Letters to the Editor
Phila. lost
a big slice of its past
Why did Philly let I-95 slice through its oldest historical area, knocking down the original small homes in Southwark, with their old fireplaces and small rooms, and obliterating stone lanes dating back to the 17th century?
We are left with a billion-dollar mistake cutting off the city from its waterfront and its past. The best we could now do is divert the traffic, fill in I-95, and restore William Penn's Green Country Town down to the river. But it will never be the authentic area that we so stupidly bulldozed in the name of transportation progress.
Pete Sigmund
Ambler
Details,
details
Details were lacking in the article on the new Kennedy-Dodd proposal for changes in the health-care system ("Kennedy, Dodd offer new plan on health," Friday).
The story glosses over the major problem: Too many of the employers who don't offer health insurance are in that position because they can't afford to do so. Extra taxes or fines on such struggling companies are likely to drive them out of business.
John D. Froelich
Upper Darby
Doctors are
overbooked now
The Inquirer will no doubt support any health-care program the Democratic Congress votes for, and probably without qualification, but there was a good argument against doing so in Monday's paper ("Waiting to see the doc: We truly do apologize").
A doctor wrote in a column that she and other doctors have a difficult time taking care of their caseloads of patients. We now see physicians' assistants and nurse practitioners filling in for them. If we get 40 million more patients, who will attend them?
The answer, of course, is to give the old patients a couple of aspirin and send them home. Old people will no longer be a priority.
John Fallon II
Avalon
No comparison
with the Germans
It's one thing to protest Israel's treatment of its Palestinian citizens, but entirely another to claim that it is now treating them almost as badly as the Germans treated the Jews ("Israel treats Palestinians badly," letter, Saturday).
Hitler's Germany slaughtered six million Jews in a period of about four years. The German attempts to exterminate the Jewish people led to the murder of many more Jews in a few hours than the number of Palestinian citizens Israel has killed in its entire history.
Samuel W. Kaplan
Philadelphia
Israelis know
what they're doing
Vice President Biden has announced that Israel is free to act in its own best interest in regard to Iran's nuclear threat. (As if the Israelis didn't know that.) I'm glad the United States recognizes the degree of threat posed by Iran ("Biden: Israel free to bomb Iran nuclear sites," Monday).
In 1981, Israel destroyed the nuclear program of Saddam Hussein with a preemptive air strike. Then, President Ronald Reagan allowed the United Nations, for the first time in history, to condemn the Israeli action, and two years later he sent Donald Rumsfeld to make nice to Hussein.
Perhaps we have learned that the Israelis know what they're doing.
I. Milton Karabell
Philadelphia
Discrimination
is ending
After overwhelmingly electing a minority president and 45 years after passage of the Civil Rights Act, the Supreme Court's ruling in support of equal opportunity for white Connecticut firefighters was a huge step in helping to eliminate job discrimination ("Top court reverses ruling in bias case," June 30).
Are we 100 percent past discrimination issues? Sadly, no, but continued reverse discrimination actions are not part of a permanent solution either.
Reverse discrimination was tolerated in order to give minorities a good start and punish offenders. That time has long passed.
People must look within and prepare themselves to be good candidates for job selection and promotions. Being a member of a minority group does not make you a qualified candidate, and you should not expect to be selected for a position or promotion on this basis alone.
Ed Dixon
Philadelphia
