Airport security is no laughing matter
Re: “A foolproof way to stop airliner terrorists,” Dec. 6
Gregory Kane is right to acknowledge that he is not cute, and he should stop making cute suggestions about airport security. Has he forgotten 9/11?
In case he has, the terrorists killed thousands on the ground by using planes as bombs, not by bringing bombs of their own aboard planes. This is why airport security is in a different category than train or bus security.
Not wishing to be groped is perfectly reasonable, but those who feel this way should choose to travel by car, bus or train. It is insulting to the memory of those who died on 9/11 for Mr. Kane to indulge in such flippant lip-flapping.
David Smedberg
Washington
GOP should insist on permanent tax cuts
Re: “Senate rejects Democratic tax-break proposal,” Dec. 5
Republicans in Congress should hold fast to making the Bush tax buts permanent. All of them. Lest we forget, in order to get those cuts in the first place, President Bush had to compromise with congressional Democrats by allowing them to expire on Dec. 31, 2010. Those cuts were good for the American people and the overall economy then, and they are even more important now in this recession.
But at the 11th hour, President Obama and the short-lived Democrat-controlled Congress are playing spiteful games by bringing bills to a vote under the guise of making the middle-class tax cuts permanent and allowing the tax cuts for the rich expire. The problem is that taxpayers making over $250, 000 are considered rich by Democrats, when in fact they are the backbone of job creation.
Extending the tax cuts for a year or two is unacceptable. President Obama and Congress have been playing fast and loose with health care, the deficit and the national debt for two years, with no results for either jobs or the economy.
Daniel B. Jeffs
Apple Valley, Calif.
Give parents a say in teacher promotions, pay raises
Re: “Time to really rethink teacher pay,” Dec. 2
The issue of school vouchers continues to be discussed, even though the public has repeatedly turned thumbs down on the proposal. Yet parents do have a right to school accountability over the education of their own children, an accountability we are not getting under the status quo.
I propose putting all public school teachers on some kind of merit pay. Whenever school administrators consider promoting, demoting or firing a teacher, give all parents with children in that teacher’s class a 50 percent-weighted vote to approve or reject the proposed action. Parents, of all people, deserve to have a voice in deciding what constitutes a teacher’s professional merit.
Lawrence K. Marsh
Gaithersburg
