Associated Press
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Was he past his prime when he died?
Letters to the Editor
Hardly a 'decline'
for Mozart
Music critic David Patrick Stearns is swell to suggest Mozart might have made a comeback if he hadn't died during the creative decline of his last years ("The later lives of child prodigies," Tuesday).
Products of that decline that come to mind: the Clarinet Concerto and Clarinet Quintet; the Requiem; Don Giovanni, Cosi Fan Tutte, and The Magic Flute; the E flat, G minor, and Jupiter symphonies; three string quartets; four string quintets, and Eine Kleine Nachtmusik; two piano concertos.
This was one of the most fertile four years of any composer's life.
Maybe it's Stearns who's just having a slump?
Richard Everill
Collingswood
Senate must follow
House's lead
Though I have my qualms with the clean-energy bill narrowly passed by the House last week, I am extremely excited because it is the first piece of climate-change legislation to be passed by either body of Congress.
It is crucial that the Senate also pass this bill, because its provisions will put the United States on the path to cut carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050. The bill also provides strict standards to increase the use of clean energy.
Aside from preventing further damage to the environment, clean energy will provide Americans with green jobs in the construction and manufacturing industries.
Andy Forrest
Philadelphia
Who believes hike
will be temporary?
Gov. Rendell says his proposed income-tax increase would be eliminated after three years. Let's be real: This is never going to happen. Consider the 1936 Johnstown Flood tax. Not only did this alcohol sales-related tax not go away, but it was even increased in 1963 and 1968, and now generates more than $240 million in annual revenue.
We've been snookered; it is certain to happen again. Why don't lawmakers eliminate waste in the budget before soaking state residents again?
Keith R. Chamberlain
Spring City
Israel treats
Palestinians badly
One of the best ways for President Obama to protect the United States is to require Israel to conform to the same standards demanded of other countries in the Middle East.
It was a direct result of the horrid treatment of the European Jews that the state of Israel was recognized. But this state is now treating its Palestinian citizens almost as badly. The world stood by while the Nazis did their thing. Now, we are all watching as Israel abuses and robs the Palestinians of their land and property.
Michael Klaene
Downingtown
Israel was first
to accept two states
I wish to draw attention to the fact that Israel accepted a two-state solution decades before the Palestinian Arabs did. In 1947, it was the Jews who accepted the two-state solution while the Arabs rejected the U.N. partition plan.
The Arab rejection of the two-state solution then was accompanied by the launching of an unending war against Israel, and it was this war that caused many Palestinian Arabs to flee and become refugees. Ignorance of these facts allows the public to fall for the misrepresentations that are reported by the media about Israel.
Larry Lipton
Swarthmore
Use Medicare
for public option
Sen. Ted Kennedy (D., Mass.) was right. We already have a structure in our country for a public health-care option: Medicare. It is up and running. It may need refinement, but that would certainly be less complex than having to create and monitor new entities, such as health-care co-ops.
Safeguards needed to control the problems in troubled financial institutions are also needed for the health-care institutions. The public needs protection from companies that have been managing health care according to private interests.
Renee Levine
Philadelphia
O'Brien didn't
ride with the herd
All legislators should take note of State Rep. Dennis O'Brien (R., Phila.), who broke from his party's ranks and voted for House Bill 1 ("Pa. health bill approved in House amid partisan divide," Tuesday).
With the AdultBasic/Medical Assistance waiting list backed up 18 months and the state unemployment rate exceeding 8 percent, legislation akin to HB 1 makes sense now more than ever. Inaction by Senate Republicans would be unacceptable.
Daniel Goldstein
Philadelphia
MADD has
gone too far
First, I have never been stopped for driving while impaired, and I applaud the efforts by Mothers Against Drunk Driving to make our roads safer.
However, they appear to be getting drunk on their own power. Their latest effort pertaining to ignition-interlock technology is absurd. Do they really believe this is going to keep serious offenders from driving? The current laws are more than adequate, and the punishments are out of proportion in comparison to equally dangerous activities.
Most studies show that using a cell phone (yes, even a hands-free one) poses a threat equal to driving drunk. Yet, the penalty for that is a minimal fine at most.
MADD members: Have you ever used a cell phone while driving? Would you be in favor of the same penalties as for DUIs? If not, stop being hypocritical! Our country is being run by special-interest groups that do not reflect the will of the people.
Wayne Strege
Egg Harbor City
Madoff victims
played the game
Victims of Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme tell of their loss of freedom, self-worth, and hope. These misfortunes are all caused by a loss of money.
It's sobering to reflect on how victims voluntarily undertook a risk, lost the bet, and see their lives as destroyed. It's even more sobering to think of millions of people in the United States whose lives are destroyed every day because they never got the chance to make the bet.
How do we compare the lives of those who made the bet and lost, and those who never got the chance? Was Alfred Lord Tennyson right: " 'Tis better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all"?
Presley R. Brown
Langhorne
