Letters to the Editor

Others worthy of sainthood

It's wonderful that the Rev. Luigi Guanella has been canonized ("Delco man's recovery yields newest saint," Sunday).

Yet, it's virtually always a nun, priest, bishop, or founder of a religious order who is canonized a saint, meaning they are definitely in heaven with God and can intercede for us here on Earth. Nuns, priests, bishops, and founders are, what, 5 percent of the population?

I look forward to the canonizations of more lay people, the ordinary citizens such as Irish missionary Edel Quinn; Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, a Mohawk Indian; Blessed Franz Jaggerstatter, an Austrian conscientious objector; businessman and social reformer Pierre Toussaint; and Dorothy Day, who cofounded the Catholic Worker houses and movement, among others.

Let's hear it for the 95 percent.

Marie Skertic, Willingboro

Fracking risks practically nonexistent

Why waste ink on fracking ("Phila. balks on suit over gas drilling," Sunday)? Environmental Protection Agency chief Lisa Jackson testified this year before a U.S. House Oversight Committee that the environmental risk of hydraulic fracturing was practically nonexistent. "I'm not aware of any proven case where the fracking process itself has affected water, although there are investigations ongoing," she said. The safety of hydraulic fracturing is well-documented, with zero confirmed cases of groundwater contamination in one million applications over 60 years.

Timothy W. Byrne, Wayne

Indeed, we have a literacy problem

An example of the depth to which literacy has declined in Philadelphia was amply demonstrated by a quotation attributed to Judith Renyi, executive director of the Mayor's Commission on Literacy, in Karen Heller's Sunday column, "Illiteracy holding many down in Phila." Renyi was quoted as saying, "We got a problem. We got a huge problem." Literacy indeed!

Robert G. Thomas, Blue Bell

Accept basic rights for animals

Undesirable as it is, the recent Ohio "exotic animal" slaughter does not indicate the need for stricter laws, but for unalienable equal autonomy, ecology, and dignity rights of all animals ("A sad acceptance on lost animals," Friday).

No species evolved to become the property of humans. Our ancestors sickened themselves and their posterity by messing with other animals. And other animals' lives range from circumscribed to miserable under human domination.

Let us confront animal reality, not avoid it like global warming. The human-supremacist endeavor of recent millennia must end. Long-term well-being will include all - or it will exclude "us."

David Cantor, Founder and Director, Responsible Policies for Animals, Glenside, dcantor@rpa1.org

The lighter side

of the recession

George Parry's column about the foolish educational choices of Occupy Philadelphia participants was a hoot ("Perhaps corporate greed isn't the real issue," Sunday). The idea of young, liberal arts-educated people who can't find jobs is funny.

So I look forward to more humorous stories from Parry. Perhaps about the hordes of people now taking advantage of food stamps. Hee-hee!

Or the millions for whom unemployment benefits have run out. Ha! Ha!

Or those who have lost their homes through foreclosure. Hee-hee! Ha-ha!

Or the old coots with weary bodies who have to postpone retirement. Suckers!

I am sure that Parry can make us feel a lot better and lift our spirits about the Lesser Depression.

Al Giacomucci, Philadelphia, agcomx@gmail.com

Gambling a sign that U.S. has failed

Great column by Monica Yant Kinney on casino revenue ("A few restraints on a pot of gold," Wednesday). It may be a pot of gold that takes some digging, but it's also a pot of gold that is an illusion.

A society that has to rely on gambling and on advertising in schools, and on school buses and school equipment, to fund social programs, government budgets, and our educational systems - is a society that is clearly in decline. The United States is a society that has failed.

That reliance is also another indicator that corporations in this country have too much money, power, and influence.

Jim Davis, Avalon