LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

The Baltimore Sun

The city can afford after-school efforts

The Sun's editorial "A promise is a promise" (May 16) states that "ideally" there would be enough money for the city to support school construction and renovation plans and fund after-school programs for young people who need them.

In fact, city officials can do both now. Baltimore has a surplus and a rainy day fund that holds $83 million ("With levies, trims, city finances are on more stable footing," Oct. 13, 2006).

This provides Mayor Sheila Dixon with enough funds to cover the essentials of city operations and at the same time invest in providing opportunities for all city children to grow up healthy and well-educated.

Meanwhile, the entire $2.4 billion city budget should be reconfigured to deliver maximum support for human services that nurture strong families and communities, which would diminish the need for programs that punish, warehouse and debilitate.

The choice here is not about shifting dollars between pots.

It's about fundamentally changing the way the city does business.

Jo Ann O. Robinson

Baltimore

Civil war remains real story in Gaza

The anarchy and violence in Gaza are truly appalling. And the photo on The Sun's Saturday front page of armed men brandishing assault weapons to protect a funeral procession speaks to the heart of the matter ("In Gaza, unity government is helpless against anarchy," May 19).

However, the photo's caption - which noted that a member of an Islamic group had been killed by an Israeli missile strike - did not.

Yes, a Hamas fighter was killed by an Israeli airstrike. But these fighters were very likely busy launching rockets into Israel to kill Israeli citizens indiscriminately.

Hamas and Fatah are waging a civil war, with countless innocent Palestinians being killed.

How about front-page coverage that gives a more accurate depiction of this tragedy?

Louis S. Halikman

Monkton

Seeking to sneak amnesty past voters

I found one paragraph in The Sun's article "Democrats, GOP reach accord on immigrants" (May 18) very revealing.

It reads: "The senators and Cabinet secretaries who negotiated the measure stressed that it must pass soon before looming election politics makes it impossible to tackle the highly controversial issue."

Like the Baltimore Colts, who left in moving vans under the darkness of night to move to Indianapolis, President Bush and the liberal Democrats and some Republicans in the Senate and the House want to pass this amnesty bill before voters realize what has happened, and before they have to stand up before their constituents and explain their sellout of this country and betrayal of hard-working Americans in support of this travesty.

If President Bush and members of Congress believe that this legislation is so good for America, they should not be afraid to stand on their beliefs and run for office on this legislation and see how far they get.

But they don't want to chance that, because they know they would be resoundingly defeated at the polls. The vast majority of Americans are passionately angry and disgusted with these leaders and representatives' putting their personal interests and legacies before the welfare and safety of the American citizens.

John A. Malagrin

Baltimore

Gonzales continues to do Bush's bidding

This sentence from Thursday's editorial on Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales was misleading: "Alberto R. Gonzales continues to serve as the nation's top law enforcement officer despite mounting evidence that he is willing to ignore laws, rules, regulations and conventions to do the bidding of President Bush" ("No moral authority," May 17).

I think that sentence should read: "Alberto R. Gonzales continues to serve as the nation's top law enforcement officer because he is willing to ignore laws, rules, regulations and conventions to do the bidding of President Bush."

In the Bush administration, competence seems to be a crime if it leads to disloyalty to the leader.

By the Bush code, Mr. Gonzales is as innocent as a newborn.

Patrick K. Lackey

Pikesville

Liberals are angry for good reason

Thomas Sowell's "For liberals, indignation is a way of life" (Opinion * Commentary, May 17) has to be the strangest column I have ever read.

Of course liberals are mad. We've suffered through an ineffectual president and a Congress that gave him a blank check.

We're in a war we should not be in.

Our Justice Department has no credibility.

We have lost our standing in the world.

People are deserting the administration like rats leaving a sinking ship.

It would be almost comical to watch this administration self-destruct, except that our young people are dying every day in Iraq and the president is trying to run out the clock until he leaves office so that his "legacy" will be preserved.

Still, I suppose Vice President Dick Cheney has never raised his voice to Mr. Sowell.

He saves that for the people who dare to disagree with him.

Marilynn Gordon

Reisterstown

How did Sowell miss indignation of right?

I must have had a mote in my eye as I read Thomas Sowell's column about the anger and indignation of the left ("For liberals, indignation is a way of life," Opinion * Commentary, May 17).

At the very least, a small ocular obstruction could explain my inability to find the paragraph where Mr. Sowell offered a defense of the hate and contempt peddled by the likes of Ann Coulter, Michael Savage and a host of right-wing talking heads who have made millions spewing venom at anyone who would question the failed policies of this Republican president.

Leo Ryan

Towson

Other leaders make Hughes look better

After reading C. Fraser Smith's column "Hughes' laid-back integrity made him the right man for Maryland" (Opinion * Commentary, May 20), I thought to myself: Harry Hughes was a do-nothing governor. But, upon further thought, I gave the guy that the opposition called "a ball lost in tall grass" a reprieve.

We had Spiro T. Agnew, a sycophant, for a governor, and also Marvin Mandel - a decent governor who got involved with a couple of cronies on a crooked racetrack deal. His conviction was later overturned, but the damage to the state had been done.

Parris N. Glendening was a so-so governor at best, and Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. didn't know how to deal with the Democrats as he fell far short of expectations.

And now we've got a hotshot in the State House who apparently plans to tax the heck out of us in the next legislative session.

So what does this all add up to? The "ball lost in tall grass" wasn't so bad after all.

He was honest, knew how to negotiate with the opposition and didn't sit around all day dreaming up new ways to fleece the good citizens of Maryland.

David Boyd

White Hall

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