Letters to the Editor

I read with great consternation that the Office of Homeland Security wants to mandate the issuance of Real ID driver's licenses to many Americans by 2014 ("A Real ID pain," Jan. 17).

These licenses are a de facto national ID card that Americans would have to present in order to board a plane or enter a federal building. By extension, because of new state voting laws, they would also be necessary to exercise the franchise, a fundamental right enshrined in the Constitution. By now, we're way beyond the slippery slope to 1984; we're already there.

But why even bother with such a bulky thing as a card? It could get damaged, lost or stolen. Why not just inject a microchip into everyone's finger, say? Talk about convenience! Don't make everyone wait at a checkout line while you fumble for your cash or ATM card. Just swipe the microchip reader with your finger!

The chip could even monitor your cholesterol level or let you know if you're about to have a heart attack. Naturally, the government would know your every movement, but if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about, right?

Have we become such a nation of cowards that we're willing to allow this to happen?

Mark Feehan

Philadelphia

» READ MORE: mfeehan_2000@yahoo.com

As a result of the high percentage of Philadelphia region "graduates" who failed the standardized math and reading tests, Pennsylvania taxpayers have proof that our schools do not perform the primary function of public education: to teach our children to read, write and do math ("Receiving diplomas without skills," Jan. 17).

This statewide disaster demonstrates that the burden of proof, in regard to providing parents with school choice, should be on the teachers' unions and those who would fight to protect the status quo.

It is the poor who suffer most from the inability to gain an education. One has to wonder if it is "big education" and its liberal supporters who lack compassion and have a stake in keeping the poor ill-equipped to thrive, independently, as fully functioning American citizens.

Stew Bolno

Mount Laurel

» READ MORE: StewBolno@aol.com

The announcement by Tower Investments Inc. of the future development of the State Office Building site at Broad and Spring Garden Streets into residences (Inquirer, Jan. 16) emphasizes the importance of enabling active retail commercial activity along the Broad Street frontage of the Convention Center.

Perhaps with this in mind, Gov. Rendell will rethink his support of destroying historic buildings at Broad and Arch Streets.

I. Milton Karabell

Philadelphia

The Corporation for National and Community Service advocates 40 days of nonviolence beginning on Martin Luther King's birthday (Inquirer, Jan. 15). What can you do? Start by disconnecting yourself and the people you love from the violence prevalent in TV, movies, video games and music lyrics.

Twenty-five years ago, a report from the National Institute of Mental Health said there was "overwhelming" evidence connecting excessive violence on television to aggression and violent behavior among children and teenagers. Subsequent reports have supported those findings.

And much of that research was conducted before violent video games became popular.

Charles H. Harrison

Woodstown

Glenna Geiger is outraged at the political cartoon that dared to portray a weeping Hillary Clinton meeting with dictators and terrorists (Letters, Jan. 15). Well, I am outraged that she dare equate President Bush's "misty-eyed" sensitivity at Israel's Holocaust museum with a cartoon. Having been to this museum, I can attest that there is much to get misty-eyed about.

Geiger's statement is an affront to me and, I can assure you, many others. There is nothing equal about what some might perceive to be a publicity stunt by Clinton and a response to the actual evidence of the deaths of millions of innocent people.

Gloria LaSalvia

Elkins Park