Where were the "tea partiers" (" 'Pittsburgh Tea Party' in D.C.," Nov. 6) now opposed to health-care reform when the Bush administration expanded government to create the prescription drug program and the Homeland Security bureaucracy?

Where were they when that same administration spent billions on a war in Iraq that has gained us nothing but lost lives and soaring deficits?

Where were the defenders of freedom when Bush and the Republican Congress enacted the USA Patriot Act? Have they forgotten that it was the Bush administration that first enacted the big business bailouts they now suddenly oppose?

As a former Republican, I have witnessed the growing double standards and hypocrisy of the conservative movement. A religious-based social conservatism has replaced the common sense approach to fiscal restraint and personal freedom that I supported. Republicans who impeached President Clinton over a personal issue after he balanced the federal budget later supported George W. Bush while he grew government, eroded personal freedoms, and divided the nation using lies to justify a senseless war while weakening our military.

To those criticizing President Obama, I ask, what's changed? We are still involved in a war we can't win that's draining our resources. The restraints on personal freedom imposed in the name of security are very much intact, and the federal government continues its ever-expanded presence into our lives. So far nothing has changed except for the rhetoric.

MARK HARVEY SMITH
wilkinsburg

Students and speech

Regarding "Teachers Offered a Lesson in Urban Vernacular" (Nov. 2), I would disagree with Dr. Arnetha Ball in several aspects. "African-American vernacular" is simply a colloquialism, meaning it is unacceptable in any formal situation. Urban schools should insist on standard American English, whether it is in speech or written form, in all classes and at all times.

As educators we train people for success. Insistence on basic standards must be part of all courses. What Dr. Ball refers to is often called "code shifting," and it is difficult for anyone to "shift" when the situation demands formal speech without falling into the trap of colloquialism. It is estimated that only 10 percent of individuals can do this shifting successfully and maintain standard English.

No one denies that we all have some speech patterns that we learn from birth that are formally unacceptable. Verbs tend to be the most difficult to master. This is why conjugations used to be taught early on in schools. I believe that we need to go back to teaching conjugation in urban schools.

I taught in an urban school for many years and never had difficulty understanding the students in my charge. Believing that my job was to train students to be successful, I insisted on standard American English in formal and informal situations. I have been fortunate that many of my former students are now judges, lawyers, teachers, doctors, nurses, secretaries, etc. Urban students can learn and can be successful if they are given the tools necessary. Allowing colloquialisms, regionalisms, slang and provincialisms can only limit the options to urban students after graduation.

EDWARD J. BLOTZER
Jeanette

Improper speech

Regarding "Teachers Offered a Lesson in Urban Vernacular" (Nov. 2): It is a ridiculous presumption that the teacher should learn the improper speech of the student. The student is there to learn, not to teach. Moreover, the parents of the students should support the use of proper speech. That will help the children to be prepared to deal with the real world, not their restricted group.

My grandparents came to this country without the ability to speak any language but the one used in their native countries. They went to night school while working and raising families, learned English and became naturalized citizens of this great nation. That was far more than is asked of the students depicted in the article.

JEROME W. SILVERSTEIN
Penn Hills

GOP tricks

I returned home Wednesday after working a night shift at a local power plant to have your newspaper greet me with the "news."

I'm past 60 now, so a lot of the things I read daily in the "news" really don't surprise me much. As the old saw goes, history repeats itself.

I became interested in politics during the "Tricky Dick" years as a young man, actually following the everyday reporting of the Nixon fiasco.

I thought maybe as the truth filtered out there would be some good come of the mess our country seemed to be in.

Naivete is a funny thing, kind of sneaks up on you when you least expect it--it smacked me right up against the head last Wednesday morning.

Seems that we now have a Supreme Court justice, Joan Orie Melvin, who was elected after her party ran political ads that were blatant lies ("Pannella Supporters Attack Ads," Oct. 28). A judge! A Supreme Court justice!

Ol' Tricky would be proud of his fellow modern Republican pols. To infringe on the morally superior conservatives, let me close by saying "God help us all."

MALCOLM CHAMBERS
Indiana Township

The upward trend

In his letter "Re: Temperatures" (Oct. 27), Fred Brewer repeated the now common error of claiming that the trend in world temperatures has been downward since 1998 on the basis of looking at the temperature record selectively. Climate, as opposed to weather, is about long-term trends. Climate scientists don't consider time intervals of less than five years as useful for trend analysis and generally prefer to look at time intervals of 30 years. In fact the last 10 years has been the warmest decade in the 130-year record, and the trend over the last 30 years has been strongly upward.

It was just reported that The Associated Press had asked a group of experts on statistics to examine the temperature record for trends ( "Experts: No Cooling Trend" (Oct. 27). The statisticians had not been told what the numbers represented. Not one expert was able to find a cooling trend in the data. This is consistent with what climate scientists have found.

There are short-term natural variations in temperature trends that can be seen over periods of a few years to about 10 years, and because of these, it is not expected that each year will be warmer than the previous one. At the same time the overall temperature trend is definitely upward.

STEPHANIE MONTEMURRO
O'Hara

Circus cruelty

It broke my heart to see the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus return to Pittsburgh with its barbaric animal acts intact.

And I was truly disappointed to see your "family"-themed article ("The Circus Atmosphere Has a Family Touch," Nov. 6) about it with no mention of the hideous cruelty taking place daily to force these animals to perform. How was this fair to our children, who unwittingly applaud these performances?

C. COYNE
Mt. Lebanon

We must act, or risk missing out on jobs

Pat Toomey is incorrect in suggesting that cap-and-trade legislation I voted for in the House (the America's Clean Energy Security Act) will cost Pennsylvania jobs ("Cap and Trade vs. Pa.," Nov. 6). Not only will an investment in domestic green energy create jobs, it is essential if we want to repair Pennsylvania's economy and job market.

Mr. Toomey, my opponent in the U.S. Senate race, bases his argument entirely on figures provided by a paid corporate lobbying firm. Independent analysis tells the real story: This green jobs legislation will create thousands of new Pennsylvania jobs, will save money and will protect our state's vital industry and agriculture.

Studies by the Political Economy Research Institute show that this legislation will create 1.7 million new jobs nationwide, including 71,500 here in Pennsylvania.

No fewer than four independent studies -- by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Congressional Budget Office, the Energy Information Administration and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology -- have found that the initial cost per household will be less than a postage stamp a day. From there, it will begin to save us all money, leading to an average household savings of $750 a year by 2020.

This legislation will begin to reverse environmental degradation that threatens our state's farming and livestock yields, contains nearly $240 billion in incentives (through 2050) for use of coal with carbon capture and sequestration technology and contains carbon allocations to keep natural gas affordable.

Cap-and-trade legislation has been endorsed by a broad spectrum of environmental organizations, labor unions and major manufacturers including Alcoa, GE, GM, Caterpillar, ConocoPhillips, Dow, DuPont, Exelon and Sunoco.

If we do not act now we risk falling behind, for the first time in our nation's history, in a modern technological revolution and missing out on the jobs it will bring.

U.S. REP. JOE SESTAK
Media, Pa.
The writer, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, represents the 7th Congressional District.

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