhill. But today's older generation may be the first that's right. The extraordinary American system of government, which worked so well over the years, no longer does. Based on an ingenious, but delicate, balance of powers that functions through cooperation and compromise, it's bogged down in partisan bickering, extremist pressures and antiquated procedures.

AS THE college of cardinals prepares to vote for a new pope, I pray, with little hope, that they select a true visionary. Catholicism, as with many religions, is mired in the Dark Ages. Papal doctrines were etched in stone long before the realities of an uncontrolled population explosion, unimaginable scientific and medical innovation and irreversible societal demands for equality. Such blind adherence to outdated tenets and papal infallibility, which ignore inevitable social progress, will render whoever holds the papacy an anachronistic figurehead.

Kenneth Gewertz, 72, a bigger-than-life Gloucester County politician known as "Mr. Deptford," died in his sleep Tuesday night at his winter home in Orlando, Fla., from a heart attack. "It was probably the only thing in his long life he ever did quietly," said Lois Twigg, his companion of the last seven years. During his long political career, Mr. Gewertz served as Deptford's mayor and police chief, Democratic committeeman, state assemblyman, and chairman of the county Democratic Party.

Michelle Malkin: Just say no! If ever a metropolitan area was on the verge of sensible gun laws, and (with a little nudge) in a position to lead the struggle nationally, this region qualifies. The Daily News response? Hold a drawing for 40 seats on a bus to the Million Mom March, then print Michelle Malkin columns telling us why automatic weapons are wonderful. How about some editorial board consistency? After a quarter-century of Chuck Stone's and Linda Wright Moore's enlightened columns dragging you out of the dark ages, you sink back into the pits, trying to start stuff, just like when you shilled for Frank Rizzo and the Reactionaries.

I was saddened to read in the Jan. 12 issue that a boy has been included in a special school for non-hospitalized children with chronic conditions because he has to "have his blood and urine sugars checked every morning and take his insulin injection. " Children who happen to have diabetes are not "sick" and deserve to be treated as healthy people. I started taking insulin in 1943 when I was 6 1/2 and have had a normal life, in fact a much more interesting life than most people.

I urge Gov. Thornburgh to veto the underage-drinking bill because of the improper amendment, by which Sen. Joe Rocks (D., Phila.) is attempting to misuse the "certificate-of-need" process in order to deny women their legal right to abortion by crippling clinics. This would be an abuse of the concept of certificate-of-need, which has been used for the last 10 years by health systems agencies. The procedure is an intricate system of checks and balances that has as its purpose the prevention of too large and duplicative hospital buildings, equipment and services in order to reduce health care costs.

Muslims really thought they were doing the world a favor by pulling Europe and its mostly illiterate Christians out of the Dark Ages. But just because they foisted algebra, trigonometry, optics, astronomical charts, the classics, Arabic numerals, advanced surgical techniques, perspective in art, the lute, and artichokes on the world - while the Christian kings of Europe were smothering free inquiry - we're not about to give them any credit a thousand...

NOTHING IS WORKING the way it should - and inequities, which have always plagued us, grow worse. Yes, I know, old people are always lamenting that the world is going downhill. But today's older generation may be the first that's right. The extraordinary American system of government, which worked so well over the years, no longer does. Based on an ingenious, but delicate, balance of powers that functions through cooperation and compromise, it's bogged down in partisan bickering, extremist pressures and antiquated procedures.

As she gratefully watched Peco repairmen restore the transmission lines that had been out of commission for three weeks, Catherine Poole was sure that, one day soon, nature again would knock the lights out in her rural Chester County neighborhood. She was correct. That was in June 2010. Fourteen months later, she lost electricity for three days, courtesy of the remnants of Irene. Then she lost it for three more days with the surreal, prewinter storm of late October, which knocked out power to more than 300,000 in Southeastern Pennsylvania, 500,000 in New Jersey, and millions throughout the Northeast.

I DESPISE THE N-WORD but not so much that I think it needs to be removed from great works of literature such as "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," as one publisher is doing. The racial epithet appears a whopping 219 times in the Mark Twain classic. As a way to get more schools, particularly the ones that have banned it, to teach the historic novel, NewSouth Books has replaced the slur with the word "slave" in the edition that's coming out next month. Somebody better call the literature police.

The Delaware River Port Authority held a five-hour meeting Wednesday to essentially get its basic governance standards up to a bare minimum. It is good to see the agency begin to emerge from the dark ages of third-world bureaucracy, but there is much more to be done. Several board members deserve credit for the reforms, but it is clear that the DRPA's current leadership is in no position to dramatically change the agency's political culture. That is why the DRPA needs new leadership, beginning with the removal of chief executive John Matheussen, board chairman John Estey, and vice chairman Jeffrey Nash.

The botched umpire's call that stole a perfect game from the Detroit Tigers' Armando Galarraga last week has become - with Commissioner Bud Selig's help - an embarrassment to the game of baseball. Umpire Jim Joyce made one of the worst calls in baseball history, denying Galarraga a pitcher's greatest possible achievement. To review the grim details, Galarraga was pitching a perfect game when, with two outs in the ninth inning, Joyce called Cleveland Indians hitter Jason Donald safe on a close play at first base.

Chris Pronger isn't upset, but some women are. A poster in Tuesday's Chicago Tribune shows the Flyers stalwart defenseman in a skirt, along with a headline that reads, "Chrissy Pronger. Looks like Tarzan, skates like Jane. " Clever like sixth grade. Not only is the Tarzan joke as old as Tarzan, the skirt thing rips off the New York Post. "The Frillies Are Coming to Town!" its front page declared in October, next to a picture of outfielder Shane Victorino in a skirt. Pronger barely bothered to react.

A clunker of a program The Inquirer's recent editorial on "Cash for Clunkers" ("Keep it rolling," Wednesday) demonstrates why editors are editors and not economists, for this government program is economically problematic at several levels. By law, automobiles that are turned in as clunkers must be rendered inoperable by destroying their engines. How the destruction of functional and working capital goods can be perceived as an overall benefit to the economy is something that perhaps only an editor can explain.

WILL RONNIE Polaneczky kindly explain why she feels a bill to reduce animal abuse is a trivial matter? When it comes to animal abuse, the state of Pennsylvania still lingers in the dark ages. We finally see a state legislator doing something to reduce the horror in puppy mills, which mills should be outlawed altogether. So don't go off the deep end, Ronnie. Man's best friend is still in deep trouble. Helene Schwartz, Pennsauken

U.S. theocracy During a speech in Michigan last week, former Gov. Mike Huckabee said he wanted to change the Constitution: "What we need to do is to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than try to change God's standards. " I wonder if the standards he refers to are Old or New Testament? From Exodus 21:17, there is: "He that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death. " That might solve some school overcrowding issues. A Bible-thumping president contemplating going to war might take this passage from Deuteronomy 3:22 to heart: "Ye shall not fear them; for the Lord your God he shall fight for you. " George W. Bush really seems to have liked that one too. The catering industry will take a big hit when eating shellfish becomes outlawed - from Deuteronomy 14:10.