They can't laud GOP so they obsess about Obama

Why are you subjecting your readers, week after week, to the unvarying monotony of the one-two weekend hatchet jobs of columnists Charles Krauthammer and Jack Kelly on Barack Obama, a man who has more integrity than these two far-right-wing war-loving Bushies could ever dream of having?

Their constant anti-Obama propaganda is one-dimensionally cartoonish and transparently manipulative of the facts when it is not outright fiction. Why must they constantly, to the exclusion of all else, make such shallow negative attacks on Mr. Obama?

Can't they just once write something positive extolling the great accomplishments of the Republicans in the last eight years? The heroic manner in which they protected us after being forewarned on 9/11, and later in Katrina. Their glorious victory over Saddam's weapons of mass destruction. That beacon of liberty to shine on the world at Guantanamo. The profit and prosperity of our great oil industry. The resistance to making medical coverage available to those tens of millions of Americans who don't deserve it. The tax cuts to those worthiest among us -- the wealthy. Hard-working Americans like me are proud to make up the difference in revenue, or at least that which isn't being borrowed from Red China.

Yet despite all these shining Republican achievements -- and many more that I don't have space to list -- under that greatest of conservatives, George W. Bush, all Jack Kelly and Charles Krauthammer can do is make constant, shrill, distorted attacks on Barack Obama. I can't imagine why.

PAUL E. VONDRA
Bellevue

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Champion 'adjuster'

In last Saturday's column, Charles Krauthammer bemoaned Barack Obama's morphing of positions (including that oh-so-important lapel pin dust-up), and it struck me as an incredible example of chutzpah for a McCain supporter to make such complaints ("A Morphing Obama Keeps Us Guessing About His True Beliefs," July 5).

I recently read a list itemizing more than 40 documented changes of position by Sen. John McCain since he began his run for the presidency. Some switched in the course of a day and one position reversed over the course of a television commercial break.

All candidates "adjust" their positions somewhat when they transform from primaries to general elections, but it is Sen. McCain who is setting new records for pandering and hypocrisy this election cycle. It seems the "Straight Talk Express" is something of a misnomer.

JIM GALBRAITH
South Fayette

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We must do better

In response to the July 5 letter "Wicked Columnist" declaring Paul Krugman of The New York Times to be evil: The only point the letter writer makes is for more drilling of oil. He seems to view environmental concerns as an unacceptable nuisance.

Most of the rivers and streams of Pennsylvania run yellow and orange with acid from bad mining practices of former generations. We now buy drinking water in bottles. Endless uses of chemicals pose risks of cancer and other illnesses for present-day Americans and generations to come.

The letter writer laments that Republicans have not been able to make progress toward energy independence because of the "shortsightedness" of environmentalists. However, the Republicans have strongly chosen their position, which has had only one dimension: sell more oil.

Through the Reagan/Bush/Bush years, there have been no incentives to make more fuel-efficient vehicles, no incentives for better public transportation, no incentives for alternate fuel and no serious efforts for energy research on how to do anything but sell oil. Kennedy challenged American technology to reach for the moon, and we rose to the occasion. Years of Republican leadership, however, have left us with a nation crisscrossed with freeways of stop-and-go traffic of SUVs and Hummers burning gas at record rates. Of course, the Republicans did not do it alone. But their policies did nothing to refocus thinking in a better direction.

Americans can do better. One thing that may approach the terminology of the word evil is that we as a nation have failed to come up with anything better than destroying the very ground we stand on for generations to come, just to frivolously use the last little bit of a currently high-priced natural resource.

DANIEL GRESH
Johnstown

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Sincere appreciation

I wanted to express my appreciation for the actions of several Pittsburgh police officers on July 2. I am a member of the Avalon Volunteer Fire Company 103, and we had the task of bidding our final farewells to one of our life members, Regis Hungerman. The rolling roadblocks, the professionalism and the courtesy demonstrated by these officers were inspiring and comforting to Mr. Hungerman's family and my fellow firefighters. Thank you.

JOSEPH W. MILLER
Avalon

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Cigarette sense

Unfortunately for me the "fire safe" cigarettes are nine years too late. But better late than never ("Pa. Bill Would Make Cigarettes 'Fire Safe,' " July 5).

Nine years ago while I was out of town attending a grandson's birthday celebration, someone broke into my house, took some of my possessions and left a lit cigarette in a wastebasket in my kitchen. When the kitchen windows broke from the heat and smoke appeared, someone called the fire department. It was a major loss of personal property and the house as well.

I moved back almost one year to the day. With the help of friends and insurance, I was fortunate. But I surely would have appreciated a fire-safe cigarette that would not have caused those thousands of dollars in damage and so many months of disruption in my life.

I hope our legislators realize what this could mean for many others.

ARLENE STROMBERG
Regent Square

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TV ad garbage

I, for one, am disgusted with all of the TV erectile dysfunction commercials. One can't watch a Steelers or Pirates game without constantly seeing their "R"-rated scenes.

Don't the station managers or powers-that-be realize that young pre-teenagers are watching their favorite local teams, only to be constantly blasted with such garbage? Clean up your act. Enough is enough.

JOHN M. GEHR
Kennedy

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