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Letters to the Editor

The Apple jobs disaster Thank you to The Inquirer for continuing to publish the informative "What Went Wrong" series by Donald L. Bartlett and James B. Steele ("Apple's American job disaster," Sunday). The latest chapter on Apple provides sad evidence that Mi

The Apple jobs disaster

Thank you to The Inquirer for continuing to publish the informative "What Went Wrong" series by Donald L. Bartlett and James B. Steele ("Apple's American job disaster," Sunday). The latest chapter on Apple provides sad evidence that Mitt Romney's statement "Corporations are people, my friend" is false. His assertion that "everything corporations earn go to the people" should be amended to "everything that corporations earn goes to the stockholders and the CEOs." While Apple's stock is worth $382 billion, not one Apple product is manufactured in the United States. This is a clear statement about how little Apple values the people.

Celia Lang, West Chester, celialang1375@comcast.net

No surprise on debt panel

As I read the article "Debt panel likely set to quit" (Monday), it occurred to me that this is how it should be. There should never have been a panel in the first place. It is the entire Congress' job to deal with financial and budget issues. This panel is just one more instance of President Obama abrogating his authority and blaming the Congress for his inability to govern. It wasn't that long ago when he created the Simpson-Bowles committee to come up with cost-saving measures. Those two gentlemen and their bipartisan committee worked for months, yet the president ignored their recommendations.

So now, at the eleventh hour, the supercommittee is at an impasse. But before automatic cuts to the military and Medicare go into effect, Congress should be given one month to do the job we sent its members there to do. Then the president will have to sign or veto whatever legislation they come up with. As the old saying goes, "Heavy is the head that wears the crown."

Joe Pasquarello, Medford, jpasq99@aol.com

A vote for stalemate

It would have been helpful if Dana Milbank took a wider view of the political landscape when considering the desirability, let alone the necessity, of a supercommittee compromise ("A rare display of bipartisanship for nation's good," Sunday). The Occupy Wall Street movement, reams of recent polling data, and the reality that Congress is doing nothing at all would be far preferable to what Milbank suggests is what we should be cheering for.

If the supercommittee, and more importantly Congress, do absolutely nothing, we will see a savings of about $7.1 trillion. Doing nothing would end the Bush tax cuts, restore some small measure of equitable sanity to federal marginal tax rates, take a small bite out of a badly bloated Defense Department, and ensure that seniors are not saddled with the lion's share of the burden of reducing the deficit through huge cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

As long as Congress isn't going to do a thing about what we really need - jobs - I vote for stalemate, real deficit reduction, and a fairer federal income tax. Yes, I'm fine with my taxes going up a small amount to help pay for it.

Joe Magid, Wynnewood

A blight on America's honor

Trudy Rubin's column "Halfway safe at last, an Iraqi questions helping U.S." (Sunday) is an eloquent and urgent plea for desperately needed help for Iraqis who helped (indeed, served with) our military at great risk and who now face death from vengeful fellow Iraqis who consider them traitors. As U.S. forces depart, those who helped them are left with no protection. A Special Immigrant Visa program established by Congress in 2008 has produced only a tiny fraction of the promised visas.

Rubin addresses security concerns by endorsing an emergency airlift to Guam, where further security checks could be conducted before entry into America is permitted. This seems infinitely preferable to having those who helped us and their family members murdered.

Thanks to Rubin for publicizing the plight of now-desperate people who befriended us. May her plea not fall on deaf ears. As she stated, "This failure to act is a blot on America's honor, a betrayal of Iraqis who risked their lives to help us."

John J. Donohue Jr., Philadelphia, jjdonoh@aol.com

Preparing for the presidency

I have a postgraduate degree. I have had a nice business career. Regrettably, those things did not help me formulate a foreign agenda to ensure that the United States, in its role as world leader, will work toward global peace and stability, ameliorate human suffering, and somehow protect our citizenry.

I do read about world events daily (in The Inquirer, of course) and I am sure I could study in order to speak intelligently about foreign affairs when called to do so. Even then I might occasionally be confused about who leads which country and who did what to whom.

Though my well-chosen advisers could tell me what to think and say and do regarding U.S. foreign policy, I would not make a very good president. I am therefore announcing that I have decided not to run. Perhaps it's time for some presidential candidates to consider doing the same ("Keep those GOP debates coming," Sunday).

Bruce Schwaidelson, Doylestown, BRuSchwade@aol.com

Stand up for reform

I also believe that radical reform and cleanup of the Philadelphia Sheriff's Office is imperative ("More reasons to improve Sheriff's Office," Thursday). So what were you thinking in the May primary when the Editorial Board endorsed Jewell Williams, whom you now warn against being "just another Democratic Party-endorsed candidate who returns the favor by handing out contracts and patronage jobs"? You could have put your influence behind the eminently qualified and committed reformer John Kromer. Instead, you bowed to the weight of Philadelphia tradition and party powers. It is hugely frustrating to see such a valuable media pulpit coming too little and too late to the side of the public interest. Next time, don't scold after the fact - take a brave stance for change in the first place.

Marisa Guerin, Philadelphia

Be careful on Syria

Talk of suspending Syria from the Arab League is hypocritical and perilous ("Violence spikes in Syria," Wednesday). The Arab League leaders apparently have no mirrors. Bahrain is already suppressing its people - with Saudi help. Saudi Arabia is allergic to democratic elections. Egypt has gotten back to real government - with generals in charge. Lebanon and Iraq demonstrate what happens when the central government collapses and ethnic and sectarian elements rise up. When judging Syrian President Bashar Assad, it should be remembered that we are not omniscient. The temptation of another Mideast military adventure should be resisted.

Joseph Elias, Wilkes-Barre

Callous disregard for safety

The right-wing Republican Party, marching to the orders of the National Rifle Association and conservative extremists, has gone mad. Last week, the House passed on to the Senate a bill that severely reduces a state's ability to regulate who may carry concealed loaded handguns within its borders ("House approves weapons permit bill," Thursday). The bill allows a gun owner's home-state permit to trump any other state with more restrictive regulations into which the gun owner might travel.

These same legislators, to whom we trust much of our health and safety, defeated a proposed amendment that would have limited this "right" by disallowing those who were domestic abusers, pedophiles, stalkers, and terrorists from having the right to carry a loaded handgun from their home state into another. We have all of our local Republican legislators, who have abandoned common sense and good judgment, to thank for this.

Should this bill become law, and one child be injured or killed by an armed pedophile or terrorist benefiting from this proposal, or if one woman who has lived in terror of an abusive spouse is shot by a husband taking advantage of this law, the lawmakers who supported the measure should share the killer's jail cell for the crime of political pandering. These gentlemen have displayed their callous disregard for the safety of their constituents.

Stephen Ulan, Wynnewood