ALEX BRANDON / Associated Press
Rep. Steve King (R., Iowa) holding a copy of the health-care bill on Thursday.
Letters to the Editor
Blizzard of paper
hides true intentions
The Declaration of Independence is one page. The U.S. Constitution is four pages. The Bill of Rights is one page.
Combined, these six pages of clear writing established our nation's independence, defined our national, state, and local governance structure, and outlined our rights. Six pages.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's 1,990-page House of Representatives health-care bill is far too long, will not be read by the congressmen who will vote on it, cannot be clearly explained by its proponents, and certainly doesn't tell an American where to get a flu shot. 1,990 pages.
Pelosi is hiding the Obama administration's true intentions about the government takeover of health care behind 1,990 pages of legislative minutiae designed to confuse, distract, and deceive.
Two centuries ago, our courageous founders declared what they really meant in very few pages, rallied all Americans to the cause, and got all three documents passed, and they have endured for more than 200 years. This Congress should do the same!
Fred Walker
Philadelphia
Yes to health care,
but not all at once
One message to President Obama after his failed, enthusiastic support of Gov. Corzine in New Jersey is that we love and respect you, but we can't support your planned expenditures.
The proposed budget is out of whack, there are still two wars to cover, and the health-care plan will probably cost close to $1 trillion.
We need health care, but we can't afford a full plan at this time. Let's work sequentially on the problem, with both sides of Congress addressing the issue jointly. We must have bipartisan activity on the budget for the good of the country.
Walter J. Gershenfeld
Philadelphia
What happens when
church, state are one
Rick Santorum's lucid commentary on lack of religious freedom in Muslim countries ("A war of ideas within Islam," Thursday) underscores the vital importance of separation of church and state. The execution of Muslim apostates as traitors to their countries could happen only in a closed society where religion is inseparable from the government.
This is identical to the medieval practices of the Inquisition, when the state religion of Spain was Roman Catholic, or to the bloody reigns of assorted English monarchs, when the crown was identified with the Protestant faith. That was the prime motivation behind our founders' basing our society on a secular constitution. We must be vigilant never to allow the errors of fanatics past or present to corrupt our nation's freedoms.
Gloria C. Endres
Philadelphia
The danger
in Fox 'news'
I was hoping that Dick Polman would have at least acknowledged that the real danger in Fox News' masquerading as a news organization is that average Americans do not know how to distinguish between unbiased and biased news ("Obama has Fox; Truman had Time," Sunday).
When viewers see an anchor sitting at a desk delivering news stories, they assume that they are listening to objective coverage of events. While Polman writes that it is valid to complain that Fox News is opinion journalism masquerading as news, he cannot wave this off by simply saying, "What if it is?" It was irresponsible when Time magazine did it to President Harry Truman, and it is irresponsible for Fox News to do it to President Obama. I would think that journalism had grown ethically in the last 60 years.
Olga Polites
Cherry Hill
The city's
champions
The Phillies are to be congratulated for getting as far as they did. They gave the city of Philadelphia the National League Championship the past two years, along with the World Series crown last year. The city is extremely proud of them, and they will be back next year to fight the fight again.
We will be rooting for the Phillies in 2010.
Bill Pulaski
Philadelphia
