Letters to the Editor
Here's a vote for Sestak Arlen Specter voted to confirm Justices Clarence Thomas, John Roberts, and Samuel Alito, who oppose everything I stand for. He opposed the nomination of Solicitor General Elena Kagan, who stands for everything I support. He voted for the U.S. invasion of Iraq, which I opposed. Both Specter and Joe Sestak support Israel's right to defend itself against Hamas and Hezbollah rocket attacks.
Here's a vote
for Sestak
Arlen Specter voted to confirm Justices Clarence Thomas, John Roberts, and Samuel Alito, who oppose everything I stand for. He opposed the nomination of Solicitor General Elena Kagan, who stands for everything I support. He voted for the U.S. invasion of Iraq, which I opposed. Both Specter and Joe Sestak support Israel's right to defend itself against Hamas and Hezbollah rocket attacks.
Consequently, I'll be casting my vote in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate for Joe Sestak on Tuesday.
David Broida
Haverford
Barnes move
going the wrong way
The Barnes Foundation still has to raise $40 million. No problem, says foundation executive director Derek Gillman ("Fund-raising work is on track for Barnes' move to Parkway," Thursday). For $25 million, they could remain where they are forever, honoring Albert C. Barnes' will and keeping the foundation intact for future generations.
The Inquirer says fund-raising is on track. One wonders where that track is headed. The dizzying spin continues at The Inquirer. Too bad; Philadelphia and the Barnes Foundation deserve better.
Nancy Herman
Merion
Nutrition goals
aren't so different
The director of the Center for Consumer Freedom, David Martosko, complained in a letter about fighting childhood obesity by increasing the amount of fruits and vegetables in school lunches ("Lunch agenda about animal rights," May 6).
Aside from insulting an earlier letter writer and grouping him with "nuts" and the "animal-rights agenda," what did Martosko find so radical in what the first letter said? Isn't it the position of the entire medical establishment that our intake of fruits and vegetables needs to increase dramatically, since these are linked to overall good health? Isn't it the position taken by the first lady herself in her efforts to combat childhood obesity?
Margaret Betz
Swarthmore
Thanks for pushing
charter oversight
I am writing to thank and applaud State Sens. Andrew E. Dinniman (D., Chester) and Jeffrey E. Piccola (R., Dauphin) for their bipartisan leadership in sponsoring Senate Bill 1134, and helping it pass unanimously through the Senate Education Committee they cochair ("New law planned to bolster Pa. charter oversight," May 5). This legislation, which now heads to the full Senate for a vote, will bring much-needed oversight, accountability, and transparency to charter and cyber-school education across the commonwealth.
As was recently chronicled in The Inquirer, for too long, cyber and charter schools in Pennsylvania have operated outside the rules. Too little oversight has resulted in far too many cases of gross mismanagement and misappropriation of funds. When already scarce resources are squandered, so is the public trust. When children are not adequately served, neither is our future as a community. As a candidate for Pennsylvania House District 156, I did note, however, that companion legislation has not yet been introduced in the Pennsylvania House. I urge our leaders in the House to follow the lead of Dinniman and Piccola.
Mark Stevens
West Chester
For-profit colleges
add wasteful courses
I have to agree with much of the article about for-profit colleges' targeting low-income students ("Debt and no diploma at for-profit colleges," May 6).
In reality, all colleges try to maximize profit using hidden tactics disguised as required courses. I can remember when a nurse's aide, sans a degree, was anyone willing to do the dirty work in hospitals and nursing homes. Colleges now charge for courses on how to empty bed pans and such. Nursing degrees now require knowledge of some calculus. How dumb is that? And they wonder why students are dropping out.
Parents would do better to invest in a franchise for their offspring verses gambling on a piece-of-paper diploma.
So while the majority of us are tightening our belts, colleges keep moving the goalpost by adding more nonsensical courses in order to maximize profit. Which is why the federal government should step in to create federally funded colleges - colleges that graduate students in three years for a four-year degree and one year for a two-year associate's degree.
Larry Lueder
Mantua
Bonuses, but only
for outstanding work
Re: "Ackerman has earned her performance bonus," May 7:
Thank you, School Reform Commission chairman Robert L. Archie Jr., for your detailed letter justifying Superintendent Arlene Ackerman's bonus. Now I understand that the school district awards a bonus when a person does her job.
Weren't these accomplishments expected when she was hired? Has the school district revealed to the public any predetermined objective basis on which it would award a bonus? A hefty bonus to someone whose salary is paid by the taxpayers is deserved only when those accomplishments far exceed expectation.
Susan Tabor-Kleiman
Bala Cynwyd