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Published Sat, Oct 24, 2009 02:00 AM
Modified Fri, Oct 23, 2009 05:16 PM

Nothing makes sense

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Columnist Bob Herbert was 100 percent correct in his Oct. 14 column. We have "twisted national priorities."

With our militarized foreign policy, we engage in two wars, sending our soldiers to kill and be killed, for what we do not clearly know. We fail to recognize that the ideas motivating those we call insurgents and terrorists can't be killed by guns and bombs. We deny that Afghans and Iraqis might have their own goals for rebuilding their lands. We deny the impotence of guns to ensure our security.

All the while, we deny our own country is fast deteriorating. Not only do we have 15 million unemployed, thousands of homes still being repossessed, a poverty contingent of 35 million and 46 million without health insurance, many of our children are dropping out of school and some are killing one another.

A simple part of the solution is to recognize the great importance and value of schools in children's lives. Almost on par with the influence of the family, many teachers try to guide and encourage our children to remain in school and to develop hopeful dreams that can come true. Yet we dismissed 40,000 teachers this past year!

Vivian and Bob Plonsey, Chapel Hill

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Barbara Prillaman: Percent of a percent
While the election results will continue to be a touchstone for public debate in the foreseeable future, we would be wise to check our numbers as we rein in our tempers. A recent writer noted that 61 percent statewide voted for Amendment One. In fact, that 61 percent is a proportion of those who voted, not of the state’s eligible electorate.
Gail Neely: Gung-ho on guns
Last year the General Assembly passed the “Castle Doctrine” law, just a short step from Florida’s “stand your ground” law. Lawmakers passed legislation allowing people to carry concealed weapons in parks and playgrounds. Now municipalities must pass ordinances to keep them out. Legislation to welcome gun-toting patrons into restaurants and bars made it through the Senate and awaits another push as House Bill 111.
Vincent Kopp: Land of the living
The May 14 op-ed article “American stories” by Joseph J. Ellis begs a quote from Jaroslav Pelikan’s 1983 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities: “Tradition is the living faith of the dead, traditionalism is the dead faith of the living.” And, I suppose I should add, it is traditionalism that gives tradition such a bad name. The reformers of every age, whether political or religious or literary, have protested against the tyranny of the dead, and in doing so have called for innovation and insight in place of tradition.
Anne Parks: Triumphant refugee
Regarding the May 14 article “Ivy League school janitor graduates with honors”: No, Albanian law student forced to flee violence in Yugoslavia finishes his college degree at Columbia University while working as a janitor. It’s a triumph of a refugee who lost everything and was determined to resume his preparation for a professional career.
Patrick Florio: The way to pay
I figured out how teachers can get fair compensation from this Republican-controlled legislature! Act immorally, bring ill repute to the profession and just ignore the law and our responsibilities to the people of this once great state.
Pam Payne: More skills training
I was so excited when I read the April 25 headline “Vocational high school idea OK’d” by the Wake County school board. For years I have thought that the educational system in Wake needed to offer students a choice between an academic or vocational program. However, I strongly object to the idea of putting this program in only one school, which would be located on Wilmington Street in Raleigh and serve only 1,400 students at the most.
Kathryn Parker: Missing on merit
A student’s education requires more than a good teacher. Decisions our legislators make impact all aspects of a child’s education in North Carolina: class size, the amount of support personnel in our schools, the quality of school facilities, the instructional tools and support personnel that our teachers have to help educate our children, school library resources, even the nutrition that our children consume in school cafeterias.
Marc Landry: Won’t be missed
Under the Wake County school system’s new assignment plan, parents have options but no guarantee that their children will be attending their first choice in schools. If one is to believe some real estate agents, some homebuyers are choosing to buy in neighboring counties where homes have a base school which students can attend. If such is the case, then Superintendent Tony Tata is to be commended for coming up with a scheme to alleviate overcrowding in our schools at no expense to the taxpayer.
Jeff Hamilton: 50 mpg howl
I enjoyed George Will’s Sunday road trip through car popular culture (“A nation driven to consume,” May 13 column). As a Prius owner, I can tell you it’s not perfect. The turning radius and sight lines are terrible, and the electronics can be baffling. But my well-deserved smug superiority is based on one thing only – 50 miles a gallon. If you can do that in a mud-caked Ford F-150 with a hound dog baying out the unlatched tailgate, you are welcome to the club.
John Dupree: Marked for life
As usual, the Wake County Board of Education has gotten tangled up in its own underwear, making something difficult out of something that isn’t. I suppose this is because of the new-age social permissiveness that is pervasive in today’s world.