Big Ben is representing the Steelers poorly

Ron Cook hit the nail on the head in his March 7 column ("Roethlisberger Guilty of Poor Judgment"). It is time for Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to grow up and act appropriately. He not only is representing his family name but the Steelers organization, the city of Pittsburgh and the NFL.

I am sure he is a smart enough individual to realize he is putting his NFL career on the line. I can't believe he is that stupid to think the NFL will not suspend him because of his behavior whether charges are filed or not.

Ben, you need some serious help and guidance on how to present yourself in public and remember you are no longer a college student but a professional football player who should be setting a good example to the youth of America.

DIANE STANESIC
West Mifflin

Person first

Thank you for the inspiring article "Campaign Hopes to Erase the 'R Word' " (March 3). As an advocate for people with varying abilities, I am constantly reminding people to use person-first language.

It sets my teeth on edge when people in general, and the media in particular, refer to "the autistic" or "mentally challenged" or "the handicapped" rather than giving a person or group of people the respect of being an individual before their level of ability. Have you ever heard a report saying "the normal man robbed a bank"?

The young woman in the story is on course to alter societal thinking. I'm not certain, without researching, who took the lead virtually abolishing the "n" word or "colored," but it worked.

It was quite possibly a young woman like Elizabeth whose passion for change changed history.

ANN MAYHEW
Penn Hills

Simply not true

When I read Robert Bankert's March 2 letter ("On Clinton's Watch"), I wanted to respond to several of his points.

From somehow blaming 9/11 on President Bill Clinton to absolving President George W. Bush of any wrongdoing or responsibility -- Mr. Bankert's comments read like a fundraising letter from the Republican National Committee or a Fox News script.

But the most blatant falsehood in the letter is when Mr. Bankert claims that "we, the United States of America, were not attacked in Mr. Bush's seven years after 9/11." This point continues to be echoed by conservative gadflies in print and broadcast media.

The problem is that it is patently false. For this to be true, one would have to completely ignore Richard Reid the "shoe bomber" (December 2001), the various attempts to mail anthrax to public officials (2001 and beyond), the shootings at the El Al ticket counter at Los Angeles International Airport (July 2002) and the University of North Carolina SUV attack (March 2006).

In order to create the fabrication of history and reality that Mr. Bankert paints, one would have to ignore the aforementioned incidents, as well as numerous other terrorist attacks on the United States (domestically and abroad).

Finally, Mr. Bankert ends by saying that "Mr. Bush did not blame Mr. Clinton for not keeping America safe." Nor should he have. President Bush and his administration ignored intelligence briefings before and after 9/11. They started a war in Iraq based on utter falsehoods that distracted from apprehending those responsible for these atrocities.

Mr. Bush is responsible for many things, but making us safer is not on that list.

RICHARD MARMURA
Squirrel Hill

Laws reflect times

The Supreme Court heard historic arguments last week regarding state and local gun laws ("Under Fire: Supreme Court to Scrutinize State, Local Gun Laws," Feb. 28). In a 2008 case, District of Columbia v. Heller, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote: "We are aware of the problem of handgun violence in this country, but the enshrinement of constitutional rights necessarily takes certain policy choices off the table."

I hope Justice Scalia and the other justices are informed of the statistics reported by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence: guns murdered 10,177 people in our country in 2006. In gun-control countries, the statistics for the same year were: 27 in Australia, 59 in England and Wales, 60 in Spain, 190 in Canada and 194 in Germany.

The disparities, as anyone can see, are too great for Justice Scalia and all the justices not to vote for some sort of state and local gun control laws and forgo the "enshrinement" of constitutional rights. It is time to put on the table policies that would protect the people of this nation and save countless lives.

As they prepare for deliberations, I hope they take into consideration that the Second Amendment was ratified in 1791 and was based on the policies and makeup of the populace of that time.

In that regard, James Madison, "Father of the Constitution," said: "In framing a system which we wish to last for ages, we should not lose sight of the changes which ages will produce." Through the years, society has structurally changed and so should the system governing it. Changes must be made. Conscientiously, the justices should ask themselves, "Is the Second Amendment in rhythm with the changes?"

BRUNO DEL SIGNORE
Whitehall

Insulation matters

Due to the extreme weather conditions in February, many homeowners and insurance companies will be faced with expensive repairs to roofs, gutters and interiors. Unfortunately, most of this repair work will be just that: fixing the symptoms and not the cause.

Our 1960 ranch house still had 12 inches of snow on it four weeks after the big storm and we did not see even one icicle. This is because we have our attic insulated to R-30 plus, all the way to the eaves with special attention paid to proper ventilation in the soffit and ridge. We are also blessed with 16-inch deep overhangs.

It is astonishing to me that these time-honored best practices are routinely ignored even in new construction. If you want to resolve your home's ice problems and save on your gas bill, skip the heat cables, calcium chloride socks, etc. and hire a qualified insulator or general contractor to fix the real problems -- lack of insulation and venting.

THOMAS GRAY
O'Hara

The writer is an architect.

Give some credit

Last week I called the mayor's 311 hot line and reported potholes on 44th Street in Lawrenceville. The same day, as I was going home, the potholes were patched. I wish everyone would lighten up on Mayor Luke Ravenstahl. Most times he gets it right.

JOHN NICOTRA
Ross

The government must have a greater role in health care

The current debate over health care reform in this country reflects a basic philosophical difference between (a) those who believe in a totally unfettered "free market" economy (notwithstanding the most recent disaster that such a market has inflicted upon us), and (b) those of us who believe that health care is not a market "commodity" from which the rapacious insurance industry should be able to reap exorbitant profits but should be a fundamental, universal right of all citizens.

The latter group thinks that the only cure for the worst health care system in the industrialized world is a government-sponsored, "single-payer" system financed, like Medicare, by taxation. The most articulate spokesperson for this view is Dr. Marcia Angell, former editor-in-chief of The New England Journal of Medicine. Dr. Angell opposes President Obama's most recent reform proposal, not because it imposes too much government "interference" with the private insurance market but because it does not propose enough.

Her argument, which I believe is irrefutable, is that, although the Obama proposal outlaws some of the most outrageous practices of the insurance industry, it is built on the fundamentally flawed private insurance system and would further entrench that system, perhaps permanently, by providing insurers with an additional 30 million plus "captive customer" hostages, and millions more in profits. To add insult to injury, because most of these new "customers" cannot afford health care insurance (that is why they are uninsured now) their coverage would be subsidized by the government, i.e., the taxpayers.

I have yet to hear a defendable response to Dr. Angell's cogent argument.

PAUL A. MANION
Ross

The writer is a lawyer whose practice includes health care litigation.

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