Rude to guests

My son and I drove from Montreal to catch Monday night's Flyers-Canadiens playoff game at the Wachovia Center. Your fans have many reasons to be proud of their city and team, but how they treat their guests at a sporting event is not one of them.

As the game progressed, the level of threats and abuse heaped on us grew at an alarming rate. At one point, an unfortunate Habs fan had a glass of beer poured on her head, and her boyfriend thought it best for them to leave the arena. By the end of the game, we and other Habs supporters needed the protection of arena security and police to exit the building.

I can't imagine what would have happened to us if the Flyers had lost.

Phil Azimov
Montreal

Right to vote

I am livid. How dare anyone disenfranchise citizens of their right to vote ("Justices uphold Ind. voter ID law," April 29)! There, officially, go more of the rights of poor people.

We should all immediately help those potential voters get their required IDs - especially in the upcoming primary states - no matter what their party designations. Let's join together and figure out what we can do to right all the discrimination this ruling implies.

Marilynn Sambrano
Philadelphia

Bank robbery

The front-page story "Questionable deals haunt his history" and the editorial "Misconduct at Wachovia: An inside job" (Inquirer, April 29) report on how the bank enabled fraudulent telemarketers to steal hundreds of millions from its customers. Wachovia now sheds crocodile tears bemoaning and regretting what happened when it put its blind eye to the telescope. This all brings to mind the adage (paraphrased) attributed to Berthold Brecht: If you want to steal money, don't rob a bank, found a bank!

David Mage
Newark
magedonner@aol.com

Wright's ego trip

Who is the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. speaking for if not Barack Obama ("Wright says critics target black churches," April 29)? Himself. Never have I witnessed a man so obviously in love with the sound of his own voice and the spotlight.

If you command time on the national scene, you're influential enough to be called a leader to some of the population. As a leader, then, doesn't some of the responsibility for this country's imperfections fall upon you?

Wright is not a man of God and he is not a man of politics. He is a man in search of a camera so that he can constantly keep in view that which he loves the most: himself.

Tim McWilliams
Philadelphia

Wrong on Wright

As a black man, it is frustrating to listen to pundits be so completely wrong on the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. issue (Inquirer, April 29). Many of them just don't get it. What Wright has said is very clear and plain to me. Pundits trying to attribute Wright's comments to Barack Obama are trying to improve their ratings. The public is smarter than that, and knows better than to blame Obama for his pastor's comments.

Pastors walk to the tune of a different drummer. In their mind, they answer to God. Not politicians, reporters or critics. They answer to God and God alone. Nothing comes before that.

Tell me, did Wright lie? Can this country that I love and live in expect to kill innocent women and children by mistake in unjust wars and think people are not going to be angry at us? Wouldn't you be angry, even if it was by mistake? Scripture says you will reap what you sow. That's not Wright talking. That's the word of God.

Mannwell Glenn

Philadelphia

Total withdrawal

For the most part, Trudy Rubin has it right ("A disturbing lack of Mideast realism," April 27), but when it comes to keeping our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, I favor total withdrawal. Stay involved diplomatically and offer financial help whenever and wherever necessary, but follow the lessons learned by every great power before us and stay out of the local military fray of foreign nations. A hard sell, but it is where my understanding of history leads.

Ian Wachstein
Collingswood
ianwachstein@aol.com