Letters to the Editor
Lessons learned
in the Iraq journey
June 30 marked the beginning of the disengagement of U.S. forces from Iraqi cities, turning over conduct of the war to the Iraqi government, and beginning the timetable to phase down and withdraw.
What has been gained from our sojourn in that distant land? Has whatever we gained equaled the cost in time, money, energy, and lives? If there were no weapons of mass destruction, connections to 9/11, or ties to al-Qaeda at the time, why did we go to war?
On Nov. 4, a sizeable majority of Americans voted for, among other things, a change in foreign policy, outlook, and direction. Let's all be wise enough to learn the lessons of the past.
David W. Long
West Chester
Let cities
have gun controls
Pennsylvania municipalities clearly want more control over guns ("Mayors take aim on illegal guns," Monday).
I find it difficult to understand why the state permits zoning to be implemented at the township level but doesn't grant the right to local officials to impose their own controls on the sale of guns.
Local controls in more urban areas would drive gun sales to rural regions where community values and common sense might prevail. And local control might encourage more empathy in the hinterland for the problem our cities are facing.
John Wenderoth
Media
Why not legalize
hand grenades?
It behooves those elected representatives who spout the National Rifle Association line on guns to stop being hypocrites.
Tell the public that they are for the right of citizens to arm themselves all the way. If ordinary people can buy as many handguns as they want, why not machine guns? Why not hand grenades? Why not mortars?
Or, maybe they can tell the American people the truth: People kill people, using guns. That should not be the American way.
Ernest B. and Elaine H. Cohen
Upper Darby
Get the state out of
the liquor business
I agree with the letter writer on Monday that we should sell off the state liquor stores ("Don't hike taxes; sell the liquor stores").
Financially supporting this system only adds to our financial woes. Firearms, tobacco, and legal drugs are sold on the open market with state controls. Why can't alcohol be sold under the same conditions?
The employees would still be needed by whoever buys the stores.
Fay Gregg
Newtown Square
It's discriminatory,
or it's not
Why do we continue to use the term reverse discrimination? Something is either discriminatory or it isn't. Discrimination means making a distinction in favor of or against a person based on the group, class, or category to which that person belongs, rather than on individual merit. Why, then, is the term confined to people of color and termed reverse when it happens to white people?
By definition, reverse discrimination would be treating everyone the same, and wouldn't that be nice?
Anthony Preziosi
West Deptford
An alternate
scripture
I was dismayed that the courts ruled that Wesley Busch was not permitted to read from the Bible at his public school. As long as there is no proselytizing, or attempts to convert others, schools should permit students to read age-appropriate material of any type.
I am a member of several groups that see no evidence that supernatural beings care what we do. Therefore, I would be pleased to offer alternate scriptural passages for a child to read, passages that would expose the error and contradiction inherent in a book written by those who were certain the Earth was the center of the universe.
Carl Huber
York
