Don't let lobbyists wreck health-care reform

We elected our president because we wanted to change things. We wanted to get us out of Iraq, which we are in the process of doing. We wanted to fix the economy, which is recovering, albeit slowly. We also wanted national health care. We want to provide for the uninsured and reduce the escalating cost for the rest of us.

Our president embarked on a journey to do that. However, the insurance companies are fighting him through their hirelings, the congressmen and senators to whom they contribute.

It has been reported on the news channels that thousands of new lobbyists have been hired and billions of dollars are being spent to confuse us, the general public, and keep national health care from becoming a reality. They have hired loudmouths to interrupt town hall meetings with their overbearing lies.

Everyone agrees we need to reform health care. Then let's do it. I have no doubt it will need to be tweaked down the road, but we have to start somewhere.

We should call and write our congressmen and senators to openly support health-care reform and then vote for it.

I just got my insurance coverage notice for 2010. It was $82 per month in 2009. It will be $119 per month in 2010. Of course the co-pays have also gone up about 40 percent.

We need help now!

GEORGE MAHER
Pleasant Hills

Wrong about Rush

In regard to your Oct. 17 editorial "Bum's Rush: Limbaugh's Bid to Buy Into the Rams Is Sacked": Once again the left-leaning Post-Gazette fails to see the obvious. Rush Limbaugh's remark about Donovan McNabb was not a question of his ability but it was how the mainstream media favor him because he is a black quarterback. Whether he was correct about that is not my job to discern, but it wasn't a racist comment about the quarterback.

What is interesting to note is that you make no mention of the character assassination of Mr. Limbaugh by people in your profession using made-up quotes and attributing them to him, and that is astounding. You have no problem with a divisive man like Keith Olbermann doing NFL games.

The amazing thing about the media is they consider themselves to be so tolerant and they are, as long as you agree with them. If you don't, these caring, Earth-loving people will chew you up and spit you out. What hypocrites.

RAY RIEBER
Mount Oliver

Higher stakes

Recently some people have been accused of taking advantage of flaws in the slot machines in our casinos to make off with more than $400,000 ("Gaming Security Failed to Record Slots Theft," Oct. 8). Does anyone think our voting machines could fall prey to similar manipulation?

Their quality and security are far worse and the stakes are vastly higher.

DAVID BROWN
Mt. Lebanon

An unfair plan

From my home in Regent Square I can walk to four different libraries: Squirrel Hill, 1.7 miles; Edgewood, 1.1 miles; Wilkinsburg, 0.5 mile; Swissvale, 1.5 miles. Except for Edgewood, all are accessible with one bus ride. How can that be fair when there are city neighborhoods that soon will have no library at all?

I'm truly blessed to have the Squirrel Hill branch. It's a palace. But maybe this $4.4-million renovation in 2005 was overkill favoring an elite neighborhood that already had a very decent 32-year-old facility. Where is the accountability?

WILLIAM McCLOSKEY
Regent Square

Our fine library

I recently moved to Lawrenceville and was thrilled to discover what a good branch of the Carnegie Library this neighborhood hosts. It is easily accessible and sits adjacent to the Foster Building, a hub of community activity. Being selective about literary choices, I was pleasantly surprised at how well stacked its shelves are. I have found the staff to be knowledgeable and helpful. They welcomed me to the neighborhood and have come to know me by my name.

I question the skeptics who believe the Lawrenceville and other branches of the Carnegie must be closed to ensure viability of the larger system. Andrew Carnegie pledged his own money to build a public library complete with neighborhood entities. He was such a believer that he opened the Lawrenceville branch himself.

Philanthropy and public partnership remain alive in this city. Our newest education program, the Pittsburgh Promise, gives hope to young residents seeking affordable college tuition. The Children's Museum received a national award, in part because its executive director merged financial need with the ingenuity of not-for-profit partnership. Similar creativity can be harnessed as we find ways to make sacred space of our neighborhood libraries.

Andrew Carnegie was a pragmatist, but he was also a believer, and despite the cynicism of the naysayers, so am I. See you at the library!

VIRGINIA MAYO
Lawrenceville

What we value

Thank you, Brian O'Neill, for your wonderful column about how little our fair city contributes to, in my mind, its most important asset, Pittsburgh's libraries ("City's Pittance Unbalances Library's Books," Oct. 18).

Pittsburgh is known in parenting circles as a wonderful place to raise children, and much is due to the libraries. As a military family, we live on a tight budget. Our local library in Lawrenceville has allowed us access to books, movies, programs and classes that we could have never afforded on our own. Now this Lawrenceville asset has been slated to close.

I cannot believe that a city that can help pay for two new stadiums cannot pay more for the books and programs that inspire the engineers of tomorrow. Those designers need to be there in 30 years when the team owners tire of the stadiums they have now.

KAREN CROW
Stanton Heights

Hail to Pitt students

Neither rain nor snow nor the threat of both could deter 3,000 Pitt students from "Making a Difference" on their community service day and the city's fall Redd Up on Saturday.

Soon after Pitt buses began rolling into 55 neighborhoods on an overcast, dreary day, local residents were singing the praises of Pitt boys and girls who picked up litter and trash, tackled a few illegal dumpsites, mulched gardens and planted bulbs.

The weather apparently frightened a few neighborhoods that rolled up their sidewalks and canceled.

But it was a great day in the neighborhoods for citizens against litter, who thank Pitt students for their community service. Pittsburgh is a cleaner city because of them.

BORIS WEINSTEIN
Citizens Against Litter
Shadyside

Are we seeing a double standard when students are homeless?

With interest I read your article "4 Kids' Problem Is School Minus a Home" (Oct. 6). According to the article, Michael Race, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Education, concurred with the decision of the Carlynton School District that homeless children's access to schooling rests on "where they spend the night."

This ruling from the Pennsylvania Department of Education imposes a bureaucratic nightmare for a struggling family during this current economic downturn. Instead of realizing the hardships this family is experiencing and trying to expedite the continuing education of the four children, the state and the school district seem to be oblivious to their struggles and unaware of their responsibilities as educators.

Vaguely, I remember a case involving a senator from Pennsylvania whose children slept in the state of Virginia on a consistent basis yet the school district of Penn Hills was somehow responsible for the cyber-school tuition. Where was the Pennsylvania Department of Education in that case? Could there be a double standard being applied?

SISTER LIGUORI ROSSNER
Bloomfield

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